Live Online Training Sessions

The Office of Online Learning is offering the following workshops throughout the year. Except where noted, all workshops are led by Todd Taylor, Online Learning Manager. Register for all sessions here.

Online Discussion Prompts for Interactive Instruction in Brightspace
Tuesday, June 11 from 10am - 11am 
Thursday, June 13 from 3pm - 4pm 
The Discussions tool in Brightspace provides a built-in tool for interactive instruction. In this workshop, we will take a close-ended prompt, used to gauge the comprehension of direct instruction, and look at four ways to transform it into a prompt for interactive instruction. 

Using Padlet for Interactive Instruction in Brightspace
Tuesday, June 18 from 10am - 11am 
Thursday, June 20 from 3pm - 4pm 
Padlet can be visualized as a virtual noticeboard. In response to an instructor prompt, students are able to post their notes to a wall. These notes may be text, images, videos, or even files. Students are also able to engage with and respond to each other’s posts. In this workshop, you will create a Padlet, add it to Brightspace, and grade student contributions.  

Using VoiceThread for Interactive Instruction in Brightspace
Tuesday, June 25 from 10am - 11am 
Thursday, June 27 from 3pm - 4pm 
VoiceThread is a tool that lets students annotate instructor-created videos and other rich media presentations. These annotations can be videos, audio clips, text and images. In this workshop, you will explore three possible applications of VoiceThread. First, we will explore an interactive lecture in which students are required to either ask questions or to illustrate concepts with their own real world examples. Second, we will look at an activity in which students are invited to create voiceover content for an instructor-created visual slidedeck. Finally, for a language course, students could practice and record their pronunciation as the words are being introduced.

Using Google Docs for Wikis in Brightspace
Tuesday, July 2 from 10am - 11am 
A wiki is a website that allows collaborative content creation. It affords argument, debate, and interaction regarding the content and the structure of that content by its users. While only instructors can edit pages in Brightspace, Google Docs pages can be embedded into Brightspace. Students can then collaboratively edit the Google Doc within Brightspace, as well as add comments to the document. As an instructor, you can review open and resolved comments, review individual contributions to the documents, and lock the document as read only. In this workshop, we will explore these functions to create an interactive research assignment for a class of students.

Get Help

If you need assistance with Brightspace, call the SUNY Online Support Services Help Desk (open 7 days per week) at 1-844-673-6786 during the following hours:

Monday - Friday 7:00AM-12:00AM Midnight EST
Saturday 10:00AM-6:00PM EST
Sunday 10:00AM-9:00PM EST

If you are having trouble with your FIT Username and Password, call IT for FIT at (212) 217-4357.