{"id":6180,"date":"2023-12-13T15:12:13","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T15:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/?p=6180"},"modified":"2026-03-03T16:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T16:20:29","slug":"ofdit-newsletter-december-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/2023\/12\/13\/ofdit-newsletter-december-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"OFDIT Newsletter December 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dear Faculty,<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope the end of the semester is <\/span>wrapping<\/strong> up smoothly! We wanted to <\/span>present <\/strong>you with registration links for our upcoming Open and Active Video workshop (NTA hours available!) and Brightspace trainings happening in January, news about LMS and Screencast-O-Matic transitions, and some options for calculating final grades in your courses. It\u2019s a <\/span>gift<\/strong> to work with such committed faculty, and we hope the upcoming break is a good one for you all!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Open & Active Video Workshop<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Interested in boosting student engagement? Consider interactive videos!<\/h3>\n

The <\/span>Open & Active Video Workshop<\/b><\/a> (January 8-22, 2024)<\/b> is a 2-week asynchronous online workshop on how to source and create openly-licensed content for an educational video, how to film and edit the video, how to add interactive components by incorporating questions right into the Panopto player or by embedding the video in a VoiceThread, and how to openly license and share the video. Faculty who complete the workshop are eligible for <\/span>compensation of 7 NTA hours and are invited to produce a second video for an additional 4 NTA hours.<\/b> Registration <\/b><\/a>is open through <\/span>January 2, 2024<\/b>!<\/span><\/p>\n

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LMS Transition News<\/span><\/h2>\n

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January is a time to explore Brightspace!<\/h3>\n

You may want to take advantage of the break between semesters to explore the following opportunities:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Brightspace Demos for Faculty<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Basic navigation, course navigation, the student experience, a look at a sample course and accessibility in Brightspace. Staff are welcome to attend.
\n<\/span>
\n<\/span>You can register <\/span>here<\/a><\/strong> to attend on <\/span>January 10th, 18th, or 23rd<\/b><\/p>\n

Explore Migrated Courses\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Access <\/span>Brightspace <\/a><\/strong>using your CUNYlogin (Firstname.Lastname##@login.cuny.edu<\/span><\/strong>) and explore how your Summer 2023 and other past courses look in Brightspace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Create a Practice Course\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Create a practice site using the widget found on the dashboard after logging in. There are two limitations: practice sites may not include SPS-specific tools like VoiceThread, Digication, and Panopto, and faculty cannot currently enroll students despite the default text in the widget.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Upcoming Brightspace Essentials Workshop<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Brightspace Essentials, a self-paced, asynchronous workshop organized in bite-sized chunks of micro-learning units, will be available to SPS faculty and staff by January.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep an eye on the new <\/span>training page<\/a><\/strong> of the SPS LMS Transition site for regularly updated resources and event details.<\/span><\/p>\n

Migration of Dev Sites<\/h3>\n

The migration of SPS dev sites (also known as master sites or parent sites) will take part in two phases:<\/span><\/p>\n