D2L Brightspace

Brightspace Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ page is designed to provide quick, easy-to-understand answers to the most common questions faculty might have about Brightspace, from migration to navigation to managing courses.

Brightspace FAQ

Brightspace Post-Migration Training

Brightspace post-migration training is now available. These sessions are designed to help you clean up and confidently move forward with your Brightspace course. We’ll walk through a practical, step-by-step process to get everything organized, aligned, and ready for students.

Each session is one hour, with additional time afterward for individual questions and hands-on help so you can get real work done during the session.

We’ll help you:

Fix your gradebook setup and categories
Review rubrics
Clean up quizzes, assignments, and discussions
Organize your course content and remove clutter
Update announcements
Adjust dates and visibility settings
Do a final “view as learner” check before teaching

Migration Training Worksheet
Migration Cleanup: Step-by-Step Reference

Brightspace Faculty Trainers

A group of dedicated instructors from across campus who are here to help you navigate Brightspace with confidence. In partnership with CETAL, faculty trainers support colleagues through training, consultation, and hands-on guidance during our transition to Brightspace. Each trainer brings practical insights from their own teaching experience and is here to help you succeed.

Meet Your Faculty Trainers

Brightspace Training Registration

Introductory Brightspace training is now open! Each two-hour, in-person session introduces our new Learning Management System, D2L Brightspace. With over 50 sessions available (more added as needed), each is capped at 10 participants to maximize learning. We’re offering:

50+ session dates and times (with more added as needed)
Two-hour, in-person workshops
Small groups capped at 10 participants for plenty of personal support

Each session is co-led by a CETAL team member and a faculty trainer from your college, so you’ll be learning alongside colleagues who understand your discipline and teaching context.

Faculty are encouraged to register for trainings sessions offered within their own college (marked on the schedule), but may choose to register for any open session that fits their schedule. Training begins in late February and runs through mid-March.

Preparing Your Course for Migration

In order to ensure a smooth and efficient transition, faculty are encouraged to conduct a course audit on courses selected for migration. Years of course copies and file updates can result in significant digital clutter, including duplicated files, outdated content, and broken links- all of which will be migrated into Brightspace if left in place.

Conducting a course audit before migration helps ensure that only current, intentional materials are transferred, reducing the need for troubleshooting, manual cleanup, or reorganization after migration.

Prepare Your Course for Migration

Learn About Brightspace

D2L Brightspace is a comprehensive learning management system that is modern and easy to use for faculty, staff, and students. It offers new capabilities to support teaching and learning across different modalities, supports growth in online learning, provides advanced analytics that contribute to student success, and lays a foundation for engaging learning experiences that facilitate Regular and Substantive Interaction (RSI) in online courses. Brightspace is celebrated for its modern design, intuitive tools, and innovative teaching features.

Notable strengths:

Content Creation Flexibility: Rich HTML editor with extensive template options
Accessibility Excellence: Built-in accessibility checker that helps ensure all materials meet standards
Intelligent Agents: Automated communications based on customizable triggers
Plain Language: Navigation, settings, and in-tool support is all written in plain language

More resources:

Brightspace 101: Building Better Learning Experiences (Video)
Bright Ideas: Getting Started with Brightspace (Video)
Brightspace Self-Paced Training (Website)
Brightspace Guided Training (Website)

The Brightspace Timeline: How We Got Here

The Teaching Technology Advisory Committee (TTAC)—made up of faculty from every college, Torreyson Library, and the Graduate School, along with staff from IT and the Office of Accessibility Resources—led a year-long, faculty-driven review of major LMS platforms. After testing, demonstrations, and campus feedback, D2L Brightspace was chosen for its modern design, intuitive tools, and innovative teaching features. The complete timeline is available on the LMS Review website.

LMS Review Website