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 Table of Contents

What is Brightspace?

Brightspace is UAlbany's enterprise digital learning environment used to deliver courses for degree and certificate programs.  Brightspace has many features which allow faculty to upload files and organize course content, communicate with students via announcements or email, and assign/grade assignments easily through the browser.  Students that have courses that use Brightspace are able to easily access course documents, contact the instructor or TA's, and check their course grades throughout the semester. 

Purpose and Intended Use

Brightspace is intended to support the delivery of courses in UAlbany’s degree and certificate programs that are regularly scheduled by the Registrar.  A Brightspace course is created for each course section on the schedule of classes for each semester.  Instructors-of-record are automatically enrolled in their designated Brightspace course offering and student rosters are automatically synchronized throughout each term.

Accounts and Access

Access to the Brightspace Learn system is governed by the University at Albany Identity and Access Management Policy and corresponding procedures. A Brightspace account is automatically created for instructors and students enrolled in courses listed in the Schedule of Classes.  Instructors and students are assigned a unique online identity and designated by the associated Albany ID and NetID.  As with most other IT services, The NetID and password are the electronic credentials that provide access to Brightspace.  Access to Brightspace is enabled automatically at the time of enrollment and remains active according to the UAlbany Computer Account Lifecycle. 

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Brightspace Course Creation, Access, Copy, and Retention

Course Creation

A Brightspace course is created automatically for ALL sections listed on the Schedule of Classes and/or that have an enrolled roster for each semester.  Course creation and roster synchronization is scheduled to be processed automatically on an hourly basis, based on the semester schedule and enrollment records in the PeopleSoft system (a process referred to as “SIS Integration”).  The processing of course and roster updates could take longer than an hour depending upon the size of the data being processed.  The process will begin according to the schedule below and will be run every hour until the end of the current term.

Semester SIS Integration Schedule:

Semester

SIS Integration Start

SIS Integration End

Summer

Mid-March

End of summer classes

Fall

mid-March

End of fall classes

Winter

Mid-October

End of Winter classes

Spring

mid-October

End of winter classes

Combining Sections

Deadline for Requests/Changes to Combined and Merged Sections

Combining sections, and/or any changes to such, should be completed prior to the Go Live date for any semester or session, to allow sufficient time to prepare for resulting affects in the Brightspace system. 

Changes to combined/merged section designation after initial setting have significant effect on the associated Brightspace course offering, including the potential loss of access, loss of student submissions and grades, and requirement to rebuild the course. 


Class sections can be combined into a single Brightspace course offering through two different processes managed in the following ways.

Combining Sections through the Registrar's Office

Sections that are cross-listed or designated as shared resource by the academic department will be designated as a combined section in PeopleSoft.  These sections will be automatically combined into a single Brightspace course offering.  This destination is under the authority of academic departments who have the sole discretion and authority to change a combined section status. 

Cross Listed

Courses that are cross listed in the bulletin will be automatically merged as a single Brightspace course. 

Shared Resource Courses

Shared resource courses, approved by an academic department (according to policy), will be automatically merged as a single Brightspace course. 

Course Merge by Instructor Request

Instructors-of-record may wish to merge class rosters of their sections into a single Brightspace course offering.  Requests shall be submitted to the ITS Service Desk (see request form link below).  For sections combined in this manner, the instructor-of-record has the responsibility to ensure that student privacy is protected.  It is critical that instructors to adhere to guidance on FERPA compliance provided below.   

Auditing of Merged Sections

The campus will perform periodic audits of combined Brightspace courses to monitor use of tools that could potentially enable improper sharing of FERPA protected student information.

Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

When enrolling in a section, students have a reasonable expectation that only the instructor and other students enrolled in the same section can see that they are enrolled in the class. This enrollment status is considered protected information under FERPA. While it is considered appropriate, and legal within the FERPA regulations, for students to know about other students in their own class sections, it is not considered appropriate for that to happen across sections that meet at different times. Students may know each other personally and share their enrollment status, but by combining sections enrollment information could potentially be shared, which would violate the regulation. 

Required Brightspace Features and Settings for Instructor-Merged Courses

To ensure compliance with FERPA in circumstances of sections merged by the instructor-of-record, the following Brightspace course features/settings must be used:

Discussion Topic Settings

In an Instructor-merged course, Instructors must restrict each Discussion Topic to a single section of the course.  Otherwise, students enrolled in different sections could become aware of each other’s enrollment status by seeing each other's discussion posts.  To set this restriction while creating your Discussion Topics:

        1. On the Discussions List page, click New → New Topic.

        2. Drop down Availability Dates & Conditions.

        3. Under Group and Section Restrictions, click Manage Restrictions.

        4. Choose the second option to Restrict topic and separate the threads.

        5. In the Group Category or Section dropdown, choose Sections.

        6. Click Add.

This restriction can also be set by clicking Edit in an existing Topic's context menu ( button next to the Topic name) and following steps 2-6 above.

Student Groups Features 

The Groups feature in Brightspace enables interaction between students and this must not be used to enable interaction between students enrolled in different sections.

Request to Combine Sections

Instructors who wish to combine sections in Brightspace that are not already combined in PeopleSoft can submit a request to the ITS Service Desk using the form below.

Course and Section Titles and Identifiers

Schedule of Classes

Brightspace course title and ID align with the data about each course and section in the course catalog and schedule of classes as recorded in PeopleSoft. 

Default Course Attributes for Stand-Alone Course Offerings/Sections

A single course has an offering and a section; two items are being created with corresponding code as explained below. The offerings and sections have a one-to-one relationship and cannot share identical information.

Course Offering Code (or Course ID)

The Brightspace Course Offering ID is comprised of the following attributes from the course catalog and scheduled of classes in PeopleSoft:

Attributes: Term code + Subject code + Catalog number + Class number
Example: 2233-AANT-201-1633
Course Offering Name

The Brightspace Course Offering Name is comprised of the following attributes from the course catalog and schedule of classes in PeopleSoft:

Attributes: Subject code + Catalog Number + Course title + (class number)
Example: AANT201-Critical Thinking Skepticism (1633)
Course Section Code (or Section ID)

The Course Section Code is comprised of the following attributes from the course catalog and schedule of classes in PeopleSoft:

Attributes: Section prefix + Term code + Subject code + Catalog number + Class number
Example: sec_2233-AANT-201-1633
Course Section Name

The Course Section Name is comprised of the following attributes from the course catalog and schedule of classes in PeopleSoft.  This is the same as for Course Offering Name:

Attributes: Subject code + Catalog Number + Course title + (Class number)
Example: AANT201-Critical Thinking Skepticism (1633)
Default Course Attributes for Combined Course Offerings/Sections

Registrar-combined and instructor-merged courses have a specialized title and ID that are also based on course and instructor data record in PeopleSoft.  

Course Offering Code (or Course ID)

The Brightspace Course Offering ID is comprised of the following concatenation of attributes from the course catalog and scheduled of classes in PeopleSoft:

Attributes: Term code + Session info + “XLIST_COURSE”
Example: 2233-0002-SESS-4W3-XLIST_COURSE
Course Offering Name

The Brightspace Course Offering ID is comprised of the following concatenation of attributes from the course catalog and scheduled of classes in PeopleSoft:

Attributes: SUBJ 01/SUBJ 02 + CATALOG NUM - (CLASS#;CLASS#)
Example: AHIS/AANT320 - (9856;9857)
Course Section Code (or Section ID)

The Course Section Code is comprised of the same attributes as detailed above for stand-alone courses.

Course Section Name

The Course Section Name is comprised of the same attributes as detailed above for stand-alone courses. 

Modification of Course Attributes

ITS is generally not able to manually modify Brightspace course attributes, including Course Offering/Course Section name.  Errors or necessary changes can be requested through the offices of Undergraduate Education or Graduate School.

Course Availability

Brightspace courses are set to Inactive by default so students cannot access them until the instructor sets the course to Active.  The decision to make the Brightspace course Active to students rests entirely with the instructor.

Course instructors can access their Brightspace courses immediately upon creation - the Active/Inactive setting does not affect instructor access.  Instructors can access their courses for as long as they are hosted on the Brightspace system.

Instructors have control over making a course Active.  If an instructor does not wish to use Brightspace, no action is needed – by default, students will not have access.  If an instructor wishes to use the Brightspace course, then the instructor needs to Make the Course Active.  Provided the instructor has made the course active, students are able to access their Brightspace courses at the Go Live date, two weeks prior to first day of classes of any semester/session.  Courses in use should be made Active by the Go Live date. 

Students can access their Active Brightspace courses until four weeks after the end of classes.

Course Development Shell

Instructors who need a space to build a course intended to be offered in the future can request a “development shell.”  Once the course content and structure has been built out in a development shell, it can be copied into a scheduled Brightspace course.  Course Development shells will be removed from the system one year after they are created.

Development Shell Course Attributes
Course Offering Code (or Course ID)
Attributes: Future Semester + Subject code + Catalog number
Example: Fall 2026-AANT-201
Course Offering Name
Attrbutes: Subject code + Catalog Number + Course title + DEV
Example: AANT201-Critical Thinking Skepticism DEV
Course Section Code (or Section ID)
Attributes: Section prefix + Future Semester + Subject code + Catalog number + DEV
Example: sec_Fall 2026-AANT-201-DEV
Course Section Name

This is the same as for Course Offering Name:

Attributes: Subject code + Catalog Number + Course title + DEV
Example: AANT201-Critical Thinking Skepticism DEV

Course Copy/Import

Instructors who wish to copy or import course materials and learning activities from another Brightspace course, including a previous semester course, will use the Import/Export/Copy feature.  Using these processes, the instructor can copy/import an entire course or selected parts of a course as desired (enrollment should NOT be copied).

Import Package Size Limit

Course import packages cannot exceed 2 Gb.

Course and Data Retention

ITS does not plan to remove formal “class schedule” Brightspace courses from the system until data storage thresholds and associated costs necessitate their removal.  This is not expected to be necessary for some time.

Course migrated from Blackboard to the Brightspace system are projected to be removed from Brightspace in summer 2024.

Brightspace courses will NOT be archived and stored centrally by ITS.  Instructors-of-record are responsible for retaining pertinent student and academic records according to the corresponding SUNY Records Retention and Disposition Schedules.  Options for doing so include downloading selected records/materials (such as the Grade Center data) and/or saving a complete export of the Brightspace course.  

Instructors may create a backup/archive of their course at any time to save for their records, but only the Brightspace system administrator is able to restore an Archive to include student interactions, submissions, and grades to the UAlbany Brightspace system.  A course Archive can be Imported to another Brightspace course.

Course Back Up Policy

The Brightspace software company and hosting provider, Desire to Learn (D2L), maintains system and data redundancy to ensure continuity of course data.

Class Schedule Changes Impact on Brightspace Course

When a class section is cancelled by the department and this status is updated in the schedule of classes by the Registrar's Office, the existing associated Brightspace course will be automatically disabled and inaccessible to the instructor and students. Re-enabling the course for the instructor to move/copy materials to a new shell is time consuming and will delay student access and impact productivity in their course work.

ALERT for Impact of Course Cancellation

Prior to the cancellation of a course, the instructor should be given an opportunity to export the course so that it can be imported into a new Brightspace course, if necessary.

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Course Enrollment

Automated Enrollment

Enrollment rosters for academic classes scheduled by the Registrar's Office are managed and updated through a regular automated data feed from PeopleSoft known as the SIS Integration process.  This process ensures that the enrollment of all Brightspace courses is synchronized with the corresponding Registrar-scheduled section as recorded in PeopleSoft. 

Students

PeopleSoft class rosters are synchronized with the Brightspace course according to the semester SIS Integration schedule noted above.  Enrollment changes recorded by the Registrar in the PeopleSoft system will be reflected in the Brightspace course according to the daily SIS Integration schedule.  

Instructors/Teaching Assistants

Instructors, Secondary Instructors, Co-Instructors, and Teaching Assistance MUST be assigned to the class section in PeopleSoft by the department administrator. Individuals assigned to the course in PeopleSoft in these roles will be automatically enrolled in the Brightspace course. Individuals assigned as Primary or Secondary Instructor will be enrolled in the Brightspace course with the course role of Instructor. Individuals assigned to the course in PeopleSoft as Teaching Assistant will be enrolled in the Brightspace course with the course role of Facilitator (TA). The Instructor of a Brightspace course is granted permission to enroll other user accounts in the following roles: Designer (course builders), Instructor (Guest), and Read Only.  User enrollment is managed via the Course Admin → Classlist page of a Brightspace course.  ITS will not manually enroll accounts in Brightspace courses except in cases of emergency intervention to ensure continuity.

Directions for Instructors:

  • Add a user to your course

  • To change a user's role in your course, follow the same instructions to add a user to your course, and choose the appropriate role when prompted.

    • You'll only be able to change users from and to one of the following roles: Designer (course builders), Instructor (Guest), and Read Only.  E.g. you will not be able to edit a Learner's role, and you won't be able to change a anyone’s role to a Learner.

  • To unenroll someone from your course that you manually enrolled, please contact the ITS Service Desk.

Course Roles

Brightspace user accounts are enrolled in courses and assigned a role.  Each role is provided with a set of permissions intended to enable the role-designated user to perform tasks in the course that are relevant to their role. Expand each role below to learn more.

 Instructor

  • Course instructor

  • Automatically enrolled based on section assignment in the Schedule of Classes

  • Can enroll users in the section/course in the following roles:

    • Facilitator

    • Designer

    • Instructor (Guest)

    • Read Only (Guest)

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Instructor (Guest)

  • All functions of “Instructor – Regular” role minus any that create risk of FERPA non-compliance

  • Cannot export the course in which they are enrolled.

  • Cannot enroll users in the section/course

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Designer

  • Typically used to enroll peer mentors or to assist with course building

  • Course content creator

  • Access to all content creation functions, but not to enrollments, grading, etc.

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Facilitator (TA)

  • Grader or Teacher’s Assistant/Aide

  • Automatically enrolled based on section assignment in the Schedule of Classes

  • This role is used ONLY through the automated SIS integration process; Instructors cannot enroll accounts with this role

  • Have access to enrollment, grading, etc.

  • Access to a subset of the Instructor’s permissions

    • Limited on exporting, copying, etc.

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Learner (aka, Student)

  • Also known as “Student”

  • Automatically enrolled based on section enrollment in the Schedule of Classes

  • User enrolled in the section or course as a student

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Learner (Guest)

  • This role will function in a similar as the Learner role

  • This role is mapped to those enrolled as “formal auditor” through the Registrar

  • This role is used ONLY through the automated SIS integration process; Instructors cannot enroll accounts with this role

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Read Only (aka, Guest)

  • This role will have access to view course content but not to make modifications or submissions in the LMS for the course/section

  • Instructors can enroll users in this role

  • Set at the section level (or course if there is only one section)

 Leader

  • For use with Nonstandard Courses

  • Identical to Instructor role with the following exceptions:

    • Can enroll only Leader, Designer, Facilitator, and Participant roles in Nonstandard Courses

 Participant

  • For use with Nonstandard Courses

  • Identical to the Learner role.

Instructor Responsibilities about Manual Enrollments

Instructors should take care when manually adding accounts in the Brightspace course.  Instructors are expected to comply with the Access and Compliance Agreement when enrolling people in their courses with elevated privileges that might enable access to student information protected under FERPA and other SUNY, state, or federal regulations governing the use of educational records.

Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

When enrolling in a section, students have a reasonable expectation that only the instructor and other students enrolled in the same section can see that they are enrolled in the class. This enrollment status is considered protected information under FERPA. While it is considered appropriate, and legal within the FERPA regulations, for students to know about other students in their own class sections, it is not considered appropriate for that to happen across sections that meet at different times. Students may know each other personally and share their enrollment status, but by combining sections enrollment information could potentially be shared, which would violate the regulation. 

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Non-Standard Courses

A non-standard Brightspace course can be requested by contacting the ITS Service Desk, to support scenarios in which student progress toward degree/certificate completion is not facilitated through an officially scheduled course section.  Such “academic completion” scenarios will be considered on a case-by-case basis and are not guaranteed to be approved.

Creation

Non-standard courses must be sponsored by an authoritative representative (chair, program director, etc.) of the academic unit offering the degree/certificate program associated with the request.  This individual will be designated as the owner/sponsor of the course.

Enrollment/Availability

The course owner and any other designated individuals will be enrolled with the Leader role.  The Leader role of a non-standard course is responsible for managing enrollment and participation.

Retrieve Net IDs

Two PeopleSoft queries have been created to retrieve NetIDs, if needed. Contact your department administrator/manager to access or run a query.

  1. Retrieve Net IDs by Program

  2. Retrieve Net IDs by Student Group

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