Instructors can choose between several layout options for a course site’s homepage. Each choice is made up of an arrangement of Widgets and has been designed to highlight different site elements: focusing on content, course structure, or communication.
Unfortunately, true customization is limited to these selections.
It is possible to change the active homepage layout at any time through the ellipsis button in the bottom-right of any homepage.
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Homepage options and widgets
All homepage options consist of a combination of the following widgets:
The default option (#4) has a balanced and familiar set of widgets in Announcements, Visual Table of Contents, Calendar, and Course Instructor Information.
Activity Feed
An interactive hub for site members to post messages that are visible site-wide. Instructors can also link to assignments, quizzes, and other tools.
Announcements
A communication tool that allows instructors to create course announcements using the full text-editor. These can be targeted at specific roster sub-sections and by default prompt email notifications. Detailed instructions are available in the guide for creating and managing Announcements.
Calendar
A monthly course calendar that will display upcoming events within the site, including date-dependent assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc. It is also possible to create standalone events directly in the Calendar widget.
Visual Table of Contents
An interactive tiled list of content items that links directly to course material and provides students with a progress bar to track what they have read. Each item is tied to a Content Unitand all changes are managed within that tool (including the display image, which can be changed from the default by adding another image to the first page in the Content item). Other configuration details can be changed (e.g., default image, text colour, and progress bar colour)--reach out to edtech@brocku.ca for more information.
Course Instructor Information
A profile card to share information about the course’s instructor and/or teaching team, including an image that is pulled from a user’s Brightspace Profile. Only site members in the Instructor role can edit the Course Instructor Information widget.
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The Single Instructor Profile was replaced by Course Instructor Information on October 9th, 2024. This offers significantly more flexibility, including the ability to include a full teaching team. |
The ellipsis in the top-right offers the following options:
Update User Settings provides control over which members of the teaching team are visible, how they are labeled (which can be different from their actual site role), and in what order they appear.
Edit Custom Course Information offers a text box for sharing any necessary information, e.g. preferred methods of contact, office hours, and external site links. It also provides a link to edit the user’s universal Brightspace Profile Information which includes
Add an Instructor or Teaching Assistant
A tool dedicated to quickly adding a teaching assistant or co-instructor to a site’s roster. Further information is available in the guide for adding TAs or co-instructors to a site.
It is also possible to handle TA site enrollment to only specific sections through Classlist
Course Connector for MS Teams
The Brightspace-Microsoft Teams integration that is used to create a Teams site based off the membership of your Brightspace site’s Classlist in a few simple steps.
Homepage types one, two, and four include a plus version with the Teams Course Connector widget.
Courses that require a Microsoft Teams site can use the Connector widget and to build a Teams site from the Brightspace Classlist in just a few steps.
Full details are available in the guide for using the Teams Course Connector in Brightspace.
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The look and feel of the different homepage options will change as more content is added to a site. It may be best to toggle between the options once the rest of the site is set up. |
Change a course site’s Homepage
Navigate to a course site’s homepage or click the Course Home tab in the navbar.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ellipsis button in the bottom-right corner.
Select the Manage Homepages button to view and choose between the different layouts.
Remove the Banner will eliminate the image across the top of a homepage, along with that instance of the course name. More details can be found on the Navbars and Banners page.
The Manage Homepages page will show afull list of homepage options with a brief description. Note that Widgets are positioned differently in the various options and it may be worth toggling between them to compare.Select from the Active Homepage dropdown menu and click Apply.
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Departments, Programs, or teams interested in a custom homepage can reach out to edtech@brocku.ca to discuss bespoke options. |