SUNY Digital Learning Environment

Collaborative Successes of the SUNY DLE

As we begin a new academic year, we are reflecting on how far we have come collectively with the SUNY Digital Learning Environment implementation. All Cohort 1 campuses and six Cohort 2 campuses have moved from implementation to operational support. All campuses in Cohorts 3 and 4 are in production and continue to receive ongoing implementation support.

The DLE currently has 54 campus tenants in production with over 540,000 total user accounts. Over 200 unique tools have been vetted for the DLE. Work groups, consisting of Campus and System Admin staff, have collectively produced 7 DLE course templates, coordinated and delivered training workshops and developed resources, drafted a Data Governance policy, evaluated and integrated tools, and implemented technical solutions to integrate systems that interface with the DLE.

We continue to collaborate in support of the success of the DLE and look forward to celebrating additional milestones as we complete full integration of all cohorts.

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Celebrating Successes of the SUNY DLE

Cohort 1 campuses achieve milestones Over 240 representatives from 30 campuses that comprise Cohort 1 went through the Brightspace implementation tasks and activities. Cohort 1 campuses moved through a multi-month process involving academic and technical planning, training, testing, and piloting. The respective project teams from SUNY System Administration and D2L assisted with the initial schedule […]
Building Community around Change Leadership

The SUNY DLE Project Expands Access and Resources for its Change Leadership Community of Practice Change leadership provides a structured process for guiding teams through change so that leaders can focus their attention and energies on supporting and engaging team members in building a culture of resilience amidst change. After a launch this fall, the […]
The SUNY DLE team welcomes Cohort 4

Over 50 representatives from the 8 campuses that comprise Cohort 4 participated in a virtual kick-off meeting at the beginning of December. The respective project teams from SUNY System Administration and D2L were introduced, and an initial schedule of activities was shared as part of the implementation that will assist campuses to transition into SUNY’s […]
FACT2 Task Group explores potential of the DLE

A new FACT2 task group has been formed to explore possibilities for indexing and system-wide sharing of educational materials developed by SUNY faculty, instructional designers, and others. SUNY’s adoption of a multi-tenant version of Brightspace makes it possible to share educational materials developed by anyone within the SUNY system in a system-wide learning repository (LR) […]
SUNY DLE Data Strategy team developing governance framework for the DLE Data

The rollout of the Brightspace DLE as a single-instance multi-tenant environment provides both opportunities and challenges when it comes to data. We are implementing an intentional data strategy, putting best practices for data governance at the forefront. The SUNY Data Governance tasks force has outlined Guiding Principles for ensuring that Data is Available, Managed and acknowledged […]
SUNY DLE Change Leadership Community of Practice Launches

Much of our collective engagement in the DLE to date has focused on the technical implementation and the transition to a new LMS. However, there is a tremendous opportunity for campuses to also consider how best to leverage this transition to address and support other current priorities such as diversity, equity, and inclusion; EIT accessibility; […]
Cohort 3 Launches

Over 91 representatives from the 11 campuses that comprise Cohort 3 participated in a virtual kick-off meeting at the beginning of August. The respective project teams from SUNY System Administration and D2L were introduced, and an initial schedule of activities was shared as part of the implementation that will assist campuses to transition into SUNY’s […]
Cohort 2 Launches

Over 32 representatives from the 8 campuses that comprise Cohort 2 participated in a virtual kick-off meeting at the beginning of May. The respective project teams from SUNY System Administration and D2L were introduced, and an initial schedule of activities was shared as part of the implementation that will assist campuses to transition into SUNY’s […]
Campuses Named for Cohorts 2-4

Campuses Named for Cohorts 2-4 Campuses for the remaining Cohorts 2-4 have also been named. The second cohort will run from May 2022 to April 2023; the third from September 2022 through August of 2023; and the fourth from January 2023 to December 2023.
Cohort Selection Has Begun

Cohort Selection Has Begun We understand that a key question on everyone’s mind is timing—for training, for planning, for when the transition to SUNY’s new digital learning environment starts on your campus. It is the selection of your campus cohort that drives the timeline for your institution. Each cohort undergoes a three-phase process expected to […]
SUNY Selects D2L’s Brightspace as New Learning Management System

At the conclusion of a broad and consultative Request for Proposal process, SUNY selected Desire2Learn’s (D2L) Brightspace Learning Management System to serve as the hub of its Digital Learning Environment. The contract between SUNY and D2L has been approved by the Office of the New York State Attorney General and the Office of the New […]
Timeline

All are committed to an implementation in the best interest of campuses, faculty, staff, and students—a cohort approach with options for pilot before full campus implementation brings campuses online in the new system, in an order aligned to specific campus needs. View timeline
Why Brightspace?

D2L’s Brightspace received the highest composite score across all functional, technical, security, accessibility, pricing requirements based on a “Best Value” evaluation where cost was not the only consideration.
Meet the Planning Teams

Three teams/committees are being charged to help develop a comprehensive implementation, transition, and training program: