Brightspace Quick Tips, Fall 2023

Review Your “Account Check” Widget

• Below the “My Courses” widget, you will see the “Account Check” widget. Please review your account information and if you are a full-time Purchase student, ensure that your primary campus affiliation is with Purchase and that Brightspace is using your Purchase email account to communicate with you. If it is not, please create a ticket with the SUNY Online Help Desk to request that the information be updated. 

Manage Your Notifications

• Each student and instructor can manage their own Brightspace notification settings. To do this, click on your name in the upper right corner and click “Notifications.” By default, you will receive an email notification when a new Announcement is made or updated.  Check the appropriate box to receive notifications for those actions. Remember to click on the “Save” button when you’re done. More about Notifications can be found at the “Change personal settings in Brightspace” official Brightspace Community documentation.

Create & Manage Attendance Registers

• The Attendance tool enables you to create registers that track attendance for activities within your courses. You can track attendance for any number of activities and customize your registers to suit your needs. Please note that attendance taken through this tool cannot be associated with the Grade Book.

Send an Email to Your Entire Class

• To send an email to your entire course, from the course Navbar, click on “Course Management” > “Roster” > click on the “Email classlist” button. 
• On the next screen, click on the “Send email” button to open the “Compose a new message” window.

Improve the Accessibility of Course using Ally & Accessibility Checker

• Anthology Ally (formerly Blackboard Ally) is available in Brightspace to help instructors improve the accessibility of their course content. Ally provides accessibility checks for Course and Lesson content, provides suggestions for improving content, and provides alternative accessible formats and allows students to choose the format that best meets their requirements. You can also use the built-in Accessibility Checker on HTML-authored content to ensure compliance with accessibility standards.

Allow Extended Time on Brightspace Activities

• directions for allowing particular students extended time on Quizzes and other activities using the Accommodations or Special Access features can be found at the FAQ - How do I give students extended time on tasks in Brightspace?