This week I started the third and final Brightspace Certificate course in Communication and Engagement. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to start on Monday because they had the wrong course posted. I had to create a discussion post to let the instructor know but couldn’t do that until the discussions were turned on. I followed up on Wednesday to see if anything had been done and was finally able to get in on Wednesday afternoon. The communication from them wasn’t great but at least it was fixed. I powered through the first module and got the test done.
I’ve been going over the Blackboard DIY help page and drafting a new list for Brightspace. We are trying to anticipate the things faculty will need to know ‘just in time’ so they don’t need to create a ticket. There are a couple of new features we can highlight too. There will initially be some Blackboard carryover as instructors will need to get their old content out and loaded into Brightspace. Some may be working from stored Blackboard course files as well. Eventually those can drop off the page.
Jen and I had three sessions this week. We picked up one for Liesel on Communication tools. The sessions are feeling smoother and the audiences are keen. We got really good questions in our assessments session Thursday.
Jen and I worked out some topics for the DIY/Top10/Help page and figured out a colour and style for parts of our training. We got shiny new copies of Snaggit and Camtasia to play with. I plan to draft a sample help page in WordPress on Monday and see how that goes. I’ve been reviewing existing Brightspace training and will experiment with making it more NIC specific.
Next week we have three more sessions and some planning to do. I aim to get through Module 2 of my course and I need to revisit my PD plan. Lots to do. Since we’re in building mode, the construction of the Campbell River campus picture seemed fitting.