Brightspace

The Campus Migration Teams leaders are:

Campus Lead: Phyllis Curti-Tweed, Provost and VP of Academic Affairs

Campus Co-lead: Denis Bejar, Director of Educational Technology

Learning Management Expert: Delwar Sayeed, IT Academic Applications Specialist

Academic Technologist: Ka Cheng, IT Academic Applications Specialist

Project Coordinator: Punita Bhansali, Faculty

Communications: Leslie Ward, Librarian

Only the course content and the course structure will be migrated. Student rosters, activity data, submissions will not be migrated. 

Third-party content such as Book Publishers, VoiceThread, PlayPosit and Digication will need to be re-linked.

Go to https://brightspace.cuny.edu and use your CUNY Login credentials

Training for faculty and students will begin officially in Spring 2024. However, CUNY and D2L are planning to offer some training sessions as early as October 2023. Training will be offered in various modalities, including an asynchronous course available right in Brightspace. More information will be posted on this web site.

Course migration is an automated process that moves course content from Blackboard to D2L, “Brightspace,” but not student records such as grades.

Initially, CUNY will migrate two years of historical courses (over 150,000 courses) based on the college’s starting transition date. Our contract with D2L provides for migration of up to 525,000 courses. The LMS Advisory Team will solicit campus input to inform the secondary course migration strategy. A full course migration timeline will be made available to the LMS transition campus teams.

Only course content and the course structure in Blackboard will be migrated to Brightspace. A course migration guide will be provided with details.

As has always been true, the intellectual property of faculty using D2L will be governed by CUNY’s Intellectual Property Policy (cuny.edu).

CUNY owns the data. According to the D2L RFP:

D2L complies with the data storage privacy, trust, and security protocols of CUNY.

AND

D2L has policies that apply to all information handling practices, including client confidentiality. Data is classified as "Strictly Confidential," covering Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or confidential information. They have confidentiality provisions in their contracts and restrict access to customer data except for maintaining the service or responding to technical or service problems as requested by the customer.

Accessibility

Key aspects of its support for accessibility include:

1. Compliance with Accessibility Standards: Brightspace aligns with WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) 2.1 AAA standards. These guidelines ensure web content is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.

2. Automated Closed Captioning: Brightspace offers automated closed captioning for video content. This feature is crucial for deaf or hard-of-hearing users, ensuring that audio content is accessible.

3. Intuitive and Easy-to-Use Interface: The platform is designed to be intuitive and easy to use, which is beneficial for users who may have cognitive or learning disabilities.

4. Mobile Responsiveness and Native Mobile Applications: Brightspace's mobile-friendly platform ensures that users can access the LMS through various devices, which is particularly important for users with physical disabilities who may rely on mobile devices for accessibility.

5. Content Templates: These templates are designed to be fully accessible, aligning with WCAG 2.1 AAA Standards, ensuring consistency and accessibility in course materials.

6. Built-In Accessibility Checker: Brightspace includes a built-in accessibility checker that helps educators create content that meets accessibility standards.

7. Color Contrast Ratio Checker: This tool ensures that text and background colors on the platform meet the required contrast ratios for readability, important for users with visual impairments.

8. Multiple Ways to Engage and Learn: The platform supports different learning styles and needs by allowing content to be presented in various formats and providing multiple means of interaction.

9. Support for Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Brightspace's features align with UDL principles, offering multiple means of representation, action, expression, and engagement to support diverse learners.

   By incorporating these features, Brightspace demonstrates a commitment to making digital learning accessible to all users, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. To learn more, visit https://www.d2l.com/accessibility/.