Brightspace Frequently Asked Questions
Check out our newly updated Brightspace FAQs! This list runs through the most common questions the Brightspace Support Team gets throughout the year. If you have any questions not listed here, be sure to contact our Support team for assistance.
Instructor Guides – Complete List
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TAs must be added to your course by the Office of the University Registrar. Read more about this process here.
Course Management
- How can I make my course active, so it is visible to students?
- How can I save copies of important course documents and close out my Brightspace course at the end of a semester?
- How do I combine my courses or sections into one course?
- How can I add TAs or other users to my course?
- How can I add a subject librarian to my course to help students with research? – Vanderbilt Libraries resource
- How do I email my entire class, or individual students?
- How do I create/edit a homepage for my course?
- How do I upload a custom image for my homepage banner?
- How do I change the theme colors for my course?
- How do I delete my homepage and make another tool the first page students see?
- How do I turn off course tools I do not need?
- How can I upload a profile photo to my Brightspace account?
- How to I Access Materials in the Learning Object Repository (LOR)?
- How do I Place LOR Material into my Course Content?
- How do I track attendance in Brightspace?
Content
Assignments
Quizzes, Surveys, and self-assessments
Lockdown Browser is a tool to facilitate online test-taking in a more secure environment. The company that provides the tool offers webinars to train faculty in using the Lockdown Browser. You can find their schedule here
Grades & Rubrics
- VIDEO GUIDE: Introduction to Grades
- Step 1: How do I set up my gradebook?
- Step 2: How do I create or delete grade categories and items?
- Example of a Weighted Gradebook
- Example of a Points Gradebook
- Where do my students see their grades?
- How do I release final grades in Brightspace?
- How do I associate an assignment with a grade item?
- How do I exclude a grade category or item from the final grade calculation?
- How do I create and use rubrics?
- How do I enter all grades for a specific Grade Item?
- How do I import a custom grade scheme from another course?
- How do I Export my Gradebook into Excel?
- How do I award extra credit? Extra credit, bonus items, and exceeding 100%
- How do I drop the lowest grade from a Grade Category?
- How can I calculate a mid-semester/midterm Grade?
Groups & Discussions
USING MEDIA IN BRIGHTSPACE: KALTURA AND YOUTUBE
Is there a guide you’d like to see, but it isn’t here? Let us know! We are always looking for ways to improve our documentation.
Video Conferencing: Zoom and Virtual Classrooms
- Everything you need to know about Zoom – Vanderbilt Hustler article, March 2020
- Zoom Best Practices – VUIT resource
- Should I record my live class meeting?
- How can I record and share my class meetings with my students?
- How can I record and share my class meetings with future students or people outside of the course?
- How can I prevent students from sharing videos outside of class?
VIDEO GUIDE: How to create a whiteboard demo video using Zoom and a tablet – a tutorial video by Owen faculty member Jesse Blocher