Welcome to the D2L Brightspace Faculty Resources page. Here you’ll find a comprehensive collection of guides, tutorials, and support materials to help you effectively utilize the Brightspace LMS.

To request consultation and/or training please contact us at AcademicTech@slu.cuny.edu

Brightspace is the CUNY supported Learning Management System. A Brightspace course site is created for every official CUNY scheduled class regardless of modality.

Login to Brightspace

Contact

For Brightspace Support contact D2L at 1-888-895-2511

For Brightspace Access Issues contact IT Service Desk
IT Support Request
ServiceDesk@slu.cuny.edu
(646) 313-8440

General Information

Per Board of Trustees policy, all fully online courses, both synchronous and asynchronous, must be delivered in a University-supported LMS (Brightspace) or an alternative LMS that meets CUNY’s cybersecurity policies and complies with data privacy laws (however, support may not be available to help faculty or students with alternate systems).

CUNY Policy for Use of a Learning Management System for Online Classes

Please review the Policy for the Use of a Learning Management System (LMS) for online classes. For additional information, please refer to the LMS Use Policy Q&A.

Faculty Documentation and Guides

CUNY Brightspace Faculty Training Videos

Overview and training videos jointly developed by CUNY and D2L(the developer of Brightspace LMS) to aid in CUNY’s Brightspace LMS transition and adaptation. Video playlist.

Faculty Getting Started Checklist CUNY IT Help Knowledge Base Articles

Topic Specific Guides

Setting Up Courses in Brightspace

Navigating Brightspace

Course Layout in Brightspace

Designing an Accessible Course

Instructor D2L Brightspace Resources

  • Guided Training – Developed to help you onboard onto Brightspace at the pace that’s right for you. Intended for anyone building, teaching, or facilitating courses within Brightspace. If you are new to online learning, new to Brightspace, or just looking for how to do something new in your Brightspace classroom, this is the perfect starting place for you.
  • Instructor Video Tutorials – How-to’s and instructional videos for instructors.
  • Brightspace Instructor Documentation – General Brightspace documentation for instructors.

Accessible Course Content in Brightspace

Creating accessible course materials helps ensure that all students can engage with course content effectively. Anthology Ally, integrated within CUNY Brightspace, supports accessibility by providing alternative content formats for students and helping instructors identify and address accessibility issues in their courses. Access ALLY Guides.

Ally offers two key accessibility tools for instructors:

  • Accessibility Indicators (Traffic-Light Gauges): Display an accessibility score next to individual files and content items, helping you quickly identify and prioritize issues.
    Ally Accessibility Score Icons
    Ally Accessibility Score Icons – Color Key
  • Course Accessibility Report: Provides an overall accessibility score for your course and highlights content that requires attention.

Review and Improve Course Accessibility

  1. Watch the Ally overview video to learn how accessibility tools work in Brightspace.
  2. Open the Course Accessibility Report from the Tools menu in your course. This report is available only to instructors.
    Course Accessibility Report
  3. Review files and content items identified with accessibility issues. Ally prioritizes the most significant issues and provides step-by-step guidance for remediation.
  4. For issues that cannot be corrected directly within Ally, update the original file in Word, PowerPoint, or another authoring tool, then re-upload the revised version to Brightspace.
  5. If you need assistance, contact the Academic Technology team or schedule a consultation.

Alternative Formats for Students

Students can access alternative versions of course materials by selecting the Alternative Formats icon displayed next to supported content in Brightspace. Depending on the content type, formats may include:

  • Audio
  • HTML
  • Electronic Braille
  • Tagged PDF
  • ePub
  • Machine-translated versions in multiple languages

The video Ally Alternative Formats provides more details. While alternative formats can improve access to course materials, they do not replace the need to create accessible content from the start. Designing accessible course materials benefits all learners and helps ensure compliance with accessibility standards.

For assistance with accessibility standards compliance, contact SLU Accessibility Specialist Imara Johnson via imara.johnson@slu.cuny.edu

An Opportunity to Build Your Digital Accessibility Skills

CUNY’s Digital Accessibility Initiative offers Designing for All: Digital Accessibility in Practice, a new, self-paced course in Brightspace that helps faculty and staff build the knowledge, skills, and confidence to create accessible digital content.
Enroll into the Designing for All: Digital Accessibility in Practice course