Brightspace Blog
New plagiarism detection software at Vanderbilt: Turnitin
Jul. 17, 2017—Starting this summer, Turnitin will replace SafeAssign as Vanderbilt’s plagiarism detection software. This powerful tool can help instructors teach and promote good citation practices as well as provide detailed feedback more efficiently. You can log on to this fully online webinar from any computer at home or on campus, but participation is limited to those...
What’s New on Brightspace? (July 2017)
Jul. 14, 2017—Every month, Brightspace will release new features and updates. You can get a comprehensive view of the updates here, but this blog post will give you a quick overview of what’s new on Brightspace! Quizzes – Shuffle the order of questions Instructors can now shuffle the order of all questions in quizzes or specific groups of...
August 2017 Brightspace Workshop and Drop-in Schedule
Jul. 14, 2017—Brightspace Support at the Center for Teaching is excited to offer daily workshops and drop-in support hours during the month of August! Our workshops will cover: discussions gradebook quizzes and surveys assignments and grading introduction to Brightspace A one-time, remote training session covering the plagiarism/feedback studio tool Turnitin is also available! View the below calendar...
Attend an Upcoming Webinar: Prevent Cheating During Online Exams!
Jun. 23, 2017—Instructor Training for LockDown Browser & Respondus Monitor Respondus LockDown Browser™ is a customized browser that increases the security of test delivery in course management systems. When students use Respondus LockDown Browser to access an exam, they are unable to print, copy, go to another URL, or access other applications. Respondus Monitor is a companion...
What’s New on Brightspace? (June 2017)
Jun. 21, 2017—Every month, Brightspace will release new features and updates. You can get a comprehensive view of the updates here, but this blog post will give you a quick overview of what’s new on Brightspace! Activity Feed The Activity Feed, which is a new course homepage widget, provides a central location for instructors to post messages and...
Summer Flex Schedule at Brightspace Support
Jun. 9, 2017—Have you heard about the Chancellor’s summer flex schedule policy? While most of the CFT will be open as usual on Friday afternoons this summer, the Brightspace support team will be taking advantage of the policy to rearrange our staff hours during the months of June and July. For the next two months, Brightspace support...
Brightspace support on holiday May 28, 29, 31!
May. 25, 2017—We know many of you have come to rely on Brightspace support’s availability six days a week, and we love hearing from you! However, on Sunday May 28, Monday May 29 (Memorial Day), and Wednesday May 31 (CFT Staff Retreat Day), the Brightspace team will be taking a few days off. We will stick to our usual office...
Brightspace Launched as Vanderbilt’s New Course Management System
Apr. 17, 2017—The Center for Teaching is excited to announce that Brightspace is now available for instructors planning their summer and fall courses. Brightspace will replace Blackboard as Vanderbilt’s course management system starting this summer. The new platform has a modern, responsive design and a number of features that faculty and students will find useful, including drag-and-drop...
Kaltura media on Brightspace
Apr. 14, 2017—As Vanderbilt transitions to Brightspace, our new course management system, some faculty may wonder what will happen to the video content they have created, stored, and/or shared using Kaltura (“My Media”) on Blackboard. We are happy to report that Kaltura media works well within Brightspace and that plans are underway to ensure that faculty have...
What students need to know about Brightspace
Mar. 28, 2017—Many instructors have asked us where students will go to learn about Brightspace, Vanderbilt’s new course management system. While students are always welcome to reach out for support, we put together a list of four important resources that students will find helpful as they navigate this new course management system. –> One new feature students will encounter...
Brightspace Implementation Timeline
Feb. 13, 2017—by Derek Bruff, Director, Center for Teaching As we announced last month, Brightspace has been selected as Vanderbilt’s next course management system, replacing Blackboard. I’m writing now to update the campus on the planned implementation timeline, based on what we know as of this writing (February 13th). What follows is (a) brief and (b) somewhat...
Brightspace Selected as Vanderbilt’s New Course Management System
Jan. 9, 2017—The Center for Teaching is glad to announce that Brightspace will be replacing Blackboard as the campus-wide course management system beginning Summer 2017. This transition will bring change for students, faculty, and staff. As Brightspace’s administrative home, we at the Center for Teaching want to reassure you that we are doing all that we can to...
Holiday Hours — Winter Break 2016
Dec. 15, 2016—With the fall 2016 semester winding down, the Blackboard support team at the Center for Teaching has already begun working with many instructors around campus to ready spring courses. If you plan to work on your Blackboard courses over the winter holiday, we will be available to help via email at blackboard@vanderbilt.edu. Please note that...
Grading Center Feature: Returning Assignments to Students
Oct. 5, 2016—The Grade Center provides useful features to keep track of student grades, customize the Grade Center to your course, and provide students feedback on their work. Recently, Blackboard support has fielded several questions from instructors about how to upload graded documents for students to view feedback within the Grade Center — even when the document...
SIPX: A Blackboard-Integrated Tool for Copyright Compliance in Course Readings
Sep. 16, 2016—You may have heard about SIPX, a tool recently acquired by the Vanderbilt Library to streamline the copyright compliance process for course readings. With the addition of SIPX to the Blackboard tool set, instructors now have the ability to find course readings themselves from the library holdings (or from other sources) and place the links...