![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2023\/05\/CUNYSPS-1.jpg?resize=923%2C84&ssl=1\")
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/08\/OFDIT_Newsletter-Banner-2026.png?resize=755%2C111&ssl=1\")
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Dear Faculty,<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s almost time for the fall semester! As we\u2019re gearing up with course prep, QA, and other activities, we\u2019re eager to share some events, CFPs, and news that we thought you\u2019d be interested to hear. We\u2019re sharing updates about the CUNY SPS OpenLab, the annual CUNY IT Conference, and a few staffing changes here in OFDIT. As always, we\u2019re excited to welcome you all back to SPS for the new semester.<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019re excited to announce a new, streamlined way for faculty to connect with the OFDIT Faculty Support Team! Our brand new booking link makes it easier than ever to schedule a personalized 1:1 session tailored to your needs. Whether you\u2019re looking for guidance on Brightspace, want to make your courses more accessible and inclusive, need help with multimedia tools (such as Panopto and VoiceThread), or anything else related to OFDIT, our team is here for you.<\/span><\/p>\n No question is too big or too small; whether you\u2019re just getting started or looking to deepen your expertise, we are ready to assist.<\/span><\/p>\n Book your 1:1 session today to take full advantage of the resources the OFDIT team offers. We look forward to working with you and supporting your teaching journey!<\/span><\/p>\n Book a Session Today!<\/a><\/p>\n Finalizing course sites for Fall semester? You can refer to our <\/span>Course Site Prep Checklist for CUNY SPS Faculty<\/a><\/strong> for steps and links to assist as you prepare. In the Checklist, you\u2019ll find links to guides for how to:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, on the <\/span>SPS Faculty Community site<\/a><\/strong>, you will find an array of <\/span>Teaching Guides<\/a><\/strong> from our OFDIT team, including ones on accessibility with <\/span>Anthology Ally<\/a><\/strong>; on setting up and managing <\/span>Groups in Brightspace<\/a><\/strong>; or on <\/span>Creating Rubrics in Brightspace<\/a><\/strong>. And you can also check out our <\/span>Teaching Guide Video Playlist<\/a><\/strong> for handy how-to videos!<\/span><\/p>\n \u26a1TIP:<\/strong> If you want to test how your course looks from a student point of view, including grades and feedback, use the handy <\/span>CUNY Demo Student tool<\/a><\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n We are pleased to welcome <\/span>Marilena (Lena) Orfanos<\/b> to the OFDIT team! Our new <\/span>Academic Faculty Development Manager<\/b> brings extensive experience as an instructional designer and technologist in higher education, with particular strengths in accessible course design, faculty development, and user-centered learning design. Lena joins us from Adelphi University, where she continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member, and holds an M.A. in Learning Technology & Experience Design from NYU.<\/span><\/p>\n A new self-paced Brightspace course, <\/span>Designing for All: Digital Accessibility in Practice<\/b><\/a>, is now available to help faculty and staff build accessibility skills for teaching and everyday work. Through short modules, hands-on activities, discussion boards, and weekly Zoom AMA sessions with colleagues from across CUNY, participants will learn how to create accessible Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, Brightspace content, and image alt text. The course is part of the <\/span>CUNY Digital Accessibility Initiative<\/b>, a university-wide effort to build digital accessibility knowledge and skills across CUNY, and is designed for both those who are new to accessibility and those looking to strengthen their skills. To get started, sign into Brightspace with your CUNY Login account and <\/span>enroll directly in the Brightspace course<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This event will be held virtually with full details coming soon. Keep your eyes peeled!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Welcome back, and happy fall! A new semester is here, and we\u2019re excited to support everyone teaching, learning, and creating with the OpenLab this fall. Whether you\u2019re building a new site, updating an existing one, or just have a few questions along the way, we\u2019re here to help.<\/span><\/p>\n Get Support<\/b><\/p>\n We\u2019re available by appointment on Tuesdays from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n For the planners, here are this semester\u2019s support dates:<\/span><\/p>\n To schedule an appointment, email us at <\/span>openlab@sps.cuny.edu<\/a><\/strong> or reach out to our OpenLab Manager Jesse Rice-Evans at <\/span>jesse.riceevans@cuny.edu<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n If our scheduled hours don\u2019t work for you, don\u2019t worry. Get in touch, and we\u2019ll do our best to find another time that fits your schedule. We look forward to working with you this semester!<\/span><\/p>\n The 2026 CUNY IT Conference will take place at John Jay College of Criminal Justice on December 3-4. The theme is <\/span>AI Disruption and Opportunities<\/b>. <\/span><\/i>From the CfP:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage proposals that share real implementation experiences, emerging practices, difficult questions, policy challenges, instructional experiments, and lessons learned. We are especially interested in proposals that help the CUNY community think more clearly, act more intentionally, and collaborate more effectively in this fast-changing landscape\u2026”<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStrong proposals will offer participants something useful to take away\u2014whether that is a practical model, a policy framework, evidence from implementation, a replicable classroom strategy, a critical lens, or a roadmap for next steps.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Share what you\u2019re doing with the CUNY community and <\/span>submit your proposal<\/a><\/strong> by <\/span>September 24<\/b>!<\/span><\/p>\n Last year, more than 1,400 educators, researchers, students, librarians, policymakers, and other professionals joined the inaugural Public AI Summit. The 2026 Public AI Summit for Educators, taking place <\/span>September 16\u201317<\/b>, focuses on practical AI professional development for educators, especially those at community colleges, public schools, and other broad-access educational settings. The program includes keynote speakers Karen Brennan (Harvard), Arvind Narayanan (Princeton), and Justin Reich (MIT), along with interactive workshops, demonstrations, and live Q&A sessions designed to provide practical tools and strategies that can be immediately put to use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more and register for free<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Submitted by Curtis Izen, CUNY SPS, Online Business Program<\/strong> <\/span> At the start of the semester, Discussion Boards can get crowded fast. Between introductions, questions, replies, and follow-up comments, it is easy to lose track of what you have already read and where you still need to respond.<\/span><\/p>\n That is where the filter feature comes in handy. You can filter posts to show only unread messages or threads that still need your attention. Instead of scrolling through the same posts again, Brightspace helps you focus on what is new.<\/span><\/p>\n Think of it as a shortcut through the discussion board traffic. A few clicks can save time, keep you organized, and make it much easier to stay present in the conversation without feeling buried in posts.<\/span><\/p>\n Here’s a guide to learn about the <\/span>filtering option and the discussion tool<\/a><\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As always, OFDIT is here to help! You can always check out our <\/span>Faculty Hub page on Brightspace at CUNY SPS<\/a><\/strong>, and we are available for one-on-one support and are also happy to schedule a Zoom call to discuss any questions you may have. Don\u2019t hesitate to reach out to us at <\/span>facultysupport@sps.cuny.edu<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All the Best, <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Faculty, It\u2019s almost time for the fall semester! As we\u2019re gearing up with course prep, QA, and other activities, we\u2019re eager to share some events, CFPs, and news that we thought you\u2019d be interested to hear. We\u2019re sharing updates about the CUNY SPS OpenLab, the annual CUNY IT Conference, and a few staffing changes …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7936"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7942,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7936\/revisions\/7942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nNew Booking Link for Faculty Support<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nCourse Prep For Fall<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\nNew OFDIT staff<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nLevel Up! Accessibility
\n<\/strong><\/span>New Brightspace Course<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nDigital Accessibility Day: Save the Date!<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Mark your calendars and join us on Thursday, September 24th<\/strong> for a day packed with assistive technology demos, how-to clinics, and oodles of tips & tricks on Digital Accessibility! Need a 101 on UDL? Or want to see a walkthrough of our Brightspace accessibility checker? In addition to our SPS-specific resources, we will have presenters from CUNY <\/span>Central joining us and opportunities to refresh or expand your digital accessibility skills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nOpenLab Fall Support Calendar<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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\nCUNY IT Conference Call for Proposals<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nPublic AI Summit for Educators<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nFaculty Corner:
\nLet Filters Do the Scrolling<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n![\"Faculty](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/openlab.sps.cuny.edu\/sps-faculty-community-hub\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2022\/03\/Faculty-corner-image.jpg?resize=214%2C259&ssl=1\")
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This is especially useful during the first few weeks of class, when discussion activity is usually at its highest. A quick filter can help you spot unanswered questions, find students who may need feedback, and avoid rereading posts you have already reviewed.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\nYour OFDIT Team<\/strong><\/p>\n