July 2023 Brightspace Updates

Brightspace Support from the SUNY Online Help Desk

As part of our migration from Moodle to Brightspace, Purchase now subscribes to Tier 1 support services provided by the SUNY Online Help Desk.

The SUNY Online Help Desk should be your first point of contact to get help with all aspects of the Brightspace learning management system (LMS). The SUNY Online Help Desk is staffed with experts who can assist with:

• Creating course content (e.g. assignments, quizzes, discussions forums, attendance, etc.)
• Answering questions pertaining to course delivery (e.g. navigating discussions, grading assignments, adjusting release settings, working with the grade book, etc.)

You can contact the SUNY Online Help Desk during their extensive service hours, including evenings and weekends. Updated hours are posted to their website and available at the “SUNY Online Support Services” widget in Brightspace.

• Main Website for the SUNY Online Help Desk
  • at the LMS Support Request page, click on the “Request Service” button
• SUNY Online Help Desk phone number for Brightspace assistance: 1-844-673-6786

Please visit their website for more information and check out the SUNY Online Support and Resources site for additional support.

Moving Courses from Moodle to Brightspace

Purchase College will be switching our learning management system from Moodle to D2L Brightspace beginning with the Fall 2023 semester. Each faculty member can decide the best path forward using the approaches outlined at our Moving Courses from Moodle to Brightspace page.

Please note that our current Moodle server will be available through the Fall 2025 semester but no new courses or enrollments will be created there.

Brightspace Grade Book Default Settings

The current default Brightspace Grade Book Settings, as determined by SUNY, for Fall 2023 courses are as follows:

• Grading System = Points
• Grade Calculation of Ungraded Items = Treat ungraded items as zeroes. This setting assigns a value of zero (0) as the points received for all ungraded items.

Purchase faculty can change these defaults if they would like to use a Weighted grading system and/or not treat ungraded items as zeroes.

To make grade book adjustments on course-by-course basis:

• navigate to the desired course > click on “Grades” in the course Navbar > click on “Setup Wizard” to review the existing Grade Book settings.
• Click on the “Settings” gear icon on the right side of the page
• Click on the “Calculation options” tab
• Make your changes and click on the “Save” button

Brightspace Grade Book Default Settings for Newly-created Courses:

SUNY has decided to change the current default settings on all newly-created courses going forward. Beginning with the Winter 2024 term, Brightspace Grade Book defaults will be:

• Grading System = Weighted
• Grade Calculation of Ungraded Items = Drop Ungraded Items (i.e. exclude ungraded items from the grade book calculation)

For more information about grading systems types in Brightspace, please see Weighted, points, and formula grading systems (via D2L Brightspace Community).

We Need Your Feedback on Brightspace!

The TLTC requests your feedback about our version of D2L Brightspace so that we can plan for future system improvements. Please submit your thoughts via the Brightspace Feedback Form (not via email). Anonymous feedback is welcome and please feel free to fill out any section of the form as many times as you’d like.

The SUNY and D2L Brightspace contract is for several years and gathering data like this gives us the power to enact potential change. We want to hear your voices, both positive and critical. Please be candid. If something works well, great! If it doesn’t, let us know! We greatly value your input!