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Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation is pleased to share that all individuals on record teaching in the fall (202510) or spring (202520) semester now have access to our Brightspace instance.  In addition to access, those on record have been given one Brightspace course sandbox, which you can use to familiarize yourself with Brightspace.  

All courses starting May 19, 2025 (202530), will be taught from our Brightspace instance. From that date forward, Brightspace will become our official and only Learning Management System for UCM instruction. Our contract with Blackboard officially ends on June 30, 2025.  

Below is some helpful information as you start using our Brightspace instance.

Accessing UCM鈥檚 Brightspace Instance

To log into our Brightspace instance, you can go to .

Sign in by selecting the Current UCM Students, Faculty, or Staff option.

You will be directed to the UCM Single Sign-On page, where you will sign in with your UCM network credentials.

NOTE: You must sign in through SSO.  You will not have the option to use the Center for Workforce and Other User option.

Only faculty who are instructors of record for fall and/or spring sections currently have access to Brightspace.  Faculty not on this list can request access by completing the .  At the moment, we are only providing priority access to faculty.  

Accessing Your Brightspace Sandbox

From the Brightspace institutional page, you can find your course and update your profile.

1. The waffle menu (icon with 9 boxes) lets you quickly locate your sandbox.
2. Your name will appear in the right-hand corner. Click on it to update your profile and account settings.

Accessing the Brightspace Community & Guided Training

We strongly encourage you to view the Brightspace Guided Training in the Brightspace Community. The provides directions for accessing this guided training from the Brightspace Community.  

Moving a Course from Blackboard to Brightspace

Brightspace does offer a Blackboard to Brightspace conversion option.  While this will not replicate your course completely, this tool does provide a powerful option to transfer course content from

Blackboard to Brightspace.  Please visit the . 

Early Adoption for Spring (202520) Semester

We strongly encourage you to consider early adoption of Brightspace for the spring semester.  You can choose one or more of your spring courses to deliver from Brightspace. Early adoption of Brightspace is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with this LMS before completely switching to Brightspace for the summer session and beyond.  The spring semester is the last time you can choose between delivering your course from Blackboard or Brightspace.

If you are ready to be an early adopter for the spring semester, please complete the .  There will be three dates on which courses requested for delivery from Brightspace for the spring semester will be fed to Brightspace: October 7th, November 8th, and December 3rd.  Only courses requested to be delivered from Brightspace will be fed to Brightspace for the spring semester.  We ask that any faculty who wants to use Brightspace in the spring make that determination no later than December 2, 2024.  You may not teach a course from Blackboard and Brightspace in the spring.  You must choose one or the other for each course. 

Brightspace Training Opportunities

Our Brightspace trainer, Popsann Francis, will be on campus October 8-10th.  While we realize you can鈥檛 attend all of this training, we hope you can join us for some onsite training.  We will be recording this and making the recording available after this event.  More information regarding topics and event locations will be coming soon.  

In addition, DLII will begin holding Brightspace training sessions and Q&A sessions in late October and will continue throughout the fall and spring semesters.  Please watch for email and UCM Daily announcements.

DLII is excited to open our Brightspace environment to all of you. We know you will create amazing educational experiences for your students using Brightspace.  We look forward to working with you and supporting you throughout this transition.

As we begin the second week of the fall semester, I鈥檇 like to share some important updates regarding our Brightspace implementation and how you can learn more about Brightspace throughout the fall.

First, a reminder: we are now 266 days away from our complete transition to Brightspace on May 19, 2025. After the spring semester, no courses will be delivered from Blackboard.  

Brightspace Early Adopters

Currently, 27 faculty members are serving as early adopters, teaching a total of 60 courses on Brightspace. This involves over 800 students already experiencing Brightspace at UCM for the first time this semester. We are grateful to these faculty and students for their participation in this phase, and we have gained valuable insights so far with more to come.

Brightspace Sandboxes & Training

Between September 15-25, all faculty will receive a Brightspace sandbox. This will allow each faculty member to transfer a course from Blackboard to Brightspace to test that process or design a course from scratch. More details will follow as we approach the release of the sandboxes. In the meantime, I encourage anyone eager to learn more about Brightspace to enroll in the Brightspace Guided Training resource available on Brightspace's website, which offers comprehensive knowledge and is an excellent starting point for your Brightspace journey.

From October 7-9, our Brightspace trainer, Popsann Francis, will be on-site at UCM to provide training. We are currently finalizing the details for these sessions, including topics and locations. We are fortunate to have Popsann, an exceptional trainer, join us in Warrensburg.

In addition to Popsann鈥檚 training, the DLII team will offer Brightspace training sessions throughout October and November, both in-person and virtually. We also plan to host sessions at the MIC during this period.

Instructor Choice for Spring 2025 Semester

For the spring 2025 semester, instructors will have the option to choose whether to deliver their courses via Brightspace or Blackboard. Faculty will have until December 2 to opt-in to Brightspace for any of their spring courses. A form for sign-ups will be available in October. All faculty members are welcome to adopt Brightspace for the spring semester.

I would like to extend my thanks to our colleagues in the Office of Technology and the UCM Bookstore for their support during this early adoption phase. The OT team has worked diligently to ensure SSO and course feeds are functioning correctly, while the UCM Bookstore team has collaborated with our textbook publishers to ensure students in Brightspace have the electronic textbook resources they need.  We are grateful to both teams for their support during this implementation process.

We are excited about the opportunities Brightspace offers and are committed to making this transition as smooth as possible. Thank you for your continued efforts and dedication to this important journey.

Please feel free to reach out to DLII with any questions regarding the Brightspace transition.

Related -

• Brightspace Available to All Faculty - September 16, 2024

• Early Adopters Identified (roughly 25 UCM faculty who wish to use Brightspace for the fall 2024 semester)

• Initial meetings with D2L to implement D2L Brightspace begin - March, 2024

• Contract with UCM & D2L executed - February 19, 2024

• UCM's Board of Governors approves D2L contract as UCM's official LMS - January 25, 2024

• Provost Bridgmon announces LMS Review Committee's recommendation to UCM faculty - January 11, 2024

• LMS Review Committee recommends D2L as UCM's next official Learning Management System - December 2023

• Recommendations from LMS Review Committee - anticipated to be shared with administration by the end of the Fall 2023 semester - Completed

• Canvas/Instructure - October 5th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• D2L/Brightspace - October 4th from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• Blackboard/Anthology - October 3rd from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

• Vendor presentations - Fall 2023

• List of vendors announced who will be asked to present their solution to campus stakeholders - September 13, 2023

• RFP's requested from vendors - summer of 2023 - RFP released June 2, 2023 - Closed July 31, 2023

• Drafted RFP reviewed by Procurement - anticipated completion by end of Spring 2023 semester - Completed

• Designated committee members working to write an RFP (Request for Proposal) - anticipated completion by early April - Completed

• Survey results shared with campus community - anticipated to be completed by end of April - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Staff - anticipated to be sent out mid-February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Students - anticipated to be sent out mid-February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

• LMS Review Survey for Faculty - anticipated to be sent out in February and open for at least 3 weeks - Completed

Committee members were identified at the end of the Fall 2022 semester.  The committee was formed in October of 2022 and met for the first time on November 28, 2022.

College of Education Representatives:

Dr. Lauren Hays, Assistant Professor - Instructional Technology

Dr. Charlene Atkins, Associate Professor - Elementary Graduate Education

Harmon College of Business and Professional Studies Representatives:

Dr. Ashley Gage, Associate Professor - Social Work

Sarah Bailey, Assistant Instructor - Accountancy

College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Representatives:

Dr. Michael Makara, Associate Professor - Political Science/International Studies

Dr. Stella Roden, Professor - Music

College of Health, Science, and Technology Representatives:

Dr. Katie Kage, Associate Professor - Nutrition

Dr. Marietta Watson, Assistant Professor - SOT Graduate Programs

Faculty Senate Representative:

Dr. Jasmine Cloud, Associate Professor - Art, Design, and Photography (served November 2022 - April 2023 before sabbatical leave)

Dr. Odin Jurkowski, Professor - Instructional Technology (replaced Dr. Cloud from May 2023 - November 2023)

Office of Technology Representative:

Brandy Nicoletti, Applications Manager - Applications Systems

Student Representative:

Ethan Gerst, Sophomore, B.S. Professional Pilot Major

Additional Members:

Dr. Laurel Hogue, Vice-Provost of Online and Learning Engagement

Carol Knight , Director of Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation (Committee Chair)

Resource Members (non-voting):

Chad Marnholtz, LMS and Applications Manager - Digital Learning and Instructional Innovation

Shannon Meisenheimer, Senior Programmer Analyst, Applications Systems

Kristin Salas, Assistant Director/Academic Advisor, Success Advising Center

Kyle Constant, Assistant Instructor, Kirkpatrick Library

Andrea Huggans, Accessibility Services Coordinator, Accessibility Services 

Paul Plummer, Senior Instructor - Statistics, and General Education Committee Representative