🎉 Celebrating a Bright Start: Highlights from the Winter Brightspace Pilot
As we wrap up our Winter 2025 Brightspace pilot, we’re thrilled to share the successes, feedback, and next steps from this major step forward in enhancing our digital learning environment. With 270 instructors and countless students exploring Brightspace for the first time this Summer, the Winter pilot was more than just a test, it was a testament to what’s possible when technology meets thoughtful design and collaboration.
✨ What We Heard: Faculty and Student Impressions
Throughout the pilot, one theme emerged clearly: Brightspace is intuitive, efficient, and visually appealing. Faculty repeatedly praised how easy it was to find content, build engaging materials, and move away from code-heavy formatting. “I don’t have to know HTML anymore,” one instructor shared, “and I can make it look really good!”
The platform’s modern interface and speed stood out, especially compared to the legacy system. Tasks that once took minutes, like adding quiz options or updating announcements, now happen almost instantly. Students appreciated the clean look and seamless experience, with some noting they were already familiar with Brightspace from high school.
Two Stars and a Wish: What Worked and What We’ll Keep Improving
To guide reflection, we used a “Two Stars and a Wish” format. Here’s a snapshot of what we learned:
🌟 Stars:
- User-Friendliness: Faculty loved how intuitive the platform felt for themselves and their students.
- Professional Design Tools: Features like Creator+ made it easy to add multimedia and make content pop.
💡 Wishes:
- A simpler way to email announcements to students.
- Better support for student impersonation or demo viewing, particularly for mobile users.
- More flexibility around assignment submission on behalf of students.
🤝 IT & TLC: The Dream Team Behind the Scenes
This pilot wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless work of our Teaching and Learning Centre (TLC) and IT Services. From behind-the-scenes video fixes to migrating thousands of course elements, their proactive support and coordination made a massive difference.
A special shoutout to the integration team for ensuring tools like Zoom and Kaltura worked smoothly in both Blackboard and Brightspace, and to those working hard to clean, standardize, and elevate the course experience. The effort has truly been a team achievement.
🚀 What’s Next?
- Summer and Fall 2025 courses are already available in Brightspace.
- Training and workshops are ongoing, including at the upcoming ConnectED conference.
- Ally for accessibility will be activated in all Brightspace courses.
- Course migration support continues, with help documents and 1:1 consultations available.
- Cross-listed and Trades courses will be ready for Fall 2025.
And yes, Blackboard will remain available until October 31, 2025, just in case.
🎯 Looking Ahead
This pilot marks the beginning of something exciting. We’re not just replacing a learning platform, we’re creating a more accessible, more engaging, and more future-ready learning environment for our entire UFV community.
Thank you to every faculty member, student, support person, and D2L who made this possible. Brightspace is here, and it’s already making learning brighter.
