Workshops for Brightspace Users
The Office of Online Learning and Academic Technologies is offering the following
workshops throughout the year. Except where noted, all workshops are led by Todd Taylor, Online Learning Manager.
Register for all sessions here.
Adding and Structuring Content
Tuesday, September 3 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, September 11 from 3pm - 4pm
This workshop will provide exercises on adding modules, embedding existing videos
and audio files, adding existing graded activities to modules, and adding new pages.
You will also be provided with exercises on moving content within a move as well as
how to change a module title. This workshop will outline how to ensure content is
released to students.
Adding Graded Activities (Assignments and Discussions)
Wednesday, September 4 from 3pm - 4pm
Tuesday, September 17 from 11am - 12pm
This workshop will focus on building out basic assignments and discussions in Brightspace.
You will be provided with examples of an assignment and discussion. The exercises
will outline how to create a basic assignment and discussion with an appropriate title,
score, description, submission method, and visibility.
Setting up the Gradebook
Tuesday, September 10 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, September 18 from 3pm - 4pm
This workshop aims to provide you with a show-and-tell of the gradebook from the perspective
of the student. In doing so, the workshop will aim to explain how the gradebook communicates
to the student their performance. The workshop will then provide exercises on how
to set up the gradebook. First, the workshop will outline the recommended settings
for the gradebook. Then, the workshop will guide participants through the process
of creating high level categories. Finally, the workshop will show how to associate
assignments, discussions, and quizzes with those categories.
Creating Rubrics
Tuesday, September 24 from 11am - 12pm
This workshop aims to raise awareness and build technical skills around the use of
rubrics. The workshop will be broken down into three parts:
- Rubrics from a student perspective - Instructors will be shown an assignment that has a rubric embedded. In doing so, terminology will be introduced so that faculty will be familiar with criteria, grading language, as well as the use of positive language.
- Creating and inserting rubrics - Instructors will be provided with a demonstration on how to create a rubric. A rubric will be first created with all criteria equally weighted, then faculty will be shown how to add custom points.
- Grading with rubrics - Instructors will be briefly provided with a walkthrough of how to grade with rubrics.
Adding Quizzes
Wednesday, September 25 from 3pm - 4pm
This workshop will provide a deep dive into quizzes. The workshop will demonstrate
a quiz, including the different types of quiz questions. You will be invited to reflect
on the types of quiz questions that they might use in their course. The workshop will
then provide exercises on how to build out a bank of questions, including best practices
such as a bank of recall questions and a bank of short answer questions, as well as
a consideration around scoring each. Exercises will then turn to associating the questions
with a quiz.
Using ScreenPal to Record Video
Tuesday, October 1 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, October 2 from 3pm - 4pm
ScreenPal is a video tool that allows you to record your head and/or your screen.
It is a great tool for introduction videos and for instructors who like to record
their presentations as a continuous stream of thought. In this session, we will explore
accessing ScreenPal, recording, and embedding your finished videos in Brightspace.Adding
Quizzes to
ScreenPal Videos
Tuesday, October 8 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, October 9 from 3pm - 4pm
ScreenPal provides the ability to add quiz questions to a video. While the video is
playing back, the video will pause and prompt learners to answer a question. This
is a great way to focus students on key concepts and ensure their attention. In this
session, we will explore this feature. You will use ScreenPal AI to automatically
generate questions, edit and delete questions, manually add questions, and embed the
video quiz in Brightspace.
Using Video Captions to Draft Quiz Questions with AI
Tuesday, October 15 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, October 16 from 3pm - 4pm
Drafting quiz questions and answers as well as implementing them in Brightspace can
be a time-intensive task. Instructors often face the risk of students copying the
questions and pasting them online. Both these factors are barriers to creating quiz
questions. Generative AI can help you quickly transform content that you have presented
in a video lecture into suggested questions that can be imported into Brightspace.
In this session, you will download a video transcript, upload it to a generative AI
platform, run a prompt to generate questions, and another one to format those questions
for import into Brightspace.
Building Quizzes in Brightspace with AI in Mind
Tuesday, October 22 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, October 23 from 3pm - 4pm
A purpose of quizzes is to evaluate what information students have retained. When
students do not know an answer, they may guess the correct answer, which may overestimate
knowledge retention. Students may also be tempted to look up information. With generative
AI, such as Microsoft’s Copilot or ChatGPT, this can be done in a browser window.
This session will propose allowing and scoring “I don’t know” responses to reward
students for self-identifying areas where information has not been retained. Advanced
Brightspace Quiz features such as scoring multiple options, custom feedback messages,
release conditions, and setting a completion score will be explored.
Designing Online Discussions with AI in Mind
Tuesday, November 5 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, November 6 from 3pm - 4pm
The Discussions tool in Brightspace provides a built-in tool for collaboratively engaging
with a prompt or question. The purpose is often to improve understanding through
peer engagement. Generative AI threatens the success of online discussions. Learners
are able to copy-and-paste responses to a prompt without any meaningful engagement.
This workshop will discuss three tactics to minimize this threat:
- Drafting four kinds of prompts that facilitate collaboration
- Building accountability using small group discussions
- Pairing discussions with before-and-after mind mapping activities and learning journals to measure change
Using Padlet for Interactive Instruction in Brightspace
Tuesday, November 12 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, November 13 from 3pm - 4pm
Padlet can be visualized as a virtual noticeboard. In response to an instructor prompt,
students are able to post their notes to a wall. These notes may be text, images,
videos, or even files. Students are also able to engage with and respond to each other’s
posts. In this workshop, you will create a Padlet, add it to Brightspace, and grade
student contributions.
Using VoiceThread for Interactive Instruction in Brightspace
Tuesday, November 19 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, November 20 from 3pm - 4pm
VoiceThread is a tool that lets students annotate instructor-created videos and other
rich media presentations. These annotations can be videos, audio clips, text and images.
In this workshop, you will explore three possible applications of VoiceThread. First,
we will explore an interactive lecture in which students are required to either ask
questions or to illustrate concepts with their own real world examples. Second, we
will look at an activity in which students are invited to create voiceover content
for an instructor-created visual slidedeck. Finally, for a language course, students
could practice and record their pronunciation as the words are being introduced.
Using Google Docs for Wikis in Brightspace
Tuesday, November 26 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, November 27 from 3pm - 4pm
A wiki is a website that allows collaborative content creation. It affords argument,
debate, and interaction regarding the content and the structure of that content by
its users. While only instructors can edit pages in Brightspace, Google Docs pages
can be embedded into Brightspace. Students can then collaboratively edit the Google
Doc within Brightspace, as well as add comments to the document. As an instructor,
you can review open and resolved comments, review individual contributions to the
documents, and lock the document as read only. In this workshop, we will explore these
functions to create an interactive research assignment for a class of students.
Adding Quizzes
Tuesday, December 3 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, December 4 from 3pm - 4pm
This workshop will provide a deep dive into quizzes. The workshop will demonstrate
a quiz, including the different types of quiz questions. You will be invited to reflect
on the types of quiz questions that they might use in their course. The workshop will
then provide exercises on how to build out a bank of questions, including best practices
such as a bank of recall questions and a bank of short answer questions, as well as
a consideration around scoring each. Exercises will then turn to associating the questions
with a quiz.
Setting up the Gradebook
Tuesday, December 10 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, December 11 from 3pm - 4pm
The Setting up the Gradebook workshop aims to provide you with a show-and-tell of
the gradebook from the perspective of the student. In doing so, the workshop will
aim to explain how the gradebook communicates to the student their performance. The
workshop will then provide exercises on how to set up the gradebook. First, the workshop
will outline the recommended settings for the gradebook. Then, the workshop will guide
participants through the process of creating high level categories. Finally, the workshop
will show how to associate assignments, discussions, and quizzes with those categories.
Adding Third Party Tools
Tuesday, December 17 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, December 18 from 3pm - 4pm
The Adding Third Party Tools workshop will provide an exploration of third party tools
in Brightspace. The workshop will outline tools that are integrated in Brightspace,
including Padlet, VoiceThread, Google Suite, Webex, and Qwickly Attendance. Then,
the workshop will guide participants through the process and best practices for adding
these tools into your courses.
Adding and Structuring content
Tuesday, January 7 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, January 8 from 3pm - 4pm
The Adding and structuring content workshop will provide exercises on adding modules,
embedding existing videos and audio files, adding existing graded activities to modules,
and adding new pages. You will also be provided with exercises on moving content within
a move as well as how to change a module title. This workshop will outline how to
ensure content is released to students.
Adding Assignments
Tuesday, January 14 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, January 15 from 3pm - 4pm
The Adding Assignments workshop will focus on building out basic assignments in Brightspace.
You will be provided with an example of an assignment. The exercises will outline
how to create a basic assignment with an appropriate title, score, description, submission
method, and visibility.
Setting up the Gradebook
Tuesday, January 21 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, January 22 from 3pm - 4pm
The Setting up the Gradebook workshop aims to provide you with a show-and-tell of
the gradebook from the perspective of the student. In doing so, the workshop will
aim to explain how the gradebook communicates to the student their performance. The
workshop will then provide exercises on how to set up the gradebook. First, the workshop
will outline the recommended settings for the gradebook. Then, the workshop will guide
participants through the process of creating high level categories. Finally, the workshop
will show how to associate assignments, discussions, and quizzes with those categories.
Working with Groups
Tuesday, January 28 from 11am - 12pm
Wednesday, January 29 from 3pm - 4pm
The Working with Groups workshop will outline how to create groups, how to assign
a discussion to a particular group, how to enable “lockers” and group discussions
to monitor the progress of group assignments, how to create a group assignment, and
how to grade a group assignment.
Get Help
If you need assistance with Brightspace, call the SUNY Online Support Services Help Desk (open 7 days per week) at 1-844-673-6786 during the following hours:
Monday - Friday 7:00AM-12:00AM Midnight EST
Saturday 10:00AM-6:00PM EST
Sunday 10:00AM-9:00PM EST
If you are having trouble with your FIT Username and Password, call IT for FIT at (212) 217-4357.