Brightspace 911
This page is for faculty who are very sudden newcomers to our Learning Management System, Brightspace. You'll learn how to access your course in Brightspace, activate it so students can see it, and post content on the front page of your course that will automatically be emailed to your students. You can do this in as little at 10 minutes!
Everything on this page is demonstrated in the video above.
TIP: Enlarging the Screenshots on this Page
Hover your mouse over the screenshot.
Click the gray button that appears in the upper-right corner of the screenshot. It will look like the one shown to the right.
1. Getting to Brightspace
Use the following link to Go to USM's Brightspace Site.
Alternatively, there is also a button (shown to the right) on the Launchpad of the MyUSM Portal.
In either case, use your maine.edu username and password to log in.
The Brightspace button on the MyUSM Portal.
2. Find Your Course in the "My Courses" Widget
This widget displays a Tile for each of your courses. Click a course’s tile to enter that course.
The Filter Tabs allow you to filter the tiles shown by semester and other categories
Each course you can access has a Course Tile.
Courses with an Inactive label are not visible to students.
3. Activate Your Course So Students Can See It
Posting Announcements will not work if you skip the following steps!
All courses start Inactive until you set them to Active status. Inactive courses have a blue and white “Inactive” label on their tile in the My Courses widget (see previous section). Students cannot see Inactive courses.
To make your course Active:
Find the My Courses widget on the USM landing page in Brightspace.
Hover over the tile for your course, and click the ellipsis button (three periods).
In the menu that appears, select Course Offering Information.
A page with options for your course will appear. Scroll down and click on the empty checkbox labeled, Course is active.
Click the blue Save button at the bottom of the screen.
Optional: You can also get to the Course Offering Information page from the Course Admin link on your course’s Navbar.
4. Post an Announcement in Your Course
Announcements are displayed on your course's landing page and are emailed to the students enrolled in your course. Your course must be set to "Active" status or students will not see your course or receive the announcement as an email! See the section on making your course active above.
Click on your course's tile in the My Courses widget on the USM Brightspace landing page.
Click the Create an Announcement link. The New Announcement page will appear.
The Create an Announcement link is only shown when there are no announcements to display. See our full instructions on the Announcements Tool to learn how to create more.
Enter a subject/title for your announcement in the field labeled Headline.
Enter the text of your announcement in the text box labeled Content. See the Brightspace Editor section of the CTEL Brightspace Guide for descriptions of the editor's buttons.
Scroll down the page and click the Add a File button to attach your syllabus to the announcement. The resulting link in the announcement will work in both the Brightspace and email version of the announcement.
Click the Publish button to save the announcement, post it in your course, and send a copy of it to your students' maine.edu email account.
On your course landing page, click the Create an Announcement link.
Give your announcement a Headline and add some Content.
Attach your Syllabus and other documents with the Add a File button and click the Publish button to post the announcement in your course and send it to students' maine.edu email account.
Want More?
Now that you have posted your first announcement, there are other things you can do to enhance your course using Brightspace, such as:
Our Stay The Course page contains valuable pandemic teaching information and advice.
Our Brightspace QuickStart lists the next steps you should take if you intend to use Brightspace to enhance your course.
Post your syllabus on your course's dedicated Syllabus page.
Create modules (folders, basically) for organizing course content and links.
Add material for your students to read or watch in the Content Tool.
Create a space for students to submit assignments online using the Assignments tool. You can even grade and provide feedback on student work.
Set up an online, text-based discussion using the Discussions tool. Discussions can be graded as well!
As always, CTEL's Learning Designers are here to help if you need guidance on teaching remotely!