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Classic Content Best Practices/Pedagogy

Lynn.B.961

Our college is in the very early stages of embarking on our Brightspace journey. We will be fully implemented by fall 2025. I have completed the paid Brightspace Certificate training so I feel quite knowledgeable about the tool. Now I am working to figure out effective teaching practices for structuring the content area from an instructional design/pedagogy best practices standpoint.

I’d really love to get some more insight into best ways to present content because there are some big differences from the vertical structure in Blackboard Learn and I want to help guide faculty appropriately.

Would anyone be willing to meet with me for a virtual meeting to discuss some of my questions/share best practices you found in Classic Content view? If so, I would be extremely grateful.

Some of my questions include:

if you used module overview pages and what you included in it
if you use module/topic descriptions and found them effective
how you avoid taking learners out of the module and have to find their way back
how you use sub-modules effectively, pros/cons of sub-modules
pedagogy/best practices for structuring the content within the module

I’d love to see some example modules you have created and would also be interested in showing you a sample module from a few of my courses that I have converted and get your ideas on a few things that I am struggling with as well.

This is one of my first posts, so I am not sure how you can reach me. I'll include my direct email here if that is helpful: lbaldwin@madisoncollege.edu

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Accepted answers

goran.m.816

I can help with all of what you asked. Friday the 28th 8am-11am CST is open. Shoot me an email with a Teams/Zoom link goran.mitrovich@sdstate.edu. The moose abides!

All comments

Melissa.H.804

Hi Lynne! I was in your shoes last summer and this is our first live semester. Can I ask why you're using Classic instead of New Content? We went back and forth for a bit before deciding to just start with the newer version since in my experience companies usually focus on improving the new one instead of continuing to improve the older version.

Lynn.B.961

Melissa,

Thanks for asking about Classic. It was a tough decision and we went back and forth on it. It was voted on and Classic prevailed. Some of the reasons included that it was more fully developed and it was what we showed faculty in the exploration stage.

goran.m.816

I can help with all of what you asked. Friday the 28th 8am-11am CST is open. Shoot me an email with a Teams/Zoom link goran.mitrovich@sdstate.edu. The moose abides!

Bonnie.P.537

Lynne, Thanks for starting this topic. We are in a similar situation and I am looking forward to the conversation.

Melissa,

It sounds like you think the New Content tool might be better. Can you say why? I thought going with the newer tool would make sense, but our implementation team also chose Classic when we launched BS a couple of months ago, so I'd love to hear what convince your school to go with New Content/Lessons.

Thanks,

Bonnie

Lynn.B.961

I am interested in talking to others who have found various ways/best practices to display content to users using Classic Content. I am hung up on a few things (how long assignments display and how to fix that), whether to use submodules or not, and the best ways to make it more manageable for learners. If anyone else is interested in meeting virtually for 45 min or so, I would be so grateful.

Bonnie.P.537

Lynn.B,

This conversation prompted me to ask out team exactly why we chose Classic over the New Content tool and this is what was shared that made me confident it was the best choice for us. I hope this is helpful, and I would love to hear the reasoning of Universities that chose the New Content tool which seems better suited to an environment where you might want to control the environment rather than giving students some autonomy and control.

We recommend using the Classic experience vs. the New experience for several reasons.

Classic modules allow students to entirely control navigation, and show the number of items that still need to be completed in each section. Students can also page through content using arrows.
New modules always show the first page and assumes that students will page through in order every time. It is possible to access a menu to jump to the first page of a different sub-section, but only completion of an entire sub-sections is marked as complete, rather than marking individual items as complete.
Overall LMS and course navigation disappears in the New modules, which is expected to be disorienting to many students.
Classic modules allow complex content that is more than 2 levels deep - New modules do not.
Classic modules allow bookmarking of content so students can easily jump to where they left off or content that they know they want to revisit later.

Sincerely,

Bonnie