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Students do not have access to the Classlist tool for privacy and safety reasons. This makes facilitating communication between students within Brightspace a bit complicated. Outlined below are some ways to help students get connected.

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rootGetting started with Brightspace at Brock
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Export & Share Classlist

Note

Brightspace’s Classlist contains students' numbers, names, and email addresses. The sharing of this information must be done cautiously and students should be made aware of this in advance.

Expand
titleSteps to export and share the Classlist

Exporting the Classlist is a comprehensive way to share student contact information.

Print link on the Classlist toolImage Modified

  1. Go to Classlist select the Print option.

  2. On the print page select any of the tabs to filter the user list (i.e., Student, Instructor, TA etc.)

    1. Use the tab Student to get a list of the student accounts only.

  3. Select Print on the Print Page and on the confirmation dialogue box.

  4. On the PDF viewer page review the Classlist, and change print directions to Save as PDF.

  5. Once the PDF is downloaded upload the file to the course for sharing with students

    1. Upload to announcements or on a content page for student access.

PDF view of the Classlist for printing and to save as a PDFImage Modified

Discussions

Info

This method may work best for smaller courses as the forum topic discussion thread may become very unruly for large course types.

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titleHow to use Discussions for student communication

Instructors can create a Forum Topic in the Discussion tool to give students the opportunity to offer their contact information to the class directly.

Options to leverage Discussions:

  • Instruct students to share their name, and their preferred contact method to the discussion thread

  • Instruct students to use Discussions to organize their group projects throughout the term

Please see the Discussions articles below for further instructions.

Forums - Discussions

Topics - Discussions

Instant Messages

Info

Students will only be able to add students to Instant Messages by name or email, which requires them to have this information, thus this method is likely best used in tandem with other peer-to-peer communication methods.

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titleSteps to use Instant Messages

Students can use Brightspace’s InstantMessagestool to contact peers in their class. Students will need to first add the peer as a “friend” to begin messaging with them.

At the top of the Brightspace page, the mini navbar houses quick links. The envelope icon is the quick-link to the instance messaging tool.Image Modified

Steps:

  1. Navigate to the Instant Messages tool and select the Friends tab

  2. Select the Add Friends option, and search the student’s name

    1. Use last name, first name or username (e.g., me14sx) to complete this action

  3. Once the peer is added as a friend students can use the messaging tool to connect with one another. Simply select the Message button to begin chatting!

Add Friends link is visible on the Friends tab on the Instance messaging tool on BrightspaceImage Modified

Also if instructors desire to keep student questions on Brightspace, rather than their Brock email account, they can kindly instruct students to follow the steps above and add the instructor’s account as a “friend” on Brightspace.

Chat Tool

Info

Please note that by default the Chat tool is configurable after the tool is enabled on the navbar

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titleHow to use the Chat tool

Instructors can also leverage Brightspace’s Chat feature to connect students with peers. This tool operates as a generic chatroom for all site participants and can be manually configured for specific groups of students to have their own chat area.

Chat tool on the Brightspace navbar is accessible only if enabled in the classImage Modified

Steps:

  • Select Chat tool, then select “New Chat”

  • Add parameters for chat Title and Type:

    • General Type: Available to anyone on site, (public chatroom)

    • Personal Type: Chats is restricted, (Private chatroom) to specified users.

  • Once the chat is created students can interact in the chatroom.

    • Please note that the chat type cannot be edited post creation.

When creating a chat it is required to have a titled and be assigned a type, either General or Personal Chat. Once the chat is created the chat type cannot be edited.Image Modified

External Tools

Expand
titleUsing Microsoft Teams and Brock email for communication

Students can also use other tools to connect outside of class time. Both Microsoft Teams and Brock email are our university supported communication tools, and although they do not directly integrate with the LMS they might be the most effective options.

Start a new conversation on Microsoft Teams by selecting the compose icon.

  • On the student’s Brock email account they can search other students' names in the To field when composing a message. As name suggestions will populate, simply select the name of the student you wish to connect with.

    • Please note that all members of the Brock directory are listed, so it is suggested that students know at least the first and last name of the person they’d like to connect with prior to trying this method.

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