Building Community & Advanced Features within Brightspace by D2L - E017

The EduGals Podcast

This episode is Part 2 of our Brightspace Series. If you haven't had a chance to listen to part 1, where we talk about the basics of Brightspace, and how teachers can start out with this program, click here to listen!

Today, we are speaking with Tanya Williamson, who is knowledgable about all things Brightspace. She will take us through some more advanced features and tools within Brightspace, and she will also give educators some advice as they begin to plan and prepare for a new school year.

If you like what you hear, we would love it if you could share this episode with a colleague or friend. And make sure you subscribe so that you don't miss out on any new content! Check out our website for more detailed show notes!

We would love to hear from you - leave a comment here, OR check out our FLIPGRID!

Show Notes

• Brightspace Tutorials

Community Building

• Strong teacher presence is essential! First impressions are crucial to establishing this.
  • Activity vs news feed - Depends on needs! Or use both!
  • Virtual learning spaces can be modified! Make it your own - meet the needs of all students
  • Video Note Tool - available anywhere HTML editor is available. Great for building community, differentiation.
  • Discussion Tool - use text, video and audio. Also create a cafe/lounge for non-curricular related discussions
  • Other tips - post clear expectations, co-construct class/discussion norms
  • Virtual Classroom
    • polling features, chat pod feature, whiteboard available
    • Different subscription levels; check with your Brightspace contact for more info

Learning Brightspace

• Learning Curve - Advice: start with one unit first, you don't need the entire course ready to go!
• Streamline/Simplify
  • Start with news/activity, content, dropbox and discussions; dive into quizzes when you're ready!
  • Customize your homepage - get rid of anything you're not using
  • Create your own widgets

Advanced Tools

• Quiz Tool: Special access, Question library
• Portfolio Tool:
  • Showcase progress over time, expectations for use should be clear
  • Visible only between teacher and student (no other students can access)
• Accessibility: No specific features within Brightspace, however extensions such as Read&Write do interact with Brightspace!

Prep for Sept: Big Advice for Teachers

• Welcome email to students
• Welcome Message posted!
• First week: Online icebreakers, focus on COMMUNITY!
• Incorporate student voice/choice
• Include different ways to learn (text, simulations, videos, etc.)

Tanya’s one piece of advice as they are navigating BS and trying to get ready for a new school year:

• Keep your students’ needs, interests, etc. at the forefront; Build your course from the perspective of the student - easy to access? do they see themselves? is it accessible? how will i be supporting how they learn? It might take them longer to learn the curriculum - 2-3x longer than you might think! They are on their own during eLearning, so pare down content

Support the show

Connect with EduGals:

• Twitter @EduGals
• Rachel @dr_r_johnson
• Katie @KatieAttwell
• EduGals Website
• Support the show