Tool selection process
自淫系列 licences and supports a number of third-party (or external) tools to provide teaching and learning features that are beneficial to users at the university. The selection and addition of a new tool is a diligent process as these tools often require access to sensitive content, including personally identifiable information, assessments, and grades.
If your department has procured and supports a tool that can connect to D2L Brightspace, the department can request its consideration for integration.
Centrally Supported Tools
Centrally supported tools are third party tools or systems that are available to the 自淫系列 community through procurement by the university. They may be used for teaching and learning, or have other features that are beneficial outside of learning environments. The costs associated with the use of these tools vary 鈥� they may be paid entirely by the university, by specific departments, or by the individual user.
Not all tools are directly supported by CCS. If you have questions about the implementation of a current tool, it is best to visit the tool page in our Toolbox, to confirm the tool's support information.
Requested additional tools (integrations with D2L Brightspace)
If your department has procured and supports a third party teaching tool that is designed to be used with D2L Brightspace, the department can request consideration for an integration with 自淫系列鈥檚 D2L Brightspace. The tools that are available as a result of these requests are not directly supported by the DMP team, but have been vetted based on the university鈥檚 standards. Note that this request and assessment process is the responsibility of the requester - the DMP team can provide some guidance but cannot complete this process for you.
Using tools that are not supported or integrated
Departments may consider using other teaching tools that better meet their course or program learning outcomes. Before you may begin using an unsupported tool, however, you are required to conduct assessments that evaluate privacy, security and accessibility. Contract or terms of use language will need to be reviewed by 自淫系列's legal counsel. As the DMP team has gone through these processes when procuring the tools we support, we have compiled a guide to Considerations for self-selecting external tools.
For any questions about these methods, please email courses@torontomu.ca.
The Digital Media Projects Office (DMP) facilitates the procurement of centrally supported digital teaching tools, and provides ongoing operational support to the tools selected as a result. We are unable to facilitate the procurement process of tools for other parties at the university, and cannot provide support to tools brought in by others.
As 自淫系列 is a publicly-funded institution, all procurement activity for digital teaching tools provided by the university must meet standards set in the Purchasing Policy. This requires the tools provided to be selected in a fair, transparent, and efficient manner based on:
- Desired tool functionality
- Value for money
- Accessibility, Privacy, and Security standards
- Using 自淫系列鈥檚 purchasing power to create social, sustainable, and economic value in diverse communities
Short 鈥減ilot鈥� projects to test tools are possible, but still require formal evaluations for suitability. For tools that exceed the procurement value threshold for the Competitive Bid Process, a Request for Proposal (RFP) is initiated, which allows vendors to view the details of a desired tool, and respond with a proposal for 自淫系列鈥檚 purchase and implementation of their product.
Community input is beneficial when determining the desired tool functionality, and if the possible options align with the best interests of our learning community. As part of the Competitive Bid Process, would-be users of the tool (instructors, students, and/or administrators, where appropriate) are consulted when determining requirements, and are included in the scoring and selection of options.
Evaluating new tools
If a tool is centrally supported, it has been formally evaluated by various specialized parties across the university for suitability. This includes the completion of required assessments to ensure that the tool provides the desired features while meeting university policy and provincial standards of information security, accessibility, and user privacy.
If it passes the assessments, the tool may exist as a standalone, or be integrated (or connected to) an existing 自淫系列 system, and supported by a relevant department at the university. The same assessments are required for tools that departments have requested to be connected into existing 自淫系列 systems (like D2L Brightspace), as they can access and make use of 自淫系列 data.
If a tool does not pass any of 自淫系列鈥檚 assessments, it cannot be centrally supported or connected to an existing 自淫系列 system.
Privacy Impact Assessments (PIA) assess and evaluate the tool鈥檚 functionality from a lens of user privacy, as well as the practices of the company that provides the tool.
This assessment evaluates if the user data (student, instructor, staff, etc.) available to the external company is appropriate, and if what they can access is handled in a manner that both respects the individual and aligns with provincial regulations.
Digital security experts at 自淫系列 complete Security Assessments to evaluate the security standards of the tool鈥檚 functionality, as well as the practices of the company that provides the tool.
This assessment considers the entire process of the tool鈥檚 use, identifying and evaluating possible sources of security risk. This includes the external company鈥檚 access to 自淫系列鈥檚 systems, as well as methods of transmission, storage, and handling of data. It also assesses risks associated with the user鈥檚 use of the tool.
Accessibility Assessments are completed by Web Accessibility Specialists at 自淫系列. They test tools to ensure that they do not present barriers to use, creating equal access to the tool for people with disabilities.
自淫系列's legal counsel should be engaged to review any contracts or terms of service provided by the vendor to ensure they align with 自淫系列 policy and Ontario law.
Instructional Technology Specialists at 自淫系列 evaluate the features of digital learning tools, to ensure that they are compatible with the standards, expectations, and use cases that benefit our instructors and learners.
Requesting a new tool in D2L Brightspace
Some tools are 鈥渋ntegrated鈥� with D2L Brightspace. This means that the tool can be launched from within your course shell, and make use of information in the course (such as the classlist) to provide users in the course with access to a tool. These tools add functionality that D2L Brightspace may not offer directly.
Tools that are centrally supported may include features that are integrated directly into D2L Brightspace. However, if an instructor or staff member would like to use an external tool that is not supported or already integrated, they can initiate a request to integrate the tool into 自淫系列鈥檚 instance of D2L Brightspace.
Note: These requests do not initiate a procurement process, and will not result in university-wide licenses for tools. The individual department or instructor using the tool is also responsible for determining how learners access the features within the requested tool.
Gather Information
- Confirm that the tool is not currently part of the 自淫系列 Toolbox
- Make short notes about the tool and how it may benefit your course
- Identify a point of contact for the vendor of the tool (either an individual at the company, or generic email address)
Note: This request will begin a multi-step process to evaluate the tool for integration, which will take at least six months to complete. Requesters must be prepared to complete this work with various teams at the university, as they will be the lead in this process.Please review the approximate timeline below for more details.
The process to implement a new tool can take between six months and a year to complete, including the request process, assessments, functional testing, and integration with D2L Brightspace.
Please see the stages of the request process outlined below. The stages occur in sequence, as each builds upon the previous stage.
Integration Testing (2-4 weeks minimum)
After the request is submitted, the Digital Media Projects (DMP) team, in collaboration with the requester and the vendor, will conduct a number of functionality tests on the tool and its Brightspace integration.These initial tests are to identify what it does, how it works, and if is compatible with 自淫系列鈥檚 instance of Brightspace. This process can only begin if the application and integration have been fully developed by the vendor. We cannot begin testing an incomplete integration.
Required Assessments (3 months minimum)
The required assessments for all tools used at the university include Security, Privacy, Accessibility, and Legal. Based on their recommendations, an agreement may be formed.
If a tool does not meet the requirements, it cannot move ahead in the request. If the vendor makes changes to their tool based recommendations provided in the assessments, the tool can be re-assessed. However, this process often extends the tool request timeline further, based on the speed of the vendor鈥檚 changes.
Integration Evaluation (2-4 weeks minimum)
Functionality testing, privacy and security are clarified with the third-party vendor. Based on testing and evaluation outcomes the tool may be approved for integration with D2L Brightspace.
Integration is applied to D2L (2-4 weeks minimum)
If approved, the integration will be applied to D2L Brightspace by the DMP and the vendor. University users will be notified that the tool is available and will be provided with documentation and support details.
For any questions please email courses@torontomu.ca.
If the timeline does not align with your planned use
If an integration is not feasible on your timeline, you may consider using the tool without a Brightspace integration. Before doing so, please visit the guide for using third-party tools for your course.
If you would like to request the addition of an external learning tool into 自淫系列鈥檚 D2L Brightspace, please submit a request.