BMCC and CUNY are developing a robust set of resources to help migrate their courses from Blackboard to Brightspace. Watch this space for additional resources, which will be added in the coming months.
Getting Started
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How to Access CUNY Brightspace
To access Brightspace, go to https://brightspace.cuny.edu. Continue reading…
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Create a Practice Course in Brightspace
Faculty can create practice course shells that you can use to learn about Brightspace features. Continue reading…
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Find Your Courses
Learn how to locate the courses in which you are enrolled in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Edit Your Notification Settings
Learn how to change settings such as notifications about course activity, your pronouns, and your profile picture. Continue reading…
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Edit Your Profile
Learn how to change settings such as notifications about course activity, your pronouns, and your profile picture. Continue reading…
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Troubleshoot Brightspace Email and Notifications
Why does Brightspace send email to my @login.cuny.edu address? Why haven’t I been receiving email notifications? Read further for troubleshooting steps. Continue reading…
Recordings of Training Sessions
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Getting Started with Brightspace (CUNY Webinar)
This is the first part of CUNY’s Brightspace training series for instructors. Continue reading…
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ABCs of Content (CUNY Webinar)
This is the second part of CUNY’s Brightspace training series for instructors. Continue reading…
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Engaging Learners (CUNY Webinar)
This is this third part of CUNY’s Brightspace training series for instructors. Continue reading…
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Assessing Learners (CUNY Webinar)
This is this fourth part of CUNY’s Brightspace training series for instructors. Continue reading…
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Advanced Gradebook (CUNY Webinar)
This CUNY webinar goes into depth on how to use the Grades tool in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Advanced Quizzes (CUNY Webinar)
This CUNY webinar goes into depth on how to use the Quiz tool in Brightspace. Continue reading…
Sample Courses
BMCC’s library of sample courses, copies of courses taught by BMCC faculty, is intended to give you an opportunity to see examples of different approaches to designing Brightspace courses. You can self-enroll in any or all of the courses in the sample library by selecting “enroll in course.”
Navbar, Homepage, and Widgets
Course Management
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How to archive your old Blackboard courses
CUNY will lose access to Blackboard on December 18, 2025. If you would like to save content from old Blackboard courses, you can do so by December 15, 2025, in the following way. First you will need to access Blackboard to see your old courses. You will be brought to the Courses tab, which you will Continue reading…
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Changing the Language for Your Course
Change the language used for navigating through your course. Continue reading…
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View as Learner vs. Demo Student
Learn about the differences between “View as Learner” and “Demo Student” and when you might want to use each. Continue reading…
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Creating a Demo Student
Learn how to create a “demo student” to preview a course from a student’s perspective. Using a demo student, you can fully interact with the course as a student would, including completing quizzes, submitting assignments, and checking grades and feedback. Continue reading…
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Make Your Course Active (Available to Students)
Make your course available to students by following these steps. Continue reading…
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Copy from one Brightspace Course to Another
This one-minute video shows how to import content (all or selected) from one Brightspace course to another. This method can be used to copy from a course that has already been migrated from Blackboard, or a practice course that you created in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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View as a Learner (Student Preview)
The “View as Learner’ preview function is a quick way for instructors to see how course content is displayed to students. Continue reading…
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Manually Copying Course Content from Blackboard to Brightspace
Courses from before Summer 2022 and Blackboard organizations are not included in the automated migration process, but can be manually copied to Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Cleaning up Your Course after Migration from Blackboard to Brightspace
You will likely need to clean up and reorganize content in these courses that are migrated from Blackboard to Brightspace. Here are some steps to help you get started. Continue reading…
Course Content
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Content FAQs
Answers to commonly asked questions about content and modules in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Adding Descriptions to Modules and Content Within Modules
Learn how to create descriptions – short summaries of the contents of modules, sub-modules, and other types of content in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Creating Content
Learn about the different options for adding content to your Brightspace course. Continue reading…
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Editing Content
Learn about the tools available in the Brightspace editor, which enables you to add a variety of content including images, video, and hyperlinks. Continue reading…
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Organizing Course Content
In Brightspace, course content is organized using Modules, Sub-Modules, and Topics. Continue reading…
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Customizing Your Course Banner
Learn how to change the image that appears at the top of your Brightspace course. Continue reading…
Announcements and Messaging
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Sending Emails Through Brightspace
You can email students in your classes from within Brightspace using the email tool available under Classlist. Students also have the option of emailing other students using this tool, unless you have removed the Classlist tool from the course navbar. To email students, go to the Classlist tool, which is located under the Tools tab Continue reading…
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Creating Announcements in Brightspace
Learn how to create and manage announcements, which appear on the home page for your Brightspace course. Continue reading…
Discussions
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Creating VoiceThread Assignments or Activities
This 1 1/2 minute video walks you through how to create a VoiceThread assignment in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Creating Discussions
Learn how to create online discussion areas for students and how discussion boards are structured in Brightspace. Continue reading…
Assignments
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Creating VoiceThread Assignments or Activities
This 1 1/2 minute video walks you through how to create a VoiceThread assignment in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Creating Turnitin Assignments
Learn how to create Turnitin assignments and use tools like Peermark within the Brightspace environment. Continue reading…
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Creating Assignments
Create individual or group student assignments. Continue reading…
Quizzes and Tests
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Creating Quizzes
Learn how to set up a quiz, add questions, choose settings, and present it to students. Continue reading…
Grades
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Make Final Grades Visible to Your Students
If you did not automatically “release” the final grades when you first set up your gradebook, there are a few steps you’ll need to take to make the final grades available to students. Continue reading…
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Extra Credit Assignments
Learn how to create extra credit assignments, which are called “bonus items” in Brightspace. Continue reading…
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Creating Grade Categories
If you are using weighted totals, you will need to set up Categories to house the assignments within the weighted section. Continue reading…
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Creating a Grade Column
Grade items are usually created when you create an assignment, quiz, or graded discussion topic. You can also manually add a grade column to your gradebook. Continue reading…
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Deleting Grade Columns
Learn how to delete grade columns and to dissassociate grade columns from assignments, quizzes, and discussions when necessary. Continue reading…
