Skip to main content

<p>They include:</p>

<ul>
<li>SUNY Digital Learning Environments Advisory Team (Christie Woods representing the Faculty Council of Community Colleges, Katie Ghidiu representing SUNY Libraries and Terry Keys representing community colleges in the Directors of Online/Distance Learning Environments group)</li>
<li>Technical Implementation Workgroup (virtual campus team)</li>
<li>Campus Implementation Planning Workgroup (virtual campus team)</li>
</ul>

<p>Our Blackboard contract expires December 21, 2022, so our plan is to migrate courses over to the new LMS, by the <strong>start of the Fall 2022</strong> semester to avoid a mid-academic year migration. At the same time, our portal implementation project is underway and will replace myMCC/Blackboard. Please note that Brightspace and the new portal are two separate products, however, the Virtual Campus Team and the Title III team will work collaboratively throughout this process to integrate these tools seamlessly.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Our <strong><em>tentative </em></strong>timeline for our Brightspace migration is as follows:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
<li>Training and planning for implementation during the Spring 2022 (TBD)</li>
<li>Pilot summer courses in Brightspace in Summer of 2022 (TBD)</li>
<li>All MCC courses moved to Brightspace in Fall of 2022 (TBD)</li>
</ul>

<p>The decisions made over the next two months at SUNY will enable us to solidify our plans.</p>

<p>While Brightspace is a new technology for our team to learn (and that can be scary), we are very excited for the potential of the tool itself to support teaching and learning. We have been through many migrations over the years, so we will make that as smooth as possible for you. Know that we are learning everything possible to help support you through this transition. We do not have a lot of details at this time, but will know more in the next several weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>We are scheduling a <strong>brown bag session</strong> on <strong>Wednesday, December 1st</strong> to share what we can about the migration. A MCC Tribune announcement will provide details at a later date.</p>

<p>We will be offering various training sessions to help you transition your courses in the Spring semester.&nbsp; In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about what Brightspace looks like, view these resources:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
<li>If you are interested in doing a trial of Brightspace, please visit <a href="https://www.d2l.com/higher-education/">D2L Higher Education</a>.</li>
<li>To login to your trial account, visit the <a href="https://trial.brightspace.com/d2l/login">Trial Login Page</a>.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Join the <a href="https://community.brightspace.com/SelfRegistration">Brightspace Community</a></li>
<li>Brightspace Tutorials can be found on the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLSxTdOzKAFOCZjXav1aCRQ">Brightspace YouTube Channel</a>.&nbsp;</li>
<li>For additional self-paced training and live webinars, visit <a href="https://community.brightspace.com/s/article/2021-Customer-Experience-Day-Swag-Bag">Brightspace Swag Bag Resources</a></li>
</ul>

<p>SUNY announced that they will be creating a sandbox space for faculty to work in. More details will be provided when that becomes available.&nbsp;</p>

<p>We will have a method for moving your courses over to the new LMS in different ways and we will communicate that clearly when the time comes.&nbsp; To preserve your content, Blackboard content can be exported into Brightspace pretty seamlessly, however, with a new LMS there may be some amount of cleanup because the tools vary between products.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Virtual Campus will continue to provide support through this process. Here are some of the ways we will communicate about the new changes:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<ul>
<li>Keep an eye on the main SUNY DLE website for general updates: <a href="https://dle.suny.edu/">dle.suny.edu&nbsp;</a></li>
<li>We created an MCC migration website: <a href="https://sites.monroecc.edu/brightspace/">https://sites.monroecc.edu/brightspace/</a> (Q &amp; A, announcements, upcoming workshops and training, video tutorials, checklists, etc.)&nbsp;</li>
<li>We will post regular Trib Announcements to announce trainings and webinars&nbsp;</li>
<li>We will send regular email announcements through our VC Faculty Center in Blackboard&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

<p>We know you will have many questions and we are happy to answer them, although we may not have all of the answers just yet. <strong>We are here to help you through this process.</strong>&nbsp; Feel free to submit any anonymous questions to us through the <a href="https://dynamicforms.ngwebsolutions.com/Submit/Page?form=3e226682-9a87-4a71-81e3-aecbd54c5b56&amp;page=329653&amp;token=azJoYtjHIX-IjuCucD1bMp2YJAf3_p2JIJBPy4nAL-w">LMS Migration Questions and Concerns Form</a>.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Please contact us directly if you have any questions at <a href="mailto:virtualcampus@monroecc.edu">virtualcampus@monroecc.edu</a> or 292-3440.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Repost Message will copy the article into draft mode and enable you to edit/change dates and information.
Do not change the dates of this posting because it will affect the original.

MCC Daily Tribune

SUNY Selects D2L's Brightspace as the New SUNY-Wide Digital Learning Environment

On September 24, 2021, through SUNY’s RFP process, D2L’s Brightspace was selected as our new Digital Learning Environment for the SUNY system. This means that planning at the SUNY and College levels have shifted into high gear. There are many decisions to be made and SUNY has formed workgroups to ensure all stakeholders are heard. MCC is well represented in these groups. 

They include:

  • SUNY Digital Learning Environments Advisory Team (Christie Woods representing the Faculty Council of Community Colleges, Katie Ghidiu representing SUNY Libraries and Terry Keys representing community colleges in the Directors of Online/Distance Learning Environments group)
  • Technical Implementation Workgroup (virtual campus team)
  • Campus Implementation Planning Workgroup (virtual campus team)

Our Blackboard contract expires December 21, 2022, so our plan is to migrate courses over to the new LMS, by the start of the Fall 2022 semester to avoid a mid-academic year migration. At the same time, our portal implementation project is underway and will replace myMCC/Blackboard. Please note that Brightspace and the new portal are two separate products, however, the Virtual Campus Team and the Title III team will work collaboratively throughout this process to integrate these tools seamlessly. 

Our tentative timeline for our Brightspace migration is as follows:  

  • Training and planning for implementation during the Spring 2022 (TBD)
  • Pilot summer courses in Brightspace in Summer of 2022 (TBD)
  • All MCC courses moved to Brightspace in Fall of 2022 (TBD)

The decisions made over the next two months at SUNY will enable us to solidify our plans.

While Brightspace is a new technology for our team to learn (and that can be scary), we are very excited for the potential of the tool itself to support teaching and learning. We have been through many migrations over the years, so we will make that as smooth as possible for you. Know that we are learning everything possible to help support you through this transition. We do not have a lot of details at this time, but will know more in the next several weeks.  

We are scheduling a brown bag session on Wednesday, December 1st to share what we can about the migration. A MCC Tribune announcement will provide details at a later date.

We will be offering various training sessions to help you transition your courses in the Spring semester.  In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about what Brightspace looks like, view these resources:  

SUNY announced that they will be creating a sandbox space for faculty to work in. More details will be provided when that becomes available. 

We will have a method for moving your courses over to the new LMS in different ways and we will communicate that clearly when the time comes.  To preserve your content, Blackboard content can be exported into Brightspace pretty seamlessly, however, with a new LMS there may be some amount of cleanup because the tools vary between products. 

The Virtual Campus will continue to provide support through this process. Here are some of the ways we will communicate about the new changes:  

  • Keep an eye on the main SUNY DLE website for general updates: dle.suny.edu 
  • We created an MCC migration website: https://sites.monroecc.edu/brightspace/ (Q & A, announcements, upcoming workshops and training, video tutorials, checklists, etc.) 
  • We will post regular Trib Announcements to announce trainings and webinars 
  • We will send regular email announcements through our VC Faculty Center in Blackboard 

We know you will have many questions and we are happy to answer them, although we may not have all of the answers just yet. We are here to help you through this process.  Feel free to submit any anonymous questions to us through the LMS Migration Questions and Concerns Form. 

Please contact us directly if you have any questions at virtualcampus@monroecc.edu or 292-3440.   

Terrance Keys
Instructional Services - AVP Office
11/09/2021