Organizing Your Course in Brightspace

The Content tool provides a general course snapshot and a way to keep track of important elements from your course content.

You can access the content tool once you have clicked on the content area on the navbar or one of the content area widgets on the course homepage. The Content tool contains an overview, bookmarks, a course schedule, and a table of contents. These four course Content tools are located on your course content page.

Overview Page

The overview is the first page students will see when they first open the Content tool to a course. Utilize this page to introduce students to the course by providing a brief description in the HTML editor. The overview is a great place to add your course syllabus. However, the course overview is not visible for students on the Pulse app, so it is recommended you create a course orientation module in your course to ensure all students have access to the syllabus.

Please note: If you decide to leave the Overview page empty, students will not see it.

From your course home page, click Content in the navbar.
From the Content page, navigate to the top left side of the screen and click Overview.
Navigate to the text box and write a welcome message or course description.
Click Update.
To add an attachment, click on the chevron next to overview and select Add an attachment. You will have the option to add a file from your computer or your course.
- If adding a file from the course, select Course Offering Files.
- Toggle the file(s) you want included in your overview.
- Click Add.
To change or remove an attachment, click on the chevron next to the Overview and select one of the options.

Bookmarks

Consider encouraging students to use Bookmarks to return to important or favorite content easily and quickly. All Bookmarked items populate in the Bookmarks section on the content page. The number beside the Bookmarks link indicates how many Bookmarks you have for that course.

Please note: All Bookmarks are personalized and will not appear for others to view.

From the course home page, select Content in the navbar.
From the content page, select a file you want to bookmark.
Click on the file’s hyperlinked titled.
Click the Bookmark icon in the top right corner of the page.
To find a list of your bookmarked items, return to the Content page.
Click Bookmarks on the top left of the screen below Overview.
A list of bookmarked items will display.

Course Schedule

Use the couse schedule to help yourself and your students improve planning and organization. All items with a date of availability or due date such as assignments, quizzes and topics will populate in the course schedule. Adding dates to your course content and syllabus are important to help students with executive functioning skills such as planning and organization (OSCQR standard 2).

In addition to assignments, quizzes and topics, any events added to the calendar and activities you post as part of your class assignments can be accessed from the course schedule.

Select the Content from the course navbar.
Select Course Schedule from the left menu.
Upcoming items with associated dates will populate.
The Course Schedule will display all future items with a due date in chronological order.

Note: Tthe only way to add to the course schedule is by directly adding availability dates or due dates to a course object such as an assignment or quiz. Anything added to the course calendar, such as office hours, will also populate in the Course Schedule. You cannot add dates directly into the Course Schedule.

Creating a workflow allows students to work on material as it becomes available. This allows instructors the opportunity to plan and structure content and activities. Using the Add dates and restrictions feature will restrict access until the date and time selected.

Select the content item or create one in the module.
Select Add dates and restrictions.
- Discussion topics have a checkbox to Display In Calendar. Select the checkbox so that the item will be added to the course schedule.
Add a start date and time.
Select update to submit changes.

Once the dates have been added to the content topic, it will be added to the Course Schedule using the Full Schedule view.

Note: Only items with due date will add a number to the course schedule indicating an upcoming event.

Activities that are available and need to be submitted by a specific date should also have an associated due date. Accessible activities include assignments, graded discussions, and quizzes. Using the due date function can be used to prompt additional features including the Course Schedule and other elements discussed elsewhere (see Intelligent Agents, Release Conditions). To add a due date to an activity:

Select or create the activity (discussion, quiz, or assignment).
Add a due date.

Note: Discussion topics have a checkbox to add to the calendar. Select the checkbox so that the item will be added to both the calendar and course schedule.

The Table of Contents panel lists all the modules within your course and provides easy navigation to modules, submodules, and topics. It is located on the left side of the content page. Use the Table of Contents to quickly view, rearrange, or add new modules and submodules. Clicking on a listed module allows you to manage its contents with ease to the right of the Table of Contents panel.

The number appearing to the right of the Table of Contents indicates the number of topics within the course. The number listed next to a module or submodule indicates the number of topics within it. Utilize the numbers to the right of the Table of Contents, each module, and sub-module to evaluate student course load.

From the Table of Contents panel, click on the box labeled Add a module.
Type in the name of the new module or submodule.
Build the module in the Contents page or move the module to a desired location within the Table of Contents panel.

You also have the option to create a submodule or topic by dragging content you created on your computer into the Table of Contents.

Select a file you want to upload to the course from your computer.
Drag the file to the target module in the Table of Contents.
Drop the file into the target module.
You will notice the number to the right of the target module will have increased by the number of files you just dragged in.

You can find more information on how to create modules in Brightspace on the Creating Course Content and Materials webpage and how to design your Brightspace course here.

It is important to keep in mind that Ally Course Report, an integrated accessibility checker, may not provide an accessibility score for attached materials.

From the course home page, select Content in the navbar.
From the content page, navigate to Table of Contents.
Click the module name or the icon to the left of the module name.
Drag it to the desired destination.
- If dragging the module or submodule to a location between other modules or submodules, a bold line will appear showing you where it will be placed.
- If dragging the module or submodule into another module, the target module will light up when hovering the dragged module over it.
Drop the module or submodule into the target destination.