LMS Weekly Update: Brightspace Tips

Posted on Friday, September 11th, 2020

Brightspace Tips – Answers to Common Questions this past Week

• How do I link the Glossary into a content area? Go to Tools/Course Admin/Glossary and copy the URL that you see in the browser’s address bar. Then, navigate to the Content module where you would like to link the Glossary, click on Upload/Create button and choose Create a link from the drop down menu. Enter a title and paste the link to the Glossary.
• When I am scheduling Zoom meetings in my combined/merged courses, the events show up in ALL students’ calendars. How do I restrict a Zoom calendar event to a specific course section? Go to your course calendar and find the Zoom occurrence you just created. Left click on it and select Edit. Scroll down to Attendees and change the drop down selection to the desired course section. Note that ALL students will still be able to join the meetings, by going to Tools/Zoom Classroom, but not having the notifications in their calendar, will make it easier for them to manage the upcoming events.
• I am working with a combined course and I really need to make sure students are not seeing ALL Zoom meetings scheduled, by going to Tools/Zoom Classroom. How do I make sure only students from one particular course section view ONLY their own Zoom meeting link?
  • Set up a Zoom meeting outside Brightspace by going to the Algonquin Zoom Portal
  • Copy the link and password for the invitation to that Zoom meeting
  • Create a restricted announcement in your combined/merged course (that will be seen only by that particular section, and be sent as an email only to the students from the section)
  • OR create restricted course modules and upload an item that will contain only the Zoom link that you will be using for one particular section (for instance, you will create one module called Zoom 011, and include a link to their Zoom session, then Zoom 012, and include their own link, etc.
• How can I offer my students extra help?
  • Remind your learners, who have accommodations, to let you know so that you can set up special access for them in quizzes, giving them extra time as required. Students can connect with CAL if they think they might be entitled to accommodations.
  • For your students who need help learning how to use Brightspace, please direct them to the Student Learning Centre – they are offering workshops next week.
  • Encourage your students to self-enroll in Success in Digital Environments. The link to this course is available to them on their Brightspace homepage.
• Is there any way to start a Zoom classroom with pre-assigned break out rooms? Yes, but ONLY if students have Zoom accounts (through https://zoom.us), and they are logged into their account in order to be assigned to the breakout rooms correctly. Follow this instructions on pre-assigning participants to breakout rooms.
  Note: Students must use their Algonquin email address when they create the Zoom Basic accounts.
  Here are some recommendations to get your students in the habit of signing into Zoom:
  • Inform students that they will need to create a Zoom account and log into Zoom to access future meetings.
  • Edit upcoming meetings so that Only authenticated users can access them (it’s a checkbox when editing the meeting).
  • Give students an extra 5-10 minutes to get into your next meeting – they will inevitably run into difficulties and some may not have created an account.
  • The main thing is the communication piece. We’d recommend something like this: “To join this session, please see the Getting Started section of this Library guide, to create a free Zoom Basic account using your college email address. Accounts will be used to make group work easier in each session. You will not be able to access future class meetings without a Zoom account.

Faculty PD Sessions

For help setting up and/or grading quizzes, or grading any other learner activities in Brightspace, sign up for the PD sessions offered by LTS.

Important: Combined/Merged Courses in Brightspace

When asking for combined courses, please take a few minutes to understand the options you have.

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