Organizing Your Course

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 content areas are located on your course content page.

Overview Page

The Overview page is not visible when using Pulse, Brightspace’s mobile app, so we recommend that instructors do not add any content to that page. If the Overview page is empty, the link will be hidden from students, whether using the mobile app or a web browser.

Bookmarks

Encourage students to use Bookmarks to return to important or favorite content easily and quickly. When viewing a content topic, a user can click the bookmark icon (upper-right) to add a link to the content topic to Bookmarks.

Please note: All bookmarks are personalized and will not appear to other users.

Adding bookmarks

On the navbar, click Content.
Navigate to a content topic (PDF, document, video, etc.).
Click the topic's title to open the Brightspace Viewer.
Click the Bookmark icon on the right just above the viewer.

Viewing bookmarks

On the navbar, click Content.
Click Bookmarks in the Table of Contents panel on the left. A list of bookmarked items will be displayed.

Course Schedule

Use the course schedule to help yourself and your students improve planning and organization. All items with a start, end 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.

On the navbar, click Content.
Click Course Schedule in the Table of Contents panel on the left.
- Upcoming items with associated dates will populate.
- The Course Schedule will display all future items with a due date in chronological order.

Note: You cannot add dates directly to the 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, add or rearrange modules and submodules. Clicking on a module name on the left allows you to view and manage its content on the right-side of the page.

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.

Adding a module

On the navbar, click Contents.
In the Table of Contents panel, click on the box labeled Add a module…
Type the name of the new module.
Hit Enter on the keyboard or click away from the box.

Adding a sub-module

On the navbar, click Contents.
In the Table of Contents panel, navigate to the module where you want to create the sub-module.
On the right, below all the topics in the module, click on the box labeled Add a sub-module…
Type the name of the new sub-module.
Hit Enter on the keyboard or click away from the box.

You also have the option to add topics by dragging and dropping content from your computer into Brightspace.

On the navbar, click Content.
Add files using one of two methods:
- Drag and drop files from your computer to a module name in the Table of Contents on the left.
- Navigate to a module and drag and drop files from your computer to the topics area on the right. This method allows you to place the files in the order you want them in the module.
The number to the right of the target module will increase by the number of files you add.

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

On the navbar, click Content.
In the Table of Contents, click and drag the icon to the left of the module name.
- 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 at the target destination.

Adding Start, End and Due Dates

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

Navigate to a module in the Table of Contents panel on the left.
Click Add dates and restrictions… below the module name.
Add a start, end anddue dates and times.
Click Update.

Modules with due dates will be added to the Course Schedule. Depending on the due date, you may need to use the Full Schedule view.

Click the chevron icon next to a content topic name and select Edit Properties in Place.
Click Add dates and restrictions…
Add a start, end anddue dates and times.
Click Update.

Content topics with due dates will be added to the Course Schedule. Depending on the due date, you may need to use the Full Schedule view.

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: