SUNY Empire State College Digital Learning Environment

Recordings FAQTraining

What's Happening?

Empire State University is transitioning its Learning Management System — the tool you use to access your courses virtually— from Moodle to Brightspace beginning in the Fall 2022. This change is part of a SUNY-wide initiative to provide a consistent environment for student learning across the SUNY system.

This site will be updated as more information becomes available about the transition.

What Do I Need to Do?

As you begin the Spring 2023 term, please take the first step by setting up your multi-factor authentication (MFA). MFA will be a new step when signing on to access your online courses on Brightspace and will be required as of August 17, 2022. You can learn more about MFA and access step-by-step instructions at: https://www.sunyempire.edu/mfa. Have questions or need help setting it up? Contact our SUNY Empire IT Service Desk and a technician can assist you.

How Does this Impact Me?

You should be using Brightspace to participate in online courses during the Spring 2023 term. All Summer 2022 courses will remain on Moodle. We will offer training sessions for students throughout the summer so you can understand how Brightspace works.  

In the coming weeks and months, SUNY Empire will be in touch to provide you with additional online training opportunities. Have any questions? Email us at dle@esc.edu. We are excited about the transition, and we look forward to enhancing your student experience! 

Recordings

Click here to view recordings of Brightspace tutorials.

 

 

 

FAQ

Since Brightspace is new for all of us, your faculty may have hidden courses while they finish working on them.
We do recommend contacting the SUNY Empire ITS department to double check. You can do this by calling or submitting an incident ticket:
Phone: 1-888-Help-009 (1-888-435-7009)
 
SUNY Empire IT Service Desk: https://www.sunyempire.edu/service-desk/
 
Submit an Incident Ticket via ServiceNow: Submit an Incident
 
Hours of Operation:  
Monday - Thursday: 8:30AM - 9:00 PM ET
Friday: 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM ET
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 1:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET

Go to the https://my.esc.edu, login, go to registration and course offerings (button on Student homepage) and then view registration information. This will bring you to your term dates and confirm current registration. 

Students who added or dropped their course after Wednesday, September 7 are having their enrollments added to the roster through a bulk upload process. It can take 24-48 hours from the time you added or dropped the course on Banner for the change to display in Brightspace. If you are still not seeing your online course after 48 hours,* you should submit an Incident Ticket to the SUNY Empire IT Service Desk.

*Please note: Not all instructors for Virtual Study Groups, Residencies, Independent Studies, Just in Time Studies, Totally Individualized Studies are using Brightspace for their study. Students should first check with their instructor that the course is going to be on Brightspace before submitting an incident. If a course needs to be added in Brightspace, your instructor should submit the request to the SUNY Empire IT Service Desk with the course information.

If you have completed the general college orientation, you do not need to re-take it. You will be encouraged to attend Brightspace-specific training. New students enrolled for the Spring 2023 term must complete the college's orientation.

We will announce a variety of opportunities to learn about Brightspace in the coming months. Keep an eye on your email.

  • Open the SUNY Empire Dashboard at brightspace.esc.edu.
  • Click on the "Discover" option on the Navigation Bar at the top of the Dashboard.
  • Select the "SUNY Empire Student Introduction to Brightspace" course on the Discover page, or click "View all" to see additional options.
  • Click the "Enroll in this course" button, a confirmation window will open when enrollment is complete.
  • Click the "Ok" button to close the enrollment confirmation.
  • Select the "Open Course" button to view the course.
  • Note: the course will now appear in your "My Courses" widget on your Brightspace Dashboard."

This is a question that should be directed to the instructor for your course. Each class has its own unique requirements; there is not one method required by SUNY Empire.

You still can find resources and information from the IT Service Desk and Knowledgebase.

No, there is a global SUNY ID that will allow you to log on once and access courses across institutions.

Yes, it is a requirement for all students and employees as of June 15, 2022, to have multifactor authentication to access Brightspace and other college-supported tools. 

Training Resources and Opportunities

All SUNY Empire students can self-enroll in an asynchronous training course on Brightspace to learn about the platform at their own pace. This training will take approximately 60 to 90 minutes to complete.

To enroll in the training course:

  • Open the SUNY Empire Dashboard at brightspace.esc.edu.
  • Click on the "Discover" option on the Navigation Bar at the top of the Dashboard.
  • Select the "SUNY Empire Student Introduction to Brightspace" course on the Discover page, or click "View all" to see additional options.
  • Click the "Enroll in this course" button, a confirmation window will open when enrollment is complete.
  • Click the "Ok" button to close the enrollment confirmation.
  • Select the "Open Course" button to view the course.
    • Note: the course will now appear in your "My Courses" widget on your Brightspace Dashboard. 

As part of the college's JumpStart series, the college's Educational Technologists will be providing training on the college's new LMS, Brightspace, for the Spring 2023 term. During the session, you'll learn how to access course resources, communicate with your peers and instructors, and submit work for your courses.

For more information about days/times, please go to Academic Support's JumpStart page.

Access to LinkedIn Learning is part of SUNY Empire’s commitment to advancing SUNY Empire students' personal and professional development.

LinkedIn Learning Benefits Include:

  • More than 16,000 expert-led, on-demand courses (in seven languages) across a variety of topics designed to help you gain new skills and advance your career
  • Personalized content that matches skill gaps and/or professional goals and interests
  • Principles and strategies that can help you learn about allyship and inclusivity, and how to communicate across differences

Various aspects of our technology tools and resources help our college community to get the most out of our Learning Management Systems and help to provide users with the necessary to tools to be successful throughout their time at SUNY Empire.


The SUNY Empire IT Service Desk is the first line of support for any technology related software and hardware issues.

Knowledgebase is a self-serve library that contains informational documentation and step by step articles that can be quickly accessed from any browser, so Brightspace help is always available.