SUNY Plattsburgh Moving to Brightspace

[John Locke]

SUNY Plattsburgh Moving to Brightspace

As part of a mandatory SUNY-wide LMS consolidation, SUNY Plattsburgh will
be leaving Moodle in 2023 and migrating to D2L’s Brightspace learning
management system. A small contingent of faculty presently teaching in the
online Accounting degree completion program through SUNY Online will be the
first to migrate; this pilot group will see training opportunities arise in
the summer of 2022, with courses going live in Brightspace in Fall 2022.
The balance of the college’s faculty will receive extensive training
through the Winter and Spring 2023 semesters, with the target of having all
courses delivered via Brightspace beginning in Summer 2023.
How can I prepare?

At this time, the best way to prepare is to ensure that those Moodle sites
you’d like to move to the new system are in good shape: that gradebooks add
up, that unused topics, activities, resources are deleted, and that you’ve
got a good idea of which course sites you’d like to move. Beyond that, you
might need to start considering that some activities in Moodle have no
corresponding activity in Brightspace: specifically, the *Glossary*,
*Database*, *Lesson*, *Workshop*, *Wiki,* and *H5P* activities will not be
available in our *Brightspace* environment, where all activities take the
form of assignments, forums, and quizzes. You might find, though, that you
can probably reimagine your Glossary activity as a forum, your Database
activity as a linked Microsoft or Google *Form*, your *Lesson* as a quiz,
and so on.
Will I have to rebuild everything in Brightspace?

We hope that won’t be necessary. Content and activities in Moodle can be
imported into Brightspace.
Can I get a site to play with now?

SUNY has made “sandbox” sites available for faculty to explore the new
system. You can request one at
https://sunyplay.brightspacedemo.com/d2l/login.  You should be aware,
though, that the sandbox sites may differ in appearance and functionality
from what you’ll see once Plattsburgh’s own *Brightspace *instance is
running, and, also, that we won’t be able to offer you much help. Support
questions, for the time being, should be directed to the D2L “Help” link on
the sandbox site or to DLE at suny.edu.
When will we start seeing campus workshops?

SUNY Center for Professional Development is producing a series of
synchronous and asynchronous training events, which will be available in
the coming weeks/months. Plattsburgh TEL and CTE will be offering campus
workshops—introductory sessions covering the Brightspace environment as it
pertains specifically to SUNY Plattsburgh.  These will be offered beginning
in the Fall of 2022; as 2023 begins, Plattsburgh’s workshops on Brightspace
will become more frequent and more intensive.
Is there more information?

SUNY has created a website at https://dle.suny.edu/ that documents progress
on the way to the new system. The site is periodically updated with new
information.
What about my ePortfolio?

The Brightspace system has an integrated ePortfolio system: there is no way
to import content from Mahara, though, so you’ll have to move ePortfolio
content manually.  Directions on doing so will be made available during the
Spring 2023 semester.
I don’t want to go.

Sorry.
Would it help if I complain?

No, we’ve already tried that, and it turns out that it didn’t help.
Should I Panic?

No. TEL will be here, just as we were in the Spring of 2020 when we needed
to transition quickly to remote instruction. And CTE will help, too. We can
do this.
Questions?
We have them, too. As answers become available, we will be sure to post
updates in the Digest and archive them in the Moodle Site Developer's Area
in a new section called "The Transition to Brightspace."

Can we get some sort of preview?
Starting on February 23rd, the SUNY Professional Development group will be
holding periodic “Fireside chats” to introduce the Brightspace environment:

*Join us for the first SUNY DLE Brightspace Fireside Chat *

*Wednesday, February 23, 2022*

*3:00 pm - 4:00 pm*



The Brightspace Fireside Chats will be an informal opportunity to learn
about and discuss the benefits and features of the Brightspace learning
environment.  This webinar is hosted by the SUNY Center for Professional
Development DLE Implementation Trainers and is open to all SUNY campuses.



On February 23 we will:
Introduce you to the trainers,
Outline the training plans (developed with the assistance of the Training
Resources Sub Workgroup),
Showcase some time saving and engaging Brightspace features,
And provide an opportunity for attendees to submit questions & propose
ideas for future Fireside Chat webinars (AKA S'mores *).
Register now
<https://sunycpd.eventsair.com/dle-training/chats/Site/Register>


--
¡Salud!

John

John Locke, Ph.D., :~{)>
Coordinator, Technology Enhanced Learning and Distance Education
Information Technology Services
SUNY Plattsburgh / Feinberg Library, Room 303
2 Draper Avenue, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
518-564-4537
Certified Equity Advocate
Chair, Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Committee
Member, President's Campus, Community, and Safety Advisory Committee
Member, President's Inclusive Excellence Council
Member, Center for Teaching Excellence Advisory Board
Member, Teaching and Learning with Technology Advisory Group
Member, SUNY EIT Accessibility Advisory Group
Member, Association of Continuing Higher Education
Member, Society for Utopia Studies
Follow me on academia.edu <https://johnlocke.academia.edu/>
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