Basics of Course Layout in UB Learns

An intuitive course navigation includes an overall course orientation or Getting Started module as well as overviews that outline expectations, assignments and due dates, among other pertinent information within each module. By providing course and module overviews, you further provide support for your students.

Even if you teach an in-person class and discuss the same materials with your students, an additional point of reference in your online environment is helpful. In addition to organizing your course layout and its features, you can also personalize your UB Learns profile to share your picture, tailor how you receive notifications, adjust your account settings for accessibility and more.

When building your online course, look for ways to benefit both the students and yourself. One approach to building your online course is to use your syllabus as a guide to how you organize information and decide what should be shared at the course or module level.

Personalizing Your UB Learns Profile

Establish your identity in UB Learns and set up how, and the frequency with which, you receive notifications.

On the minibar, click your name and select Profile.
Click Change Picture.
Click Upload and locate an image file on your computer.
Click Upload.
Click Add.
Click Save and Close.

Notifications are automatically generated, text-based messages triggered within a course that you can activate to keep up-to-date on changes or updates to your course. You can have notifications sent directly to your email or phone. These Notifications are customizable and can be enabled/disabled by every user in Brightspace.

Please note: The course must be active to send notifications.

Enable Notifications

Go to ublearns.buffalo.edu.
Click the Go to Brightspace link on the login page or the Help and Updates page inside Blackboard.
Follow the directions on the Brightspace landing page to log in.
Click on your name in the upper-right corner of the UB Learns homepage.
Click Notifications.
Ensure the Email Address is correct.
- Please note: By default, your UB email addressw ill be used for all email notifications. This cannot be changed.
Under Summary of Activity select how often you want to receive notifications (either daily or weekly) from the drop-down menu.
Check the Email box next to the Instant Notifications you want to receive.
Choose what customizations you want to add to your Notifications.
Click Manage my course exclusions to exclude courses from your Notification settings.
- A box will appear. Click on the X to exclude a course, or the undo arrow to reinclude a course in your Notifications.
Click Save.

With the Brightspace Pulse app, instructors have the option to receive text message notifications from their course. If you are tagged in a discussion topic or directly messaged by a student, you can have these alerts sent to the Brightspace Pulse app on your mobile device for quick access. As an instructor, you will also be able to:

Make corrections or updates to course content.
Post announcements.
Quickly access content from any mobile device.
Launch Brightspace from the app without having to sign in.

For quick access, you can set up push and email/SMS notifications from the app settings when you click on UB Learns from the top-left of the app.

Download the Brightspace Pulse app

Enable Notifications

Select your name/profile icon in the top-right of the page.
Click on Notifications.
Select your preferred instant notifications.
- You can enable or disable the following notification types:
  - SMS (text) notifications
  - Email notifications
- You can receive notifications for any of the following features
  - Activity Feed
  - Assignments
  - Content
  - Content Service
  - Discussions
  - Grades
  - Quizzes
Click Save when done.

Setting Up Your Course Homepage

The course homepage is where students will land when they first access your course. You can customize the homepage and course navbar in a variety of ways to make sure your students have access to components you feel are important and high touch points. The way you organize your homepage may differ depending on how your course is delivered (e.g., synchronously or asynchronously) and the extent to which you plan to utilize UB Learns.

The course homepage contains three main areas:

Course navbar
Course banner
Widgets (resources such as announcements, calendar, work to do, etc.) that you want your students to see regularly.

Using the course navbar is an efficient way to move between content, activities and tools in your course. The UB Learns default course navbar includes the most utilized course tools, but you can customize your course navbar to fit the workflow of your course. The course navbar should streamline the course navigation for you and your students, bringing access to the high touch points of your course, such as content, discussions and assignments into one place.

In addition to being one of the primary methods for navigating within UB Learns, the course navbar can also include links to external resources. However, keep in mind that space is limited. Adding too many links will force them into an overflow menu. To avoid overflow, group links together. This will allow for drop-down menus, making the navbar easier to use and improving course organization.

Note: Your department or program may have recommendations for course navbar layouts. Please check with your department before customizing your course navbar.

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click Navigation & Themes.
Click the chevron next to Course Navbar and select Copy.
Click the name of the new navbar you just created.
Enter a name for your new course navbar in the Name field.
In the Links section,
- Add links by clicking Add Links. Use the search box to find the link you want, click the checkbox next to the name and click Add.
  - Note: There are several options for links: Custom Links, System Links and Custom Groups. Consider using Custom Groups to help organize your course links without forcing the links into the overflow drop-down menu.
- Rearrange the order of the links by hovering over a link and dragging-and-dropping it in its new location.
- Delete an unwanted link by hovering over the link and clicking X.
Click Save and Close.
Select your modified course navbar from the Active Navbar drop-down menu and click Apply.

The Brightspace Community has additional information about customizing your course na vbar.

Changing the Banner Image and Text

On the course homepage, hover your mouse over the course banner .
Click the ... (ellipsis) icon and select Change Image.
You can browse the image library or upload an image. The recommended banner image dimensions are 2400px x 960px.

You can also modify the banner text by selecting Customize Banner Text in step 2. Please note that this will not change the course name in the My Courses widget or the Course Selector.

Modifying the Course Homepage Layout and Widgets

On the navbar, click Instructor Only and select Course Admin.
Click the chevron next to Course Landing Page and select Copy.
Click the name of the new course landing page you just created.
Enter a name for your new course landing in the Name field.
In the Layout section, click Change Layout to modify the number of columns.
In the Widgets section,
- Add widgets by clicking Add Widgets. Use the search box to find the link you want, click the checkbox next to the name and click Add.
- Rearrange the order of the widgets by hovering over a widget and dragging-and-dropping it to its new location.
- Delete an unwanted widget by hovering over the widget and clicking X.
Click Save and Close.
Select your modified course homepage from the Active Homepage drop-down menu and click Apply.

Course Tools

Course materials you post in your modules can include documents, images, media files, CaptureCast presentations, URL links and existing course activities. You can ensure users fulfill specific course requirements and learning expectations by adding release conditions and grade items to course materials and assessments.

On the navbar, click Content.
In the Table of Contents panel, in the Add a module field, enter the name of your new module.
Press Enter on your keyboard.

To add a submodule, click on a module name in the Table of Contents panel. In the Add a sub-module field, enter the name of your new sub-module and press Enter on your keyboard.