Instructors can choose between nine layout options for their course site’s homepage. Each option is made up of a selection of Widgets. The choices have been designed to highlight and promote different site elements, and focus on content, organization, or communication.
It is possible to change the active homepage at any time with the ellipsis button in the bottom-right or by following the instructions on this page.
Homepage Options
All homepage options consist of a combination of the following widgets:
The default option (#4) offers a balanced and familiar set of widgets in Announcements, Visual Table of Contents, Calendar, and Single Instructor Profile.
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 typical 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.
Calendar: A monthly course calendar that will display upcoming events within the site, including date-dependent assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc.
Single Instructor Profile: A profile card with some brief biographical and contact options along with an image. Only one profile can be added to a homepage.
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 Unit and 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).
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.
1. Announcements | Calendar | Single Instructor Profile
Recommended for those that want their homepage to focus on communication in online synchronous and asynchronous courses. With a small calendar feed and profile for a single instructor.
2. Announcements | Visual Table of Contents | Calendar
Recommended for those that want their homepage to have an equal focus on communication and course topic navigation with an interactive table of contents. As well as a small calendar feed on the side.
3. Announcements | Visual Table of Contents | Single Instructor Profile
Recommended for those that want their homepage to have an equal focus on communication and course topic navigation with an interactive table of contents. As well as a profile for a single instructor on the side.
4. Announcements | Visual Table of Contents | Calendar | Single Instructor Profile
Recommended for those that want their homepage to have an equal focus on communication and course topic navigation with an interactive table of contents. As well as a small calendar feed and profile for a single instructor.
5. Announcements Only
Recommended for those that want their homepage to have a focus on communication with the announcements tool only. Useful for training or department project sites, as well as for those who like to keep it simple.
6. Visual Table of Contents Only
Recommended for those that want their homepage to have a strict focus on content navigation with a large and visual interactive table of contents. Useful for training or department project sites.
7. Activity Feed Only
Recommended for those that want an interactive and free-flowing experience. This tool is like a social media feed that can quickly link to other site items and has discussion options. It is popular in K-12 sites and could be used to present a different course experience.
8. Activity Feed | Visual Table of Contents
Recommended for those that want an interactive and free-flowing experience alongside content navigation.
9. Activity Feed | Visual Table of Contents | Calendar | Single Instructor Profile
Recommended for those that want an interactive and free-flowing experience alongside content navigation. As well as a small calendar feed and profile for a single instructor on the side.
Change Your Course Homepage
1. Select Course Home from the navigation bar in a course site.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the Course Home page and click on the ellipsis button in the bottom-right corner.
3. Select the Manage Homepages button. Remove the Banner will remove the image across the top of the course homepage, along with that instance of the course name. Further details are below.
4. The Manage Homepages page will show a full list of homepage options. Select one from the Active Homepage dropdown menu and click Apply.
Homepage Banners and Course Titles
The homepage contains a decorative banner that can be customized by choosing from a library of stock images or uploading something new. The banner is best suited for landscape-style images but will allow some adjustment upon uploading.
An ellipsis button will appear when hovering over the right edge of the banner, just below the navigation bar.
Choose between Change Image, Customize Banner Text, or Remove This Banner.
Changing the banner text at this level overrides what is otherwise defined by choices made within Course Offering Information.
To restore a removed banner, use the ellipsis button in the bottom-right corner of a homepage.
Adjusting a Site Navbar
Brightspace tools are laid out in red navigation bar across the top of every page. While most tools (see Course Administration for a complete list) are active on every site, student access is restricted to those made visible in the navbar.
The tools displayed can be customized and there are some appearance options.
An ellipsis button will appear when you hover over the right end of the navbar.
You can choose to Customize This Navbar or Manage All Course Navbars. The latter can be used to manage copied Navbars between the sites you control.
If you w