There are quite a few tools that make it easier to manage course announcements in Brightspace. Easier for you and more useful for your students. Let’s take a look at them. All of these options works from the Announcements tool or the Announcement list on your course homepage. Copy to a different course Now with just a few clicks you can quickly copy a current course announcement to other Brightspace courses. This is built right into the Brightspace menu, no copy and paste required. Click the carrot next to the announcement name to bring up the context menu. Choose Copy to Other Courses S ..read more

Childhood Development Assistant Professor and Program Director Pamela Norcross, Ph.D, recently used a video assignment in her CD 220 in Fall 2023. We caught up with Dr. Norcoss to see how it went.   Please describe the Sesame Street Project assignment. Dr. Norcross: Sesame Street is a familiar TV show that was developed in 1969 to help underprivileged preschoolers have access to educational programming to better prepare them for kindergarten. From the beginning, Sesame Street created purposeful, research based, developmentally appropriate material to help preschool aged children le ..read more

Introducing Zoom Whiteboards Poorly used whiteboard with a variety of tools abused Zoom Meetings are an essential tool for any course that needs to meet remotely or in a hybrid format at Meredith, but we all know that sometimes online meetings can seem like they’re lacking some of the comforts of the traditional classroom. The whiteboard shouldn’t be one of those “missing” comforts as Zoom has created an excellent alternative to the traditional whiteboard.  The Zoom whiteboard is conveniently built into the Zoom client and can be launched on the fly or prepared in advance to deploy during a me ..read more

Zoom meetings have many moving pieces and also many different options for recording each of those pieces. We are going to talk about these different recording options in this post so you can configure your recording to best suit your needs.  Common video layouts Navigating to Zoom Recording settings Setting options Best settings for the common layouts Single video Picture-in-Picture Common video layouts The most commonly used video layouts are Single video – 1 video stream with a combined speaker and shared screen or just the shared screen. This is the best option when you need to ..read more

Videos in Kaltura have a new player look and interface. Checkout the screenshots and descriptions to get familiar with the changes. This player should smoothly update almost everywhere without any action from Kaltura users.  The only videos that will not automatically update are those that are using an embed code to appear on My Meredith, Meredith.edu, or other 3rd party websites. These videos will continue working but you can update the player by copying updated embed code from the video. Overlay icons Many of the player features are now overlay icons in the top right corner of the video. N ..read more

This eLearning module has been developed for new students here at Meredith College. New students have access to this module through their FYE courses. If you have any questions or would like to have us add this module to your course, please reach out to us at idat@meredith.edu. Welcome to Meredith College! This module has been created to inform you of what available technology Meredith has to offer you.   When you begin this module, please make sure to input your first and last name, along with the date you begin the module. As you navigate through the module: Take your time, and r ..read more

Google Chat is an easy way to communicate across campus but there are some hidden features that can make it even more useful. Let’s dive into Chat and see how it can work for you. Chat and Spaces The main Google App is called Google Chat. Then the 2 main pieces of Google Chat are Chat and Spaces which can be a little confusing. Chat is for individual chat. Usually with just 2 or 3 people. Spaces is for group chats. It is more robust with more permission and setup options. Both are amazing campus communication tools and we suggest you explore each to see what works best for your purposes. Addi ..read more

Layouts How to add layouts Recommended image sizes Elements Practices Layouts Layouts make configuring content easier, and faster, then ever. With this feature, creators have the option to arrange text, media, and even Creator+ Elements into panels. This opens your content pages to a new range of design possibilities. Instead of placing content into one long vertical page, you can now organize text and media into differently sized columns for a more dynamic look. Layouts can be used inside Elements wherever there is an embedded HTML editor. Just like any other section of your page ..read more

Continuing Brightspace’s layout changes is the New Content Experience! The new Content is now enabled as an opt-in option for your course. You may enable it any time to try it but remember that students will see the changes as well. To experiment with the new view without disrupting your students, we encourage you to test it first in your sandbox course. Turning on/off the new Content Changes in the New Content Experience Screenshots Necessary and suggested updates with the new Content experience Topic/lesson descriptions Module/Unit introductions Turning on/off the new Content In t ..read more

We are excited to share an important update regarding our Kaltura video system, aimed at optimizing our resources and ensuring an easier maintenance experience for all users. Beginning this month, October 2023, we will be implementing this new video storage plan for all Kaltura accounts. Key Highlights of Our New Video Storage Plan: Streamlined Video Management: Our new plan focuses on automatic video storage deletion, making it easier for all users to manage their media. Changes include: Automatic deletion for unpublished videos that have not been played in 12 months Notification emails 7 d ..read more