Currently on Brightspace, students do not have access to the Classlist tool (for privacy reasons), which makes facilitating communication between students a bit trickier. Outlined below are some ways we have found to help students get connected for group assignments and other moments of collaboration.
Export & Share Classlist
Please note that the export from Brightspace’s Classlist contains students' numbers, names, and emails, therefore the sharing of this information needs to be done so cautiously.
Exporting the Classlist is a straightforward way to share student contact information to the the class.
Steps:
Go to Classlist select the Print option
On the print page select any of the tabs to filter the user list (i.e., Student, Instructor, TA etc.)
Use the tab Student to get a list of the student accounts only
Select Print on the Print Page and on the confirmation dialogue box
On the PDF viewer page review the Classlist, and change print directions to Save as PDF
Once the PDF is downloaded upload the file to the course for sharing with students
Upload to announcements, or on content page for student access
Discussions
This method may work best for smaller courses as the forum topic discussion thread may become very unruly for large course types.
Instant Messages
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.
Students can use Brightspace’s Instant Messages tool to contact peers in their class. Students will need to first add the peer as a “friend” to begin messaging with them.
Steps:
Navigate to the Instant Messages tool and select the Friends tab
Select the Add Friends option, and search the student’s name
Use last name, first name or username (e.g., me14sx) to complete this action
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!
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
Please note that by default the Chat tool is configurable after the tool is enabled on the navbar
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.
External Tools
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.
On Microsoft Teams students can message students in their class, either by searching the name of the student, or by clicking the students' name in a meeting chat or participant’s list to start a conversation. Instructors can request a Teams site for their class through the SDS tool: https://spprov.azurewebsites.net/sds
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.