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Published on Leave a comment on CAT+FD Wins 2024 D2L Excellence Award!
Stephen Laster (D2L), Janice Florent, and John Baker (D2L)
Stephen Laster (D2L), Janice Florent, and John Baker (D2L)

ICYMI, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development (CAT+FD) at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is proud to announce that we received the 2024 D2L Excellence Award for our work on #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX) and #LEX Advanced. The D2L Excellence Award recognizes leaders, educators, and trainers who have used D2L Brightspace to help further the innovation, progress, and betterment of learning experiences in their organizations.

The Challenge: Advancing Faculty Expertise Through Instructional Continuity

We were faced with the challenge of preparing faculty for effective online instruction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly because D2L Brightspace was new to us.

Our Solution: #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX) and #LEX Advanced

To address this challenge, CAT+FD developed two innovative programs:

  • #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX): This self-paced online course helps faculty members develop high-quality, well-designed courses in Brightspace. It is based on the eight General Standards for Higher Education set forth by Quality Matters. By completing the course, faculty gain the skills and knowledge they need to create effective online learning experiences for XULA students.
  • #LEX Advanced: This program goes beyond the basics, helping instructors explore advanced features in Brightspace. These features allow faculty to increase their presence in their courses, streamline workflows, and improve overall efficiency. Ultimately, this leads to more user-friendly, accessible, and effective online courses.

The Results: Increased Proficiency and Improved Courses

Thanks to #LEX and #LEX Advanced, XULA faculty have become more proficient in using Brightspace to deliver high-quality online instruction. This has led to increased use of the platform's tools and better alignment with Quality Matters standards.

A Note of Thanks

The CAT+FD team is grateful to D2L for recognizing our work and awarding us with the 2024 D2L Excellence Award. We would also like to acknowledge Drs. Elizabeth Yost Hammer and Tiera S. Coston for their contributions and help in developing #LEX and #LEX Advanced.

For More Information

Xavier faculty who are interested can use this enrollment request form to request enrollment in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course.

We’ve included a link to D2L’s press release and the case study.

Published on Leave a comment on CAT+FD Wins an Excellence Award!

D2L excellence award badgeThe Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development (CAT+FD) at Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA) is proud to announce that we have received the 2024 D2L Excellence Award for our work on #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX) and #LEX Advanced. The D2L Excellence Award recognizes leaders, educators, and trainers who have used D2L Brightspace to help further the innovation, progress, and betterment of learning experiences in their organizations.

The Challenge: Advancing Faculty Expertise Through Instructional Continuity

We were faced with the challenge of preparing faculty for effective online instruction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly because D2L Brightspace was new to us.

Our Solution: #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX) and #LEX Advanced

To address this challenge, CAT+FD developed two innovative programs:

  • #LearnEverywhereXULA (LEX): This self-paced online course helps faculty members develop high-quality, well-designed courses in Brightspace. It is based on the eight General Standards for Higher Education set forth by Quality Matters. By completing the course, faculty gain the skills and knowledge they need to create effective online learning experiences for XULA students.
  • #LEX Advanced: This program goes beyond the basics, helping instructors explore advanced features in Brightspace. These features allow faculty to increase their presence in their courses, streamline workflows, and improve overall efficiency. Ultimately, this leads to more user-friendly, accessible, and effective online courses.

The Results: Increased Proficiency and Improved Courses

Thanks to #LEX and #LEX Advanced, XULA faculty have become more proficient in using Brightspace to deliver high-quality online instruction. This has led to increased use of the platform's tools and better alignment with Quality Matters standards.

A Note of Thanks

The CAT+FD team is grateful to D2L for recognizing our work and awarding us with the 2024 D2L Excellence Award. We would also like to acknowledge Drs. Jason S. Todd and Tiera S. Coston for their contributions and help in developing #LEX and #LEX Advanced.

For More Information

Xavier faculty who are interested can use this enrollment request form to request enrollment in the #LearnEverywhereXULA course.

We’ve included a link to D2L’s press release and the case study.

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #344: Recognize Learner Accomplishments

Are you looking for a way to recognize learner accomplishments in your courses? The Awards tool enables instructors to provide merit-based awards to students. Instructors can use the Awards tool to provide students with a reward, in the form of a digital badge, that acknowledges an achievement, whether it is a skill, competency, or completed task.

bee pollinating a flower

Dr. Christopher Jones, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Washburn University, uses the Awards tool to recognize individual students in his courses. A few years ago, he stopped grading participation and started issuing badges to recognize learner accomplishments instead. A few of the badges he issues to learners in his courses are:

  • Bumblebee: Like a bumblebee, you work extremely hard in ways that aren't always appreciated.
  • Mantis shrimp: The mantis shrimp has the strongest punch and the widest visual color spectrum in the animal kingdom. Like the mantis shrimp, you see things from a lot of different angles and you aren't afraid to say so.
  • Crow: Crows are highly intelligent and they use their loud voices to stay connected to each other. Like a crow, you share your intellect and insight freely in ways that help others stay connected to the conversation.

If this has piqued your interest and you are looking to reward your students for positive behaviors, check out the sample awards in his award badges twitter thread!

Additionally, we conducted a workshop on how you can use Brightspace Awards to engage learners. In case you missed it, you can view the Engage Students Using Awards in Brightspace workshop recording at this link.

Also, we have a corresponding “Awards & Badges” module in the #LearnEverywhereXULA (#LEX) course that you can complete to earn a digital badge for this topic that will count towards your #LEX Advanced certification.

Want More Information?

The Usefulness of Digital Badges in Higher Education
Why Use Gamification in your Courses?
Issue Brightspace Awards to Recognize Learner Accomplishments
Awards Tool How-to's
Create a New Award
Brightspace Tip #237: Release Conditions

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Continuous Delivery release notes
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.

Image credit: Image by Peggychoucair from Pixabay

Published on Leave a comment on Brightspace Tip #27: Gamify Your Courses Training Recap

keep calm and let's recap

This week’s "Get Your Game On: Gamify Your Brightspace Courses" training focused on how using gamification can engage and motivate students. This training session also covered how instructors can selectively release content to students using release conditions.

in case you missed it

In case you missed this week’s training session or if you attended the training session and want to recap what was covered, you can review these resources:

  • Homework that was to be completed before the workshop
    • Gamification Learning Challenge*

*NOTE: The Gamification Learning Challenge and the hands-on workshop activities are available. If you are interested in getting access to the challenge and activities you must be enrolled in the Brightspace Instructor Training Course. Xavier faculty who are not enrolled in this course can email Janice Florent and ask to be enrolled in the course.

To access the challenge and workshop activities, Xavier faculty should:

  1. Login to Brightspace
  2. Select the Brightspace Instructor Training course
  3. In the NavBar, click on Content
  4. In the Table of Contents, click on Workshop Hands-on Activities and then
  5. Click on Gamification Workshop. (You will find the activities in this module.)

Our Brightspace training will continue next fall. Please visit our events page for workshop details and to RSVP for upcoming Brightspace training sessions.

Want more information?

View all the Brightspace training recaps
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development is pleased to announcement the recipients of this year's Support for First-Time Grant Writing awards.
Published on Leave a comment on Support for First-time Grant Writing Award Recipients

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Faculty Development is pleased to announcement the recipients of this year's Support for First-Time Grant Writing awards. ...continue reading "Support for First-time Grant Writing Award Recipients"