Brightspace Blog
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...
Is Blackboard FERPA compliant?
Aug. 18, 2016—Here at Blackboard support, we often get questions from faculty and teaching assistants about Blackboard’s compliance with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the federal law that governs the privacy of student educational records. The good news is that the guidelines that protect student privacy in your physical classroom work in much the same way...
Blackboard Support Summer Hours
May. 25, 2016—This summer the Blackboard support team will focus their support efforts from 7am to 4pm Monday through Friday. You can expect a fast and thorough response from our team whether you contact us by email or phone during those hours. We will continue providing support via email 4-11pm Sunday through Thursday, with an expected response...
Blackboard Upgrade Underway!
May. 21, 2016—You should have received emails alerting you to Blackboard’s upgrade this weekend, or you may have seen the announcement on the Blackboard log in page. That upgrade period is now underway. We expect Blackboard to be available to users again no later than 8pm on Sunday May 22. Updates about the upgrade status can be...
Campus Invited to Course Management System Vendor Demos in April
Apr. 11, 2016—The Center for Teaching invites Vanderbilt faculty, staff, and students to a series of product demonstrations by the three vendors under consideration for Vanderbilt’s next course management system (CMS). The demonstrations, along with feedback from those who attend them, will inform Vanderbilt’s decision to renew its contract with Blackboard, set to expire in 2017, or...
New Course Availability and Deletion Policy To Be Implemented May 2016
Apr. 5, 2016—The Center for Teaching, as the administrative home for Blackboard, is announcing a new Course Availability and Deletion Policy for Blackboard. This policy, recommended by Vanderbilt’s Blackboard implementation team and approved by the Blackboard Faculty Advisory Committee, is intended to reduce the amount of storage space Vanderbilt purchases annually from Blackboard, while also allowing most...
Saving Course Materials for Future Use
Apr. 5, 2016—Want to know how to back up your Blackboard courses on your own computer or other device? The Blackboard support team at the CFT has resources that can help. There are two primary ways to back up course content. The first way is to back up a course in its entirety, including the layout and course customization...
Considerations for Effectively Creating Educational Videos
Apr. 4, 2016—With the integration of the Kaltura media tool within Blackboard, users of the CMS now have the ability to easily implement streaming video into their course or organization. If users are attempting to create their own educational videos for use in their course, CFT Assistant Director Cynthia Brame has written a teaching guide that outlines three...
Campus encouraged to participate in Blackboard feedback survey
Mar. 30, 2016—The CFT, as the administrative home for Blackboard, Vanderbilt’s primary course management system, is conducting an assessment in March to determine the extent to which Blackboard is meeting the needs of campus users. Results of this needs assessment will inform Vanderbilt’s decision to renew its contract with Blackboard, set to expire in 2017, or to...
Complements to Blackboard: Constructing Effective Multiple Choice Questions
Feb. 8, 2016—Did you know that you can create tests or quizzes in Blackboard and have students take them online? The on-demand resources page of our website includes a guide to creating a test. The testing feature allows instructors to set up different types of questions, several of which are automatically graded. While Blackboard may help streamline the technical side...