News

D2L Brightspace was upgraded to version 10.7.0 on Tuesday, June 6 from 4-8 a.m.

Status of the upgrade will be posted at http://status.mnscu.edu/desire2learn/.

Visit the ITS Blog for more details and to learn about new features and functionality. The latest post covers updates to the D2L Discussion tool that make small group discussions easier to use.

The MSUM tutorial of the D2L Brightspace changes is attached. Also, there are tutorials provided by the Minnesota State system office below:

• FAQ 1785 What’s New for Students? https://d2l.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1785
• FAQ 1784 What’s New for Teachers? https://d2l.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1784

As finals begin and faculty start entering final grades for Spring 2017, please refer to the following checklist for end of semester tasks for your courses in D2L Brightspace.  Read the rest of this entry →

Wednesday, May 10 | 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Faculty Development Center

Join us in the Faculty Development Center on Wednesday, May 10 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to preview the changes to D2L Brightspace coming on June 6, 2017. If you have been following the updates on the ITS Blog you know that this upgrade is significant. Please join us to walk through the responsive interface and new features.

Please contact the Office of Online & Extended Learning at support@mnstate.edu or call 218-477-2603, option 3 if you have questions about the session or upgrade to D2L Brightspace.

D2L Brightspace is scheduled to be upgraded to version 10.7.0 on Tuesday, June 6 from 4-8 a.m. The system office has determined that D2L Brightspace will need to be offline/down during this upgrade.

Status of the upgrade will be posted at http://status.mnscu.edu/desire2learn/.

Visit the ITS Blog for more details and to learn about new features and functionality. The latest post covers updates to the D2L Discussion tool that make small group discussions easier to use.

You can request your D2L Brightspace course shells for Fall 2017 using the D2L Brightspace Request Form. Requesting your courses now allows you to merge sections together and gives you more time to build the course.

Please Note: While you can request your Fall courses now, they will not appear in your D2L Brightspace account until May 11.  Read the rest of this entry →

All unrequested Summer 2017 D2L Brightspace course shells will be created as single section course shells on Friday, April 28. If you need to combine course sections please get your request in using the D2L Brightspace Request Form.

The D2L Brightspace Request form will transition to accept Fall 2017 course requests on Friday, April 28 and will remain open until August 1. On August 2, all unrequested fall sections will be created as single section course shells.  Read the rest of this entry →

D2L Brightspace is scheduled to be upgraded to version 10.7.0 on Tuesday, June 6 from 5-7 a.m. Visit the ITS Blog for more information and to learn about the improvements to the quiz tool.

UPDATE: D2L Brightspace is scheduled to be upgraded to version 10.7.0 on Tuesday, June 6 from 5-7 a.m. The system office is still determining if D2L will need to be unavailable all or part of this time. Visit the ITS Blog for more details.

*We had previously communicated: “Tentatively D2L Brightspace will be unavailable Friday-Saturday, June 2-3, 2017. The specific time and duration of the downtime on the 2-3rd is yet to be determined and will be communicated in the coming weeks.” The extended downtime was due in part to change the URL associated with D2L Brightspace from mnscu.edu to minnstate.edu. The URL change has been rescheduled for some time in December of 2017.

D2L Brightspace is tentatively scheduled to be unavailable Friday-Saturday, June 2-3, 2017 for maintenance and upgrade to version 10.7.0. The specific time and duration of the downtime on June 2-3 is yet to be determined and will be communicated in the coming weeks. Visit the ITS Blog (http://collaborate.mnstate.edu/public/blogs/itsblog/d2l-brightspace-10-7-0-update/) for more details.

Beginning Wednesday, March 15 instructors can request their Summer 2017 course shells using the D2L Brightspace Request Form (https://my.mnstate.edu/ITS/Forms/RequestD2LShell).

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Summer 17 shells can be requested March 15-April 27. On April 28, all unrequested summer sections will be created as single section course shells.
• Fall 17 shells can be requested April 28-August 1. On August 2, all unrequested fall sections will be created as single section course shells.  Read the rest of this entry →

In addition to email notifications for course events sent from D2L Brightspace courses, text notifications to mobile devices are now available for all users.

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR STUDENTS:  Read the rest of this entry →

As finals begin and faculty start entering final grades for Fall 2016, please refer to the following checklist for end of semester tasks for your courses in D2L Brightspace.  Read the rest of this entry →

Request your course shells for Spring 2017. Use the D2L Brightspace shell request form (https://my.mnstate.edu/ITS/Forms/RequestD2LShell) to submit your request online. Starting Tuesday, Dec. 20 any courses that have not been requested will be created as single sections.

If you want merged sessions of your courses, be sure to request them before December 20.

Office of Online & Extended Learning

Beginning Friday, Oct. 28, instructors can request their Spring 2017 course shells using the new D2L Brightspace Request Form (https://my.mnstate.edu/ITS/Forms/RequestD2LShell).

IMPORTANT DATES:

• December 19: Make your request by this date if you wish to combine multiple sections into a single course shell.
• December 20: All unrequested courses will have a course shell created automatically on this date. Auto-created courses will be created as single course shells.

Read the rest of this entry →

We are pleased to announce two new features that instructors may find useful when using Discussions in D2L Brightspace:

• Show forum description in “child” topics.
• Copy (or move) discussion thread and replies to a different thread.

Read the rest of this entry →

Recently, Minnesota State System Office awarded a contract to SoftChalk (an eLearning Authoring Tool) for 500 individual Cloud licenses. The award is for a 2-year system level pilot that began July 1, 2016. About 130 individuals signed up for the pilot as of the end of spring semester in what we called the Round 1 group of piloters.  Read the rest of this entry →

Thursday, September 1 |1-1:30 p.m. and 1:30-2 p.m. | Faculty Development Center (Conference Room LI 124)

Come learn more about D2L Brightspace (MSUM’s official Online Learning Management System) and how to take full advantage of this system. These sessions are open to all faculty and do not assume any previous experience using D2L Brightspace. Note that since the Course Online Presence Policy was approved last May, a D2L course shell has been auto-created for each course. Instructors are required to post, at minimum, a current version of their course syllabus along with contact information and the time and location of their office hours (physical or virtual). Read the rest of this entry →

New to teaching with D2L Brightspace? Or looking to brush up on your existing skills? Multiple D2L Brightspace webinars, covering a variety of topics, are running now through Sept. 1.  Read the rest of this entry →

Greetings to our new and returning instructors! Instructional Technology (ITS) would like to share some important news as you focus this busy week on preparing your courses for the start of Fall semester.  Read the rest of this entry →

Mark your calendars! A number of updates and downtimes will occur in the coming days for D2L Brightspace, Panopto and Respondus.  Read the rest of this entry →