There are a lot of useful tools in Brightspace. We will explore some of the most important tools now! Many tools will not be necessary for you to teach, they are more useful when building courses. The important tools for teaching are highlighted here (you can always find these tools under Course Admin).
Announcements
When you click into Announcements, you are taken to the Announcements interface.
You can view and manage (edit, dismiss, view, delete, restore, opens in new window & reorder) past announcements, create a new announcement, and manage notifications.
Classlist
This is where you can see your class list. You can also send messages to the class from here, but these are NOT the same as announcements.
You can also start here to check an individual’s progress in the course. This is demonstrated in the following video:
Groups
Groups in Brightspace can be used in multiple ways. Most courses use them to create smaller sections in discussion sections. These groups can be differentiated by types of interest, random sorting, or manual sorting. When in a group, only the other members and the instructor will be able to see the content posted. You can access the Groups Section through the Course Admin link.
Quizzes
Most of our matriculated courses do not have quizzes, so this tool is not found in the top navbar. If there is a quiz in your course, students will see it in their weekly content, and you will be able to see it on your graded pages (if graded). If there is any manual grading you will also be notified on the grading pages. You can always access Quizzes and any other tool through the Course Admin link.
When the Quizzes link is available, students can go to this page to see any and all quizzes that are in a course.