Finally... Brightspace Confirmed for Fall 1

[origamishuttle]

It's official! Dr. Chang just sent an email to announce that YourPace students will be using Brightspace starting in the Fall 1 2023 session, which begins on August 28, one month from today.

[Oktoberfest]

Confirm! Got also an email from Susan. Probably all exam based finals are history now with that announcement ?

[bjcheung77]

One more month and we'll get newer posts in regards to their system, hopefully everything changing to BrightSpace runs smoothly for them. UMPI is a small school, sometimes it seems they're short staffed, so if they do come across issues, people need to be a little more patient... Good luck, have fun to all for the Fall 1 session and later cohorts...

[ss20ts]

Confirm! Got also an email from Susan. Probably all exam based finals are history now with that announcement ?

That's what the staff has said previously.

[dfrecore]

For those of us who don't know the difference, why would Brightspace be any different than Canvas or Moodle or whatever else a school might use? I don't understand why moving to a different platform would change the entire layout of every course from exams to papers.

[ss20ts]

For those of us who don't know the difference, why would Brightspace be any different than Canvas or Moodle or whatever else a school might use?  I don't understand why moving to a different platform would change the entire layout of every course from exams to papers.

Brightspace is similar to Canvas. Strut Learning Platform is what UMPI has utilized since the creation of YourPace. Strut created and owns most of the courses. There's no way to contact the professor or other students who are in the course on Strut. UMPI is limited in what they can change on Strut because they don't own most of the courses especially the business courses. There's a great deal more flexibility in Brightspace than Strut. Brightspace can also link directly to the UMPI library which can't be done on Strut. Strut is not a LMS like Canvas. It's a different type of LMS. It's very limited in what can be done with it. It's kind of old school looking too....like Blackboard in the 90's.

[bjcheung77]

Hi BJCheung77:

I wanted to share with you that Bright Space has officially been implemented for the August 28th new term.

What was this going to do:

Have courses with more relevant and less outdated material?
Move from exams to all essasys?

Does this affect any recommendations you gave me for classes, or should I follow the plan how you presented it, for the best strategy in completing UMPI fast?

I tried to find past info about Bright Space in the forum but didn't find what I was looking for.

Thank you and hope you are doing well!

I'm not really sure, but I think you're on the right track, I believe it's the following...  Other members/mods can comment.
1) Platform/System change from Strut to Bright Space will most likely affect content of the course as the Strut system should have been a pre-packaged content of learning materials.  Bright Space most likely allowed the professors to provide different materials for learning and customizing them as well.  
2) That's what seems to be happening, no more exams and all assignments/written essays and other work such as assessments.  
3) The classes shouldn't have changed from the recommendations I last provided (unless it's no longer offered or replaced with a different course number or requirement altogether - stick to the degree plan for now)

[dfrecore]

For those of us who don't know the difference, why would Brightspace be any different than Canvas or Moodle or whatever else a school might use?  I don't understand why moving to a different platform would change the entire layout of every course from exams to papers.

Brightspace is similar to Canvas. Strut Learning Platform is what UMPI has utilized since the creation of YourPace. Strut created and owns most of the courses. There's no way to contact the professor or other students who are in the course on Strut. UMPI is limited in what they can change on Strut because they don't own most of the courses especially the business courses. There's a great deal more flexibility in Brightspace than Strut. Brightspace can also link directly to the UMPI library which can't be done on Strut. Strut is not a LMS like Canvas. It's a different type of LMS. It's very limited in what can be done with it. It's kind of old school looking too....like Blackboard in the 90's.

I understand now, makes sense.  But, I'm still not understanding why this means that courses will all be projects/papers based and none will be exams?  Couldn't a teacher choose to have exams?

[grogers14]

For those of us who don't know the difference, why would Brightspace be any different than Canvas or Moodle or whatever else a school might use?  I don't understand why moving to a different platform would change the entire layout of every course from exams to papers.

Brightspace is similar to Canvas. Strut Learning Platform is what UMPI has utilized since the creation of YourPace. Strut created and owns most of the courses. There's no way to contact the professor or other students who are in the course on Strut. UMPI is limited in what they can change on Strut because they don't own most of the courses especially the business courses. There's a great deal more flexibility in Brightspace than Strut. Brightspace can also link directly to the UMPI library which can't be done on Strut. Strut is not a LMS like Canvas. It's a different type of LMS. It's very limited in what can be done with it. It's kind of old school looking too....like Blackboard in the 90's.

I understand now, makes sense.  But, I'm still not understanding why this means that courses will all be projects/papers based and none will be exams?  Couldn't a teacher choose to have exams?

With the change to a new software, they most likely will revise curriculum which could result in less exams. A lot of CBE programs are trying to move to projects and essays for their finals just because its easier to prove to accrediting bodies, like New England Commission of Higher Education, the class is a "real" college class and isn't just a free A.

[ss20ts]

For those of us who don't know the difference, why would Brightspace be any different than Canvas or Moodle or whatever else a school might use?  I don't understand why moving to a different platform would change the entire layout of every course from exams to papers.

Brightspace is similar to Canvas. Strut Learning Platform is what UMPI has utilized since the creation of YourPace. Strut created and owns most of the courses. There's no way to contact the professor or other students who are in the course on Strut. UMPI is limited in what they can change on Strut because they don't own most of the courses especially the business courses. There's a great deal more flexibility in Brightspace than Strut. Brightspace can also link directly to the UMPI library which can't be done on Strut. Strut is not a LMS like Canvas. It's a different type of LMS. It's very limited in what can be done with it. It's kind of old school looking too....like Blackboard in the 90's.

I understand now, makes sense.  But, I'm still not understanding why this means that courses will all be projects/papers based and none will be exams?  Couldn't a teacher choose to have exams?

The move away from exams means they won't have to deal with proctoring. Proctoring is problematic as we all know. Accreditation boards can also have an impact on things such as exams. This being a CBE program, it makes sense to move to papers/project based assessments of knowledge and that the student learned something or prove what they already know. Exams are easy to cheat on even with proctoring. Proctoring also increases the costs.