D2L Brightspace Resources
Ed Tech Tutorials and Tips
Getting Started and the "Content" Tab at Pima
This section features a collection of FAQ (frequently asked questions) for instructors new to the D2L Brightspace learning management system.
The Content tool is used to organize a course's links to course materials and activities, such as the syllabus, lecture notes, readings, discussions, quizzes, etc. The Content tool enables you to create, edit, organize and delete modules and topics in your course.
The Import/Export/Copy Components tool is a tool for an instructor that allows you to bring existing content from a previous CRN into a current CRN course shell.
The HTML Editor integrates with all D2L Brightspace tools that enable you to create HTML content. For example, the HTML Editor is available when you edit Discussion topics, create custom instructions for Assignments folders, and create content topics.
The "Assessments" Tab at Pima (with related resources)
The Assignments tool allows you to set up folders where students can submit their assignments. This eliminates the need to collect assignments and helps you track when assignments are submitted.
Plagiarism Detection, called Originality Check, enables you to monitor your Assignments folders and identify potential cases of plagiarism by automatically comparing submissions to an online database of original content.
The Discussions tool is an easy-to-use and effective way to provide asynchronous communication among instructors and students, allowing them to post, moderate, and read discussion messages. The Discussions tool allows you to create topics relevant to the course where students can post and reply to messages.
The Grade Book helps you and your students track your their grades, both from classroom assignments you manually enter as well as from any D2L Brightspace deliverables (e.g., Quizzes, Discussions) that you choose to use. At the end of the term, you can also export your Grade Book to an Excel spreadsheet for later review purposes.
The Center for Learning Technology has compiled a list of common questions and possible solutions to aid you in addressing your D2L Brightspace Grades tool questions. Please review these FAQ topics and select the topic that meets your needs.
Grade items represent the individual assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc. that you want to grade students on. Each grade item has its own entry in the grade book, which you assign a grade to for each student. Grade items can be tied to other course objects, such as quizzes or discussion forums, or they can exist independently.
Bonus grade items are extra credit that students can elect to complete for points. Bonus items can only improve a grade, and will not dock points if not completed.
At your discretion, Final Calculated Grades are released, or hidden, from students. You can see if these grades are visible to your students by looking at the Enter Grades tab of your course. To check on the status, look for the Final Grade Not Released icon or the Final Grade Released icon.
The Quizzes tool enables you to create and manage quiz assessments. You can use quizzes to help evaluate students’ learning progress and learning outcomes. Create and manage quiz questions from the Question Library or the Quizzes tool. You can also use the quiz preview option to test the accuracy of content and grading before you release a quiz.
Inserting a random section into a quiz ensures that each student will receive a unique set of questions. The random section pulls from a designated pool of questions stored in the Question Library. It is important to note that you must import questions that have already been created elsewhere into a random section; you cannot create questions within the random section, nor can you move questions into this section.
Rubrics provide a more granular way of grading students' work by identifying specific criteria and levels of performance against those criteria. Some of the benefits of using a rubric include clear performance expectations, consistent grading, and structured feedback.
Other Engagement Tools for Online Teaching
The Video Assignments tool is built into D2L Brigthspace at PIma. It allows instructors to host live meetings, office hours, video-based training, and assessments.
Use virtual whiteboards while meeting with students virtually. Learn how to use Google Jamboard or other tools within a live meeting with your students. To learn more, visit our Synchronous Teaching page.
The "Course Resources" Tab at Pima
You can use the Classlist tool to see who's enrolled in your course, check who's online, and to send emails and pages. Users who are currently logged into D2L Brightspace appear with a green dot beside their names.
The Calendar tool enables you to manage course-related or personal events. You can view dates posted for courses, such as project due dates, office hours and exam information, or you can add personal events to track group meetings, milestones and deadlines.
The Course Administration area is a central area for accessing tools related to setting up and managing your course. From the Course Administration area, you can access many tools to help you run your course smoothly.
Virtual Classroom and Video Assignments allow instructors to schedule live discussions, office hours, video-based training, and assessments.
Create group work areas for students with the Groups tool. You can use groups to organize users’ work on projects and assignments, or you can create special work areas for students with different learning needs.
Intelligent agents monitor a course to find activity that matches criteria that you set. They search login activity, course activity and release conditions in D2L Brightspace.
The Competencies tool enables you to assess learning outcomes and determine whether students have really acquired the knowledge, skills or abilities a learning experience is supposed to provide.
The Glossary tool allows you to store terms and their definitions. Each course has its own glossary and you can populate this with explanations of concepts and terms that are relevant to the course. Users can then access this glossary and search for particular terms.
Advanced: Managing Files within D2L Brightspace
You can create a content topic using a file directly from Manage Files. The Link icon displays beside files in use as topics in the Content tool.
The Manage Files tool is a file management system for your course. You can use this tool to organize and upload files associated with your course offering. We recommend that you organize your files into folders, creating a folder for each module of content.