LMS Weekly Update: Brightspace Improvements and Survey Results

Posted on Friday, August 23rd, 2019

This week we are bringing two important improvements to Brightspace: a new Course Outlines menu item, that will offer you and your students direct access to your course outlines file in COMMS, and a new Zoom Virtual Classroom tool, that will enrich the teaching and learning.

Course Outline

Next time when you login to Brightspace, you will see a new Course Outlines menu item. This improvement comes in response to student feedback regarding consistency in the last Brightspace Satisfaction survey, and it will also help faculty with one of the required elements of Brightspace courses as per the new LMS policy, AA42.

Important: If you’ve already copied content from an older course, please make sure that the file under the Course Information module displays the current course outline.

Zoom Virtual Classroom

In addition to the existing Virtual Classroom tool that Brightspace offers, we have integrated Zoom classroom. Zoom is a video conferencing program that allows for multiple participants, audio and video sharing, screen sharing, breakout rooms, working on a whiteboard and recording. This new tool is now accessible from your course Tools menu.

Brightspace Training

Brightspace Training is available for new and returning faculty starting next week. We are offering a Refresher session, recapping some of the basic functionality of Brightspace, and a Beyond Essentials session for those looking to expand and enhance their use of the LMS. Register for these sessions, and look out for future sessions (including Zoom training), on the PD Registration System.

Need a custom training session? Get in touch with Rob Kershaw from Learning and Teaching Services (kershar@algonquincollege.com).

Spring Satisfaction Survey

Thank you to all faculty members who participated in the latest Brightspace Satisfaction Survey. Congratulations to Thomas Bradley, who was selected at random as the recipient of a $25 Connections gift card for participating.

Satisfaction rates continue to increase as faculty become more familiar with the system’s features, but the qualitative feedback received from faculty and students made it clear that there are still challenges to be addressed – some through our training and support, and some through the work of D2L’s product development team. Please keep an eye on our Common Solutions page, and check out the Product Idea Exchange page for opportunities to add your voice to the Brightspace Community in order to effect change.


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