How do I get started?
If your school already has the Brightspace platform set up, check out this Brightspace Quick Start Guide for Teachers.
Si votre école a déjà configuré la plateforme Brightspace, consultez notre Guide rapide Brightspace pour enseignants.
How do I communicate with students?
How do I keep students engaged?
What are the options to connect with my students using video?
What if I need more help?
How do I set up content?
Create and share engaging lessons using the content tool. Leverage content from Districts, educational companies, and teachers around the globe that are sharing resources. Here are some of our favorites:
How do I support parents?
Parents are also in a new world, with many balancing work (either from home or still at their places of employment) with supporting students. Make sure you consider how much support parents can provide, and choose online tools that can communicate with them easily in one place. Having an activity feed set up for your classroom provides one central spot for communication.
How do I keep in touch with other teachers?
You can use email, or have Zoom or Microsoft Teams meetings to stay in touch with your colleagues.
How do I keep students progressing at their rate?
Use personalization tools to keep them progressing.
When should I do synchronous rather than asynchronous learning?
Synchronous learning is a term used to describe forms of education, instruction, and learning that occur at the same time, but not in the same place. Having synchronous lessons, like video conferences, is a great tool. Keep in mind though that some households have only one device that children are sharing. Having an online lesson plan that also allows asynchronous learning, physical activity breaks, and adapting to household schedules is important. By creating engaging course content and activities, you can reduce the need for as much synchronous instruction – creating a better, scalable experience for your students and yourself.
What do I have to do to protect the security and privacy of my students?
You don’t have to do anything! It’s built right into Brightspace.
How can I make sure that content can be accessed by users of varying abilities?
Rest assured that accessibility has been built into the Brightspace platform. Use the accessibility checker to make sure everything you create in the HTML editor can be used by everyone.
Will this be equitable for all students? Everyone has different devices and internet access.
Online learning is a valuable resource in times like these, but as educators, we always need to consider our students without internet and devices. For those learners who have older devices or computers at home, make sure you are not over-focusing on apps that can rely on having the newest operating systems. Brightspace for example uses responsive web design and offline content access to make sure that more learners can access materials from anywhere. We also are seeing communities pull together in these times of trouble, with some areas providing free devices, hotspots, or even internet.