Designed for Higher Education, this Customer Enablement webinar series supports instructors, designers, and academic teams with Brightspace workflows that improve course design, assessment, accessibility, and student engagement. Each session includes 45 minutes of focused learning followed by 15 minutes of discussion and Q&A. New sessions will be announced every quarter. Check out our next sessions below!
Upcoming Sessions
**Join us on the following Wednesdays at 1:00pm ET by registering HERE**
- Optimizing Course Content in Brightspace (Dec 10, 2025)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty, Instructional Designers, and support staff looking to enhance course content in Brightspace for online, hybrid, or in-person delivery.
Join Instructional Designers from D2L’s Learning Services team as they share practical strategies for building effective Brightspace courses that support fully online, hybrid, and in-person delivery. You’ll explore how to optimize your course content using multimedia elements and accessibility best practices—ensuring a more engaging and inclusive experience for all learners. Whether you’re starting from scratch or reworking an existing course, this webinar will give you concrete tips, design comparisons across delivery models, and expert insights to help you move forward with confidence. - Streamline Grading and Keep Learners in the Loop with the Grades Tool (Jan 14, 2026)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty, Instructional Designers, and support staff
Discover how the Brightspace Grades tool can simplify your grading process while keeping learners informed about their progress throughout the course. This session will walk you through setting up a Gradebook using the Setup Wizard to help you stay organized from the start. You’ll learn how grades automatically sync from assessments like Quizzes and Assignments—saving time and ensuring accuracy. We’ll also explore the learner view to show how transparent grading supports motivation and reduces uncertainty throughout the term. - Personalize and Engage: Using Brightspace Tools to Support Every Learner (Feb 11, 2026)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty, Instructional Designers, and support staff
Discover how to create a more engaging and inclusive learning environment by tailoring course experiences to meet the diverse needs of your learners—now with insights from guest educator Clint Surry, who brings more than 30 years of experience teaching and supporting online learners in Chemistry, Math, and Physics. Clint will share practical examples from his own courses, demonstrating how thoughtful personalization can boost student success.
Gain practical strategies to boost student motivation and success while keeping your course organized and efficient. Whether your goal is to increase engagement or offer flexible learning pathways, this webinar will equip you with actionable insights to make your Brightspace course truly learner-centered. - Increasing Learner Accountability with Class Progress & Completion Tracking (Mar 11, 2026)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty, Instructional Designers, and support staff
Help learners take ownership of their progress and stay on track. This session will show you how to use Brightspace’s Class Progress and Completion Tracking tools to monitor engagement, identify challenges early, and guide learners toward success. Learn how to analyze key data points, communicate progress updates, and use that insight to inform proactive teaching strategies that boost student achievement. - Ensuring Academic Integrity in the Age of AI: How to Assess Real Skills in a New Educational Era (Apr 8, 2026)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty, Instructional Designers, and Brightspace Administrators
AI is transforming classrooms - bringing opportunity, but also unprecedented risks to skill development, fairness, and academic trust. This webinar outlines a forward-looking approach to assessment that prioritizes authentic learning experiences and reduces reliance on easily AI-generated work.
You’ll learn how to design video based assignments that require spontaneous explanation, promote critical thinking, and make cheating significantly harder. We’ll also explore how AI-driven feedback can provide timely, consistent guidance without adding to instructor workload. - Course Design Best Practice for Higher Education (May 13, 2026)
Audience: Ideal for Faculty and Instructional Designers
Join this webinar to explore cutting-edge strategies for designing effective and engaging courses, from aligning learning objectives with assessment methods to incorporating diverse instructional techniques. Learn how to create dynamic and inclusive learning environments that cater to student needs and learning styles. Gain valuable insights into the latest trends and tools in course design and walk away with actionable tips to elevate your curriculum and improve student outcomes.
Past Sessions
Find information on past Bright Ideas for Higher Education sessions in the table below. This table will be updated quarterly. Recordings will remain available on our YouTube Playlist until the session is delivered again or when the material no longer aligns with the latest version of the platform. Older recordings are then retired in favor of updated materials.
Title | Date | Description | Recording |
|---|
An Introduction to the Learning Outcomes Tool | November 2025 | Overview of how to start using Learning Outcomes from both the administrator and faculty perspective | YouTube Recording |
Discover the New Content Experience | October 2025 | Walk-through of the New Content Experience — helps instructors design and manage materials more efficiently | YouTube Recording |
Brightspace Quick Start: Top Tools to Kick Off the Term | September 2025 | A hands-on introduction to core Brightspace tools — Announcements, Calendar, Content upload, course setup; ideal for starting a semester strong | YouTube Recording |
Evaluation in Brightspace | August 2025 | Covers Gradebook setup, Mastery View, rubric design, and efficient evaluation processes for courses with grading or competency-based assessment | YouTube Recording |
Assessment and Feedback in Brightspace | July 2025 | Focuses on assessment workflows and feedback strategies — includes use of QuickEval, varied feedback types, and efficient feedback delivery | YouTube Recording |
Creating Quizzes in Brightspace | June 2025 | Demonstrates how to create interactive and flexible quizzes, use the Question Library, and design quizzes aligned with course objectives | YouTube Recording |
Creating Assignments and Discussions in Brightspace | May 2025 | Guidance on building engaging assignments and discussion activities that support interaction, differentiation, and effective instructor feedback | YouTube Recording |
Competency-Based Education | April 2025 | Explains how to implement competency-based learning: aligning learning objectives with assessments/standards and using reporting tools for tracking student achievement | YouTube Recording |
Accessibility in Higher Education | March 2025 | Covers Brightspace's built-in accessibility features and strategies for designing courses that support diverse learners and meet accessibility standards | YouTube Recording |
Course Design Best Practice in Higher Education | February 2025 | Discusses strategies for designing effective, inclusive, well-structured courses | YouTube Recording |
Optimizing Student Engagement in Brightspace | October 2024 | Demonstrates how to use tools like Announcements, Checklists, Surveys, and Intelligent Agents to improve communication, participation, and learner interaction | YouTube Recording |
Getting Started with Brightspace | September 2024 | Covers basics: creating Homepages, customizing navigation, crafting announcements, organizing content | YouTube Recording |