AU’s new learning platform Brightspace is now accessible for teaching staff and course administrators, and registration for Brightspace workshops is open. During the coming months, teaching staff will be able to set up the courses they are teaching in autumn.

2021.04.21 | SINNE B. JAKOBSEN

Brightspace is AU's new learning platform, which will be used in the teaching from the autumn semester. Photo: Anders Trærup.

All members of teaching staff as well as course secretaries have now been given personal access to AU’s new learning platform Brightspace, which means they can begin familiarising themselves with the platform’s basic structure and navigation (log in to Brightspace here). Registration for introductory workshops is also open; the workshops will be taught by staff from AU’s central teaching development centre, the Center for Educational Development (CED). The workshops will introduce teaching staff and course administrators to the new platform and its pedagogical and technical functions.

Pro-rector Berit Eika is chair of the Brightspace steering committee, and she is pleased that the learning platform is open for business across AU:

“It’s an important milestone that all teaching staff and course administrators get access to Brightspace. The next step is for everyone to get familiar with the new platform and to get the autumn courses set up in the new system. That will require an extra effort during an already busy period, and I want to urge as many as possible to register for the spring workshops and take advantage of the help and support available. This will hopefully ensure that the transition to the new platform is as smooth and frictionless as possible,” says Berit Eika.

During the next few months, all members of teaching staff will receive access to the courses they are teaching this autumn. Then teachers can start setting up the courses in Brightspace with support and guidance from CED, which will offer support throughout the entire transitional period. 

In addition, teaching staff can learn more about with Brightspace on AU’s staff website, which contains links to a number of introductory videos with guides and tips as well as an overview of Brightspace workshops at each faculty and other relevant courses. And before long, an online introductory programme that can be taken at any time will also be available on the website. 

How to log in to Brightspace

Log in to Brightspace through this link: https://brightspace.au.dk. On the front page, you will find My Courses, where you can find an empty course under the tab “Sandboxes”, where you can familiarize yourself with the basic structure and navigation and try out Brightspace’s functionality.

Important information about the transition to Brightspace

• The autumn courses will be available in Brightspace during May/June. The courses will be empty, so you will have to set up your courses. You will be notified when you get access to doing so.
• Course content from your E20 and F21 Blackboard courses will be automatically transferred to Brightspace and placed in separate courses without students. From here, you can copy the content into your new empty E21 course. Note that the transferred content will not be structured as in Blackboard, which means that you will have to set up the course in Brightspace.
• Content from E20 Blackboard courses will be available in Brightspace when you get access to setting up your E21 courses in May/June. However, not content connected to individual students. Content from F21 Blackboard courses will be available in Sept/Oct.
• If you need to transfer content from Blackboard to Brightspace, you can do it:
• Manually and download the content to your own computer. Find more information at http://staff.au.dk/brightspace.
• Via a form, which you will find at http://staff.au.dk/brightspace and which transfers the content directly to Brightspace.
• Please note that Blackboard closes on 31 October 2021 after which it will not possible to retrieve content from before E18. This means that you must retrieve all relevant content from before E18 prior to this date. You can download this content manually until 31 October, but if you wish to use the form, you must do so before 15 October.
• You can still download content from E18-F20 using the form after Blackboard closes down.
• The students will be regularly informed about the new platform and can find inspiration about Brightspace at studypedia.au.dk.

Timeline for the implementation of Brightspace

• April 2021: The entire teaching staff as well as course administrators get access to Brightspace and can register for introductory workshops at CED. 
• May – June: Members of teaching staff get access to their E21courses. 
• August 2021: All students get access to Brightspace 
• 31 October 2021: Blackboard will be closed and old courses will be archived. It will still be possible to download old content from the archive (E18-F20), if the need should arise later. 

More info: 

Learn more about Brightspace at: http://staff.au.dk/brightspace. The information on the site will be updated regularly.

Register for Brightspace workshops.

Go directly to introductory videos and technical guides.

Read the article: “From Blackboard to Brightspace – one step closer”

Need help?

If you need help or if you have any comments for the new platform, please contact CED’s Brightspace support.

As always, you are welcome to contact a super-user at your department.