Course Set Up Guide

The course homepage is the first page students see when they click into a course. At first, your course homepage will appear to be mostly blank. As you add modules to the content area of the course, your course homepage will have more structure. You may also do some customization of the course homepage to provide specific course information. 

 Review the video: Add Modules and Submodules  or Create and Manage a Course Homepage. 

Establish your presence in the course early on. Create a Getting Started or Course Essentials module and post your name, office hours, office location and contact info. You may also wish to use an HTML template, such as the Meet Your Facilitator, template to create a specific page with your contact information.  

Review the instructions for:Edit a Module or Submodule or Adding Files or Using HTML Templates

The course outline provides a framework for students on course structure, expectations, and assessment. Encourage students to read the course outline by making it easy to find and referencing it regularly. 

See Adding Files or review the video tutorial: Create a File and Insert Stuff. 

Teaching assistants must be manually added to the course by the instructor to grant TA access. Teaching assistants are able to see all course content, to engage in all course communications, and to perform all grading functions.  For a complete list of the TA’s capabilities in Brightspace, please see the support site page on Roles and Permissions. 

For instructions on adding TAs to your course, see Enrolling Users

Online activities, such as assignments, quizzes or discussion forums, can be completed inside or outside of class. Add key dates to the calendar to help keep your students on track.

For a video overview of adding course activities, visit the pages: Create an Assignment,  Create a Quiz, and Create a Forum.  To add calendar events, review: Calendar.  

Add content to your course in a structured way by using modules for weeks, topics or units. Use submodules to chunk related content together and to organize your course page. Content topics (i.e. files and activities) can then be added to your modules and submodules. 

For instructions on building modules and submodules, see Adding Modules and Submodules.  Once your modules are ready, try: Creating an Assignment, Creating Quizzes, Creating Discussion Forums, as well as Adding Files and Adding Links.

If you have existing Brightspace content in a sandbox course or previous course, your content can be copied from one Brightspace course to another. Watch the quick video tutorial, Copying Course Content, or check out these text based instructions.

The gradebook can be used to display grades and calculate course totals. The Ed Tech team is available to provide consultation and advice on your gradebook setup and grading questions. Connect with us if you need assistance. See the contact information below under Getting Help with Brightspace.

For instructions, see the Brightspace Support site page Gradebook or  Grades-Understanding Grades.  

All courses are hidden by default to give instructors time to set them up. When you are ready to launch your course, you’ll need to make it Active for students. Making a course active ensures that students can explore your course content and files. 

For instructions, see Making Courses Visible.

Connect with your students right away by sending an announcement or email welcoming them to the course. Announcements can be sent immediately or pre-scheduled for future release. Note that if you are sending an announcement before the first day of class, you’ll need to use Email instead. Announcements can only be sent out after the first day of the course. Emails can be sent out anytime throughout the course. 

For instructions, see Posting Announcements and Teaching Tips-Make Regular Announcements . See also support pages on sending Email.