Start of the Semester: Top 10 Brightspace Tips!

Top tips for start-of-semester in Brightspace

Audience: Faculty, Staff and Teaching Assistants

This KB Article References: Brightspace
This Information is Intended for: Faculty, Staff, Teaching Assistants
Last Updated: May 12, 2023
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Every course at Stony Brook University (with the exception of the School of Medicine) has a Brightspace course and your students are automatically added (and removed if they drop) for you.

By default, your course is available to your students. If you do not wish to use Brightspace this semester, please make your course unavailable and let your students know so they do not think something is wrong with their Brightspace account. 

If you would like to use Brightspace, please

 Request that cross listed sites be merged by submitting a ticket if you are teaching a cross listed course and want to only maintain one course site (Keep in mind that all students from all sections will appear in your Grade Book if we merge your courses)

 Add content (including your Syllabus)

 Add your TA to your class

 Create an Announcement to greet your students (or send an email from the "Classlist" tool

 Make sure your students know about the Brightspace Mobile App, Pulse

 Set up your Grade Book early so that your students keep on track and save yourself time at the end of the semester

 You can reuse course information from a previous semester 

 All Fall 2021-Fall 2022 Blackboard courses are available in Brightspace so you can copy content to your new course shell.  If you taught during those semesters, you should see  courses starting with "STB" in the Conversions tab.  Spring 2023 will be added sometime in June (date to be announced)

 Third Party tools, such as Echo360 & VoiceThread, will need to be re-linked

 Make sure you remove any old content from your new Brightspace site

 Manage your deadlines and dates with Manage Dates

 You can use View as Learner to view your course from a Student perspective


SUNY and Academic Technology Services are here to help you!
online.suny.edu/help | service.stonybrook.edu
1-844-673-6786 | 631.632.9800 (option 2)

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