Change can be hard no matter who you are. With the changes of going back to completely in-person school and switching from Google Classroom to Brightspace, there are a lot of changes happening at SPHS.

Even though Google Classroom had some issues, we had eighteen months to get used to it and at the start of this school year the AACPS system switched over to Brightspace. Mr. Kandra said that he’s ¨not sure if it was a good decision to switch after a year and a half of really not being in school, only to come back to something completely new.¨ Mr. Bernstein said that “ no matter when we did the switch there would be people that would be unhappy about it.” In general, there have been a few teachers who like the new system but it seems like the majority of teachers aren’t fans of Brightspace. 

Mr. Bernstein is one of the teachers who prefer Brightspace over the old google classroom system. When AACPS was using Google Classroom a lot of the engineering classes including Bernstein’s were using Canvas. Canvas is an LMS (learning management system) that is similar to Brightspace. 

The school system has offered training to the teachers on how to use it, but the students were pretty much left in the dark when it came to the new system. The frustration that some of the teachers are feeling can be passed on to the students. 

There are many differences between Brightspace and Google Classroom. The biggest difference between them is that “Brightspace is a true LMS” Mr. Bernstein said. When adding assignments and posts there are more input spots, this can make it more complicated, but it also allows more detail to be put in the posts. Another difference comes from the fact that google classroom was directly linked to the google drive systems and with Brightspace the account has to be linked. This means that after something is uploaded to Brightspace it doesn’t sync any changes made to the file afterward.

There is no collective to-do list in Brightspace, Mr. Bernstein says that this “teaches students to not rely on the technology to tell them what to do.” 

With all of the differences, it will be an adjustment for everyone, but hopefully it continues to get easier to work with.