FAQs

Migration Details

  • What date will MCC migrate to Brightspace? Our goal is to pilot a handful of courses in Brightspace in the Summer 2022 semester and fully migrate all courses by the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester.  All fall 2022 academic courses will be taught in Brightspace. 
  • What is the final end-of-life date of Blackboard? Our Blackboard contract expires on December 21, 2022. All Blackboard courses will be inaccessible to retrieve content or student data after this date. You can save course content in Blackboard by creating a regular full export of your course (like you would do if you were moving content from semester to semester). This export file can be used to import into your Brightspace course shell but will require some cleanup. There is a course file size limit of 2 GB. If your course is larger than this size, you may want to clean up unused files, videos, and images in your course.
  • What does our base Brightspace license include? We will direct you to the SUNY DLE website to view the SUNY Base License Brightspace Features. Login with your MCC credentials is required. 
  • Who’s our campus executive sponsor/lead, academic lead, and technical lead from MCC? Terry Keys (AVP, Instructional Services) is our campus executive sponsor and lead, Andrea Gilbert (Virtual Campus) is the academic lead, and Jamie Hoover (Virtual Campus) is the technical lead. 

Importing and Exporting Content

  • When I import my course into Brightspace, will any student data come over? No, only the course structure will transfer. 
  • Will I be able to copy an existing course from Blackboard into Brightspace or will I have to build a new course?  Yes, you will be able to copy an existing course into Brightspace. We have tested out the process and you can easily export your content from Blackboard and import it into Brightspace. You will still have some cleanup, but our future training opportunities will help you with that process. You may also use this opportunity to build new and reuse pieces of your original courses (such as tests).  A consistent design (modules, weeks, units, etc.) is extremely helpful to online learners. 
  • What types of items will need to be checked in the migration cleanup process? If you carry over content, you will want to touch all of your content in the course. You will want to pay extra attention to tests/quizzes, any images, attached video (rather than embedded), assignments, and discussions. The gradebook will needs some extra attention. Due dates can be adjusted with the bulk date management tool. Clean up old references to Blackboard. Clean up old announcements. Third-party links will need to be rebuilt. Please reach out to us directly if you have items that did not transfer properly. 
  • Will you migrate courses for us automatically like we did with ANGEL to Blackboard? We will not be migrating your courses for you from Blackboard. You will need to export your own materials from each course and move them into Brightspace, just as you would do from semester to semester in Blackboard. 
  • How do I export my course and import it into Brightspace?  Here are written instructions and video tutorials.  Export your course as usual from Blackboard and follow the instructions to import your course into your empty course shell in Brightspace. 
  • How will Brightspace notify us that an export is complete? What about an import? When you export a course, you will see a notification in the alert bell icon on your mini bar that tells you it finished. For imports, you’ll see a series of prompts on the screen that will tell you when the import is ready and you can view content. 
  • Will there be a set standard for the way MCC courses should look/be set up or is up to the instructor? A common navigation between courses helps our students learn much easier and reduces cognitive overload. We have set a standard navbar and home page for consistent navigation. You can control the content within your course shell.  Our goal for summer and fall for a functioning course. If you are starting from scratch, we recommend a Start Here area, Course Information, and then listing your weeks or module folders. You may also include a Help area and Class Community space for online courses.  
  • Will MCC still offer “merging courses” in Brightspace? Merging course sections was a service that the Virtual Campus team offered faculty in Blackboard to make it easier to manage their course from one “parent” course shell instead of multiple individual sections. We recently began “semi-automating” this process for cross-listed courses in Brightspace. We will be able to offer this service for the fall. You can use our regular merge request form if you think you may want to merge courses. 
  • How will we save/archive our Blackboard courses? Course archives help you preserve a course with student data, while an export only saves your content/structure. Once Blackboard reaches its end of life and we lose access to our system, we cannot restore an archive without another alternative and a place to house the archive file. We will use a third-party service called K16 to hold our archives so it is retrievable for student grievances and accreditation. We recommend backing up at least 2 years of your course gradebooks in Blackboard per data retention policies. We also recommend saving an export of your most up-to-date and complete version of each course prep so you are more in control of your data. Check with your individual departments on retention guidelines and consult Records Management. 

Training

  • When will training begin for faculty? See our Faculty Training tab for more details. Faculty can access the asynchronous training course from their Brightspace account.
  • How do I begin to understand the new vocabulary of Brightspace?  Learning the new lingo of Brightspace is helpful to understanding the essential features and how they work. You can apply some of your general LMS/Blackboard knowledge to our new system. Algonquin College put together a nice glossary with videos to help to understand the new vocabulary in Brightspace. 
  • How will students get trained? We have created our own custom asynchronous training modules for students. As soon as their user account is created, they will be enrolled in the orientation. Student Brightspace Tutorials can also be found on the Brightspace YouTube Channel for Learners. 
  • Where can we send our students for technical help with Brightspace? MCC contracts with SUNY Online Support Services to offer extended help desk services. Students can use the SUNY help desk for technical support. They can access the help desk support contact information and hours at SUNY Online Help Desk.

Gradebook

Where can I find additional resources on the Brightspace gradebook? See the following resources from other colleges for more information

3rd Party Tools

  • Will external tools work in Brightspace, such as college-licensed products from Zoom, Ensemble, Respondus, or VoiceThread? MCC currently has a contract with Zoom, YuJa, Respondus, Turnitin, and VoiceThread that can be used within Blackboard. The following tools are currently integrated with Brightspace instance: Pearson, Cengage, McGraw Hill, Wiley Plus, Lumen, VoiceThread, Zoom, Packback, ThinkingStorm, Electude, Norton, and Respondus.  We will be slowly adding new tools. Please reach out to our office if you don’t see a tool listed here that you think may need to be integrated. 
  • If I use third-party tool,  will I need to rebuild all of my links in my Brightspace course? Yes, we have gotten confirmation that you will need to rebuild the “deep links” to any third-party tool links in your course. They will not transfer properly in the migration. You can reach out to your vendor rep to let them know we will be migrating to Brightspace and reach out to see if they have resources for linking content in Brightspace. These tools will have to pass security and accessibility standards from SUNY. 

Engage

How can I engage with other users of Brightspace? Join the Brightspace community group

Blackboard Organizations

  • What will happen to organizations from Blackboard? We are internally figuring out the plan for course conversion of academic courses first, and then will determine a plan for organizations in Blackboard. If you need a place for file storage and announcements for a department or committee and you currently have an Blackboard organization, we recommend using Microsoft Teams. If you are using an organization for compliance training that use tests or assignment submissions, Brightspace will be the final home for these trainings, but may live until the end of life in Blackboard (Dec. 2022).  More details will follow. 
  • What will happen to the college-wide CIS repository? Course Information Sheets that have been stored in Blackboard’s Institution Content Collection will remain housed there for the fall semester and will be moving to Teams. 

Brightspace Features

Is there a mobile app for Brightspace? Yes, the mobile app for Brightspace is called “Pulse”. It is available for free in the app store.  Brightspace is designed for mobile-friendly behavior! It will work on any device and any browser, including mobile browsers. See Apple and Google Play to download.

Questions

Do you have a question that you would like answered in our FAQ page? Please leave an anonymous question on our LMS Questions and Concerns Form.

Updated 1-9-23