Familiarize yourself with the key navigation features on the UB Learns homepage and your course homepage.
Contact the UB Learns support team for assistance. After the form is submitted, a member of the support team will follow up with you within one business day.
The first time you log in to Brightspace on each compuer or mobile device you own, you should run the System Check to ensure that your browser is properly configured.
When you login to Brightspace, you will be directed to the UB Learns Homepage. There, you will see several key features that will help you navigate Brightspace.
The course homepage is the first page you see when you select to view a specific course. It has many of the same key features as the Institutional Homepage but provides more options for customization.
This is your primary navigational tool in Brightspace. You can locate it in the top right corner of most pages in Brightspace. It holds the course selector, notifications and your personal settings. The minibar is static and will always appear at the top right of your screen no matter where you are in Brightspace.
Feature | Definition |
Your Name | Your name in the minibar hides a drop-down menu with options to personalize your personal settings or log out. The personal settings include changing your viewing perspective, profile, notifications and account settings. |
Feature | Definition |
Role Switch | Allows you to toggle between roles without having to log out of Brightspace to switch from one role to another. Faculty have access to the student view to review ease of access of their course. |
Profile | Update your profile picture and awards showcase. Students will be able to see this information in areas such as the Classlist and Activity Feed.
Please note: For updating your profile picture, D2L recommends you choose an image that is approximately 100 by 100 pixels. The maximum size is 1 MB. You can upload a JPG, JPEG, PNG, or GIF file format. To learn how to update your profile, visit the Basics of Course Layout in Brightspace webpage. |
Notifications | Allows you to select how you receive notifications about course activity. You can either receive a periodic summary of activity or receive instant notifications. |
Account Settings | Change settings for your account, discussions, and email.
Account settings - Change settings for fonts, the Brightspace Editor, reading content, video settings, locale and languages, time zone, application settings.
Discussions – Customize your personal settings pertaining to discussions. Choose to personalize display settings, reply settings, and subscription settings.
Email – Customize an email signature, select whether you would like a copy of outgoing emails, and whether you would like external email addresses to populate in your address book. For more on email and messaging tools in Brightspace, refer to the Messaging Tools and Replace Strings in Brightspace webpage. |
Logout | If you choose to log out, you will be directed back to the UB Learns login. |
The navbar on the UB Learns homepage links to tools and resources for the Brightspace tool and teaching. The tools and resources are for the global level. The navbar on the UB Learns Homepage is preset by UB and cannot be customized. The preset items include:
Feature | Definition |
Help for Instructors | This drop down offers a list of helpful resources specifically for the Brightspace tool. |
Training | This dropdown list directs you to video, webinar, and training resources. |
UB Resources | These are links to external resources for teaching and Brightspace. |
Tools | The tools located in this dropdown are specific to UB Learns and the Brightspace platform. A detailed list of tools available can be found in the Brightspace Glossary. |
Quick Eval | The Quick Eval tool is a central location where you can see all pending learner submissions ready for grading. |
The Institutional Homepage banner is a heading which greets you to the Brightspace landing page once you have logged in. It is located directly below the lower navbar. The banner image serves as a visual aid to notify you that you are on the Institutional Homepage. This image is set by the institution and cannot be changed.
Widgets are categories of content which provide information or serve as links to tools and courses. Clicking within a widget will take you directly to its linked content. The widgets are located below the banner.
To learn more about widgets visit the Brightspace Glossary or the Basics of Course Layout in Brightspace webpage.
There are two ways to navigate to a course homepage from the UB Learns Homepage:
Once you click on the course name and ID, you will be directed to that course’s homepage. You will know you have arrived at a course homepage when you see the course name and ID located next to the Course Home and UB Learns icons in the top left corner of the page.
You can customize the following features on your course homepage: navbar, banner and widgets. The minibar cannot be customized.
The course navbar is in the same location as the UB Learns Homepage navbar. It contains links to course specific tools and resources and is customizable. Your course navbar will initially have default tools available preset by your school and UB. Explore the Basics of Course Layout in Brightspace f you want to learn how to customize your navbar.
The default navbar includes the following links:
Link | Description |
Course Home | Links you to the first page (the homepage) of your course. Click on it if you want to navigate back to the course homepage. |
Content | Links you to the Content tool which allows you create, post, and organize course content. For more information on creating content, refer to the Creating Course Content and Adding Materials in Brightspace page. |
Announcements | Links you to the announcements tool where you can post notifications and messages to help communicate course updates, important information, and changes. |
Assessments | This drop drown will guide you to all the assessment tools on the Brightspace platform. Assessments include: assignments, discussions, quizzes, self-assessments and surveys. |
Grades | Links you to your grade book. Here you can set up your grade book, enter and manage grades. For more information on the Grades tool and how to set up your grade book, visit Grading in Brightspace. |
Classlist | Links you to the class roster. You can use the Classlist tool to send emails, view user and class progress, sort learners into sections or groups, and view enrollment statistics. |
Class Progress | Links you to the Class Progress tool. Use this tool to track learner progress. This tool measures various progress indicators such as grades, objectives, login history, and content completed. You can also use it to generate reports for stakeholders (e.g. learners, instructors, and administrators). |
Instructor Only | This drop down contains tools only available to instructors. They include internal Brightspace tools and third-party tools. |
The banner and widgets on the course homepage are located in the same places as those on the UB Learns Homepage. The banner on the UB Learns Homepage will include the name of the course. Both banner and widgets can be customized on the course homepage.
You will have the option to customize the banner by removing it, changing the image, or changing the text.
Widgets are the building blocks of homepages. You can create, edit, delete, customize, and preview the widgets in your courses.
Explore the Basics of Course Layout in Brightspace to learn how to customize your banner and the widgets on your course homepage.