Teaching and Learning in Online Environment
26 Teaching and Learning on Brightspace
Brock University uses a Learning Management System (LMS) named Brightspace. Brightspace is web-based and offers a secure learning environment that permits scalable interactive communication.
Since it is browser-based, and platform-independent, students can log in from anywhere anytime. The flexibility of the course design tools available to faculty makes this environment appealing to the technical novice and to the experienced developer of online courses.
- Brightspace permits authenticated access only, i.e. it is CAMPUS ID and Password protected and by default only grants access to students enrolled in a specific course.
- Each course site can be used for distributing files, links and sending announcements. Additional tools can be added at any time for common tasks such as courses for information dissemination, synchronous and asynchronous communication among students and the instructor (threaded discussion, course only mail, calendar, time management tools, and other collaboration tools such as blogs and wikis) as well as accepting assignments and returning grades in a secure, accountable and private manner.
Getting Access to Brightspace
If the instructor you are working with has the course you are TAing in Brightspace, you may be asked to monitor, facilitate forums, or add grades.
Only the Instructor can add you as a TA to the LMS course. This allows you to add marks and participate in and manage discussion topics. You cannot add or change online course content by default.
You need a Brock CAMPUS ID and password. If you are not a student and do not have a Brock email account, you will need to fill out a Computer Account Request form (from ITS or your department administrator), in order to get an email address and activate your account.
Using Brightspace to Enhance Seminars
Many students are not comfortable speaking in seminars in front of their peers. The asynchronous threaded discussion area provides a forum for students who prefer to prepare a more reflective response to questions. Many instructors have discussions implemented in their LMS. If you wish to use the course’s Brightspace for your seminar, you must communicate this with the instructor prior to making any changes to the site.
- The discussion forum celebrates l’esprit d’escalier – students have the opportunity to contribute that good idea that only occurred to them after the class was over.
- Experience has shown that providing this access to class discussion convinces students that learning transcends a timetable slot and a classroom location.
- The discussion board can also be used to help with class management and serve as a place for course questions to be asked and answered by anyone; potentially saving the instructor and TAs a lot of repetitive emails.
In addition to presentation of web materials, Brightspace also offers instruments for formative and summative evaluation.
- Multiple choice, true/false, and short answer testing may be set for auto-correction, with students receiving their grades within seconds of submitting their answers.
- Testing may be set to record the first grade, the last grade, the highest grade, or an average of all scores for that test, depending on the learning outcome the Instructor wishes to achieve.
- Ask the Instructor of the course for further information regarding your course and the use of Brightspace.
Good teaching is often impeded by the need for good course management. Course management can be enhanced through creative use of tools within Brightspace.
- Documents can be made available to students at all times. Glossaries, FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) and collections of web resources can easily be shared.
- Simple tools like ‘Message’ become considerably more powerful when a decision is made to limit all course communications to Brightspace and a reasonable response time is agreed upon.
In addition to discussion, Brightspace has a quizzes function that can be used to test student’s understanding and keep them engaged and accountable for completing the readings week-to-week. If you are looking to measure if a learning objective has been achieved, the quiz function could provide you with some indication.
- Challenges: Brightspace quizzes will often need to be created by the Instructor of a course. This method of facilitating learning is best used in combination with other methods, but can be beneficial in an online course specifically to check-in with the students week-to-week.
Want more Information?
- Watch for CPI workshops for Brightspace on Experience BU or contact us at cpi@brocku.ca.
- More information on Brightspace can be found in Brightspace – Centre for Pedagogical Innovation
