Brightspace FAQs for Instructors

Through UB’s own internal review of Blackboard Ultra, Brightspace and Canvas, the functionality of Brightspace and Canvas were found to be greater and a better fit for UB’s instructional needs as compared to Blackboard. Further, the equivalence of Brightspace and Canvas combined with the ease of procurement of Brightspace that results from the SUNY contract have led the sponsors to the selection of Brightspace.

• We remain in alignment with SUNY while maintaining independence in decision-making.
  
• We maintain the ability to make changes to Brightspace and stand out as a flagship SUNY campus. 
• We maintain the ability to make quick changes to the system. 
• All instructors and students in the SUNY shared instance are required to have a SUNY global ID, which would require significant modification of campus-wide systems. 
  

UB's contract with Blackboard expires at the end of 2023, and instructors will no longer have access after it expires. Students with incompletes for winter, spring and summer 2023 courses will have access to the course in Blackboard until December to finish their work.

If a student needs to complete work after December, an instructor has several options, including making the content available in Brightspace or accepting paper submissions.

• For Summer 2023 credit-bearing courses, instructors can choose to use Blackboard or Brightspace. Instructors are encouraged to let students know which LMS they will be using.
• Administrative course owners in Brightspace can open courses to users starting March 1.
• Beginning with the Fall 2023 semester, all courses will be delivered using Brightspace.

Instructors will see Fall 2023 course shells in Brightspace in early April.

Summer 2023 course shells are already available in Brightspace. Please note that instructors can choose to use Brightspace or Blackboard for Summer 2023 courses only.

Setting Up Summer 2023 Courses in Brightspace

Course content from the Spring 2022, Summer 2022, Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 semesters have been migrated to Brightspace. In addition, administrative course owners who chose to have their admin courses migrated in January will see the courses in Brightspace.

Course content for Spring 2023 and administrative courses set to be migrated in June will be available in Brightspace on June 15.

Course content for Summer 2023 and administrative courses set to be migrated in September will be available in Brightspace on Sept. 15.

When the instructor has made a course active (checking Course is active in Instructor Only > Course Admin > Course Offering Information), students will see it listed in the My Courses widget and the course selector.

Students will be able to access the course when the course is active and the current date is between the Start Date and the End Date.

As per the UB Learns Data Management Policy, courses will be removed from Brightspace one year after the end of the semester in which they were taught. Use the export feature in the Grades tool to keep a copy of the grades from your course.

Contact the owner of the administrative course (listed as Course Owner under Role in the Classlist) and ask to be unenrolled.

You can also ask the UB Learns support team to unenroll you by sending the Course Offering Code (usually begins with "ADM_") to ublearns@buffalo.edu.

Go to ublearns.buffalo.edu and click the Go to Brightspace link on the login page or the Help and Updates page inside Blackboard. Use your UBITName and password to log in.

Use the course selector (waffle icon) or the My Courses widget on the Brightspace homepage to access courses.

Courses are created in Brightspace and set to inactive when the course catalog for the semester is published (typically five months before the start of the semester). Instructors can begin developing courses right away. Student access to a course is controlled by the Active status and the Start and End Dates of the course, which the instructor can edit by going to Instructor Only > Course Admin > Course Offering Information in the course navbar.

See Setting Up Summer 2023 Courses in Brightspace

HUB data in Brightspace is handled the same way as in Blackboard, so anyone added to the official course record will be enrolled automatically in the Brightspace course.

Yes, Course Combinations, also referred to as Combine Class Enrollments, are available in Brightspace. Course combinations are processed manually by the UB Learns support team and can take up to one business day to complete. To request a course combination, please accurately complete the Request UB Learns Course Combinations in Brightspace form. Inaccurate information may delay your combinations from being completed

Use the Request UB Learns Course Combinations in Brightspace form to combine courses (a link to the form is also available under Help for Instructors in the Brightspace navbar). Combinations are done manually by the UB Learns support team and can take up to one business day.

You can change the banner image in your course by moving your cursor over the image, clicking the ellipsis icon on the right-hand side and selecting Change Image. Brightspace recommends an image size of 2400 x 960 pixels for best results. You can upload images in JPG, JPEG, PNG or GIF formats.

You should crop and edit your banner image before uploading it to Brightspace.

For profile pictures, Brightspace recommends an image that is approximately 100 x 100 pixels. The maximum file size is 1 MB, and you can upload images in JPG, JPEG, PNG or GIF formats.

You should crop and edit your profile picture before uploading it to Brightspace.

Brightspace sends emails to a user's @buffalo.edu address.

We recommend that users take advantage of Brightspace's Pin feature to make it easier to find frequently accessed courses. Pinned courses will appear in the Pinned tab in the My Courses widget and at the top of the course selector list.

An instructor controls when a student can see a course in the My Courses widget and when a student can access a course by using both the Active status and the Start and End Dates.

• The default Start Date for each course is seven days before the official start date of each course.
• The default End Date represents the day after the final grading date for the unit.
• Instructors can change the Start and End Dates on a course-by-course basis to fit their needs.

HUB data in Brightspace is handled the same way as in Blackboard, so anyone added to the official course record will be enrolled automatically in the Brightspace course.

Yes, the Office of Curriculum, Assessment & Teaching Transformation has developed workshops and documentation to help instructors and staff get up and running with Brightspace. Workshops will be offered throughout 2023.

• Brightspace: 2023 Training Series
• Link to documentation

You can copy all the content or individual components between courses. You must be enrolled as an instructor, facilitator or teaching assistant in both courses.

See Copy Course Content Between Courses on our Adding Course Materials in Brightspace webpage for step-by-step instructions.

You can add content to modules and sub-modules in Brightspace. When creating the structure for your course, make it as easy as possible for your students to navigate the course and find the content they need.

Our office has created a list of features and tools in Blackboard that are available in Brightspace.  

Blackboard to Brightspace: Comparing Features and Tools
https://www.buffalo.edu/lms/training/start/blackboardtobrightspace.html.

Brightspace does not have the option to send announcements by email, but users can set their Instant Notifications so they receive emails when new announcements are available or previously posted announcements are updated.

Please note that each user is responsible for setting Instant Notifications, so instructors should remind students to adjust their settings accordingly.

Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app for students and instructors that provides one easy view of course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades and announcement items. Pulse is available for both iOS and Android devices.

Visit our Brightspace Pulse App webpage for more information.

https://www.buffalo.edu/lms/training/start/pulse.html

The Attendance tool in Brightspace allows instructors to track and assign grades for attendance, view attendance results and track students with poor attendance.

Yes, most publisher integrations currently available in Blackboard have been added to Brightspace.