Instructor Support for Educational Systems

How do I navigate through the Brightspace Homepage?

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This article will cover all you need to know about navigation through the Brightspace Homepage. Are you looking for information on how to navigate within a course? Please click here. 

When you log in to Brightspace, your homepage will be the first page you land on. Every personal homepage has the same layout (regardless of whether you are a student or a staff member).

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  1. The header of the Brightspace Homepage contains a minibar with notification alerts among other things.
  2. From the blue navigation bar you can access your Kaltura My Media or go directly to the Brightspace Online Manual.
  3. In the My Courses widget you will see all the courses in which you are enrolled
  4. The System Announcementswidget will show you important announcements sent by the central Brightspace Support team.
    • NB! This widget does not show (overall) course announcements. Course announcements are only shown in their own courses.
  5. In the Calendar widget you can review upcoming events/activities/deadlines from all the courses you are enrolled in.

Please click on the topics below for in-depth information of each element of the Brightspace Homepage.

1. The Brightspace Homepage header

Sample Discussion - 2021-S1 English 101 - Google Chrome
  1. Click on the Universiteit Leiden logo to return to the Brightspace Homepage.
  2. Click on the Course Selector icon to see a list of the courses you are enrolled in.
  3. Click on the Subscription Alert icon to review notifications on  discussion threads/fora you subscribed to.
    • If there is an orange notification badge present, it means there is an update in one of the discussion threads/fora you subscribed to.
    • You can control if you receive updates on subscriptions. [manual under construction].
  4. Click on the Update Alerticon to review.
    • If there is an orange notification badge present, it means there is a new update for you.
    • You cannot control the update alerts that come through here.
  5. Click on your name or picture to access your personal profile or to Log Out. See below for more information on:

2. The Brightspace Homepage navigation bar

How do I navigate through the Brightspace Homepage? | Instructors - English | Support site - Brightspace - Google Chrome
  1. Click on Help to go to the Brightspace online manual
  2. Click on Awards to review the Awards you have received from courses where you are enrolled as a student.
  3. Click on Kaltura My Media to review your own media gallery or to upload new media. Click here for more information.
  4. Access the LOR to upload a resource to the Copyright Repository. Click here for more information.
  5. Use Quick Eval in case you want to assess assignment submissions, quizzes or discussions across multiple courses. Click here for more information.

3. The My Courses widget

ScreenSteps - Google Chrome

Tip! Review the Course Life Cycle article for Instructors to get a better understanding on the different representations of future, open and past courses.

  1. You can use the tabs at the top to navigate to:
    • Your Pinned courses. Click here for more information on how to pin/unpin courses.
    • Your courses that take place in the same semester/education period. In the example the Instructor is enrolled in a course that takes place in Semester 1 of Academic Year 2020-2021.
    • Under the Other tab, you will find your personal Sandbox, the Brightspace Online Training course for Instructors and possible other courses.
  2. Optional: In case you do not yet have a personal sandbox and/or you cannot see the Brightspace Online Training, please use this form to request a sandbox.
  3. The My Courses widget, will show up to 20 courses per tab. If you are enrolled in 20+ click on View All Courses to get a full overview.
  4. The icons on a Course Tile indicate whether there are open assessments in your course. In the order as shown above, the icons represent:
    • unevaluated assignment submissions
    • unread discussion posts
    • ungraded quizzes

4. The System Announcement widget

Homepage - Leiden University - Google Chrome
  1. You can dismiss an announcement by clicking on the X.
  2. Click on System Announcements, if you want to review all (dismissed) announcements.

Please note that announcements are removed for everyone by the Brightspace Support Team, as soon as they are no longer relevant. In that way, you keep a neat overview.

What kind of System Announcements can I expect?

  • Every 4th Friday of the month Brightspace will be updated, you'll be notified with a link to the release notes.
  • Immediate system outage, including third party tools as Turnitin, Kaltura etc.
  • Scheduled maintenances, including third party tools as Turnitin, Kaltura etc. But also from related integrations as ULCN and uSis that might impact your activities in Brightspace.
  • Emergency Notifications
  • Other important notifications that might impact your Brightspace activities.

5. The Calendar widget

Homepage - Leiden University - Google Chrome
  1. Click on the current date to open the Month View of the Calendar
  2. Click on a date with a dot, to review that day's events/activities/deadlines.
  3. Click on Upcoming events to review all future events.

Tip! Review the extensive manual on the Calendar widget to see all possibilities and features.

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