LMS Transition Updates and Information

34 Days until Brightspace is official!

There are 34 days until the complete transition to Brightspace as the official Learning Management System (LMS) for UCM. Additional training opportunities will be available during this period to facilitate a smooth transition to the new platform.  Our Brightspace trainer, Popsann Francis, will join us virtually for over 20 hours of virtual training opportunities starting April 29th through May 30th.  I encourage you to review our Brightspace Virtual Training schedule and mark your calendars accordingly. There is no registration for these events; you can come and go as needed. Please be aware that there are three Q&A for Instructor sessions where Popsann will answer any questions you have.  Those dates and times are included on the schedule.

 

DLII is also available to answer your Brightspace questions. This Friday, April 18th, you can join us in JCKL 1464 from 1:30-3:30 p.m. for our Brightspace Open House hours.  We will hold these events on Fridays throughout the remainder of the semester.  If Fridays don't work with your schedule, you can make 1:1 appointments with any DLII staff member. You can visit our DLII Virtual Meeting Calendar to set up an appointment.  Additional Brightspace Open House events will be held during finals week and throughout the summer.  

 

All faculty have access to our Brightspace Training—Faculty course, which is listed in your Brightspace course listing. This is a great resource, as is our Brightspace Instructor Help page.     

 

Just to remind you, all faculty and students will have access to Blackboard until noon on Monday, June 2nd. After that, DLII will disable Blackboard for all faculty and students. If you have a student with an incomplete from the spring semester, please identify an alternative plan for them to submit work to you.    

 

Please let us know if you have any questions!  We are here to help you through this transition to Brightspace.

 

Sixty-two days until our Brightspace transition!  Just a reminder that our Brightspace Trainer, Popsann Francis, is on campus today in Lovinger 2600.  Today is a general overview of Brightspace.  Tomorrow focuses on Brightspace grading, which is different from Blackboard grades.  Grades have been the most challenging aspect of Brightspace for our early adopters, and Popsann will devote a full day of training on Brighspace grades on Tuesday in Warrensburg and Thursday at the MIC.  We encourage you to attend any of these sessions today and tomorrow in Warrensburg.  See the schedule and come and go as you wish. 

 

March Brightspace Training

 

We will be at the MIC on Wednesday and Thursday!  Please join us as you are able.

 

Brightspace Summer & Fall Courses have arrived!

Good morning, UCM faculty!

We are excited to announce that UCM has officially entered our Brightspace Era! All Summer and Fall 2025 courses have been loaded into Brightspace, and you can begin designing your courses anytime.

To support you in this transition, Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (DLII) offers several resources:

• Visit our Brightspace Instructor Support page for helpful guides and tutorials.
• Contact DLII for assistance or schedule a one-on-one consultation with an instructional design specialist by visiting our DLII Calendar.

Additionally, our Brightspace Trainer, Popsann Francis, will be on campus to provide in-person training:

• March 17-18 – Warrensburg Campus LOV 2600
• March 19-20 – MIC (Missouri Innovation Campus) B101

The March Brightspace Training schedule lists Popsann's training sessions. Feel free to drop in as your schedule allows!

This is an exciting milestone in our digital learning transformation, and we look forward to seeing how Brightspace enhances teaching and learning at UCM. Thank you for being so dedicated to providing an outstanding learning experience for our students!

Please don't hesitate to reach out with questions!

 

Brightspace is coming in 98 days!!

Good morning!  In 98 days UCM will completely transition to Brightspace as our official UCM Learning Management System. In early March, all summer and fall courses will feed to Brightspace. We are thrilled to share that 252 faculty have adopted Brightspace for at least one of their spring courses accounting for 805 course sections that are being delivered from Brightspace this semester. 

 

All teaching faculty were provided a Brightspace Sandbox in September.  If you have not already done so, we suggest you use this sandbox to familiarize yourself with Brightspace.  If you don't see your sandbox, please contact dlii@ucmo.edu and we will work with you to locate it.

 

Important Dates Concerning the Transition:

Early March - All summer and fall course sections will feed to Brightspace

May 19, 2025 - All UCM courses will be deployed from Brightspace

June 2, 2025 - Faculty will lose access to our Blackboard production server

June 20, 2025 - All access to UCM's Blackboard environment will go away

 

Starting this Friday, DLII will offer open house opportunities for faculty to drop in and ask questions about Brightspace.  Join us on Fridays from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. in JCKL 1464.  You can also schedule a virtual appointment with one of our team members at our DLII Virtual Calendar.  

 

For additional information about Brightspace, we encourage you to visit our Brightspace Instructor Help page or see our Brightspace Training - Faculty course in our UCM Brightspace instance.

 

Thank you for your participation in this transition!  Please don't hesitate to contact me or dlii@ucmo.edu with any questions related to our transition to Brightspace.

Good afternoon! I think we can all agree that this semester is somewhat challenging, as students may not understand whether their course is in Blackboard or Brightspace. I'd like to encourage everyone to send a quick message to students enrolled in your Brightspace course(s) to inform them that they need to go to our Brightspace instance. We have heard that students aren't sure which platform their course is being delivered from. Please share this information with your students.  You can email them quickly via Brightspace using the Classlist feature. If you have not already done so, we would like you to do so to clarify this information for them.

Also, could you please verify that your course is active in Brightspace? We are receiving calls from students enrolled in courses that have not been made active in Brightspace.  When you are ready, please make sure your course is active.  Instructions for this can be found at Make Brightspace Course Active.

Finally, our LMS Transition Updates and Information page (current location) contains all previous messages about Brightspace, and our Brightspace Instructor Help page provides helpful information.  

This is the final semester in which we will deliver courses using both learning management systems. We appreciate your support and patience as we work through the start-of-semester issues related to using both systems simultaneously.  

Please don't hesitate to reach out to DLII if you have questions.  We are happy to set up virtual or in-person meetings with you.

Congratulations on preparing your course (or courses) in Brightspace for the spring semester.  I understand this is both exciting and terrifying.  I have two things to share today, and I will keep this short.

Make Sure Your Course is Active

Your students won't see your course until it is active.  Like in Blackboard, your course does not automatically become available to them.  Please see the Make Brightspace Course Active/Available document for clarification.  

SafeAssign Replacement in Brightspace  

We are pleased to announce that Copyleaks is our newest plagiarism tool available in Brightspace.  You can find instructions for creating an assignment using Copyleaks via the Copyleaks Instructor Guide.  We just got access to this application last week.  We apologize for not having more instructions at this time.  Copyleaks will offer a training session on Thursday, January 23rd, at 3:00 p.m.  You can access this training at https://copyleaks.zoom.us/j/83622870638?pwd=IUYI15NAhyTYAOqbPa8NDzoIBYNm71.1  More on this training will be shared via UCM Daily and the All Faculty email. 

Finally, don't hesitate to let DLII know if you have any questions as you move forward in Brightspace.  I want to remind you I have provided some information you may wish to reference.  Those messages are included on our DLII website on the LMS Transition and Updates page (current location).

Have a great semester! 

Good morning!  Today, January 6th is the last day to withdraw as a Brightspace Early Adopter for the spring semester.  However, I am extending this deadline to noon on January 7th because I realized I did not include the link in the email I sent last week.  You MUST let us know if you do not wish to deliver the course(s) you have requested be delivered from Brightspace for the spring semester but wish to deliver them in Blackboard instead.  We do not want to confuse students, and you will be removed as the instructor for the course(s) in Blackboard that you have identified as being delivered from Brightspace this semester next week.  Please complete the form linked below if you need to withdraw from using Brightspace for any courses you previously agreed to deliver from Brightspace for the spring semester.  Thank you!

Withdraw as a Brightspace Early Adopter for Spring Semester

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. We are now just 10 days away from starting the spring semester in Brightspace. Here are a few reminders as you finalize your course preparations.

**Opting Out of Early Adoption for Spring**

If you decide to withdraw as an early adopter for the spring semester, please note the following: You must complete the "Withdraw as an Early Adopter - Spring 2025 Semester" form by the end of the day on Monday, January 6th. While we don’t encourage opting out, we understand if you choose to do so. If you do not complete this form, your course will be delivered via Brightspace during the spring semester, and you will lose access to the Blackboard course shell on Tuesday, January 14th. This access loss applies only to the course(s) you have chosen to deliver through Brightspace; all other courses will remain accessible to you. Although students will still see your course shell in Blackboard, they will only find information stating that you have chosen to deliver the course through Brightspace, along with instructions on how to log in to our UCM Brightspace instance.

**Validate Enrollment in Brightspace**

If you have copied your course content from Blackboard to Brightspace for your spring semester course(s), you want to make sure that you delete the EVP enrollment information that may have been included in the course export.  If you have a Validate Enrollment module that looks like the following in your Brightspace course, you will want to delete it.

To delete the module, first click on it and then click on the chevron next to the Validate Enrollment title.  Select Delete Module.  The old version of EVP will not work in Brightspace.  Instead, make sure you are using the Brightspace EVP checklist that looks like the following:

Make sure it says "Validate Enrollment Checklist." Then, follow the information for reporting and verifying EVP by viewing our Enrollment Validation Process document for more information.  

**Make Your Course Active**

All Brightspace courses have a start date established for spring as January 13th and a close date on May 9th at 11:59 p.m. This scheduling is part of the Ellucian Intelligent Learning Platform (ILP), which integrates courses from Banner to Brightspace. However, this does not mean your course will automatically become available to your students. You must make the course active whether or not you have start and end dates established. We encourage you to follow the instructions for making your course active in our support document titled "Make Brightspace Course Active (Available)."

We are excited to continue this Brightspace journey with you. If you need assistance with Brightspace next week, you can schedule an appointment with one of our DLII team members using our DLII appointment scheduling calendar. There are 30-minute virtual blocks. Alternatively, you can meet DLII team members in JCKL 1464 from Mondayto Friday (January 6-10th), between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. If you have any further questions or need more help, feel free to email the team at dlii@ucmo.edu. 
 
Only 137 days remain until UCM's complete transition to Brightspace! Thank you for being part of our early adopter phase.
Wishing you a "brighter" 2025!

Hello! Thank you for agreeing to be a Brightspace early adopter for the spring 2025 semester. We are thrilled you have made this choice. There are currently 704 courses identified as being delivered from Brightspace in the spring semester!  

WARNING: This is a LONG email!  

I encourage you to read this message in Its entirety, as it contains crucial dates you need to note. While this message may be lengthy, it's essential for you, as a Brightspace early adopter, to be informed about the important aspects covered.

Check Brightspace for your course sections.

On December 3rd, the final course section feed was generated to Brightspace.  All courses requested to be delivered from Brightspace should now be available.   Please check Brightspace to identify if your courses are listed.  Only those courses requested to be delivered from Brightspace will be available in our Brightspace instance in the spring.  Please let us know as soon as possible if something is missing. Even if it is a course that won't be taught during the first 8 weeks, we must identify why it is missing.

Merged Courses

If you have requested a merged course in Brightspace, those should be completed.  However, if you find one that is not merged that you believe should be, please let us know as soon as possible.  If you would like to request that a Brightspace course be merged, you can complete the Request to Merge Sections in Brightspace form.  A merge section combines two course sections and is not a transfer of course materials from Blackboard to Brightspace.  Please see our Brightspace FAQ document for more information about merged courses.   

Student Enrollment

Just like Blackboard, student enrollment will feed to Brightspace two weeks before the start of the semester. You should expect to see your student enrollment show up on or around December 30th. This is an automated process by the Office of Technology.

PLEASE READ - This is very important for you to know

Withdraw as an Early Adopter

If you decide that you are not ready to deliver your course from Brightspace in the spring, you have until January 6th to complete the Withdraw as a Brightspace Early Adopter form.  You must complete the form if you decide to revert back to Blackboard for the spring semester.  However, please note that spring is the last semester you will have Blackboard availability.  All courses starting May 19, 2025, will be delivered from Brightspace.  

Blackboard Information - PLEASE NOTE

The DLII team has identified the Blackboard sections for the courses that will be delivered in Brightspace for the upcoming spring semester. Our team will add a graphic to the homepage of each course and hide any additional course content within the Blackboard section. This approach will clarify to students that these courses will not be delivered in Blackboard.  The banner graphic provides instructions for logging into Brightspace. By implementing this strategy, we aim to reduce confusion among students and ensure they understand the specific platform that will be used for their course delivery.

After Wednesday, January 11th, you will no longer have access to your Blackboard course section for the course you choose to deliver through Brightspace. While your students will still be able to access the Blackboard shell, you, as the instructor, will not. This decision has been made to ensure a smooth transition and to prevent any confusion that might arise if instructors choose to revert back to Blackboard after the course has started. It is essential to foster a sense of stability for students as they adapt to using Brightspace.

Welcome Widget - GOING AWAY! (Please don't use it for spring)

You have likely noticed the Brightspace Welcome Widget, which is that window that automatically pops up when you go into your class. Between the fall and spring semester, the Welcome Widget is going away and being replaced with the Slim Announcment Widget.  This decision was made based on responses from our fall early adopters.  We were offered the option to trade out a widget as part of our base package, and the early adopters chose the Slim Announcement Widget over the Welcome Widget.  We are working with our Brightspace team to identify when this switch will occur.  It will likely be removed the week after finals.

Training

Our DLII team will be available for support in person on the following days:

Friday - December 6th, 1:30-3:30 - JCKL 1464
Monday - December 9th, 1:00 - 4:00 - JCKL 1464
Tuesday - December 10th, 9:00 - 11:00 - JCKL 1464
Wednesday - December 11th, 8:30 - 11:00 - JCKL 1464
Wednesday - December 11th, 1:00 - 2:00 - JCKL 1464
January 6-10th - DLII team will be available from 8:00 - 3:30 in JCKL 1464 and virtually.  More details about these opportunities will be shared in January.

Also, DLII team members are available for virtual appointments.  Email dlii@ucmo.edu to schedule a time with a team member for the week of December 16th - 20th.  For virtual appointments over the holiday, contact me at cknight@ucmo.edu to arrange a time that works for both of us.  

THANK YOU!!

Thank you once again for being an early adopter of Brightspace! We are thrilled to take this next step together. Transitioning to a new teaching platform is never without its challenges, and we recognize that this is a significant change. We sincerely appreciate your willingness to embrace Brightspace early and your dedication to making this transition successful.

Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.

We have some exciting updates about our Brightspace implementation coming up next week! First, we’re thrilled to invite you to our 3-day on-site Brightspace training with our expert trainer, Popsann Francis, happening next Tuesday through Thursday. This is a fantastic opportunity to get hands-on experience, and we’d love to see you there! Be sure to check out the official Brightspace Training Schedule for all the details.

Next week also marks the first official spring (202520) course feed for those who’ve already chosen to deliver a course from Brightspace in the spring. If you’re ready to make the switch, be sure to complete the Spring 202520 Brightspace Adopter form so we can ensure your spring section is available to you. If you’re still considering it, no worries—there will be two more spring course feeds on November 8th and December 3rd. Remember, the final day to submit the form is December 2, 2024.

As of this morning, 60 instructors have already committed to using Brightspace for a total of 148 spring courses—an incredible start! Thank you to everyone who has taken this step forward.

With the full transition to Brightspace coming on May 19, 2025, the spring semester is a great time to get started by moving at least one course over. We’re here to support you every step of the way!

Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation is pleased to share that all individuals on record teaching in the fall (202510) or spring (202520) semester now have access to our Brightspace instance.  In addition to access, those on record have been given one Brightspace course sandbox, which you can use to familiarize yourself with Brightspace.  

All courses starting May 19, 2025 (202530), will be taught from our Brightspace instance. From that date forward, Brightspace will become our official and only Learning Management System for UCM instruction. Our contract with Blackboard officially ends on June 30, 2025.  

Below is some helpful information as you start using our Brightspace instance.

Accessing UCM’s Brightspace Instance

To log into our Brightspace instance, you can go to ucmo.brightspace.com.

Sign in by selecting the Current UCM Students, Faculty, or Staff option.

You will be directed to the UCM Single Sign-On page, where you will sign in with your UCM network credentials.

NOTE: You must sign in through SSO.  You will not have the option to use the Center for Workforce and Other User option.

Only faculty who are instructors of record for fall and/or spring sections currently have access to Brightspace.  Faculty not on this list can request access by completing the Brightspace Access Request form.  At the moment, we are only providing priority access to faculty.  

Accessing Your Brightspace Sandbox

From the Brightspace institutional page, you can find your course and update your profile.

1. The waffle menu (icon with 9 boxes) lets you quickly locate your sandbox.
2. Your name will appear in the right-hand corner. Click on it to update your profile and account settings.

Accessing the Brightspace Community & Guided Training

We strongly encourage you to view the Brightspace Guided Training in the Brightspace Community. The Brightspace Guided Training document provides directions for accessing this guided training from the Brightspace Community.  

Moving a Course from Blackboard to Brightspace

Brightspace does offer a Blackboard to Brightspace conversion option.  While this will not replicate your course completely, this tool does provide a powerful option to transfer course content from

Blackboard to Brightspace.  Please visit the Moving Courses from Blackboard to Brightspace document. 

Early Adoption for Spring (202520) Semester

We strongly encourage you to consider early adoption of Brightspace for the spring semester.  You can choose one or more of your spring courses to deliver from Brightspace. Early adoption of Brightspace is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with this LMS before completely switching to Brightspace for the summer session and beyond.  The spring semester is the last time you can choose between delivering your course from Blackboard or Brightspace.

If you are ready to be an early adopter for the spring semester, please complete the Spring (202520) Brightspace Adopter form.  There will be three dates on which courses requested for delivery from Brightspace for the spring semester will be fed to Brightspace: October 7th, November 8th, and December 3rd.  Only courses requested to be delivered from Brightspace will be fed to Brightspace for the spring semester.  We ask that any faculty who wants to use Brightspace in the spring make that determination no later than December 2, 2024.  You may not teach a course from Blackboard and Brightspace in the spring.  You must choose one or the other for each course. 

Brightspace Training Opportunities

Our Brightspace trainer, Popsann Francis, will be on campus October 8-10th.  While we realize you can’t attend all of this training, we hope you can join us for some onsite training.  We will be recording this and making the recording available after this event.  More information regarding topics and event locations will be coming soon.  

In addition, DLII will begin holding Brightspace training sessions and Q&A sessions in late October and will continue throughout the fall and spring semesters.  Please watch for email and UCM Daily announcements.

DLII is excited to open our Brightspace environment to all of you. We know you will create amazing educational experiences for your students using Brightspace.  We look forward to working with you and supporting you throughout this transition.

As we begin the second week of the fall semester, I’d like to share some important updates regarding our Brightspace implementation and how you can learn more about Brightspace throughout the fall.

First, a reminder: we are now 266 days away from our complete transition to Brightspace on May 19, 2025. After the spring semester, no courses will be delivered from Blackboard.  

Brightspace Early Adopters

Currently, 27 faculty members are serving as early adopters, teaching a total of 60 courses on Brightspace. This involves over 800 students already experiencing Brightspace at UCM for the first time this semester. We are grateful to these faculty and students for their participation in this phase, and we have gained valuable insights so far with more to come.

Brightspace Sandboxes & Training

Between September 15-25, all faculty will receive a Brightspace sandbox. This will allow each faculty member to transfer a course from Blackboard to Brightspace to test that process or design a course from scratch. More details will follow as we approach the release of the sandboxes. In the meantime, I encourage anyone eager to learn more about Brightspace to enroll in the Brightspace Guided Training resource available on Brightspace's website, which offers comprehensive knowledge and is an excellent starting point for your Brightspace journey.

From October 7-9, our Brightspace trainer, Popsann Francis, will be on-site at UCM to provide training. We are currently finalizing the details for these sessions, including topics and locations. We are fortunate to have Popsann, an exceptional trainer, join us in Warrensburg.

In addition to Popsann’s training, the DLII team will offer Brightspace training sessions throughout October and November, both in-person and virtually. We also plan to host sessions at the MIC during this period.

Instructor Choice for Spring 2025 Semester

For the spring 2025 semester, instructors will have the option to choose whether to deliver their courses via Brightspace or Blackboard. Faculty will have until December 2 to opt-in to Brightspace for any of their spring courses. A form for sign-ups will be available in October. All faculty members are welcome to adopt Brightspace for the spring semester.

I would like to extend my thanks to our colleagues in the Office of Technology and the UCM Bookstore for their support during this early adoption phase. The OT team has worked diligently to ensure SSO and course feeds are functioning correctly, while the UCM Bookstore team has collaborated with our textbook publishers to ensure students in Brightspace have the electronic textbook resources they need.  We are grateful to both teams for their support during this implementation process.

We are excited about the opportunities Brightspace offers and are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible. Thank you for your continued efforts and dedication to this important journey.

Please feel free to reach out to DLII with any questions regarding the Brightspace transition.

Related - Connecting with Brightspace Guided Training

• Brightspace Available to All Faculty - September 16, 2024

• Early Adopters Identified (roughly 25 UCM faculty who wish to use Brightspace for the fall 2024 semester)

• Initial meetings with D2L to implement D2L Brightspace begin - March, 2024

• Contract with UCM & D2L executed - February 19, 2024

• UCM's Board of Governors approves D2L contract as UCM's official LMS - January 25, 2024

• Provost Bridgmon announces LMS Review Committee's recommendation to UCM faculty - January 11, 2024

• LMS Review Committee recommends D2L as UCM's next official Learning Management System - December 2023

• Recommendations from LMS Review Committee - anticipated to be shared with administration by the end of the Fall 2023 semester - Completed

• Canvas/Instructure - October 5th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• D2L/Brightspace - October 4th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• Blackboard/Anthology - October 3rd from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• Vendor presentations - Fall 2023

• List of vendors announced who will be asked to present their solution to campus stakeholders - September 13, 2023

• RFP's requested from vendors - summer of 2023 - RFP released June 2, 2023 - Closed July 31, 2023

• Drafted RFP reviewed by Procurement - anticipated completion by end of Spring 2023 semester - Completed

• Designated committee members working to write an RFP (Request for Proposal) - anticipated completion by early April - Completed

• Survey results shared with campus community - anticipated to be completed by end of April - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Staff - anticipated to be sent out mid-February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Students - anticipated to be sent out mid-February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Faculty - anticipated to be sent out in February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

Committee members were identified at the end of the Fall 2022 semester.  The committee was formed in October of 2022 and met for the first time on November 28, 2022.

College of Education Representatives:

Dr. Lauren Hays, Assistant Professor - Instructional Technology

Dr. Charlene Atkins, Associate Professor - Elementary Graduate Education

Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies Representatives:

Dr. Ashley Gage, Associate Professor - Social Work

Sarah Bailey, Assistant Instructor - Accountancy

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Representatives:

Dr. Michael Makara, Associate Professor - Political Science/International Studies

Dr. Stella Roden, Professor - Music

College of Health, Science, and Technology Representatives:

Dr. Katie Kage, Associate Professor - Nutrition

Dr. Marietta Watson, Assistant Professor - SOT Graduate Programs

Faculty Senate Representative:

Dr. Jasmine Cloud, Associate Professor - Art, Design, and Photography (served November 2022 - April 2023 before sabbatical leave)

Dr. Odin Jurkowski, Professor - Instructional Technology (replaced Dr. Cloud from May 2023 - November 2023)

Office of Technology Representative:

Brandy Nicoletti, Applications Manager - Applications Systems

Student Representative:

Ethan Gerst, Sophomore, B.S. Professional Pilot Major

Additional Members:

Dr. Laurel Hogue, Vice-Provost of Online and Learning Engagement

Carol Knight , Director of Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (Committee Chair)

Resource Members (non-voting):

Chad Marnholtz, LMS and Applications Manager - Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation

Shannon Meisenheimer, Senior Programmer Analyst, Applications Systems

Kristin Salas, Assistant Director/Academic Advisor, Success Advising Center

Kyle Constant, Assistant Instructor, Kirkpatrick Library

Andrea Huggans, Accessibility Services Coordinator, Accessibility Services 

Paul Plummer, Senior Instructor - Statistics, and General Education Committee Representative