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

 

Dear Faculty,

Curious about making your course even more accessible? Considering incorporating AI or OpenLab into your instructional approach? Looking to get the hang of a feature in Brightspace you haven’t tried yet? Professional learning opportunities abound this fall for SPS Faculty! In this edition of the newsletter, you’ll find links to register for our Open UDL Workshop and an invitation to attend the next meeting of SPS’s UDL Collaborative on November 4th. We also hope you’ll join the Faculty Discussion on Generative AI on November 3rd, a virtual event to share practices, policies, and exchange ideas and solutions. We’d like to announce the newly expanded modality available in our Teaching Guides, provide you with key dates about the sunsetting of Blackboard at CUNY, share OpenLab and OFDIT office hour schedules, and highlight upcoming CUNY-wide conferences and workshops. We hope you have a wonderful fall, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our many OFDIT trainings or another event soon!

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Open UDL Workshop:
Last chance to register!

Interested in making your courses more accessible and more engaging through Universal Design and Open Educational Practices? Registration for the Open UDL Workshop (Oct. 20 to Nov. 3) is extended through Thursday, October 16. Faculty who complete the workshop are compensated with 7 NTA hours. See all the details at bit.ly/OpenUDL!  

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Faculty Discussion on Generative AI 

On Monday, November 3, 12:30-2:00 p.m. join your fellow SPS faculty for a dynamic, 90-minute discussion on the evolving role of generative AI in teaching and learning. This virtual, interactive session will explore three key areas: academic policies around AI, approaches to discussions with students, and how coursework is changing in response to AI. Whether you’re navigating challenges or experimenting with new tools, this is a space to share your experiences, ask questions, and exchange strategies. Please register today! 

• Monday, November 3, 12:30-2:00 – Register Here

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UDL Collaborate: November Meeting

The UDL Collaborative is a community of practice for faculty and staff exploring accessibility and Universal Design for Learning. All are welcome, whether new to UDL or experienced.

Please join us for our second meeting of the semester:
Tuesday, November 4 at 3pm ET via Zoom. Register here. 

We’re excited to welcome guest speaker Stephen Ippolito, a PhD student at the University at Albany with an MA in Disability Studies from CUNY SPS, who will share insights on UDL and English as a Second Language learners. Following his short presentation, we’ll have time for discussion, Q&A, and updates on our accessibility projects.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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

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Blackboard Retirement 

As you’re aware, CUNY SPS successfully transitioned to the Brightspace LMS at the start of the Summer 2024 semester.

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 to remember

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.

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Our Teaching Guides Site — Now with Video!

The OFDIT team is excited to announce a new addition to our Teaching Guides website: video guides! Starting with the most popular guides – the ones you’ve visited most – we’re making short, focused videos to provide a visual walkthrough that accompanies the written guide. Both our video and written tutorials provide step-by-step directions on various topics to support teaching online. Explore our growing collection of videos on the Video Guides Playlist page, or check out all the tutorial pages on the Teaching Guides site.  Whether you prefer reading or watching, you now can choose which mode you’d like to access the resources you need.

 

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OpenLab Support Hours for Fall 2025

📣 Thinking about using OpenLab in your course or organization? Drop by our Virtual Support Hours and:

• Get help customizing your project or portfolio site
• Learn how to use OpenLab tools more effectively
• Explore digital pedagogy strategies
• Connect with other OpenLab users and share ideas

Whether you’re just getting started or looking to take your site to the next level, we’re here to support you. Drop in, ask questions, and get inspired!

For more information, visit the SPS OpenLab Support page or email us at openlab@sps.cuny.edu.

Register or Plan to Join

Tuesday 10/21/2025 6-7PM
Monday 10/27/2025 6-7PM
Monday 11/10/2025 6-7PM

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Brightspace Office Hours Schedule

Finding you have questions or need help with an update in your course? OFDIT’s open Brightspace office hours continue Tuesday evenings (6-7pm) and Wednesday afternoons (1-2pm).

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Did you know?

Brightspace Rubrics include an Overall Score area that requires manual input during the Rubric set-up to mirror the points in your rubric and report a correct performance level. You can check your course’s rubrics to ensure students are receiving accurate feedback for this portion of the rubric assessment tool, and use the steps in the Overall Score section of our Creating Rubrics in Brightspace to update if needed!

 

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CUNY Opportunities for SPS Faculty

Register Now for the 2025 CUNY IT Conference!

Join colleagues from across CUNY for the 24th Annual CUNY IT Conference, happening December 4–5 at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. This year’s theme, “Moving Forward: Reimagining CUNY in an AI-Enhanced World,” promises engaging sessions, innovative ideas, and practical strategies for teaching, learning, and working in the age of AI. Whether you’re exploring new tools, refining digital pedagogy, or curious about AI’s impact on higher education, this conference is your chance to learn, connect, and shape the future of CUNY. For details and the full schedule, visit the CUNY IT Conference website.

Register for the conference now

Credit for Prior Learning Workshop

The Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Programming, in partnership with the Office of Faculty Affairs/CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy (CITA), is offering a new professional development series on credit for prior learning (CPL).

Faculty Perspectives on CPL at CUNY
Friday, October 31, 2025, 11:00am – 12:00 pm

This session will feature a presentation by Myci Atkinson, a PhD student from the Teachers College Postsecondary Education Applied Research (PEAR) Fellowship program, who has been conducting quantitative and qualitative research over the past year about CUNY faculty awareness and perspectives related to CPL policy and practice.

Register for the Zoom session

CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy’s Adult Learning Series

CUNY Office of Faculty Affairs/CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy (CITA)’s second session of their new professional development series on adult learning will take place in November.

Session 2 – Designing Adult-Centered Curriculum
Presenters: Meghan Gilbert (Guttman Community College) and Carl Andrews (Bronx Community College)
Friday, November 14, 2025, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

The session will focus on practical approaches for creating flexible, relevant, and career-connected courses. Participants will begin to redesign elements of their syllabus to align with adult learners’ needs and CAEL’s Teaching–Learning Process standards. The session will also highlight how to incorporate career-connected learning opportunities into the classroom.

Series session descriptions and Zoom registration links here!

Teaching Matters Workshop

The 2025-2026 Teaching Matters series on Innovations in STEM Pedagogy offers CUNY faculty implementable strategies to enhance student learning and engagement.

The Flipped STEM Classroom: From Theory to Practice

Presenter: Kevin Kolack (Queensborough Community College)
Friday, November 7, 2025, 11:00 am – 12:00 pm

This workshop will discuss the methods of the “flipped classroom” in chemistry courses, both online and in person, as well as the practical lessons learned in doing so. Topics covered will include the software utilized to generate (Camtasia) and deploy (Brightspace with VoiceThread and PlayPosIt) micro-lecture videos, as well as the student experience (successes and failures).

Register for the Zoom Workshop

Building Bridge of Knowledge BBK Projects and OER Materials

Looking for inspiration for how to incorporate student AI fluency into your teaching? BBK, a CUNY-wide faculty fellowship project, was formed to help students use generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools ethically, responsibly, and effectively. 25 Faculty Fellows in five disciplinary areas (Education, Health, Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM) created Open Educational Resources (OERs) to promote students’ ethical and responsive use of generative AI. 

Check out the projects and related resources here!

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Faculty Corner   

Posting Announcements to Only the Students Missing an Assignment
Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

I’ve found several ways to inform students when they have yet to complete an assignment via email. I asked myself recently, “Could I post an announcement visible ONLY to the students who have not submitted yet to an assignment?” The answer was yes!

If you’d like to post an announcement targeting just those students missing an assignment submission, you can follow these steps. First, write the announcement for the intended audience. When ready to post, look under “Additional Release Conditions” and select the “Create and Attach” button. Select “No submission to folder” option in the Condition Type field, and choose the desired assignment in the Condition Details field. Click the “Create” button to finish the setup.  When you publish the announcement, it will be visible only to students who have not submitted. 

As a bonus, it sends an email to those students as well.

 

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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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Upcoming OFDIT Fall 2025 Trainings 

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 a grade schema for items requiring special circumstances, and more! (60 mins)

• Wednesday, November 5 at 12:00pm –  Register Here

Brightspace: Navigating the Gradebook and Grading

In this training we will discuss how to navigate the gradebook and the options for grading in Brightspace. (60 mins)

• Friday, October 24, 2025 at at 12:00pm – 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! (60 mins)

• Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 10:00am – 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, December 2, 2025, at 12:30pm – Register Here
• Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 10:00am – 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, October 15, 2025 at 2:00pm – Register Here
• Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 10:00am – 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. (60 mins)

• Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 2:00pm – Register Here

Advanced Panopto for SPS Faculty

As many of us have learned, Panopto is a handy tool to create video in Brightspace. But many of us have yet to unlock the powerful features inside it.  In this session, participants will learn how to access the robust analytics showing us who watched a video and for how long.  They will see how faculty can leverage the power of a low-stakes quiz with the in-video quiz tool.  A video quiz can be automatically graded and mapped to your grade book. Finally, we’ll demonstrate how a regular assignment can be turned into a video assignment with students as the media creators.  It’s all part of the Panopto platform built into Brightspace. (60 mins)

• Wednesday October 15, 2025 at 11:00am – Register Here
• Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 1:00pm – Register Here

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

This training will introduce VoiceThread, an asynchronous video discussion board.  VoiceThread allows faculty and students to create multimedia presentations that creates 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. In this session, SPS faculty will learn how to create a VoiceThread and integrate it into their course. (60 mins)

• Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 4:00pm – Register Here

Introducing CUNY Pressbooks

Have you been meaning to adopt, adapt, or create OER for your courses? Do you wish that an OER you use were more inclusive, accessible, or customized for your students? Do you dream of having self-check questions or social annotation built into course readings? CUNY’s Pressbooks Network might be the right tool for you.

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. (60 mins)

• Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here

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)

• Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 12:00pm – Register Here
• Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here

Dear Faculty,

Hard to believe we are in the second September delivering instruction in Brightspace, but we congratulate you as things seem to have really fallen into place! In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll find a range of professional opportunities, including UDL communities to join, OpenLab support drop-in sessions, calls for conference proposals, and a CUNY-wide series on adult learning. We also hope you’ll consider dropping by one of our many OFDIT trainings on various Brightspace and pedagogy topics, and checking out some tips from our teaching guides and your fellow faculty! Wishing you a great start to the semester and a happy autumn!

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UDL Collaborative: September Meeting

Happy fall from the facilitators of the UDL Collaborative! We’re a community of practice bringing together faculty and staff to explore accessibility and Universal Design for Learning principles. Whether you’re new to UDL or experienced, we discuss best practices, answer questions, and brainstorm solutions for inclusive learning environments. We welcome both returning members and newcomers—all faculty and staff are invited to participate.

We’re excited to invite everyone to our first meeting of the semester:
Tuesday, September 23 at 1pm ET via Zoom. Register here. 

During this meeting, we’ll share updates on our accessibility and UDL projects and provide time for members to discuss their own work or questions. More importantly, we want to brainstorm together about how our community can become more collaborative and member-driven, with opportunities for you to take leadership roles and help shape our direction moving forward.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone and building this collaborative space together.

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

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Open UDL Workshop:
Making Your Courses Accessible to All

OFDIT and the CUNY SPS OER Initiative are pleased to invite all faculty to participate in the Open UDL Workshop (October 20 to November 3, 2025). 

This fifteen-day, asynchronous online workshop provides an in-depth introduction to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and to the intersection of UDL and Open Educational Practices (OEP), which include OER and Open Pedagogy. Participants will review the principles of UDL and explore how OEP can help reduce accessibility barriers for all learners, including those with disabilities. Participants will also learn about best accessibility practices in online courses, including identifying and fixing common accessibility issues. For their workshop project, participants will complete an inventory of one of their courses from a UDL perspective and create a plan for implementing UDL principles and open practices.

Eligible faculty participants will be compensated with 7 NTA hours upon successful completion of the workshop. Registration is open through Tuesday, October 14. For more details, please see our Advanced Workshops page on the SPS Faculty Community Site.

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Drop In, Connect, Create:
OpenLab Support Hours Return for Fall 2025

The CUNY SPS OpenLab team is excited to announce the return of our Support Hours for the Fall 2025 semester! Whether you are a faculty member building a project site, or a staff member looking to enhance your online presence, our virtual drop-in sessions are here to support your journey on the OpenLab and will be held via Zoom.

💡 What You Can Do During Support Hours:

• Get help customizing your project or portfolio site
• Learn how to use OpenLab tools more effectively
• Explore digital pedagogy strategies
• Connect with other OpenLab users and share ideas

📣 Join us this fall and make the most of what OpenLab has to offer! Whether you’re just getting started or looking to take your site to the next level, our team is here to support you. Drop in, ask questions, and get inspired.

For more information, visit the SPS OpenLab Support page or email us at openlab@sps.cuny.edu.

Register or Plan to Join
Tuesday 9/16/2025 6-7PM
Tuesday 9/23/2025 3-4PM
Monday 9/29/2025 6-7PM
Tuesday 10/21/2025 6-7PM
Monday 10/27/2025 6-7PM
Monday 11/10/2025 6-7PM
Monday 11/24/2025 6-7PM

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Brightspace Office Hours Schedule

OFDIT’s open Brightspace office hours will continue this fall on Tuesday evenings (6-7pm ET) and Wednesday afternoons (1-2pm ET). We look forward to seeing you in one of the drop-in Zoom sessions with your questions!

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Welcome to the New
OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board Members!

A warm welcome to the new members of the OFDIT Faculty Advisory Board (FAB), and an appreciative welcome back to our returning advisors! One of the key functions of FAB members is to connect OFDIT with the faculty community by gathering input, sharing needs and ideas, and helping promote professional development opportunities. Together, we’ll be working on projects such as hosting faculty discussions (both in-person and on OpenLab), advising on best practice recommendations for instruction in Brightspace, and serving on the selection committee for the Teaching Excellence Award in the spring.

Members of the Board for the 2025-2026 academic year:

• Chelsea Hansen (2025-27) – Psychology
• Mark Friedman (2024-26) – Disability Studies
• Ray LaManna (2025-27) – Business
• Hannah Miller (2024-26) – General Education
• Hamad Sindhi (2025-27) – Sociology / Human Relations
• Norlene Thomas (2024-26) – Health Information Management
• Chris Kchao (ex officio) – Office of Student Disability Services
• Mahdu Mammen (ex officio) – Information Technology

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Did you know?

Many SPS courses make use of group work as a way to foster student-to-student interaction, but it’s important to ensure that Groups have been set up correctly and connected to Discussions, Assignments and other activities each semester. If you have Group work in your class, this is a good time to review the enrollment and associations so that things are in order. Check out our related teaching guides:

Managing Groups in Brightspace
Setting Up Group Discussions in Brightspace
Setting Up Group Assignments in Brightspace
Overriding Individual Grades in a Group Assignment

You can reach out to facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu if you would like additional support! 

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CUNY Opportunities for SPS Faculty

CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy’s Adult Learning Series

CUNY Office of Faculty Affairs/CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy (CITA) will be offering a new professional development series on adult learning. Click here for session descriptions and Zoom registration links!

Session 1 – Foundations of Adult Learning

Presenters: Jennifer Valad (CUNY Central) and Meghan Gilbert (Guttman Community College)

Join us for an introductory session that dives into the world of adult learning. We’ll explore how adult learning builds upon traditional pedagogy, examine real-world adult learner profiles, and discuss shifts in teaching philosophy that empower students as autonomous partners in their own learning journey.

Friday, October 10, 2025 from 11am – 12 noon ET. Register here. 

Upcoming sessions include:

Session 2: Designing Adult-Centered Curriculum. Friday, November 14, 2025 at 11am ET
Session 3: Engagement & Motivation Strategies. Friday December 5, 2025 at 11am ET

CUNY IT Conference – Proposal Deadline Extended 

The proposal submission deadline for the CUNY IT conference, Moving Forward: Reimagining CUNY in an AI-Enhanced World, has been extended. If you have developed any AI-related components in your course site or in your teaching approaches, consider joining the conversation and submitting your presentation or panel using this form by September 23rd.

UPCEA Digital Learning Conference Call for Papers

There is still time to submit a proposal for the 2026 UPCEA Digital Teaching and Learning Conference (virtual, Feb 4 and 5th) by September 19th.  The conference is a free, virtual event centered around the theme of Designing the Future that aims to showcase innovative practices, research, and digital teaching design and strategies —  things we know our SPS faculty are doing every day!

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Faculty Corner:       
Adjusting Learner Sort Order
Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

When entering grades in Brightspace, or comparing it with your roster from CUNYfirst, you may find that the default order of student names is not the most convenient for your workflow. Brightspace allows you to change the sort order so that the roster appears the way you prefer.

The default setting typically lists learners alphabetically by last name (A to Z). However, depending on the task, you may prefer a different view.  Below are the instructions to change the order:

1. Open the list in Brightspace (for  example, inside the gradebook).
2. Locate the Learner column heading.
3. Click the small arrow next to Learner.
4. From the drop-down menu, choose your preferred option:
   • • • • First Name, A to Z
         • First Name, Z to A
         • Last Name, A to Z
         • Last Name, Z to A

 

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OFDIT Fall 2025 Trainings 

Brightspace: Managing Dates and Visibility of Items

In this training we will discuss due dates, start and end dates, the calendar, and the date management tool and how the visibility toggle interacts with start and end dates. (30mins)

• Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here
• Thursday, September 25, 2025 at 9:00am – Register Here

Brightspace: Navigating and Grading Discussions

Learn to navigate the Discussions area seamlessly and to efficiently grade student participation in Discussion Boards in your course! (30 mins)

• Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here

Brightspace: Managing Groups

In this training we will discuss how to set up groups, group discussions, and group assignments in Brightspace. (30 mins)

• Thursday, September 18, 2025 at 9:00am  – Register Here
• Monday, September 29, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here

Brightspace: Notifications and the Pulse App

Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app that can help users stay connected with their courses in Brightspace through a quick view of announcements, grades, course calendars and content. Learn what Brightspace features are and are not available through the app, and how to enable and view Notifications to enhance the app’s functionality. (30 mins.)

• Friday, September 19, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here 
• Friday, September 26, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here 

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! (60 mins)

• Friday, September 19 at 12:00pm –  Register Here
• Wednesday, November 5 at 12:00pm –  Register Here

Brightspace: Navigating the Gradebook and Grading

In this training we will discuss how to navigate the gradebook and the options for grading in Brightspace. (60 mins)

• Friday, September 26, 2025 at 9:00am – Register Here
• Monday, October 6, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here
• Tuesday, September 30, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 9:00am – Register Here
• Friday, October 24, 2025 at at 12:00pm – Register Here

Brightspace: Feedback

There are many options in Brightspace for giving students feedback on their work. In this short brown-bag training, we’ll go over how to give feedback on discussions, assignments, quizzes, and group assignments and show you how students access your feedback so you can guide them to all of it. (30 mins)

• Tuesday, September 30, 2025 at 12:30pm – Register Here
• Friday, October 10, 2025 at 10:00am – 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! (60 mins)

• Friday, October 10th, 2025 at 12:00pm – Register Here
• Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 10:00am – 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, December 2, 2025, at 12:30pm – Register Here
• Thursday, December 11, 2025, at 10:00am – 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.)

• Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 11:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, October 15, 2025 at 2:00pm – 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. (60 mins)

• Wednesday, October 8, 2025 at 10:30am – Register Here
• Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 2:00pm – Register Here

Advanced Panopto for SPS Faculty

As many of us have learned, Panopto is a handy tool to create video in Brightspace. But many of us have yet to unlock the powerful features inside it.  In this session, participants will learn how to access the robust analytics showing us who watched a video and for how long.  They will see how faculty can leverage the power of a low-stakes quiz with the in-video quiz tool.  A video quiz can be automatically graded and mapped to your grade book. Finally, we’ll demonstrate how a regular assignment can be turned into a video assignment with students as the media creators.  It’s all part of the Panopto platform built into Brightspace. (60 mins)

• Wednesday October 15, 2025 at 11:00am – Register Here
• Tuesday, November 4, 2025 at 1:00pm – Register Here

VoiceThread for SPS Faculty

This training will introduce VoiceThread, an asynchronous video discussion board.  VoiceThread allows faculty and students to create multimedia presentations that creates 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. In this session, SPS faculty will learn how to create a VoiceThread and integrate it into their course. (60 mins)

• Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 10:00am – Register Here
• Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 4:00pm – Register Here

From Open Educational Resources (OER) to Open Pedagogy

Whether you’re looking to lower course costs for your students, update or customize instructional materials to make them more relevant and engaging, or empower your students to become active contributors to your field, Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy may be just what you’re looking for. In this one-hour session, we’ll introduce the why and how of OER—materials that are free and openly licensed for you or your students to reuse, retain, revise, remix, and redistribute. We’ll also explore how student-created or student-remixed OER can fulfill the goals of open pedagogy—an approach that invites students to create knowledge rather than to merely consume it. At the end of this interactive training, we’ll share upcoming opportunities to participate in workshops geared toward using OER and open pedagogy to improve learning outcomes, to create interactive multimedia content, and to increase representation, inclusion, accessibility, and student voice and choice in online courses. (60 mins)

• Wednesday, October 1, 2025 at 12:00 pm – Register Here
• Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 5:00 pm – Register Here

Introducing CUNY Pressbooks

Have you been meaning to adopt, adapt, or create OER for your courses? Do you wish that an OER you use were more inclusive, accessible, or customized for your students? Do you dream of having self-check questions or social annotation built into course readings? CUNY’s Pressbooks Network might be the right tool for you.

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. (60 mins)

• Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 12:00pm – Register Here
• Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 5:00pm – Register Here

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)

• Tuesday, November 11, 2025 at 12:00pm – Register Here
• Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 5:00pm – 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,

In this edition of our newsletter, you’ll find lots of links to resources to guide your preparation for course opening on August 26th! We also share a few announcements about course naming, Panopto, and new enhancements to our Teaching Guides for CUNY SPS faculty. We look forward to seeing you at an OpenLab Support Hour or Brightspace Office Hour session to assist you with your course delivery, and we invite you to check out a few tips about using Brightspace features like the Drop Lowest setting or the Activity Feed in the coming term. Wishing you a wonderful start to Fall semester!

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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 prep. 

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 upcoming semester’s calendar

In addition, on the SPS Faculty Community site, you will find an array of SPS quick guides from our OFDIT team, and you can always refer back to Brightspace Essentials units on adding content, rubrics, discussions, quizzes, grading, and video for help with any of these features!

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Quick Tip: Initiate Panopto in New Course Sites

With the Fall semester around the corner, many of you are setting up a new or newly copied Brightspace course. When adding a video, have you found that the Panopto video embed tool appears empty, as if there are no videos to add?  Some have reported this, but this just means Panopto hasn’t been initiated for that course yet.

To initiate, look for a module labeled “Panopto” or “Panopto Video” in the course table of contents. Click the link inside this module to open the Panopto Portal. Once the portal loads, your account will be authenticated for the course and you can go back to the Panopto Embed tool and add your video. Here are steps on Adding a Panopto Video to Brightspace, and if you don’t see a Panopto module, quickly add one using this guide, Creating a Panopto Portal in Brightspace.

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Quick Note: Impacts of Editing a Course Name

Brightspace’s long course names got you down? Consider customizing the course name that appears in the course banner. Hover to the right of your course banner, click the three dots that appear in the banner’s top-right corner, select “Customize Banner Text,” and choose “Custom.” Then, enter your preferred title. We do recommend keeping the semester and year in any title edit—it helps everyone stay organized and ensures consistency across courses. Don’t forget to hit Save! 

Important: We ask that you customize any name via the banner only, rather than making any change to the course name in the Course Admin panel. Changing the official course name can interfere with important administrative processes behind the scenes. Thanks for keeping things running smoothly and always leaving course names listed at their defaults in the Course Admin panel!

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New Teaching Guide Enhancements 

We’re excited to share some updates to our Teaching Guides website, home to a growing bank of tutorials designed to help CUNY SPS faculty make the most of Brightspace. Thanks to your feedback, we’re introducing new features to make finding the information you need both faster and relevant to your needs.

Sometimes you just need a quick reminder of the essential steps — without having to scroll through an entire tutorial. That’s why we’re adding a Quick Path to select guides, providing a concise list of major steps right at the top of the page. As we update the guides, you’ll see a breadcrumb trail of steps to help you navigate Brightspace expeditiously. Take a look at the Creating Groups in Brightspace guide to see it in action.

We’re also adding video to our most-viewed guides, giving you the option to either read the instructions or watch them. Two guides now feature video — Integrating Turnitin V2 in Brightspace Assignments and Viewing Deleted and Edited Discussion Posts — with more planned in the coming months.

Explore the updated guides and see how these enhancements can support your teaching and save you time!

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Faculty Support and OFDIT
Brightspace Office Hours

OFDIT will continue providing some weekend faculty support via email to facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu and will do our best to assist with time-sensitive, urgent issues. For the quickest response to general questions and troubleshooting, we recommend reaching out Monday through Friday when our full support team is available. In addition, you can reach out to Brightspace help via D2L’s CUNY-dedicated support line at (888) 895-2511, or pop a question at any time into the virtual assistant chatbot by clicking the chat icon found on the lower right of any Brightspace course page. 

Also, feel free to come by OFDIT’s Brightspace office hours as often as you like with your questions! Check our Brightspace Office Hours page for the weekly schedule and the link to join. We’ve added some extra sessions to support faculty for the weeks before and right after the semester’s start to assist you in getting the semester off to a great start. 

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Explore the OpenLab 

Drop In, Connect, Create: OpenLab Support Hours Return for Fall 2025

The CUNY SPS OpenLab team is excited to announce the return of our Support Hours for the Fall 2025 semester! Join us to learn about CUNY SPS’s digital “third space,” where you can build your own projects and connect with other members of the CUNY SPS community.

These informal, come-as-you-are sessions are designed to provide flexible, real-time support for all members of the CUNY SPS community. No appointment necessary—just bring your questions, ideas, or curiosity. Whether you’re troubleshooting a technical issue, seeking design feedback, or simply want to brainstorm with the OpenLab team, we’re here to help.

🗓️ Fall 2025 Schedule:
Unstructured Support Hours will be held regularly via Zoom. Check the SPS OpenLab Open Road for the most up-to-date schedule and links.

💡 What You Can Do During Support Hours:

• Get help customizing your portfolio or project site
• Learn how to use OpenLab tools more effectively
• Explore digital pedagogy strategies
• Connect with other OpenLab users and share ideas

Join us this fall and make the most of what OpenLab has to offer! Whether you’re just getting started or looking to take your site to the next level, our team is here to support you. Drop in, ask questions, and get inspired.

For more information, visit the SPS OpenLab Fall 2025 events post or email us at openlab@sps.cuny.edu

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Did You Know?

Do you have a Brightspace category of items (Discussion Board topics, quizzes, etc) that are all of equal weight, where you would like to drop the lowest score from students’ final calculated grades?  Activate the Drop Lowest gradebook setting at the end of the term to do so! 

Our Teaching Guide, Dropping the Lowest Grade from a Grade Category in Brightspace provides the steps to apply the setting, and again, the ideal timing to apply the Drop Lowest setting in a category is at semester’s end, as applying this setting at the beginning of the semester can lead to confusion since the “lowest” grade is relative and changes as more category items are graded!

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Faculty Corner:
Foster Engagement with the Activity Feed

Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program

The Activity Feed tool in Brightspace offers a straightforward yet effective way to enhance communication and foster student engagement. The Activity Feed is a centralized, scrollable stream where students can view real-time updates, similar to a course-specific newsfeed. Unlike traditional announcements, the Activity Feed encourages a more conversational and interactive learning environment.  Here are some of the benefits I encountered using the tool last term:

• Real-Time Communication: The Activity Feed allows you to quickly share reminders, links, documents, or media—ideal for timely updates like deadlines, course evaluations, and final exam details—without navigating multiple menus.
• Student Engagement: Enabling comments on posts gives students an easy way to ask questions or share insights, fostering engagement and lowering participation barriers, especially in asynchronous settings.
• Mobile-Friendly and Accessible: Students using the Brightspace Pulse app receive instant notifications and can view their updates from anywhere.
• Important Details Front and Center: Prominently placed on the course homepage, the Activity Feed keeps updates visible and helps students focus on timely, important information without getting lost in emails or module clutter.
• Humanizes the Course: A quick note of encouragement or a helpful study tip can go a long way in making students feel supported and connected, especially in online courses

To learn more, check out the Teaching Guide: Using the Activity Feed in Brightspace

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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