Desire2Learn Brightspace Learning Platform

As you are likely aware, the College has committed to implementing a learning management system known as Desire2Learn. This decision involved many people across all campuses and from many walks of college life: faculty, information technology and administration. Many issues needed to be confronted and after all is said and done, the College is in process of working out integration between Desire2Learn (or, as it is more correctly called, The Brightspace Learning Platform) and our existing Student Information System (SIS), which is PowerCampus. Because we have multiple campuses and programs (3 DCS programs, a BS program, an AAS program and an MS program), there are some challenges in making this all work. This will all be resolved in the near future; it is coding issue relating to how we can access course rosters correctly from PowerCampus.

The Brightspace platform looks somewhat similar to the portal system we currently use, but it has much more flexibility, ease of use and capacity. It also can integrate with other programs such as turnitin.com and Atomic Learning. It has a built-in Capture system, too.

As we move closer to implementation, we will be offering training in the use of the system. It works somewhat similar to what you are all accustomed to; you can upload files or announcements to your course home area. But it is very easy to use; you can “drag and drop” multiple files at once and have them populate your course, and once your course is created, there are ways with just a couple clicks or so to create a new course in the following term and have all your material copied over.

There is also a community of users and resources you can easily tap. For those of you who like to have access, the initial link is at https://community.brightspace.com. From there you can access blogs about the system, message boards, articles and most important training videos.

Please take a look at this site: https://community.brightspace.com/resources/videos

From there you can maneuver to the “G” list and find a series of “Getting Started” clips that will give you some insight into the system. We are going to attempt to create “sandboxes” for you to play in, and will let you know what that happens.

This is exciting, and I am hoping you will engage in the use of the system to a greater degree than you have in the past.