Getting Started
This chapter will cover the basic things you need to know to get to use this guide and Brightspace.
Embedded Files
Getting to Brightspace
Getting to Brightspace
You can get to Brightspace with the following URL: https://courses.maine.edu/d2l/home/6667
There is also a button on the Launchpad of the MyUSM Portal (https://my.usm.maine.edu) which is depicted to the right.
In either case, use your maine.edu username and password to log in.
The Brightspace button on the MyUSM Portal.
Finding Your Courses
Finding Your Courses
Depending on how you got to Brightspace, you will see either the University of Maine System landing page, or the University of Southern Maine landing page. In either case, there are two ways to find your courses.
- The My Courses Widget
This widget displays a Course Tile for each of your courses. Click a course’s tile to enter that course.
The Tabs under My Courses 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 on the Course Tile are not visible to students. See the Activating Your Course section for instructions to make your course visible to students.
2. The “Waffle” Button
2. The “Waffle” Button
The other way to get to courses you have access to is the Waffle button. The advantage to the Waffle button is that it is located at the top of every page in Brightspace, and thus can be accessed at any time. Clicking it makes a listing of all the courses you can access appear. Pinned courses are listed at the top of the list. If you have access to a lot of courses, you can filter the ones listed using the search field.
Pinning Courses
Pinning Courses
Once you've found a course you are looking for, you may want to Pin it to your My Courses list and the Waffle button menu so that it shows up at the top of these lists. Pinning is useful if you have access to a large number of courses, you can pin the ones you use most. Pinned courses will always appear first on both the My Courses widget and under the Waffle button. There are two ways to pin courses.
To pin a course, hover the mouse over the course’s tile in the My Courses widget and click the ellipsis button (three periods).
In the menu that appears, select Pin.
- The My Courses Widget
To pin a course, hover the mouse over the course’s tile in the My Courses widget and click the ellipsis button (three periods).
In the menu that appears, select Pin.
2. The “Waffle” Button
2. The “Waffle” Button
The other way to get to courses you have access to is the Waffle button. All you need to do is click the pin icon on the far right of the course listing in the list.
Updated July 25, 2023
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