Brightspace Use Policy

This set of policies is intended to provide members of Stony Brook University community with standardized practices for Brightspace. These policies are also intended to ensure reliable and consistent service from instructional technologists and designers on campus. These policies are subject to change, do not rely on printed copies of this document without first verifying their accuracy on this site.

Who Can Use Brightspace?

All active faculty, students and staff can use Brightspace. In order to use Brightspace a campus NetID username and password is required. It is important that users are aware that they are responsible for all activity conducted with their accounts and are not to share login information with anyone.

Guest Access

Brightspace allows an individual who is not enrolled in a course to access specific areas of course sites. By default, the system is set so that “guests” may not access a course. Instructors do have the option of changing this setting in their courses.

Student (Learner) Access

Every semester, a Brightspace site is created for each course. Students who are registered for classes that are using Brightspace will be given full access to those course site(s) no later than the first official day of classes for each semester. Students who register after the first day of the semester will be added to the course within 1 business day during the add/drop period of the semester. Students who drop a course should no longer see that course on their Brightspace site 48 hours after they have officially dropped a course. SOLAR is the official record of enrolled and dropped courses.

Faculty/Staff (Instructor) Access

When Brightspace course sites are created, only the people listed in SOLAR as instructors & TA’s are automatically added. Additional faculty & TA’s must be added by the Primary Instructor.

Length of Access to Course Sites

Students will have access to their courses until the “last day to complete an incomplete” has passed.  A schedule is posted on our Brightspace support page

Length of Access to Brightspace

Students will have access to Stony Brook’s Brightspace system until they are no longer registered for at least one course at Stony Brook University and their NetID is no longer active. Faculty and Staff will have access until they are no longer employed by Stony Brook University and their NetID is no longer active.

Courses Kept on the Brightspace Server

Course sites will remain on the Brightspace server for 3 years after the course has ended.  Instructors will receive notification when their class is scheduled for deletion. It is the responsibility of Instructors to archive their courses.

Course Quota Limitations (Video files)

At this time, there is no limitation on the amount of space allotted to each course site except video files.  The Brightspace support team recommends that videos be shared via Echo360 or Google Drive.

Transferring Course Sites

An Instructor may elect to transfer a course site and its materials to another faculty member or give another faculty member access to a course. SUNY’s policy is that course content is the intellectual property of the Instructor.   A course site will not be re-assigned to a new instructor for reuse without written permission from the original instructor or written permission from The Office of General Counsel. Departments who need to request access may contact generalcounsel@stonybrook.edu. If instructors leave Stony Brook University for other employment, they may request to have their course deleted and/or request a copy of their course site(s) to take along. Arrangements can also be made to have their course site transferred electronically to their new institution, where it may be usable (within technological limits).

Merging sites

Brightspace course sites are automatically generated prior to the beginning of each semester for all courses that are scheduled in PeopleSoft.  Instructors who wish to combine multiple sections into one course site may submit to merge courses.  Doing so prevents the ability to import grades to SOLAR at the end of the semester.

Requesting a Brightspace Organization Site

Academic Departments & Student Service Areas can request a Brightspace site for their department.. The Brightspace Support Team will enroll the Academic Department major/minor organization sites based on information received from the Peoplesoft system. It is the responsibility of the Student Service Areas to enroll users.

Gradebook Information

The Brightspace Online Gradebook is a tool designed for the convenience of students and faculty. Grades posted in Brightspace are not automatically posted to the SOLAR System.  Thus it is not an official record of the student grades, nor should it be considered a legally binding record of student scores. Faculty are strongly encouraged to periodically save or export an offline copy of the Online Gradebook and to print a final copy for their records after the semester ends. In addition, faculty who post grades in areas other than the Gradebook area of their course site may be in violation of FERPA (Family Education Rights & Privacy Act) if any part of a student’s identifying information is used. Should information that violates FERPA be posted on a Brightspace site and a student brings it to our attention, the Brightspace support team is required to notify the Registrar’s office.

Online Quizzes/Surveys

Brightspace does provide instructors the ability to conduct online quizzes / surveys. Instructors who wish to utilize the online assessment features are encouraged to contact CELT for a consultation: celt@stonybrook.edu

Copyrighted Material

When posting materials on Brightspace, faculty are expected to abide by copyright laws. For more information visit: Stony Brook Libraries Copyright Guide

Requesting 3rd party tools (LTI’s) be added to Brightspace

If Instructors require students to use a 3rd party application to complete coursework and it has a Brightspace LTI or building block that is not listed in their Brightspace site, they may submit an LTI request. Please note that the process can take up to 9 months.

Accessibility Guidelines

Accessibility is an important part of creating and maintaining a website (this includes Brightspace course sites). Adhering to standards is a vital requirement for every Stony Brook University website. Instructors are expected to have accessible sites in accordance with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Accessibility Guidelines and NYS Technology Policy 99-3. 

The following are tools/suggestions for making sure your courses are accessible:

• ALLY: Stony Brook’s Brightspace system contains ALLY. Ally generates an accessibility score for each item in your Brightspace class. This score shows you how accessible your site is and works as an alert to fix inaccessible items. Ally also generates a Course Accessibility Report which shows you your course accessibility rating and what changes you can make to your course.
• Course Design: When changing the default design, it is very important that the menu have contrasting colors. In other words, if you choose a light background, the text should be dark, and vice versa. Avoid light & bright colors (such as oranges, yellows, reds) as students with visual problems have trouble seeing those colors.
• Timed Quizzes: If you are using the quizzing feature of Brightspace and have opted to set up timed sessions, please know that you may have to make other arrangements for some students. It is the responsibility of the student to notify the Student Accessibility Support Center (SASC) office if they need more time on exams. SASC will notify the instructor when appropriate.

Roles

Roles control access to the content and tools within a course. Each user is assigned a role for each Course (or Organization) in which they participate. For example, a User with a role of Teaching Assistant in one Course can have a role of Student in another Course. Instructors may use these roles to delegate some of the responsibility for maintaining the course.

• Instructor: Users who have the role of Instructor have complete access to the Control Panel in a Brightspace course, they can add/remove content & users. Instructors can also change others' roles in a class.
• Teaching Assistant:: Teaching Assistants have access to nearly everything in the Course Admin Tool. If the course is inactive to students, Teaching Assistants may still access the course. TA’s can do everything the Instructor can, except remove the Instructor and change the roles of others in the course site. This role is appropriate for those who should have access to student grades.
• Course Builder: The Course Builder role has access to most areas of the Course Admin Tool. This role is appropriate for a research assistant or for an assistant who has limited responsibilities and should not have access to student grades. The Course Builder Role does not have access to the Gradebook or the ability to view any submitted or graded assignments
• Grader: The Grader role has limited access to the Course Admin Tool. A Grader would assist the Instructor in the creation, management, delivery, and grading of Assessments and Surveys. A Grader may also assist the Instructor with adding manual entries to the Online Gradebook. Graders do not have the ability to post content.
• Learner: Learner is the default Course User Role. A user with the role of Student has no access to the Course Admin Tool.
• Guest: Users with the role of Guest have no access to the Course Admin Tool. Instructors can make areas within a course accessible to Guests. Guests do not have access to the communication tools, such as e-mail or the discussion board, or areas of the course which are set up as assessments (such as assignments, tests, surveys, etc.) by default.

Support Access

• Student Technologist: Work for DoIT, FERPA Trained, can only access rosters to confirm enrollment. Do not have access to Course Content OR Grades. Instructors must share their screens to receive assistance. Instructors may not add them to their classlists.
• Support Staff: DoIT or SUNY Helpdesk employees who have access to all courses, including content and grades. Can impersonate users when troubleshooting, once the instructor (or student) has provided permission. Systems log show all activity.
• Administrator:  DoIT Employees who have full administrative rights to all aspects of Brightspace including the DataHub. Contact Institutional Research for Stony Brook’s Brightspace Data Access Management policy. System logs show all activity.