Prepare Your Assisted Migration Reference Course for Teaching

Once your assisted migration is completed, you will be enrolled in the reference course and notified by email that the course is ready for you to view.

Access your course by logging in to westernu.brightspace.com. Use the checklist and information below to review your course and clean up your course content.

Once you are happy with your course content, import it into the Official Course where students will be enrolled using the Import/Export/Copy Components tools found in the Manage Course > Course Admin tool. 

What to Review:

  • Course Templates are now available to expedite development of your course in OWL Brightspace. Learn more on the Brightspace Help website.
  • 3rd Party eLearning tools (LTIs) must be re-added to courses. Find more information on LTI tools here.
  • Review the crosswalk guide.
  • If you have had Quizzes and Question Pools Migrated, we recommend reviewing the following:
    • Verify that questions are not missing images or attachments
    • Check for broken links in questions
    • Verify that question weights are still correct
    • Look for unsupported question types and convert as necessary

A Note About Groups/Sections:
If any of your course tools use Groups/Sections for release conditions, these can only be configured once you receive your Official Course, which contains the Roster with enrolled students. 

If Content Didn't Migrate:
Instructors should consider alternative methods using OWL Brightspace tools to deliver content that could not be migrated from OWL Sakai. Please note that some content, like student data, will not be migrated to OWL Brightspace. For additional support, join a Q&A session or visit OWL Brightspace Help.

Checklist for Course Cleanup

1) Find your migrated course in the waffle icon on top of the OWL Brightspace homepage 

 

Your OWL Brightspace course name will have a prefix (Ref) and suffix (K16), example: “ref_{Migrated Course Name}_k16” 

 
2) Go to Manage Course > Manage Files 

Verify that all the content were migrated from the Sakai Course Resources to the OWL Brightspace Course Manage Files. 

Upload any other files as required. You can upload files up to a maximum of 2 GB at a time. 
3) Go to Assessments > Assignments 

 With the Sakai course Assignments tool open for reference, for every assignment you want to move: 

  1. Verify that the assignments were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course. 
  2. Verify that the migrated assignments contain attachments (if they had them in Sakai) 
  3. Verify that the migrated assignments contain images and media (if they had them in Sakai) 
  4. Verify that any URL links in the assignment are working and open the right destinations.  
  5. If there are URLs/links within the assignment that point to pages/content/resources within the Sakai OWL environment, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new Brightspace location. 
  6. If you notice missing attachment/media in your assignments, you will have to reattach them. 
  7. If your assignment had Rubrics attached to it, you will have to re-add it to the assignment on Brightspace via the assignment Evaluation and Feedback settings. 
  8. Delete any Assignments that will no longer be used. 
  9. Create any new Assignments you would like to add. 
4) Go to Assessments > Quizzes (Question Library for Question Pools)

With the Sakai course Tests and Quizzes tool open for reference: 

  1. Verify that the draft quizzes were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course. Only Drafts are migrated by the assisted migration process. 
  2. If Quiz parts were pulling questions from a Question Pool, you may find the question pool migrated to Question Library on Brightspace. Verify that the used question pools are migrated to Question Library. NOTE: Some question pool questions might be missing images and attachments if they contained any and instructors will have to re-attach/readd them. 
  3. Verify quizzes do not miss questions. Missing questions will have to be recreated by the instructor. 
  4. Verify that any URL links in the questions are working and open the right destinations.  
  5. If there are URLs/links within the questions that point to pages/content/resources within the Sakai OWL environment, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new Brightspace location. 
  6. Reconfigure dates, release conditions, and other settings where applicable 
  7. Delete any Quizzes that will no longer be used. 
  8. Create any new Quizzes you would like to add. 
5) Go to Assessments > Rubrics

With the Sakai course Rubrics tool open for reference: 

  1. Verify that the rubrics were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course Rubrics.
  2. For each rubric, verify that the right criteria and ratings along with their respective description and weights were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course Rubrics. 
  3. Correct rubric items, weights and description if applicable 
  4. Verify that any URL links in the rubrics are working and open the right destinations.  
  5. If there are URLs/links within the rubrics that point to pages/content/resources within the Sakai OWL environment, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new Brightspace location. 
  6. If a rubric was linked to an assignment or discussion on Sakai, re-link it on the OWL Brightspace side. 
  7. Delete any Rubrics that will no longer be used. 
  8. Create any new Rubrics you would like to add. 
6) Go to Communication > Discussions (Create Discussions vs Create Topics) 

 With the Sakai course Forums tool open for reference: 

  1. Verify that the forums and topics were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course Discussions. 
  2. Verify that the forums and topics titles and details (including respective attachments and images) were migrated. 
  3. Correct Discussions and Topics if applicable 
  4. Verify that any URL links in the Discussion and Topics are working and open the right destinations.  
  5. If there are URLs/links within the Discussions and topics that point to pages/content/resources within the Sakai OWL environment after a copy/paste process, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new Brightspace location. 
  6. Reconfigure dates, release conditions, and other settings where applicable 
  7. Delete any Discussions and Topics that will no longer be used. 
  8. Create any new Discussions and Topics you would like to add. 
7) Go to Communication > Announcements 

 With the Sakai course Announcements tool open for reference: 

  1. Verify that the announcements were migrated to the OWL Brightspace course Discussions. 
  2. Verify that the announcements titles and details (including respective attachments and images) were migrated. 
  3. Verify that any URL links in the announcements are working and open the right destinations.  
  4. If there are URLs/links within the announcements that point to pages/content/resources within the Sakai OWL environment, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new OWL Brightspace location. 
  5. Reconfigure dates, release conditions, and other settings where applicable 
  6. Delete any announcements that will no longer be used. 
  7. Create any new Announcements you would like to add. 
8) Go to Checklists (via Content or Course Admin tool) 

If you had any Checklists in your Lessons on Sakai, they will have to be recreated on OWL Brightspace and relinked in their respective Lessons (Content). 

Checklists can be created via the Manage Course > Course Admin tool or via Content tool by selecting Create New and selecting Checklist. When or if you have existing Checklists you wish to re-use, then select the Add Existing option. 

Refer to the Checklists link for steps on how to create them. 
9) Go to Content

Note: OWL Brightspace uses the New Content Experience mode. 

OWL Brightspace New Content Experience can only have 3 levels of content as compared to old OWL Lessons and Subpages which displays content in-line on a Lessons page. 

Instructors will have to clean-up and reorganize content in the OWL Brightspace course to suit their preference. This can be either done via Content tool or the Course Builder tool. 

 

With the Sakai course Overview/Syllabus/Lessons tools open for reference: 

  1. Verify your course Overview content from Sakai was migrated 
  2. Verify you course Syllabus content from Sakai was migrated 
  3. Verify Web Content links from Sakai were migrated (if applicable) 
  4. Recreate your LTI links where applicable as they will not be migrated from Sakai. 
  5. Verify that Lessons were migrated correctly (including respective content such as attachments, images, media, SCORM, etc.) 
  6. If any respective content is not working correctly, you will have to fix/re-add them. 
  7. Delete any migrated content that looks like a checklist and re-create the checklist on OWL Brightspace. Finally, relink them in their respective Content 
  8. Verify that any URL links in the lesson(s) content are working and open the right destinations.  
  9. If there are URLs/links that point to pages/content/assignments/quizzes/forums/resources within the Sakai OWL environment, these will have to manually be updated to point to their new OWL Brightspace location. 
  10. Re-organize and clean up Content to adapt to the new OWL interface. 
  11. Reconfigure dates, release conditions, and other settings where applicable 
  12. Create any Content Units/Lessons/Activities you would like to add. 
  13. Delete any Content Units/Lessons/Activities that will no longer be used. 
10) Go to Manage Course > Grades

With the Sakai course Gradebook tool open for reference: 

  1. Go to the Manage Grades tab. 
  2. Verify that all items that are linked to course activities are migrated. 
  3. Re-add and re-configure any other gradebook items that were not migrated. 

Refer to the Grades link for steps on how to create them. 
11) Go to Content > Migration Exceptions Log

Check the Migration Exception Log as it will include information about some missed items that were not migrated from Sakai to OWL Brightspace.