LMS Weekly Update: Customer Service Matters
Posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2018
Mario Ramsay returned to Algonquin College in late summer after a one-year sabbatical in Canada’s Rockies and set out to become comfortable with the school’s new Learning Management System.
“At first, I heard a lot of horror stories about Brightspace,” says Ramsay, Chef Professor in the School of Hospitality & Tourism. “I said to myself, ‘OK, no problem.’ I like a challenge and I love puzzles. I went to the first session for faculty. The facilitator was great. Then I booked myself three more half-hour sessions with whoever was free, and I found I was getting the hang of it. Was I perfect? No, but I could make my way around.”
On his own time, he focused on one of his courses — menu planning, which required the most coordination in Brightspace — and worked to master every detail that matters in his classes. He uses announcements “so the students will know ‘This is the menu today, these are the expectations”; he does tests and quizzes online; he uses rubrics for marking, and much more.
He knows how difficult it was for some people to transition from Blackboard to Brightspace. The heavy users in particular struggled. They had reached the stage they could use Blackboard with their eyes closed. Now they had to learn something new.
“It’s not always easy to change. But I look at it this way: it’s like driving a new car. The seating arrangement is different. Some things are in different places than they were before. But you will still get where you are going. Before Brightspace, it was like driving and always worrying when the muffler would fall off.”
Ramsay says the element that more than any other made learning Brightspace a pleasure was the LMS team. “The people working there — amazing! When I needed help with something, I went sometimes with an appointment, sometimes without an appointment. It didn’t matter who I dealt with, the attitude was always the same: ‘Can we help you?’ It wasn’t fake. I felt like I was in a five-star hotel where customer service is the most important thing.”
What makes Brightspace so valuable to Ramsay today is the trust factor. He knows it will work when he needs it, which was not always the case with the previous LMS. “I find it solid. I know it will be working when I need it. Is it perfect? No. Is it better? Yes. Do I have confidence in the team behind it? I do. I know they will support me. My hat’s off to them.”
Enhancements and Small Feature Changes – Brightspace Release for October
You may have noticed a few small changes to Brightspace, especially within the Assignments Tool. This is a result of the continuous release model in which D2L releases small changes each month as opposed to major system updates released periodically. Often these new features reflect ideas introduced and voted up in the Product Idea Exchange within the Brightspace Community. You can contribute to and “vote up” ideas by joining the community.
On Friday, Oct. 19, the following features and changes were introduced:
Auto-Save During Quiz Taking
Quiz responses are saved while students take their quiz.
New Assignment Types
In addition to the standard file submission, instructors can choose to have students submit text on paper, or through observed in-person submissions.
Anonymized Learner Names to Avoid Potential Grading Bias
Instructors can now create assignments in which student names are kept anonymous during the grading process.
Improvements to Rubrics
Grading with rubrics now offers an improved workflow and design that is optimized for use on mobile devices. These new features include:
- Rubrics automatically save in a Draft state while instructor is making updates. While in a Draft state, the rubrics are not visible to students. Once published, students can see their feedback from Assignments, Content, Discussions, Grades, or Learner Progress.
- Ability to assess rubrics individually or assess all rubrics in the same grading workflow
- Separate rubric Total (e.g. what is automatically calculated and is populated in Grades) and Overall Score (e.g. is editable by the instructor) areas.
New Error Message for When an Activity Link is Broken
The message used to say: “Error: page not found”. Now, the message says: “Unavailable Quicklink”.
“Send to Binder”‘ Will Disappear as of November 1
Binder is an older application that D2L has been phasing out. As of November 1, the “Send to Binder” button will disappear.
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