As announced previously, Blackboard will be replaced by Brightspace in the academic year of 2018-2019. Starting this February, the Brightspace pilots will be launched in everyday education to test if the new learning environment fits with the wishes of students and teachers.
Original text: Elisa Ros Villarte
Translation: Marit de Vries
The new system has been chosen for its user friendliness, greater compatibility with mobile devices and integration with other systems such as Osiris. Professors will be able to follow a practice course through a digital tutorial named Sandbox during the course of 2018. This tutorial will stay open for use after the implementation of the new system, so that professors can experiment with the software without any risk for the educational content. To make sure the introduction and implementation of Brightspace will run as smoothly as possible, all professors will be following a basic training course as well. Through this course they can also familiarize themselves with the new Learning Management System and discover all of its possibilities and applications. This is beneficial to both professors and students, as all programs and faculties will be working in the same way.
Evidently the introduction of Brightspace is already in full swing. Come February, students will also be able to get a taste of the new program in TvA 1, where help desk staff is at hand to answer any possible questions. ‘No doubt there will be some startup problems, but we are putting everything to work to make sure the changeover will run as smoothly as possible’, said Daniël Wigboldus, chairman of the Executive Board, last week Monday in his New Year’s speech. Hopefully the pilots will indeed be effective in preventing problems before Brightspace is officially introduced.