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two people loking at computer screen displaying Brightspace

The D2L Brightspace learning management system (LMS) has been rolled out campus-wide for the Winter 2023 term, with more than 2,680 courses and 18,757 users active on the platform.

“Congratulations to the LMS implementation project team members, who have made exceptional efforts to integrate the platform in an extremely compressed timeline necessitated by the Blackboard contract end date,” says provost Patti Weir. “Thank you to all the instructors and staff who were willing to learn, adopt, and adapt their courses in Brightspace mid-academic year. Your commitment to student experience is applaudable.”

The collaborative efforts by the campus community to prepare for the new LMS have been key to the success of its campus-wide implementation. More than 1,120 faculty, staff, and graduate and teaching assistants have attended in-person or online training across 94 workshops in preparation for the beginning of the Winter 2023 term. Many others have made use of the synchronous training, materials, and how-to documentation provided by the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and D2L.

“The faculty-specific outreach and support we received from CTL, and the communication provided to ensure we were prepared was phenomenal. It was remarkable the way everyone pulled together to make this transition happen,” says Michele Stewart, faculty champion supporting the Odette School of Business.

Rachel Elliott, one of Nursing’s faculty champions, agrees: “The Faculty of Nursing has appreciated the faculty-specific drop-in sessions and the consistent support to ensure that we can help students during this transition. I honestly can’t believe how smooth the transition has been for us.”

Faculty champions have reported that instructors felt supported, had their questions answered when needed, and appreciated information tailored toward individual needs. They said that from their perspective, it was a daunting transition in the middle of the school year, but the implementation team executed an extremely well-thought-out and structured plan.

“The 15-minute information sessions, the drop-ins, an amazing group of pilot instructors, and using champions to filter down information and assist within faculties were brilliant outreach strategies,” says Gregg French, one of faculty champions in arts, humanities, and social sciences.

The LMS Implementation team consists of members from Information Technology Services, the Office of Open Learning, and CTL.

“Overall, it was a very easy transition,” says Jade Powers, a fourth-year psychology student. “Brightspace is intuitive and aesthetically pleasing. I like the fact that you can track your progress and identify what you have already opened in the course. During the first pilot class, our professor provided us with an overview of the platform, which was very helpful.”

Workshops for instructors, staff, GAs and TAs, as well as one-on-one support through in-person and online drop-in sessions, continue. Brightspace drop-in support is available Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., virtually through Microsoft Teams and at the CTL offices.

The Brightspace LMS replaces Blackboard, which will be fully decommissioned April 28. More information about Brightspace can be found online.

UWinsite Student

An update to UWinsite Student will necessitate the system to be offline on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 10 to 11 a.m. A GT eForms upgrade and security patches will occur during the planned maintenance.

Users may need to clear their cache after the update. Should users continue to have difficulty accessing the UWinsite Student after the update, contact the Information Technology Service Desk by:

woman looking at computer screen displaying Drupal

New and existing content editors who maintain official UWindsor websites are invited to attend online Drupal training on Thursday, Feb. 9.

“New UWindsor web editors are required to take the training to maintain and start building webpages, while more seasoned web editors could use the opportunity learn how to organize their content more effectively,” says Rob Aitkens, web development team lead. “This session focuses on fundamentals and helps our web editors create accessible and interesting content.”

Faculty and staff, including student employees, can sign up to attend the online Drupal 7 + Web Accessibility Basic Training on Thursday, February 9, from 1 to 3 p.m.

Dillon Hall

The UWindsor Research Data Management Steering Committee invites the campus community to provide feedback on the current draft of its Institutional Research Data Management Strategy.

The strategy is a requirement of the Tri-Agency’s 2021 Research Data Management Policy which requires institutions who receive CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC funds to create and share its strategy by March 2023.

The steering committee is a collaboration between the Leddy Library, the Office of Research and Innovation Services, Information Technology Services, and the Research Ethics Board, in consultation with the University of Windsor Research Data Management Faculty Advisory Group and other key campus stakeholders, particularly Indigenous scholars.

This institutional strategy is intended to share strengths, priorities, and commitment to research data management. It outlines current and planned capacity for research data management at the University of Windsor and underscores key strategic areas for future consideration, including:

  1. Streamlining service support for research data management
  2. Research data security
  3. Sovereignty and research data management with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people and communities
  4. Training and development

Development of a strategy is the first step in meeting the Tri-Agency’s current requirements. The consultation process will identify action items to support its successful implementation, including identifying areas requiring resource investments and areas of shared responsibility.

The strategy will evolve over time to be responsive to the needs of the research community and developments in the national research data ecosystem. Campus community feedback will inform this evolution and future implementation activities during the move towards implementing scalable infrastructure, services, and practices.

Click here to review the draft and provide feedback by Wednesday, Feb. 15.

graphic reading: University Firewall Hardware Upgrade

The University’s firewall hardware upgrade has been rescheduled for Saturday, Jan. 21, from 7 to 10:30 a.m. This will make unavailable University systems, including external interdependent systems and internet access.

The maintenance period should not extend beyond 10:30 a.m. However, if there is an issue, extended outages may occur for some systems. Communication will be shared with the affected system users should the need arise, and updates will be posted on the IT Services System Status and Notification webpage.

The firewall hardware upgrade is necessary for IT Services to maintain UWindsor’s technology infrastructure and data security.