Brightspace: Building a Course

The majority of what is built in Brightspace will live on the Content area, which includes links to articles, PDFs, assignments, VoiceThreads, Turnitin links, etc.

Brightspace Building Topics Covered

Course Contents

Modules

Building Best Practices

Course Contents

To start building, click on the Content link in the course navigation.
The Overview page can have a description, files, etc. This is meant to be used as an overview of the course.
Next are Bookmarks. Bookmarks are topics that are flagged by an individual.
Next is Course Schedule, which shows course dates. This includes assignment due dates as well as date availability on non-graded items
Next is Table of Contents, which is made up of module and submodule pages that live underneath it. Some common ways to organize module pages include:
1. - Weekly Structure: if the course aligns with the weeks of the semester then use the week approach to build out the modules. Within each weekly module, add readings, content, etc. to that week's module.
  - Unit Structure: if the course uses units that might take up multiple weeks then use the unit approach to build modules for each unit. From there, build submodules for the different weeks or topics for each unit.

Modules

Brightspace uses modules as the structure for the actual content of the course. It is best practice to not add a submodule inside of another submodule as that structure can get confusing.

Creating Modules

Screenshot of Brightspace Content page. To the left is the content navigation. At the bottom is a thin rectangular box with text inside that says Add a module. There is a pink box around the thin box. To the right is the content area. At the bottom of the page, there is a thin rectangular box with text inside that says Add a module. There is a pink box around the thin box.

1. Below Table of Contents, there are two areas in which a module can be built. Click on the Add a module option, type the name of the first module, and hit enter on the keyboard
2. After it is added, a new window for the module will appear. From here, there are three options:
  - Upload/Create: the majority of the content building is done here. Create assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc. To create a place to add written content (i.e. instructions, to upload PDFs, etc.), use the Create a File option.
  - Existing Activities: links to existing activities built elsewhere in the course.
  - Bulk Edit: this option allows for editing of all content on the page at once.

Does the course content span multiple weeks?

Utilize one of the above strategies and create separate module/s for any additional content. For instance, make a Course Resources module that has links to resources that are accessed throughout the semester.

Setting Dates on Modules

Screenshot of a module page. At the top is larger, bolded text that says Week 2. There is a gray square to the right of the text with an arrow pointing down. Below that there is a line of text that says Add dates and restrictions. Below that, there is another line of text that says Add a description.

After creating a module, there's an option to set dates on it:

Start date: the date in which students can click on content in a module, prior to the start date students can see the module and the contents inside but can't click into anything
Due date: the date it is due, this is more of a guideline for students than a hard deadline
End date: the date that the module is over and students no longer have access

Release conditions set who has access based on certain criteria. Dates and release conditions work independently of one another.

To add dates and restrictions on a module, start by going to the module page
1. Click on the Add dates and restrictions text under the module name
2. Add a start date, a due date, and/or an end date

Building Best Practices

The following items are a few best practices tips, tricks, and tools to use while building in Brightspace.

Using Templates

Screenshot of the Create a file page in Brightspace. In the top left there is bolded and large header text that reads Create a File in Week One. Below that, there is a thin, horizontal rectangular box that has gray text in it that says Enter a Title. To the right of that is a gray dropdown box with text inside that says Select a Document Template. There is a pink box around the gray dropdown box and text above it that says Change the template. Below all of this to the left is a check box that is unchecked with text to the right that says Hide from Users. Below that, there are two rows of formatting options. There is a pink box around an icon that has four symbols. The symbols are a play button, a pause button, an outlined circle, and a solid circle.

Templates are pre-formatted designs in Brightspace to make content more visually appealing and interesting.

To access templates, go to Content in the course navigation
Click on a pre-existing module or create a new module (see above)
Click Upload/Create and then Create a File
Enter a Title (this will be the name that shows up in the module)
Click on Select a Document Template and click on a template
Notice that the box below updates with the template
Update the template with your content
1. Change the image by clicking on the image in the template, clicking on Insert Stuff, selecting My Computer (to upload from the computer), select the file. Images should generally be about 1200 pixels wide
2. Note: when copying/pasting, it is common to see odd formatting if copying from Word or Docs. To avoid that, use Ctrl+Shift+V (on a PC) or Cmd+Shift+V (on a Mac) when pasting in content

Repurposing Existing Content in A Course

Often times instructors find that they want to copy content in one course and use it somewhere else in a different module. The two options below will walk through how to do that.

Linking To Other Pieces of Content Inside A Course

Use a Quicklink in one content file to reference another content file in your course. This will create a link in one page that leads back to the original page. To do this:

Create a new file in the module where the link should live
Choose the link icon in the HTML editor
Choose Content
Navigate to the piece of content to add
Click on the piece of content to add the link to it in the file
Click Save and Close

Using Content From Another Place Inside A Course

Have the full HTML page show up in more than one spot in a single course. To do this:

Go to the module where you want a content file to show up for a second time in the course (again, first one already must exist in another spot)
Choose Upload/Create
Choose Add from Manage Files
Locate the HTML file of the original page in the course. They won’t be structured in the module organization of the course, so you will need to search for the page by title.
Select it and click Add

Visual Table of Contents

Screenshot of Brightspace homepage, specifically the Table of Contents area. There is text up in the top left that is bolded and says Table of Contents. There are two vertical rectangles side by side. The first rectangle has a picture of a stop light with a blue background in it. Below that in the rectangle, there is text that says Start Here. Below that in the rectangle is a thin gray line and text below that says zero percent, zero of three topics completed. The second rectangle has a photo of a desk with computers on it. Below that in the rectangle is text that says Technology Requirements. Below that in the rectangle is a thin bar that is partially blue and partially gray. The text below it reads thirty three percent, three of nine topics completed.

The Visual Table of Contents allows students to see the course modules in a visual way. Module images come from the description of the module. To set up the images:

Go to Content in the course navigation
Go to the module page and click on the description (just below the module name)
Click on the image icon in the editor bar
Click on My Computer to upload an image
Click Add and add alternative text to describe the image
Click the uploaded image and then click on the image icon
Set the width to be 800. The height should auto-apply.
Click Save, then click Update
Check the image by going to the course homepage.

Screenshot of the Brightspace editor view. There are three rows of formatting options. The first two rows span the entire width of the screenshot. The last row is cented in the middle and has only nine options. There is a pink square around one of the icons. The icon is a landscape.

Welcome Students

Create a message and/or video to welcome students to the course

In many instances, a Brightspace course might be the first thing students see or experience about your course. Use one or more of these strategies to make them feel welcome

Create a short video to welcome students and orient them to the layout of the course. While some elements in a Brightspace course will stay the same course to course, some elements are different. Show students where they can find the important pieces of the course
Utilize announcements or the activity feed to post an update welcoming students once the course is open
Use the Overview page (above the Table of Content on the Content page) to post a course overview and other information students might find helpful

Screenshot of the Video Note recording window.

Changing The Course Homepage

While every Brightspace course has the same course homepage, instructors can customize their own course homepage. The items that appear on the course homepage are widgets. To change out widgets:

Go to the course
Click on Course Admin in the red course navigation
Click on Homepages
Click the carrot to the right of the Default Fisher Course Homepage and click Copy
Click on the copy
Change name to the course ID (i.e. CHEM100-01-2022-01)
Scroll down to the Widgets section and hover on the widget you want to remove until you see an "x" icon in the top right of the widget box
Click the "x" to remove the widget
To add a widget: Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Add Widgets
To move a widget: hover on a widget and then drag it
Go to the Active Homepage option at the top of the page and click to select the new homepage. Then, click Apply.

Creating External Links

Brightspace will try to load external links (meaning any link that's not pointing to something in Brightspace) in the frame of the current window. Often times, this results in an error as the linked site isn't meant to be loaded that way. To avoid that, we recommend using the option to Open in a New Window when creating a new link.

To create a new link:

Go to a text editor (i.e. Create a new file)
Enter in the text you want the link to display as
Highlight the text
Click the link icon (see first image below)
Enter in the link in the link box then select Open in New Window (see second image below)

Screenshot of a text editor window in Brightspace showing how to create a link with a pink box around the an icon that looks like a chain link.

Creating External Links

To create a new link:

Go to a text editor (i.e. Create a new file)
Enter in the text you want the link to display as
Highlight the text
Click the link icon (see first image below)
Enter in the link in the link box then select Open in New Window (see second image below)