Dear Faculty,

It’s almost time for the fall semester! As we’re gearing up with course prep, QA, and other activities, we’re eager to share some events, CFPs, and news that we thought you’d be interested to hear. We’re sharing updates about the CUNY SPS OpenLab, the annual CUNY IT Conference, and a few staffing changes here in OFDIT. As always, we’re excited to welcome you all back to SPS for the new semester.

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New Booking Link for Faculty Support

We’re excited to announce a new, streamlined way for faculty to connect with the OFDIT Faculty Support Team! Our brand new booking link makes it easier than ever to schedule a personalized 1:1 session tailored to your needs. Whether you’re looking for guidance on Brightspace, want to make your courses more accessible and inclusive, need help with multimedia tools (such as Panopto and VoiceThread), or anything else related to OFDIT, our team is here for you.

No question is too big or too small; whether you’re just getting started or looking to deepen your expertise, we are ready to assist.

Book your 1:1 session today to take full advantage of the resources the OFDIT team offers. We look forward to working with you and supporting your teaching journey!

Book a Session Today!

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Course Prep For Fall

Finalizing course sites for Fall semester? You can refer to our Course Site Prep Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty for steps and links to assist as you prepare. In the Checklist, you’ll find links to guides for how to: 

• Post your welcome announcement
• Fill out your Instructor Profile Widget
• Upload your Fall syllabus/course schedule
• Check that due dates reflect the upcoming semester’s calendar

In addition, on the SPS Faculty Community site, you will find an array of Teaching Guides from our OFDIT team, including ones on accessibility with Anthology Ally; on setting up and managing Groups in Brightspace; or on Creating Rubrics in Brightspace. And you can also check out our Teaching Guide Video Playlist for handy how-to videos!

⚡TIP: If you want to test how your course looks from a student point of view, including grades and feedback, use the handy CUNY Demo Student tool!

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New OFDIT staff

We are pleased to welcome Marilena (Lena) Orfanos to the OFDIT team! Our new Academic Faculty Development Manager brings extensive experience as an instructional designer and technologist in higher education, with particular strengths in accessible course design, faculty development, and user-centered learning design. Lena joins us from Adelphi University, where she continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member, and holds an M.A. in Learning Technology & Experience Design from NYU.

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Level Up! Accessibility
New Brightspace Course

A new self-paced Brightspace course, Designing for All: Digital Accessibility in Practice, is now available to help faculty and staff build accessibility skills for teaching and everyday work. Through short modules, hands-on activities, discussion boards, and weekly Zoom AMA sessions with colleagues from across CUNY, participants will learn how to create accessible Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, Brightspace content, and image alt text. The course is part of the CUNY Digital Accessibility Initiative, a university-wide effort to build digital accessibility knowledge and skills across CUNY, and is designed for both those who are new to accessibility and those looking to strengthen their skills. To get started, sign into Brightspace with your CUNY Login account and enroll directly in the Brightspace course. 

Digital Accessibility Day: Save the Date!

Mark your calendars and join us on Tuesday, September 24th for a day packed with assistive technology demos, how-to clinics, and oodles of tips & tricks on Digital Accessibility! Need a 101 on UDL? Or want to see a walkthrough of our Brightspace accessibility checker? In addition to our SPS-specific resources, we will have presenters from CUNY Central joining us and opportunities to refresh or expand your digital accessibility skills. 

This event will be held virtually with full details coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled! 

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OpenLab Fall Support Calendar

Welcome back, and happy fall! A new semester is here, and we’re excited to support everyone teaching, learning, and creating with the OpenLab this fall. Whether you’re building a new site, updating an existing one, or just have a few questions along the way, we’re here to help.

Get Support

We’re available by appointment on Tuesdays from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.

For the planners, here are this semester’s support dates:

• • September 1
  • September 8
  • September 15
  • September 22
  • September 29
  • October 6
  • October 13
  • October 20
  • October 27
  • November 3
  • November 10
  • November 17
  • November 24

To schedule an appointment, email us at openlab@sps.cuny.edu or reach out to our OpenLab Manager Jesse Rice-Evans at jesse.riceevans@cuny.edu. 

If our scheduled hours don’t work for you, don’t worry. Get in touch, and we’ll do our best to find another time that fits your schedule. We look forward to working with you this semester!

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CUNY IT Conference Call for Proposals

The 2026 CUNY IT Conference will take place at John Jay College of Criminal Justice on December 3-4. The theme is AI Disruption and Opportunities. From the CfP: 

“We encourage proposals that share real implementation experiences, emerging practices, difficult questions, policy challenges, instructional experiments, and lessons learned. We are especially interested in proposals that help the CUNY community think more clearly, act more intentionally, and collaborate more effectively in this fast-changing landscape…”

“Strong proposals will offer participants something useful to take away—whether that is a practical model, a policy framework, evidence from implementation, a replicable classroom strategy, a critical lens, or a roadmap for next steps.”

 

Share what you’re doing with the CUNY community and submit your proposal by September 24!

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Public AI Summit for Educators

Last year, more than 1,400 educators, researchers, students, librarians, policymakers, and other professionals joined the inaugural Public AI Summit. The 2026 Public AI Summit for Educators, taking place September 16–17, focuses on practical AI professional development for educators, especially those at community colleges, public schools, and other broad-access educational settings. The program includes keynote speakers Karen Brennan (Harvard), Arvind Narayanan (Princeton), and Justin Reich (MIT), along with interactive workshops, demonstrations, and live Q&A sessions designed to provide practical tools and strategies that can be immediately put to use. 

Learn more and register for free

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Faculty Corner:
Let Filters Do the Scrolling

Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

At the start of the semester, Discussion Boards can get crowded fast. Between introductions, questions, replies, and follow-up comments, it is easy to lose track of what you have already read and where you still need to respond.

That is where the filter feature comes in handy. You can filter posts to show only unread messages or threads that still need your attention. Instead of scrolling through the same posts again, Brightspace helps you focus on what is new.

This is especially useful during the first few weeks of class, when discussion activity is usually at its highest. A quick filter can help you spot unanswered questions, find students who may need feedback, and avoid rereading posts you have already reviewed.

Think of it as a shortcut through the discussion board traffic. A few clicks can save time, keep you organized, and make it much easier to stay present in the conversation without feeling buried in posts.

Here’s a guide to learn about the filtering option and the discussion tool. 

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! You can always check out our Faculty Hub page on Brightspace at CUNY SPS, and we are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu 

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

 

Dear Faculty,

It’s starting to feel like summer in NYC and we hope that wherever you are, and whether you are teaching or having a break, that you are enjoying some warm sunny times! The faculty newsletter will be on hiatus in July, but we wanted to alert you to an opportunity to join our OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board (nominations due June 30), give you an update on the Level Up! Accessibility campaign, and invite you to test out the Brightspace New Content Experience, Creator+ and Lumi Pro tools. In addition, our media team has an update on Adobe Express and news about the Adobe Podcast tool that all SPS faculty and staff can use. Finally, SPS faculty and staff can attend OLC Elevate for free in early August. Read on for all the details!

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OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board:
Call for Nominations (2026-28 Cohort)

Are you passionate about shaping faculty development at CUNY SPS? Nominations are now open for the 2026-2028 cohort of the OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board!

Established in 2021, the Faculty Advisory Board plays a vital role in guiding OFDIT’s programming, assessing faculty needs, and promoting professional development across our diverse academic community. As a FAB member, you’ll join six faculty colleagues from different programs to:

• • Provide input on OFDIT programming and ensure it remains relevant across disciplines
  • Serve as a “FacDev Advocate” by connecting OFDIT with colleagues in your program
  • Participate in meaningful projects, including the selection process for the Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award
  • Engage in one project per semester aligned with your interests and expertise, such as the recent Student Voices on AI survey and roundtable

What’s the commitment? The board meets monthly during Fall and Spring semesters, with some remote work outside meetings. Members serve two-year terms and are eligible to apply for grants toward registration fees for teaching and learning conferences or workshops.

Interested in serving? Nominate yourself or a colleague by filling out our nomination form. Three new members will join the board this fall, and each voice and perspective is highly valued. Learn more about the Faculty Advisory Board on our website.

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Level Up! Accessibility Update

Thank you to everyone who helped ensure that Summer session syllabi were accessible! Over the last few months, OFDIT partnered with programs and faculty to align syllabi formatting with accessibility guidelines. We encourage you to review the notes about changes that were made to individual syllabi, in order to help guide future syllabus updates. 

Syllabus accessibility, as indicated by the Ally score listed alongside the item in Brightspace, will continue to be reviewed as part of course prep before each semester. While OFDIT will not be directly remediating syllabi, we are here to provide support as you make updates or create new documents. The following resources can help you ensure your Word documents are accessibly formatted:

• • Guide: How to Make a Word Document Accessible
  • Infographic: Word Accessibility
  • Infographic: Using the Accessible Syllabus Template
    • Accessible Version: Guide: Using the Accessible Syllabus Template

If you need assistance working toward an Ally score of 100% for your syllabus, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Also be on the lookout for additional resources on course content accessibility, which we will share in August as you prepare for the Fall semester.

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Explore New Brightspace Features

The New Content Experience (NCE) will be introduced in CUNY Brightspace next academic year. All existing content will remain intact, so no changes are required, but you and your students will benefit from cleaner navigation and more streamlined workflows involving fewer clicks. We will provide advance notice before the new experience is made available, but if you’d like to check it out in the meantime, you can visit the CUNY Brightspace test environment, enter a course, select Content, and then Turn it on. Please note that the CUNY Brightspace test environment is for individual exploration only, and should never be used for teaching or any other function.

D2L also offers additional authoring tools (Creator+) and AI tools (Lumi Pro) for Brightspace. CUNY has not made a decision about purchasing these tools, but we have an opportunity to learn more about them in a sandbox environment that is available until July 13. D2L’s sandbox site is not part of CUNY Brightspace and is intended for exploration only, not for teaching or any other function. It includes 3 courses: one on Creator+, one on Lumi Pro, and a blank course for experimentation. CUNY faculty and staff can sign up for access (MFA required). If you are interested, please take advantage of this opportunity while the sandbox site is live until Monday, July 13, 2026! 

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Adobe Express at CUNY:
Creative Tools and Ready‑to‑Use Learning Kits

The OFDIT Media Team has found much to admire in our new Adobe Express license (CUNYFirst login). While faculty and staff need to request access from the HelpDesk, all CUNY students have access by default, which lowers the barrier to creative, multimodal work. Better yet, faculty need not start from scratch. Adobe has created “Learning Kits,” which are ready‑to‑use support guides and assignment ideas developed by faculty, for faculty.  Check out the learning kits or import them into your Brightspace course. Seven kits are available, covering multimodal writing, infographics, research posters, presentations, explainer videos, and podcasts.

One tool deserves special mention: Adobe Podcast. It streamlines audio recording and editing while using AI to enhance audio quality. Even a rough recording can sound polished.  The Media Team Vault site on OpenLab describes the process, we can teach you how to use it or let us know, we can do it for you! 

The OFDIT Media Team stands ready to support faculty who wish to integrate Adobe Express into their courses. We invite you to schedule a one‑on‑one consultation and design an assignment with us.

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OLC Elevate Conference August 4-5

Did you know that CUNY SPS faculty are Online Learning Consortium (OLC) members and can attend this year’s OLC Elevate Conference for free? The fully virtual, accessible conference will take place over two days in August. Register for the conference with your OLC account or create one using your CUNY SPS email.

Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Theme: Rethinking the Learning Enterprise: From Institutions to Ecosystems

Explore how learning moves beyond institutional bounds into flexible, AI-mediated ecosystems. This day focuses on the “big picture”—governance, infrastructure, and the strategy required to lead a digital enterprise.

• • Track #1: Reimagining Learning Models: Online, Blended and AI-Enabled Experiences
  • Track #2: Governing the Learning Ecosystem: Strategy, Leadership & Trust
  • Track #3: Designing the Technology Ecosystem: Platforms, Tools and AI-Enabled Innovation

Thursday, August 6, 2026

Theme: Bridging Innovation: Transforming Education through Digital Learning and AI Integration

Turn innovative theory into instructional practice. This day serves as a deep dive into the human-centered design and pedagogical shifts required to integrate AI responsibly into the student experience.

• • Track #1: Reimagining Learning: Pedagogy & Learning Design
  • Track #2: Leading Transformation: Strategy, Leadership & Organizational Change
  • Track #3: Enabling Innovation: Technology, Data & Learning Ecosystems

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OpenLab; Summer 2026

The CUNY SPS OpenLab is in summer mode! We’re expanding our suite of built-in accessibility tools and launching new templates that come with these tools already installed, so it’s easier than ever to make your OpenLab site accessible. We’ve got summer availability to support your OpenLab needs, and we’re always happy to find a convenient time for you if you cannot attend our scheduled offerings! Contact us any time.

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We won’t be holding set office hours in the summer, but you can always check out our Faculty Hub page on Brightspace at CUNY SPS, and we are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu 

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

As the semester comes to an end, this month’s newsletter includes important reminders, campus updates, and new resources for your courses.

Review our teaching guides for grading support and consider adding LinkedIn Learning to your courses. We also have updates on the Level Up! Accessibility Project and invite you to explore the new Media Team Vault, a site dedicated to video production support for SPS Faculty.

Additionally, we invite faculty to serve on the Faculty Advisory Board for the 2026-2028 cohort. Please also review our Faculty Corner tip on configuring the number of questions per page in Brightspace quizzes, and check out our ‘Did You Know?’ feature on selecting specific point values within a Rubric Range in Brightspace.

Enjoy! 

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Making the Grade: Teaching Guides

It’s that time of the semester! Need to reset quiz/exam attempts? Ready to fill in grades for missing student work? Want to allow extra points for an item or create an extra credit item? Looking for the steps to apply the setting to drop the lowest grade from a grading category? Ready for Importing Final Grades From Brightspace to CUNYFirst? Whatever your needs, we may have the teaching guide for you – browse our site for step-by-step help!

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Update: Level Up! Accessibility Project

Recently, the federal government extended its deadline for institutions to bring all online course materials into alignment with WCAG standards. The new federal deadline is April 2027, but New York State has its own deadline which remains the same, January 2027. While the federal extension offers welcome flexibility, it does not change our long‑standing commitment at CUNY SPS to accessible course design and content.

OFDIT continues to work with programs and faculty to ensure that all syllabus documents follow best practices for accessibility, including logical reading order, appropriate use of the headings formatting tools, alt-text for images, and accessibly formatted tables. Ensuring that your syllabus is formatted in a way that is accessible for all students makes it easier for students to use it as their go-to resource throughout the semester. 

Here are some instructional materials to help you ensure all your Word documents are accessibly formatted:

• • Guide: How to Make a Word Document Accessible
  • Infographic: Word Accessibility
  • Infographic: Using the Accessible Syllabus Template
    • Accessible Version: Guide: Using the Accessible Syllabus Template

Once your syllabus document is accessible, adding files to your Brightspace course site using the Upload Files pathway makes content compatible with Ally, an accessibility tool in Brightspace. If you need any help getting an Ally score of 100% for your syllabus, drop in to OFDIT’s open office hours.

We’ve written in past newsletters about the Accessibility Challenge, a four‑week challenge designed to make accessibility improvements simple and doable – one small step at a time. This month, OFDIT’s Matt Lewis has released a new video focused on Prompt 3 – accessible multimedia, captions, and transcripts. Watch the full video here: Let’s Work It Out – Accessibility Challenge Prompt 3.

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Get Support Making Instructional Videos

The OFDIT Media Team has launched a new portal to support SPS Faculty in producing video content for their courses. The Media Team Vault is an OpenLab site dedicated to video support for both in studio and remote production. Whether you’re working on a course overview, a faculty introduction, or mini-lectures, the OFDIT Media Team is here to support you! 

Enter the Vault

Enter the Vault to find answers to your video production questions!  Learn how to prepare for your in-studio recording session. See how the Media Team can support your video production remotely. The site will guide you through the process of creating polished videos no matter where you are.

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LinkedIn Learning Content in Brightspace

LinkedIn Learning is now available to all CUNY students, faculty and staff. While you can access LinkedIn via your CUNYlogin, it is possible to also add LinkedIn content such as videos or courses to a Brightspace course.

1. Select LinkedIn Learning – SPS under Existing Activities.
   
2. Enter your search term and other criteria
   
   
3. Once you identify the resource you want, select Add and Confirm.

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OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board:
Call for Nominations (2026-28 Cohort)

Are you passionate about shaping faculty development at CUNY SPS? Nominations are now open for the 2026-2028 cohort of the OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board!

Established in 2021, the Faculty Advisory Board plays a vital role in guiding OFDIT’s programming, assessing faculty needs, and promoting professional development across our diverse academic community. As a FAB member, you’ll join six faculty colleagues from different programs to:

• • Provide input on OFDIT programming and ensure it remains relevant across disciplines
  • Serve as a “FacDev Advocate” by connecting OFDIT with colleagues in your program
  • Participate in meaningful projects, including the selection process for the Adjunct Teaching Excellence Award
  • Engage in one project per semester aligned with your interests and expertise, such as the recent Student Voices on AI survey and roundtable

What’s the commitment? The board meets monthly during Fall and Spring semesters, with some remote work outside meetings. Members serve two-year terms and are eligible to apply for grants toward registration fees for teaching and learning conferences or workshops.

Interested in serving? Nominate yourself or a colleague by filling out our nomination form. Three new members will join the board this fall, and each voice and perspective is highly valued. Learn more about the Faculty Advisory Board on our website.

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Did You Know?
You Can Select Specific Point Values
Within a Rubric Range in Brightspace

If you’ve ever used a rubric in Brightspace and felt limited by score ranges (e.g., 3–4 points)—you’re not alone.

Many instructors assume that when selecting a rubric level, Brightspace forces you to assign the maximum score in that range. This often leads to workarounds like:

• • Manually adjusting the overall grade
  • Adding explanatory comments to justify a different score
  • Confusing students when the rubric total doesn’t match the final grade

But here’s the good news: you can assign a specific score within a range.

What Actually Happens

When you select a rubric level:

• • Brightspace automatically assigns the highest value in that range (e.g., selecting “3–4” defaults to 4 points)

How to Override the Score

To assign a more precise score within the range:

1. 1. Select the desired rubric level
   2. Click directly inside the score box
   3. Manually enter your preferred value within the allowed range (e.g., change 4 → 3)
   4. Press Enter. The system will mark this with an asterisk (*) to show the score has been manually overridden.
   5. When all of your editing is done, click save.

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Faculty Corner:
Configuring the Number of Questions per Page on a Brightspace Quiz
Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

As we approach final exams, if you wish to configure quizzes to display a specific number of questions per page, including showing all questions on a single page (which is often interpreted as having “”0″” page breaks or a single scrolling page), the following steps will allow you to do so:

How to Set Questions Per Page:

1. 1. Navigate to the Quizzes tool and open the quiz you wish to edit.
   2. Expand the Timing & Display section.
   3. Locate the Paging options.
   4. To have all questions on one page, select the option to display all questions together.
   5. Alternatively, you can choose to display a set number of questions per page (e.g., 1, 5, 10).
   6. Save and Close. 

Try the exam as a “Demo Student” to confirm it appears as you wanted.  One thing to note is that displaying all questions on a single page can sometimes cause slow loading times for very long quizzes.

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

With Spring Break now behind us and the semester entering its final stretch, April provides a timely moment to re‑engage with purpose and momentum. In this month’s newsletter, we have a student-centered roundtable discussing recent survey results on Gen AI use, an update on the Level Up! Accessibility Project happening at SPS and across CUNY, an early reminder to prepare your course for the upcoming term, an information session on OER Creation Grants, a Faculty Corner Tip, and listings of upcoming training opportunities for SPS faculty. Enjoy!

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Student Voices on AI: A Roundtable Discussion

What are SPS students really thinking about AI — in their courses and their work? We want to hear from them, and we want you to hear it too.

Join us on Thursday, May 7th, from 12:00pm to 1:30pm ET on Zoom for a student-centered roundtable hosted by our Faculty Advisory Board and OFDIT. This event grew directly out of our Spring 2026 student survey on AI in educational and professional contexts and we’ll be sharing the results live, using them as a springboard for conversation. Students will take the lead in reflecting on what the data reveals, sharing their experiences, and exploring what it means for learning at SPS. Faculty and staff are invited to listen, engage, and think together about how we can respond.

• Thursday, May 7 from 12:00pm to 1:30pm ET – Register Here

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Level Up! Accessibility Project

 Our Accessibility in Online Courses project continues, with the Accessibility Challenge wrapping up, links to upcoming and videos of past workshops on the Training page, and a new video from OFDIT’s Matt Lewis on Prompt 2 of the Accessibility Challenge. Follow along as he “works it out” and shares practical strategies for improving accessibility one step at a time. Watch the full video here: Let’s Work It Out – Accessibility Challenge Prompt 2.

For those of you using the Ally Report widget in your courses, the OFDIT Team has created a Teaching Guide for the Anthology Ally tool in Brightspace and is offering additional training on Ally on April 24.

A great way to start thinking about accessibility is to ensure that your syllabus document is formatted to be fully accessible to all your students, including those using screen reader technology. We’ll be working with programs and faculty in the coming weeks on Summer 2026 syllabi, but you can begin with this Word Accessibility Quick Start Guide, check out the resources on our SPS Faculty Community Hub Accessibility page, or come to OFDIT’s open office hours (Tuesdays: 6-7 pm or Wednesdays 12-1 pm ET) for help formatting documents to be accessible.

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Anthology Ally: An Introduction

Learn how Anthology Ally can increase access and improve the overall learning experience in your course by providing choice and flexibility for how students access content and media. We will cover both alternative file formats and the accessibility gauge features that are now available to all in your courses, and the support Ally provides in addressing any areas where accessibility can be improved, often very quickly!

• Friday, April 24 at 10:00am ET – Register Here

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Course Prep For Summer

Finalizing course sites for the Summer semester? You can refer to our Course Site Prep Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty for steps and links to assist as you prepare. In the Checklist, you’ll find links to guides for how to:

• • Post your welcome announcement
  • Fill out your Instructor Profile Widget
  • Upload your accessible syllabus/course schedule documents
  • Check that due dates reflect the upcoming semester’s calendar

In addition, on the SPS Faculty Community site, you will find an array of Teaching Guides from our OFDIT team, including ones on accessibility with Anthology Ally; on setting up and managing Groups in Brightspace; or on Creating Rubrics in Brightspace. And you can also check out our Teaching Guide Video Playlist for handy how-to videos!

⚡TIP: If you want to test how your course looks from a student point of view, including grades and feedback, use the handy CUNY Demo Student tool!

Discussion due dates, a new feature rolled out in December, can be added to first posts. For an overview of this new feature see the OFDIT Teaching Guide: Setting and Updating Discussion Dates in Brightspace

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OER Creation Grant Opportunity

The CUNY OER Initiative is offering grants to faculty interested in creating new Open Educational Resources, including projects that combine and adapt existing OER and new, original works. Awards are tiered into Planning Grants, Production Grants, and Revision Grants and range from $3,000 to $7,000. Applications will be due in early May. For more information, please attend one of two info sessions, Tuesday, April 14 at 5 pm ET, or Thursday, April 16 at 5 pm ET (registration). For more information, please reach out to Sarah Kresh in OFDIT (sarah.kresh@cuny.edu).

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UDL Collaborative Meeting – April 20: UDL Sustainability

Join us for our second UDL Collaborative meeting of spring 2026:
Monday, April 20, from 1-2pm ET Register here

In this session, we’ll explore how to make accessibility and UDL part of our ongoing professional practices as a sustainable habit. We’ll connect our discussion to the school’s ongoing Accessibility Project and Accessibility Challenge, exploring what’s working well, what next steps might look like, and how UDL principles can support long-term change. This will be a practical, strategy-sharing session where we’ll learn from colleagues who have successfully integrated UDL and accessibility into their daily work. Bring your ideas, questions, and experiences!

Brian Le Lay, Antonia Levy, and Amarna Williams
Facilitators, UDL Collaborative

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Did You Know?

Building out a new project site on the SPS OpenLab, or just in the thinking and planning stages? Did you know that you can join OpenLab support hours all through the semester to get one-on-one attention for any of your OpenLab projects? Come join us to chat about how OpenLab can support the projects you’re building! We can also help troubleshoot technical issues or add custom styling to your site! Register for any of our scheduled sessions to receive an email reminder, or drop in if you’re feeling spontaneous!

 

 

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Faculty Corner

Using Brightspace Release Conditions to Prepare Students for Online Exams
Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

Brightspace’s release conditions can be a simple but powerful way to ensure students are prepared before taking a high-stakes exam. One useful approach I currently use is requiring students to complete a short practice test before the first actual exam becomes available. By setting a release condition on the real exam, the exam will only become visible to students after they have attempted the practice version. 

This method gives students a chance to become familiar with Brightspace test taking mechanics in a low-pressure setting. They can get familiar with the testing environment ahead of time. As a result, technical issues are more likely to be resolved before the real exam, reducing stress for students and minimizing troubleshooting during the assessment itself.

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OFDIT Trainings Spring 2026

Below are the next OFDIT training sessions. For the full list please see Training Sessions for SPS Faculty. 

Brightspace: Advanced Gradebook Topics

Setting Up the Gradebook: In this training, we will discuss setting up your gradebook for the semester, how to add items for extra credit, using grade schema for items requiring special circumstances, and more!

• Tuesday, April 14 at 11:00am ET –  Register Here
• Thursday, April 23 at 4:00pm ET –  Register Here

Adobe Express Essentials:
Quick, High‑Quality Graphics for Your Course and Beyond 

Adobe Express is available to all SPS faculty, offering a powerful way to create polished graphics, banners, flyers, and other media.

• Thursday April 23 @ 10:00am ET – Register Here

Brightspace: Finalizing your Gradebook

Review all the grading options that apply at the end of the semester when you are preparing final grades, and learn the steps for automatically transferring final grades from Brightspace to CUNYfirst. 30 mins.

• Tuesday, May 12, at 11:00am ET – Register Here
• Thursday, May 21, at 4:00pm ET – Register Here

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.

All the Best, 
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

We are springing into action with a whole set of faculty development opportunities for you this March. Don’t miss the Level Up! Accessibility initiative, including the Ally Brightspace widget; our Accessibility Challenge; and a new video series for you, kicking off with a demonstration of the first prompt in the challenge. We have a faculty corner on using group lockers in Brightspace and listings of upcoming events for faculty. Enjoy!

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Student Survey on AI

Please encourage your students to complete the anonymous survey on student AI use, which will be open through April 3. Responses will help us better understand how students at CUNY SPS are using and thinking about GenAI and will inform ongoing conversations about AI in education across our community. We plan to share the findings and continue the conversation with an event in May.

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Level Up! Accessibility in our Online Courses

In our last newsletter, we announced a new project to strengthen accessibility in online courses as part of new ADA Title II requirements. The Level Up! project has launched and is now underway with the following key initiatives:

New Ally Widget Added to Brightspace

You will have seen the new Ally Accessibility Score Widget on your course home page (not visible to students). It displays your Ally score at a glance and provides direct access to the full report and support resources. 

Did you know that the Ally report shows you specific items that can be improved for accessibility? Some fixes are simple and can be done right on the same page, while others may require editing the original file. We encourage you to explore the report and try a few updates. Increasing your score will be motivating, but note that the focus is on addressing severe and selected major issues, especially for summer courses and beyond.

Please also keep in mind that Ally only scans content stored inside the course; externally linked materials are not reviewed.

Learn more about Ally in our Ally teaching guide, at the next Ally workshop on March 20, or by joining Matt as he “works it out” (see below).

Let’s Work It Out – Video Series

To help you get started, OFDIT’s Matt Lewis has launched a new Let’s Work It Out video series where he tackles issues related to teaching online and asynchronously. The first topic: The Accessibility Challenge!

In this episode, Matt walks through Prompt 1, learning about Ally, reviewing an Ally Course report, and reflecting on the process. We encourage you to follow along as he “works it out” and shares practical strategies for improving accessibility one step at a time. Watch the full video here: Let’s Work It Out – Accessibility Challenge Prompt 1  

The Accessibility Challenge has Launched!

The Level Up! Accessibility Challenge is designed as a quick and approachable way to start to “level up” your course’s accessibility. There are 2 prompts per week with a focused accessibility tip, a quick action you can take in your course, and a recommendation for future planning. Participants can also earn a certificate for completing the challenge. Although the challenge is now in its 3rd week, you can still sign up and catch up anytime through the Brightspace site.

We hope these tools and activities are helpful, but our goal is not necessarily a “perfect” score. Designing courses that work for all learners is a shared journey, and every improvement helps build stronger courses for the summer term and beyond!

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UDL Collaborative Meeting – April 20: UDL Sustainability

Join us for our second UDL Collaborative meeting of Spring 2026:

• Monday, April 20, from 1-2pm ET. Register here

In this session, we’ll explore how to make accessibility and UDL part of our ongoing professional practices as a sustainable habit. We’ll connect our discussion to the school’s ongoing Accessibility Project and Accessibility Challenge, exploring what’s working well, what next steps might look like, and how UDL principles can support long-term change. This will be a practical, strategy-sharing session where we’ll learn from colleagues who have successfully integrated UDL and accessibility into their daily work. Bring your ideas, questions, and experiences!

Brian Le Lay, Antonia Levy, and Amarna Williams, Facilitators, UDL Collaborative

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CUNY Wide Opportunities for CUNY SPS Faculty

Save the Date! CUNY’s 3rd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference

The conference centers on the theme Reimagining Possibilities: Adult Learning for a Changing World. This theme underscores the importance of designing meaningful education to include adult learners at the center of institutional practice.

Date & Time: May 8, 2026, 9:00am- 3:30pm
Attendance: In Person (Free and open to all members of CUNY)
Location: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10016

CUNY CIS Accessibility Training Series

This series is ongoing, with many opportunities remaining to strengthen your accessibility skills and empower your work with inclusive design.

• Designing Accessible PowerPoint presentations (3/18)
• Building Accessible Excel Spreadsheets (3/24)
• Ensuring Accessibility in Brightspace (3/26)
• Writing Effective Alternative Text (3/30)
• Making PDFs Accessible with Adobe Acrobat (4/1)

View full descriptions and register here (Login required using your @login.cuny.edu account).

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Faculty Corner
Group Lockers in Brightspace

Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

Brightspace lockers are helpful for student group work because they give each team one shared place to store and exchange files. Instead of emailing documents or juggling multiple versions, students can upload drafts, data files, screenshots, and notes that every member can access anytime. This keeps everyone working from the same materials and makes multi-step projects easier to manage.

To enable lockers, create your groups and check the Lockers option in the group settings. Once turned on, each group gets its own shared space automatically, helping students stay organized and collaborate more effectively.

 

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OFDIT Trainings Spring 2026

Upcoming training sessions are listed here, but for the full list please see Training Sessions for SPS Faculty. 

Introducing CUNY Pressbooks

The CUNY Pressbooks Network is an elegant publishing platform that offers the opportunity to find, adapt, or create openly licensed course materials. With pedagogical features ranging from glossaries and built-in social annotations to interactive questions and LMS grading functionality, CUNY Pressbooks is a great option for presenting customized course readings. In this hands-on, one-hour training, we’ll preview some of these features, see them in action in resources just waiting to be adopted, and then dive in to get familiar with the platform and its robust tools.

• Tuesday, March 17 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Thursday, March 19 at 4:00pm – Register Here

Using ePortfolio in your Course

In this session, you will explore the structure of ePortfolio and learn how to use the platform from the instructor view. You will learn how to navigate the Digication in Brightspace, review your students’ signature assignment submissions, and share the various support resources available for both students and instructors. There will also be time to answer any questions you might have about ePortfolios at CUNY SPS.
45 mins.

• Wednesday, March 18 at 2:00pm – Register Here 

Anthology Ally: An Introduction

Learn how Anthology Ally can increase access and improve the overall learning experience in your course by providing choice and flexibility for how students consume content and access media. We will cover both alternative file formats and the accessibility gauge features that are now available to all in your courses and the support Ally provides in addressing any areas where accessibility can be improved, often very quickly!

• Friday, March 20 at 10:00am – Register Here

Adobe Express Essentials: Quick, High‑Quality Graphics for Your Course and Beyond 

Adobe Express is available to all SPS faculty, offering a powerful way to create polished graphics, banners, flyers, and other media. This one‑hour session introduces the essentials from access to the tool, to creating a graphic and finally publishing it.  Participants will explore practical examples of classroom‑ready visuals and learn how to draw from Express’s rich library of images, templates, and AI‑generated art. We will also discuss ways to involve students, who have full access by default. The session concludes with guidance on publishing and exporting media for use in courses, collaboration with other users, and sharing to external platforms like Brightspace and OpenLab.

• Monday, March 23 @ 4:00pm – 5:00pm – Register Here
• Thursday April 23 @ 10:00am – 11:00am – Register Here

The Pedagogy of Social Annotations/Using Perusall in Brightspace

Social annotations can radically change the way your students engage with your course materials, each other, and you, combining the benefits of annotation, dialogue, accessibility, and digital accountability. In this one-hour workshop, we’ll look at the pedagogical benefits of social annotation across a range of disciplines and discuss how this practice can build students’ skills, foster community, and promote intellectual growth. In addition, we’ll look at how to use the Perusall LTI in Brightspace to build social annotation assignments in your courses.

• Tuesday, March 24 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Thursday, March 26 at 4:00pm – Register Here

OpenLab Support Hours

Whether you’re building a new site, have questions, or just want to bounce around ideas, join the OpenLab team to collaborate and explore. Drop in, co-work, or just come see what others are working on! We also have the full spring semester schedule published on the CUNY SPS Open Road. You can also book daytime appointments at your convenience.

• Mondays, 6:00pm
• Thursdays, 6:00pm

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.

All the Best, 
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

Although winter seems determined to linger, with more than a little bluster, this cold February still offers a welcome chance to reset, regroup, and prepare for the brighter season ahead. Read on for fresh opportunities to deepen accessibility, experiment with new approaches to online engagement, and connect with colleagues across CUNY. Whether you’re exploring updates in Brightspace, rethinking multimedia strategies, or joining one of our upcoming workshops, we hope these resources inspire you to refresh your courses with clarity, creativity, and care. OFDIT is here to support your work, and we look forward to helping you cultivate meaningful, student‑centered learning throughout the season.

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Level Up Accessibility in your
Online Course

Let’s level up! With new ADA Title II requirements coming into effect, SPS—along with the rest of CUNY—is ramping up efforts to strengthen accessibility in online courses. During the Spring semester, OFDIT will offer resources to help you understand expectations and meet accessibility standards, including workshops, trainings, an Accessibility Challenge and more. Look for an email next week with more details and ways to participate!

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Brightspace Update:
Discussion Due Dates

You asked, and D2L listened! Brightspace now allows instructors to set a due date for students’ first discussion post directly within a Discussion topic. This update brings Discussions in line with Assignments and Quizzes, creating a more consistent experience across course activities. The due date applies only to the initial contribution, whether a new thread or a reply, and automatically syncs with any linked content modules. This enhancement offers a clearer structure for learners and simplifies course management for faculty.  The OFDIT team just published an updated teaching guide with step by step instructions to add due dates to your discussions.

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Open for All Workshop

The SPS OER Initiative is pleased to once again offer the Open for All Workshop & Discussion Series (Mar 6-31). This hybrid online (sync/async) workshop covers the intersection of Open Education and Inclusive Pedagogy. Participants review a course using the SPS course review rubric annotated with open and inclusive educational practices and create a proposal for incorporating inclusive pedagogical approaches. 

The wider SPS community is invited to our workshop discussions on Fridays to contribute their own insights into inclusive teaching and learning at SPS. 

See Open for All Workshop & Discussion Series for all the details, including workshop syllabus and registration information, and the community call for contributions to the workshop discussions. Registration is open through Monday, March 2.

We will have an info session on the DEIA annotations to the SPS Course Review Rubric that participants use in the workshop. All are welcome!

• • Tuesday, February 24 at 10:00am – Register Here
  • Thursday February 26 at 4:00pm – Register Here

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UDL Collaborative:
Exploring the Pedagogy of Kindness

Join us for our first UDL Collaborative meeting of Spring 2026!  We’ll explore what kindness means in academic contexts and how it intersects with our teaching and working practices. How does kindness relate to UDL principles? How might we navigate kindness alongside learning outcomes, disciplinary standards, academic rigor, deadlines, and accommodations? When and how do we assert boundaries, and what are the responsibilities of instructors and students? 

Optional Reading: We recommend the introductory chapter from A Pedagogy of Kindness (2024) by C.J. Denial as a conversation starter. Find the PDF on our OpenLab webpage. All are welcome!

• • Wednesday, March 4, from 1-2pm ET. Register here.

Brian Le Lay, Antonia Levy, and Amarna Williams, Facilitators, UDL Collaborative

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CUNY-Wide Opportunities for SPS Faculty

CUNY CIS Accessibility Training Series

The ADA Title II updates are going into effect in April 2026, and now is the perfect time to strengthen your accessibility skills and empower your work with inclusive design! This series includes 7 webinars focused on accessibility best practices, tools, and techniques to make your content usable for everyone.

• • Accessibility Basics: Why it Matters (3/3)
  • Creating Accessible Word Documents (2/23, 3/16)
  • Designing Accessible PowerPoint presentations (2/25, 3/18)
  • Building Accessible Excel Spreadsheets (3/3, 3/24)
  • Ensuring Accessibility in Brightspace (3/5, 3/26)
  • Writing Effective Alternative Text (3/9, 3/30)
  • Making PDFs Accessible with Adobe Acrobat (3/11, 4/1)

View full descriptions and register here (Login required using your @login.cuny.edu account)

CUNY CIS Gen AI Training Series

Ready to harness the power of AI? The CUNY CIS team will offer several topic-specific trainings to make sure we keep on top of the latest in AI technology. Join to explore practical AI applications, prompting strategies, and productivity hacks:

• • Beginner Prompting (2/26, 3/4)
  • Intermediate Prompting (3/12, 3/18)
  • Advanced Prompting (3/25, 4/2)
  • Meta Prompting (4/9)
  • Prompting Workshop (4/15)

 View full descriptions and register here (Login required using your @login.cuny.edu account)

Trauma Informed Pedagogy Presentation

Join our colleagues from Queensborough Community College for a virtual session that provides educators with strategies to help mitigate and understand student behavior, thus creating a more compassionate, flexible, and consistent learning space. 

Dr. Melissa Haswell will present. Co-Hosted with Wilma Fletcher-Anthony in the QCC Counseling Center.

• • Friday February 27, at 10:00-11:30am (virtual)  Learn More

Teaching for Career Readiness and Success

Join our colleagues from Hunter College ACERT as they discuss how to prepare students not only for their first job, but for a lifetime of meaningful work. In this lunchtime seminar, they’ll consider how learning experiences across disciplines can cultivate agency and long-term career success. Participants will leave with practical strategies and renewed clarity about how teaching can empower students to thrive beyond the classroom.

• • Tuesday February 24, at 12:00-1:00pm (virtual) Register Here

AI & Accessible Visual Presentations that Inspire Student Engagement and Innovation: Using Canva, Claude, Gamma AI, and More 

Also from Hunter’s ACERT team: creating visually engaging presentations is essential for teaching, but ensuring those visuals are accessible to all learners is what is truly essential. This lunchtime seminar explores how tools like Canva, Gamma AI, and other emerging platforms can help instructors design presentations that are not only beautiful and memorable, but also usable by students with diverse access needs. Whether you are brand new to visual design or already a Canva expert, you’ll leave with practical techniques and templates that make your presentations more inclusive, engaging, and impactful for every student.

• • Thursday February 26, at 12:00-1:00pm (virtual) Register Here

Wikipedia as Pedagogy: Contribute to Open Knowledge and Public Scholarship

Empower students, faculty, and staff as producers of public knowledge through meaningful Wikipedia contributions. This seminar from Hunter ACERT explores strategies for integrating Wikipedia editing into your courses or writing to enhance research, writing, and digital literacy.

• • March 10, at 12:00-1:00pm (virtual) Register here

UPCEA Video Poster: Deconstructing Multimedia

At UPCEA’s 2026 Digital Teaching and Learning Conference, OFDIT’s own Matt Lewis and Fallon Saratovsky presented Deconstructing Multimedia, a video poster on designing effective instructional videos. Drawing on Mayer’s multimedia principles, they showed how clear visuals, focused narration, and reduced cognitive load strengthen multimedia learning. They also examined generative‑AI video tools, noting common issues such as unedited artifacts and mismatched tone, which underscores the need for human oversight to avoid “AI slop.” The video offers practical guidance for creating multimedia that supports engagement and active learning. 

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Did you know?
Video Assignments with Panopto

Video submission assignments—ranging from simple recordings to more advanced projects—foster engagement and allow students to demonstrate communication, creativity, and subject knowledge. With Panopto’s student‑submission feature in Brightspace, faculty can create video or audio assignments that let students record or upload presentations, demonstrations, and other multimedia work. These activities support graded assignments, group projects, and discussions, offering flexibility across teaching styles while encouraging active, creative participation in online courses. To receive support in setting up a video assignment, please email us at FacultySupport@sps.cuny.edu to get started!

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Faculty Corner:
Add a Profile Picture to Humanize Your Course

Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

Humanized learning makes an online course feel more “real,” which can boost student motivation to log in and stay engaged week after week. Small touches like adding a profile picture in Brightspace can go a long way toward creating a welcoming, approachable course space..  Without a picture, a generic avatar is used. A clear headshot (or simple professional photo)helps students connect your name to a person, and carries through the system in places like discussions, class lists, and messages.

Brightspace uses one profile image system‑wide and recommends a 150 × 150 pixel photo to avoid cropping, so choose a centered, recognizable image. To upload it, select your name in the Brightspace minibar, open your Profile, choose Change Picture, upload your photo, and finally Save and Close.

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OFDIT Trainings Spring 2026

Looking to move beyond traditional text‑based discussions? SPS offers several tools that support richer, more authentic student interaction while reducing reliance on copy‑and‑paste responses. See below!  

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

This training will introduce VoiceThread, an asynchronous video discussion board. VoiceThread allows faculty and students to create multimedia presentations that engage a classroom community through threaded audio and video discussions. You and your students can add commentary to a presentation by means of microphone, webcam, keyboard, or phone. The ensuing conversation feels like a live classroom, but in an online environment.

• • Monday, February 23 at 4:00pm – Register Here
  • Thursday, March 26 at 10:00am – Register Here

The Pedagogy of Social Annotations/Using Perusall in Brightspace

Social annotations can radically change the way your students engage with your course materials, each other, and you, combining the benefits of annotation, dialogue, accessibility, and digital accountability. In this one-hour workshop, we’ll look at the pedagogical benefits of social annotation across a range of disciplines and discuss how this practice can build students’ skills, foster community, and promote intellectual growth. In addition, we’ll look at how to use the Perusall LTI in Brightspace to build social annotation assignments in your courses.

• • Tuesday, March 24 at 10:00am – Register Here
  • Thursday, March 26 at 4:00pm – Register Here

Using Video in Brightspace (Panopto/Video Notes)

Creating video content for your course can be a little overwhelming with the number of options available.  Join this session to learn which tools work best for creating a reusable welcome message or lecture, a weekly update or one-time recordings, like giving feedback to students. 

In this session participants will be introduced to Panopto, the SPS video platform integrated into Brightspace, which streamlines video production.  Participants will learn how to access Panopto and its features through Brightspace, focusing on a workflow to create, organize, and publish video content.  The Brightspace platform itself has video tools too.  We’ll highlight when it’s beneficial to use one over the other.

• • Wednesday, February 18 at 11:00am – Register Here
  • Tuesday, March 24 at 2:00pm – Register Here

And be sure to explore the full list of OFDIT Trainings for Spring 2026.  You’ll find sessions on Brightspace, teaching online, ePortfolio and more! 

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.  

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

Happy New Year! Hoping you had moments of rest and joy over the holidays. In this month’s newsletter, we share some guidance for Spring Course Prep, and several upcoming events to support your teaching this semester! Stop by an AI policy drafting workshop to help you prep your syllabus for Spring, learn more about how OpenLab can work for SPS staff, and check out tracks for the upcoming CUNY Teaching and Learning Conference – submit your proposal by Jan 22! You’ll also find registration info for February’s virtual UPCEA Digital Teaching and Learning Conference (including a poster presentation from OFDIT’s Media Team!) We wish you a smooth start to the upcoming Spring semester and we look forward to joining you for a great year ahead of teaching and professional growth!

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Course Prep For Spring

Finalizing course sites for Spring semester? You can refer to our Course Site Prep Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty for steps and links to assist as you prepare. In the Checklist, you’ll find links to guides for how to: 

• • Post your welcome announcement
  • Fill out your Instructor Profile Widget
  • Upload your Spring syllabus/course schedule
  • Check that due dates reflect the upcoming semester’s calendar

In addition, on the SPS Faculty Community site, you will find an array of Teaching Guides from our OFDIT team, including ones on accessibility with Anthology Ally; on setting up and managing Groups in Brightspace; or on Creating Rubrics in Brightspace. And you can also check out our Teaching Guide Video Playlist for handy how-to videos!

⚡TIP: If you want to test how your course looks from a student point of view, including grades and feedback, use the handy CUNY Demo Student tool!

Also, some of you may have noticed a due date field in your discussions; this is a new feature just rolled out in December for first posts. We’ll be testing and then providing more guidance in our next newsletter, but if you’re curious you can get an overview of the new feature in this Brightspace article.

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Events and Announcements for SPS Faculty

Creating Your AI Policy Sessions

Join your SPS colleagues for a discussion and drafting session of AI course policies and statements. We’ll look at sample policies and discuss how they fit with your teaching approach. Then you’ll have time to draft policies and get feedback from the group, if you like. 

• Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 2-3 p.m. ET –  Register Here
• Friday, January 16, 2026, 12-1 p.m. ET –  Register Here

OpenLab Clinic for SPS Staff

OpenLab for Staff

Join us for an OpenLab Clinic on Tuesday, January 27, 2026 at 3 p.m. ET for an informal, hands-on session for SPS staff. Whether you’re building a new site, have questions, or just want to bounce around ideas, this is a space to collaborate and explore together. Drop in, co-work, or just come see what others are working on! Get more information and register here.

We also have the spring semester support hours schedule published on the CUNY SPS Open Road. You can also book daytime appointments at your convenience.

Designing the Future of Digital Learning – UPCEA Conference

The 2026 Digital Teaching & Learning Conference (DT&L), hosted by UPCEA, takes place virtually on February 4–5. This year’s theme, “Designing the Future,” invites faculty to explore innovation, foster community, and advance online teaching. DT&L offers peer-reviewed workshops, roundtables, lightning talks, and keynote panels! The OFDIT Media Team (Matt Lewis, Fallon Saratovsky, and Sharon Jorrin) will be presenting a video poster on Deconstructing Media — check it out for tips on making video for learning!  

CUNY SPS is a member institution, so registration is free for faculty and staff. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with colleagues and shape what’s next for digital learning! To learn more and register visit: 2026 Digital Teaching & Learning Conference

Brightspace Office Hours

OFDIT’s open Brightspace office hours will resume January 13th:

Tuesdays: 6-7 p.m. ET
Wednesdays 12-1 p.m. ET

We look forward to seeing you in a drop-in session with your questions!

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CUNY Opportunities for SPS Faculty

CUNY 2026 Teaching and Learning Conference CFP

As SPS Faculty, your instructional experiences align with the 3rd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference theme, Reimagining Possibilities: Adult Learning in a Changing World. The conference will be in person at the Graduate Center, May 8 from 9 a.m. ET – 3:30 p.m. ET. Share your experience designing and delivering meaningful education to adult learners! 

For more information about conference tracks and to submit your proposal (due January 22nd) visit CITA’s 3rd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference website. 

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Faculty Corner: Call for Tips?

If you have discovered a setting, process, or tool that made teaching go more smoothly, or learned something new about Brightspace, we would love for you to share! Submit a teaching tip (in 200 words or less) using our Faculty Corner Submission Form and we’ll share it here in our newsletter! Your extensive knowledge and experience is valuable to everyone! 

 

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu. 

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team 

Dear Faculty,

As the end of the term approaches, we want to share a handful of final grade related Teaching Guides, an invitation to apply for the Spring AI Faculty Fellowship, information about upcoming “Creating Your AI Policy” sessions coming up in January, and a reminder about including eReserve access information in your course sites. We also want to wish Blackboard a very happy retirement, and congratulate the first recipient of our Big Tipper Award! Wishing you all the best as you bring the semester and the year to a strong close!

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Events and Announcements
for SPS Faculty

Making the Grade: Teaching Guides

It’s that time of the semester! Need to reset quiz/exam attempts? Ready to fill in grades for missing student work? Want to allow extra points for an item or create an extra credit item? Looking for the steps to apply the setting to drop the lowest grade from a grading category? Ready for Importing Final Grades From Brightspace to CUNYFirst? We have a teaching guide for you – browse our site for step-by-step help!

CUNY SPS Faculty Fellowship: Teaching and AI

Applications are open through December 30 for the CUNY SPS Faculty Fellowship on Teaching and AI. This fellowship supports faculty in developing innovative responses to AI’s presence in education. In a collaborative peer environment, participants will explore the impact of AI, study current practices in AI and education, and develop projects that integrate AI into coursework, adapt teaching strategies, create educational or policy materials, or leverage AI for instruction.

The fellowship kicks off in February and runs through May 15th. Participants will pilot their projects in the Summer or Fall semester and present their work to their department and the CUNY SPS community during the 2026-27 academic year. Successful completers will receive $500. Applications are due December 30th. Visit the Teaching and AI Fellowship page for details and to apply.

In January: Creating Your AI Policy Sessions

Join us for a discussion/drafting session of AI course policies and statements. We’ll look at sample policies and discuss how they fit with your teaching approach. Then we’ll have time to draft policies and share with each other for feedback.

• • Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 2-3 pm ET –  Register Here
  • Friday, January 16, 2026, 12-1 pm ET –  Register Here

OpenLab January Events

Save the Date: OpenLab for Staff
Take advantage of your time between semesters! Save the date for an OpenLab Clinic on Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 2PM ET designed for staff to explore, troubleshoot, and enhance your OpenLab sites. Whether you need help getting started, polishing your portfolio, or learning how OpenLab can help you collaborate and stay organized, we’re here to support you.

Brightspace Office Hours

OFDIT’s open Brightspace office hours will continue through December 18th and will pick up again in mid-January. We look forward to seeing you in a drop-in session with your questions!

Upcoming dates and times:

Monday, Dec 15: 12-1pm ET
Tuesday, Dec 16: 6-7pm ET
Wednesday, Dec 17: 1-2pm ET
Thursday, Dec 18: 10-11am ET

Get Support Making Instructional Videos

The OFDIT Media Team always sees an uptick in video production at this time of year. It’s a great time to create engaging videos for your students! Whether you’re working on a course overview, a faculty introduction, or mini-lectures, the OFDIT Media Team is here to help you shine. Here’s how to we can support you:

• On-Campus Studio Sessions – Equipped with high-quality recording gear, our team will handle the filming, editing, captioning, and publishing—so you can focus on your message.
• Remote Production Support – Staying remote? No problem! We’ll guide you through the process of creating polished videos from home. From choosing the right software to editing and captioning, we’ve got you covered.

To get started, email matthew.lewis@cuny.edu or schedule a Zoom consultation to kick off your project.

Last Call for Blackboard

On December 18 Blackboard access will be permanently discontinued across all CUNY campuses. Download any content now; instructions can be found in our Downloading Blackboard Content teaching guide.

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Did you know?

If your course uses E-Reserves, students can connect to the e-reserve page directly through the E-Reserves link in Brightspace!

No password is needed when following the link inside a Brightspace course. If you use E-Reserves to platform readings and resources, it’s helpful to provide a screenshot or otherwise direct students to the second item under the Library Navbar link so they are aware of the most streamlined path for access:

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Announcing the Big Tipper Award!

We’re thrilled to announce Curtis Izen has won the inaugural Big Tipper Award! Congrats, Curtis! Thank you for your dedication and generosity! As loyal readers of the OFDIT Newsletter will know, Curtis has consistently gone above and beyond in sharing his teaching wisdom with our community. Over the years, Curtis has taken time to reflect on his teaching practice, discover effective shortcuts, and generously pass those insights on to us. His contributions have enriched our newsletter and inspired innovative approaches to teaching.

To show our appreciation, the OFDIT team presents Curtis with the Big Tipper Award!

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Faculty Corner: Who will be the next Big Tipper?  

Did you discover a setting, process, or tool that made teaching go more smoothly, or learn something new about Brightspace you’d love to share? Submit a teaching tip (in 200 words or less) using our Faculty Corner Submission Form and we’ll share it here in our newsletter! Your hard-won knowledge and experience is valuable to everyone! 

 

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu.

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

Dear Faculty,

In this month’s newsletter, you’ll find a reminder about Blackboard retirement, an invitation to apply for OFDIT’s Spring AI Faculty Fellowship, trainings and guides about finalizing your gradebook for the end of the semester, and registration links for a City Tech workshop on using Notebook LM to support your teaching and for the CUNY IT Conference this December, along with a faculty tip about using intelligent agents in your courses.

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Blackboard Retirement 

A final reminder that CUNY will officially retire the Blackboard LMS on December 18, 2025, after which the platform and its contents will no longer be accessible.

Key dates:

December 15, 2025:

Final day to retrieve any remaining course content or resolve outstanding issues in Blackboard (e.g., copies of course materials, Collaborate recordings, etc.).

December 18, 2025:

Blackboard access will be permanently discontinued across all CUNY campuses.

Want to preserve materials from a past Blackboard course? Steps to archive can be found in our teaching guide, Downloading Blackboard Content.

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CUNY SPS Faculty Fellowship: Teaching and AI

Interested in adapting pedagogy in the age of AI? Consider applying for the CUNY SPS Faculty Fellowship on Teaching and AI. This fellowship supports faculty in developing innovative responses to AI’s presence in education. In a collaborative peer environment, participants will explore the impact of AI, study current practices in AI and education, and develop projects that integrate AI into coursework, adapt teaching strategies, create educational or policy materials, or leverage AI for instruction.

Two cohorts of the fellowship are planned for spring and summer 2026. The spring cohort kicks off in February 2026 and runs through May. Participants will pilot their projects in the summer or fall 2026 semester and present their work to their department and the CUNY SPS community during the 2026-27 academic year. Successful completers will receive a $500 stipend or NTA appointment. Applications for the spring cohort are due December 30, with preference for projects intended for piloting in summer 2026  Visit the Teaching and AI Fellowship page for details and to apply.

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Brightspace: Finalizing your Gradebook

Feeling ready for the semester’s end? Attend one of OFDIT’s training sessions on preparing your gradebook for the end of the semester and learn the options to apply when you are preparing final grades, as well as the steps for automatically transferring final grades from Brightspace to CUNYfirst. (30 mins)

• Tuesday, December 2, 2025, at 12:30pm – Register Here
• Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 10:00am – Register Here

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Brightspace Office Hours

Questions as you get ready for final assessments and grading or while you work to prep your sites for upcoming WIN and SP sessions? 

OFDIT’s open Brightspace office hours continue Tuesday evenings (6-7pm) and Wednesday afternoons (1-2pm) through Dec 17th. A note that we will be adding additional sessions for end-of-semester assistance on the following dates:

Monday, Dec 8, 12-1pm
Thursday, Dec 11, 10-11am
Monday, Dec 15, 12-1pm
Thursday, Dec 18, 10-11am
Monday, Dec 22, 12-1pm

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Did you know?

November is a good time to check that your gradebook and assessments are ready for the end of the term. You can use our Teaching Guides to help you make sure grade items are linked to Activities, reset Quiz attempts for students who need an additional attempt, quickly fill in zeros for missing student work so final grade calculations are up to date, or easily reach out to students with missing assignments. 

Finally, if you want to test out a final exam or see where feedback appears, you can activate the Student Demo Tool in any course section and preview these items to make sure everything is ready for students.

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CUNY Opportunities for SPS Faculty

Designing Assignments with Notebook LM

This New York City College of Technology interactive workshop introduces faculty to Notebook LM, an AI-powered tool for curating knowledge bases that support assignment creation. Participants will explore how to organize course materials, scaffold assignments for deeper learning, and integrate generative AI into their workflow. Whether you’re new to Notebook LM or an experienced user, this session offers practical strategies to enhance your assignment design with clarity and creativity. Register Here

Thursday, November 20, 2025 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | Virtual

Create Explainer Videos with Notebook LM

This hands-on workshop will introduce educators and instructional designers to Notebook LM, a powerful AI tool for organizing content and generating engaging explainer videos. Participants will learn how to transform complex topics into clear, concise visual narratives using curated sources, structured outlines, and AI-assisted scripting. The session emphasizes pedagogical strategies for storytelling, accessibility, and learner engagement. Register Here

Friday, December 12, 2025 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm | Virtual

CUNY IT Conference

This year’s CUNY IT Conference, Moving Forward: Reimagining CUNY in an AI-Enhanced World, will include sessions from CUNY SPS’s Matt Lewis and Fallon Saratovsky (Deconstructing Multimedia: Human/AI Approaches to Instructional Video), Online Business Programs Assistant Professor Joseph Foy (AI’s Disruption of the Concrete Experience in Learning: A Gradual Decay of the Senses) and Data and Information Science instructor Jason Bryer (Creating a Custom AI Bot for Your Class). Register Here to attend either day. 

Thursday December 4, 2025 |11:45 am – 5:00 pm | John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Friday, December 5, 2025 | 8:30 am – 3:30 pm | John Jay College of Criminal Justice

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Faculty Corner:

Customizing Intelligent Agents Settings
Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

If you didn’t already know, within Brightspace you can automatically monitor student activity using the Intelligent Agent tool. For example, I use it to notify students that have not logged in for several days. The Agent will email students automatically when the specified criteria is met, but by default, students receive an email from: Brightspace-DoNotReplyemail@cuny.brightspace.com  

My fear is that students may overlook or decline to open the email because it’s not personalized. Here’s the tip! After creating your agent, you can navigate to the “Settings” and customize the “Name that emails come from,” and the “Reply-To address for responses.”  Now, when the Agent sends the email, it has a touch of personalization:

Note: The email address that agent emails originate from cannot be set to your personal address, i.e. to a non-CUNY email, due to how spam filters operate.

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As always, OFDIT is here to help! We are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu. 

All the Best,
Your OFDIT Team

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OFDIT Fall 2025 Trainings
The Pedagogy of Social Annotations

Social annotations can radically change the way your students engage with your course materials, each other, and you, combining the benefits of annotation, dialogue, accessibility, and digital accountability. In this one-hour workshop, we’ll look at social annotations across a range of disciplines, platforms, and assignment types, and discuss how this practice can build students’ skills, foster community, and promote intellectual growth. (60 mins)

• Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here