MCC Daily Tribune

Semester Start Up and Checklist for Brightspace

If you need some assistance to prep your course in Brightspace for the fall, here are a few helpful tasks below. You can find a printable task sheet located in our VC Faculty Center course.  

Tasks for Every Course: 

• Copy your course (please use the course copy process)- You can find instructions in the VC Faculty Center
• Upload an updated Course Information Sheet (CIS) with course schedule
• Create or update a welcome video/announcement
• Check activities (as applicable): 
  • Quizzes are complete and placed where you want them in your content
  • Assignments are complete and placed where you want them in the content
  • Discussions are complete and placed where you want them in the content
• Update dates (go to Course Admin>Manage Dates):
  • Due dates match the CIS
  • Start and End dates make the content available to students when you want
• Update the calendar on the course home page as needed to match the course schedule
• Check the Grade Book (go to the Grade Center>Grades>Manage Grades tab):
  • There are no error messages at the top of the page and nothing is duplicated
  • All gradable activities are present
  • Grading system aligns with the CIS (for example, weighted categories vs. points)
• Check over the course:
  • Content is complete and not duplicated
  • Links and videos are active
  • Modules, topics, and activities are visible (eyeball icon) or hidden (eyeball icon with a slash) as appropriate
• Preview as a student (go to your name>View as MON-Student (Non-Cascading)

Additional Tasks for Certain Courses: 

• If your course includes external publisher content, make sure the link is added and content is assembled on the publisher side
• If your course is a remote course and includes synchronous Zoom meetings, make sure the link is added and meetings are scheduled
• If your course has student accommodations, make sure accommodations are set up per student
• If your course includes merged sections (and is not cross-listed), make sure discussions sections are separate

Need Assistance? 

• Reach out to the Virtual Campus (virtualcampus@monroecc.edu) with any questions. 
• See our full calendar of support. If you prefer on-campus support options, Thursday, 8/17 is our first available in-person support time! We are available from 9 am to 1 pm in room 3-122 (located in our Training Room in the Virtual Campus Suite 3-150).  We have computers available in our lab where you can work on your course.

Andrea Gilbert
Instructional Technologies
08/16/2023