Hello Brightspace: Preparing to migrate to a new Digital Learning Environment in 2022

Dear Faculty and Staff:

As many of you are aware, SUNY is in the process of moving away from BlackBoard – the Digital Learning Environment (DLE) that has been in place at New Paltz for many years – to a new system called D2L Brightspace.

SUNY New Paltz has been selected to join Cohort 1 for the migration to Brightspace, which has already begun and will continue through 2022.

Our students, faculty and staff will be among the first in the SUNY system to stop using BlackBoard and begin using Brightspace.

Implementation and authentication are already underway and are being led on our campus by the Office of Instructional Technology (OIT).

Use this link to learn more about SUNY’s selection of Brightspace as its new DLE and for news and updates about the process.

Hello Brightspace, Goodbye BlackBoard

New Paltz faculty and staff who use BlackBoard should prepare for its replacement this year. The timeline is still being finalized, but OIT is expecting a summer pilot ahead of implementation.

There is no need to take immediate action, but it never hurts to be ready! Here are three things you can do now ahead of our switch to a new DLE:

Take Brightspace for a test drive. SUNY has created a Brightspace “sandbox” that faculty and staff can use to explore its core functions. You can use this link to get started. First-time users will need to register with their campus email addresses.
Have questions? Let us know! OIT has set up a form where you can share thoughts and questions about this upcoming change. Your input will help as we work on a Brightspace information hub with FAQs, a training schedule and other support resources. Please click here to send us your Brightspace questions.
Stay tuned for future updates. With everything going on this spring, we understand it will be a challenge for faculty and staff to gain skills with a new Digital Learning Environment. The Office of Instructional Technology will be providing regular updates via email, and there will be opportunities for training and Q&As as well, so please lookout for more soon.

Thanks,
OIT Staff