September Newsletter

We're faculty focused so you can be student centered.

D2L Lumi Pro, Feedback, Tutor: Available Now!

In addition to Lumi Chat (located in the bottom right corner of D2L), which can be used to answer "how do I use Brightspace questions," we now have three additional Lumi tools available in D2L: 

• Lumi Pro: can be used by faculty for content creation/transformation
• Lumi Feedback: can be used by faculty to streamline grading 
• Lumi Tutor: can be used by students to review course material and reinforce key concepts from the course (can also be accessed by faculty from the nav bar in a given course)

Join a Lumi workshop or review the D2L Lumi AI Tools webpage to learn more. 

Newsletter Archive

This monthly email newsletter is our best avenue for sharing important updates, resources, and timely reminders with all TCU faculty. You can now review previous newsletters in our newsletter archive on our website! Thank you to the professor who made this request. 

Events & Workshops

Lumi AI: Create, Study, & Grade with Efficiency: Join us for a high-level overview of Lumi Chat (used by faculty & students for general “how to” questions), Pro (used by faculty for content/activity creation), Tutor (used by students for study purposes), and Feedback (used by faculty to streamline grading). We’ll outline instructions on how to use these tools and discuss examples.

Setting up Your D2L Gradebook: Join us as we cover topics like setting up your grading systems, creating your gradebook, and avoiding common pitfalls. Please bring your device to log into your D2L course, or if needed you can request a faculty sandbox or course development shell in which you can build and experiment. 

Rethinking the Lecture: From Content Coverage to Meaningful Learning: Covering content is not the same as creating learning. In this workshop, you will explore how to redesign lectures to improve student engagement, retention, and success

Feedback as a Conversation: Helping Students Give, Receive, and Use Feedback: Feedback has the potential to deepen learning, but only if students know how to interpret, discuss, and apply it. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore feedback as an ongoing learning process rather than a one-time event. Together, we'll examine practical strategies for giving feedback that supports growth, helping students engage productively with feedback, and creating classroom cultures where feedback becomes a shared part of learning.

Kickstart Engagement: Active Learning at the Start of the Semester: The first few weeks set the tone, but it's easy to fall into lecture-heavy routines. Discover three impact-strategies to build community, spark curiosity and foster ownership.

30 Minutes to Save You Time in D2L: A lot goes into building and managing course shells in D2L. Come to this session to learn about  bulk change features and some other hidden gems in D2L that will save you time and clicks.

Multiple sessions are offered throughout the fall.

From Presence to Participation: Using Video Note and YuJa Lumina to Increase Student Engagement: Students are more likely to engage with a course when they feel connected to their instructor and have meaningful ways to interact with course content. In this hands-on workshop, discover how Brightspace Video Note and YuJa Lumina can help you create a more engaging, accessible, and student-centered learning experience. Learn how to use Video Note to personalize your course with welcome messages, assignment explanations, feedback, and just-in-time instructional support. Then explore how YuJa Lumina Video empowers instructors and students to create video quizzes and submit video assignments to D2L Brightspace. 

Foundations in Teaching Short Course #1: Designing for Learning: Today's faculty are balancing more than ever: engaging students, designing meaningful assessments, responding to generative AI, and applying new insights from the science of learning. Foundations in Teaching (FiT) provides practical, evidence-based strategies to help you meet these challenges without overhauling your courses. Through small, high-impact teaching practices, you'll discover ways to create more engaging, transparent, and effective learning experiences across disciplines.

Fall 2026 Foundations in Teaching (Fi), 4-part Workshop Series: designed for faculty and instructors at every career stage who want to strengthen their teaching in today's rapidly changing higher education landscape. As teaching continues to evolve—with advances in learning science, generative AI, changing student expectations, and new approaches to assessment and engagement—FiT provides practical, research-informed strategies that can be applied across disciplines. Rooted in James Lang's Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (2nd ed.), the series focuses on small, high-impact changes that enhance student learning while making teaching more effective and sustainable.

Adjunct Teaching & Learning Series 1: The adjunct faculty two-part series will equip you with essential tools and strategies for teaching and learning success. Starting strong can be challenging without clear guidance. This hands-on first session focuses on intentional course design, active learning strategies, and inclusive teaching practices that foster meaningful student engagement from day one.

AI Tinker Time: Hands-On Experiments for Teaching and Learning: Teaching & Prep and/or Assessments: AI Tinker Time is a twice-a-semester brown-bag lunch series that is all about creating. Each session provides a flexible structure and guided AI prompts that give you space to try out practical prompts and tools connected to different aspects of teaching and learning—course prep, assignments, assessment, writing, research, and more. Each session offers guided experimentation around a new focus area. Whether you come with a clear plan or just an idea, you'll leave with at least one practial, adaptable strategy you can apply immediately in your classes. 

From Static to Interactive: Transform Your Brightspace Content with Creator+ and H5P: Are your students simply scrolling through course content or actively engaging with it? Join us to begin creating interactive learning experiences. Explore how Creator+ and H5P can bring course materials to life through engaging content layouts, interactive activities, knowledge checks, and opportunities for immediate feedback. This is not a sit-and-watch workshop; you will build, experiment, and create! Bring an existing course page, document, presentation, or learning activity and leave with a prototype you can use or continue developing in your course. 

Teaching with Presence: Practical Communication Skills for the Classroom: Whether you're new to teaching or simply looking to feel more comfortable in front of a room, your communication style shapes how students experience learning. In this interactive workshop, we'll explore practical strategies for developing a stronger classroom presence through voice, movement, nonverbal communication, and instructor immediacy. Participants will have opportunities to practice new techniques, reflect on their own communication habits, and learn from one another in a supportive environment. You'll leave with practical ideas you can begin using in your next class to communicate with greater confidence and connect more intentionally with your students.

Guest Speakers Reimagined: Turning Lectures into Active Learning Labs: This workshop shows you how to transform guest lectures into interactive learning experiences. Learn how to prepare speakers, design engagement activities, and follow up with reflective exercises that make the visit meaningful and memorable.

Put Away the Phone: Reclaiming Student Attention in the Classroom: Student distraction and mobile device dependency continue to challenge classroom engagement across higher education. This interactive workshop explores practical, research-informed strategies faculty can use to help students disengage from their phones and re-engage with learning. Participants will explore realistic approaches for creating more focused, connected, and participatory learning environments without relying solely on punitive policies.

Welcome & Congrats to...

Dr. Adria Battaglia, the KC's new Teaching and Learning Consultant. She earned a B.A. and M.A. from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Language from The University of Texas at Austin, and brings more than two decades of experience in higher education and the nonprofit sector.

Adria is passionate about partnering with faculty to create engaging, inclusive learning experiences that support student success and well-being. Her professional interests include the pedagogy of well-being, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and fostering curiosity, belonging, and human connection in teaching and learning.

Outside of work, Adria enjoys spending time outdoors, whether kayaking or tending her garden, as well as spending time with her spouse, Timothy, and their dogs. She finds joy in helping people and ideas grow and is excited to become part of the TCU community, where she looks forward to connecting with faculty and colleagues across campus.

Angela Gruver, the KC's new Instructional Designer & Technologist. While you have likely already interacted with Angie, we are excited she is expanding her services to instructional design. 

In her new position, Angie will provide support for course design, instructional technology, and the development of engaging learning experiences. Call upon her for course template questions, H5P and Creator+ support, or any of your other D2L needs! With more 17 years of teaching experience, her technical knowledge, collaborative approach, and commitment to student success make her a valuable resource.

Accessibility Minute: Better Links

Did you know? Screen reader users often navigate a webpage or document by listening to a list of links. When multiple links are labeled "Click here," "Read more," or "Learn more," those links provide little context about where they'll take the reader. Likewise, when a raw web address is used as the link text, a text-to-speech synthesizer may read every character aloud: "Link: h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-w-w-w-dot..." one character at a time. Descriptive hyperlinks make materials easier for everyone to navigate while providing important context for students using assistive technology.

Accessibility Teaching Tip: Write descriptive hyperlinks.

Try It This Week: Open one course document, syllabus, or D2L page and look for generic link text such as "Click here," "Read more," or "More information." Replace one of those links with text that clearly describes its destination, such as "Review the Midterm Study Guide" or "Read the Course Attendance Policy." Descriptive hyperlinks help students quickly understand where a link will take them while providing important context for students using screen readers.

D2L Updates

To learn more or view an example of the following updates, Zoom with us!

Brightspace Guided Training for Instructors

Looking to get more comfortable with Brightspace? You will now see a moose (D2L's mascot) and the link to this resource course when you're on your D2L homepage. Our guided training provides you with step-by-step support to build essential skills, explore key features, and create engaging, effective courses. Whether you’re new to Brightspace or looking for a refresher, this course is a great way to strengthen your Brightspace toolkit.

D2L Tutorial for Students

Do you have students who are new to D2L? Do you want them to test their devices before offering a test through Respondus Lockdown Browser? All students are automatically enrolled in a course called D2L Tutorial for Students, a "how to" course for students designed by the KC that covers all student-facing LMS tools. 

Quiz Improvements: Bookmarking, Strikethoughs

The D2L quiz tool now has question annotation options. Students can bookmark quiz questions to revisit later and strikethrough options to help narrow their choices. 

Students can select the bookmark icon beside a quiz question to flag it for review. Flagged questions appear in the left navigation (shown in the image below), allowing students to return to them. 

Students can also select the strikethrough icon beside answer options to eliminate choices they believe are incorrect. Instructors can disable these tools for students by selecting "Hide question annotation tools" in the Timing & Display section of the quiz edit page. 

H5P Interactives: Hotspot Numbering & Custom Images

Numbering and custom images are now available in hotspot interactives as shown below. Want to learn about more interactive element options to make your course more engaging? See this H5P YouTube playlist to learn more!

Note: Navigation menus and toolbar layouts may look slightly different in D2L videos or Brightspace Community resources, but the core functionality remains the same.

For questions, or if you are interested in an event but have a scheduling conflict, please email KoehlerCenter@tcu.edu.We want to work with you!