Brightspace Crosswalk: How Your Tools Migrate and What to Expect

Brightspace Crosswalk for Educators

As we move to Brightspace at Okanagan College, the crosswalk offers a helpful guide to understand how Moodle content and functionality carry over and where adjustments may be needed.

It’s intended to support a smooth transition and highlight opportunities to refine your course design.

For support questions get in touch with EdTech at edtech@okanagan.bc.ca or visit the LMS Revitalisation Project page. On the website you will find more resources, workshop schedule, FAQs and guidance to support your transition to Brightspace.

Migration Details

Moodle Component Brightspace Equivalent Notes
Activity Completion No equivalent Release logic and activity completion must be manually rebuilt in Brightspace, as completion tracking works differently and cannot be carried over directly.
Announcements Announcements Announcements do not transfer over. In Brightspace, Announcements are used to share updates, reminders, and important course information with students. The announcement feature is located on the course homepage.
ARC GIS ARC GIS ARC GIS files do not transfer over. They will need to be manually added and re-uploaded.
Assignments Assignments Assignments transfer to Brightspace with their descriptions and due dates, but settings should be reviewed to ensure everything is configured correctly. Rubrics may transfer, but should be checked for accuracy. Marking guides do not migrate and will need to be rebuilt as rubrics within Brightspace.
Attendance Attendance Tool Attendance activities are present and will need to be recreated in Brightspace.
Books No equivalent In Brightspace, books are converted into a single HTML page that resembles the printed version. Chapter order may differ from Moodle, and chapter-to-chapter navigation is not supported, so a table of contents must be rebuilt manually.
Calendar Calendar Assignment and quiz dates migrate and import into Brightspace, but should be reviewed to ensure accuracy.
Chat Activity Instant Messages Instant Messages in Brightspace enable real-time, user-to-user messaging within the system.
Checklist Checklist Tool Checklists are present and will need to be recreated in Brightspace.
Choice Tool No equivalent No equivalent feature in Brightspace.
Content Content / Upload Files A visual review of the course is important after migration, and educators should also go to Course Admin > Manage Files to check migrated files directly. Table of contents navigation must be rebuilt manually using HTML anchors. Non-HTML documents may be converted for display, though uploading PDFs directly is recommended for best performance.
Course Format No equivalent Course formats do not exist in Brightspace; course home pages are built using templates, widgets, and pages.
Dashboard Brightspace Home Page The Brightspace equivalent of the dashboard includes Course Search, pinned courses, and the My Home page, where you can view and filter your courses by category.
External Tool (LTI) External Learning Tools (LTI)

Will need to be re-linked:

  • Access Pearson
  • Aktiv (Top Hat)
  • Cengage
  • Electude
  • HLS (Harris Learning)
  • Kaltura
  • Macmillan Learning
  • McGraw Hill
  • Media Collection
  • MyOkanaganMath
  • Stukent
  • Turnitin
  • WileyPlus
  • Wiris Quizzes
  • Zoom
Files Pages / Content Brightspace supports a range of file types that can be viewed inline. Table of contents navigation must be rebuilt manually using HTML anchors. Non-HTML documents may be converted for display, though uploading PDFs directly is recommended for best performance.
Feedback Tool No direct equivalent The Moodle Feedback tool does not have a single exact equivalent in Brightspace. Instead, similar functionality is split between the Surveys tool for structured feedback and the Course Content Feedback tool for evaluating specific resources.
Forums Discussions Forums migrate into Brightspace but may create redundancies. Gradebook associations do not transfer and must be re-linked, formatting may require adjustment, and forum structure hierarchy should be reviewed.
Gradebook Grades Basic gradebook items transfer to Brightspace Grades, but all items and categories should be reviewed to ensure settings are correct.
Group Assignments Groups Group assignments are present and groups will need to be set up in Brightspace.
Group Self-Selection Groups Use the Brightspace Groups tool and set up self-enrolment to recreate this functionality.
H5P H5P H5P content will need to be manually uploaded by educators. Any gradebook connections do not transfer and will need to be recreated to ensure proper grade synchronization.
Kaltura Classroom Kaltura Kaltura integration will be available in Brightspace and may appear differently. Review any Kaltura Classroom links or embedded media after migration.
Kaltura Media Gallery Kaltura Media Gallery Some videos may need to be relinked, so please review your course content. All videos remain in place on Kaltura’s server.
Labels No equivalent Labels transfer as separate HTML pages in Brightspace and appear as standalone content items. There is no direct equivalent, so they should be reviewed, revised, or removed—especially if used for visual or aesthetic purposes.
Lessons Content Modules Lessons transfer as individual pages within a Brightspace submodule, but videos do not carry over and must be reinserted. Advanced features like conditional branching are not supported, so lessons will need to be reviewed and often rebuilt or reworked.
Links/URL Content Links External links generally transfer successfully, but some may break and require updating. Review link settings and destinations, and edit URLs as needed to ensure they work correctly in Brightspace.
Pages Pages / Content Pages Pages transfer to Brightspace as files and generally migrate successfully, but formatting may need adjustment. Topic headings in Moodle may appear as separate pages and may need to be reformatted or deleted. Embedded scripts or iframe content may be removed during migration.
Poodl No equivalent Poodl is a Moodle feature and does not have a direct Brightspace equivalent.
Question Bank Question Library Question banks become the Question Library where you can organize, create, and manage questions for use in quizzes.
Quickmail Mail Mail in Brightspace allows users to send messages to recipients’ external email addresses from within the system, with replies received in their regular email inbox. Intelligent Agents may also be useful for automated course communication.
Quizzes Quizzes Quizzes should be reviewed carefully after migration. Some question types do not migrate, including All or Nothing and Drag and Drop onto an Image question types.
Respondus LockDown Browser Respondus LockDown Browser Respondus LockDown Browser does not transfer and must be set up again for each quiz in Brightspace. Once enabled, the interface and student experience remain the same. Go to Course Admin > Quizzes > LockDown Browser to set this up.
Rubrics Rubrics Rubrics partially transfer but should be reviewed. Some values may need adjustment, and feedback text may not fully carry over.
Scheduler Attendance Register Use the Attendance Register in Brightspace to track and manage student attendance.
Survey Surveys Surveys are present and will need to be recreated in Brightspace.
User Overrides (Quizzes, Assignments) Special Access Special Access replaces user overrides. It allows you to make a quiz available to specific learners or groups, and to set individualized due dates and timing settings.
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