Contents
How do I contact my instructor?
Refer to the syllabus provided for the course as many instructors will indicate a preferred method of communication. Also, check the homepage of the course site to see if the instructor profile is present with a contact method.
How do I interact with my instructor and other learners?
Inquire with your instructor as to their preferred method of communication. You can interact with other students and staff through MS Teams, your Brock email, or Instant Messages. Your instructor may also create space for Discussions in Brightspace.
Can I send a message or email within Brightspace?
Communication methods within Brightspace are extremely limited for students. The Chat tool is disabled at Brock and students cannot access the Brightspace mailing system due to privacy concerns.
Instant Messages can be used to connect with instructors and classmates but most external alternatives are superior.
What are Instant Messages?
Brightspace’s Instant Messages tool gives students a means to communicate with one another beyond the confines of a course site.
Where can I find the Instant Messages tool?
Instant Messages can be accessed by selecting the envelope icon (Message alerts) along the top of any Brightspace page, next to the Select a course… button. The option to go to Instant Messages will appear in the drop-down menu. This is also where Instant Message notifications will appear.
Click Instant Messages to go to new window. The default view is of the Inbox, where conversations with peers can be seen. Messages can be set as read and unread, deleted, and sorted by different views.
Messaging classmates and instructors
Discussion activity will be one of the only places a student can find and directly message classmates. This is useful if Discussion activity has initiated groupwork.
Selecting a classmate’s profile image will bring up the Send Instant Message option.
That button will open a pop-up window with the recipient’s name and a small area for text.
Adding a Friend
Adding another Brock user as a Friend will allow you to contact them outside of a Classlist.
Navigate to the Friends tab at the top of the Instant Messages window
Select Add Friends → Add By Username
There is another option in the Add Friends drop-down menu called Search Users, this tool is disabled for privacy reasons.
The only way to add a friend is if you know their Brock ID (e.g., sm17dy or melliot2)
Enter the Brock ID of the person you wish to add as a Friend and select Add
Upon doing so, the person will be added to your friend list.
Only one user has to add the other as a friend. Upon receiving a message from the sender, the recipient can add them to their friends list directly within the conversation.
Beginning a Conversation
Once you have successfully added a friend, there are a few ways to begin a conversation.
The Friends Tab
Selecting a friend in the Friends tab will open up a conversation with them, where users can message each other back and forth.
The Classlist Tab
If someone has a long list of friends and only wants to reach out to someone in a particular course they share, they can select the Classlist tab and sort their friends by courses they share.
Upon selecting Classlist, users are given the ability to sort through the courses they are enrolled in and see if any of their friends share one.
Messaging in Conversations
If you can perceive colour, your messages are a light grey, while the responding friend has light blue messages.
Unlike in normal text-messaging applications, Instant Messages only displays the most recent message when in a conversation, with the option to View All under the most recent. When View All is selected, all the previous messages will appear below the most recent, which is reversed from most text-message applications, where the most recent message is at the bottom of the chat.
Responses may not appear automatically. Users may have to switch between the Inbox tab and another tab in Instant Messages to force it to update.