{"id":30346,"date":"2018-08-07t13:42:04","date_gmt":"2018-08-07t18:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=30346"},"modified":"2018-08-07t13:42:04","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07t18:42:04","slug":"make-your-brightspace-course-homepage-work-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2018\/08\/make-your-brightspace-course-homepage-work-for-you\/","title":{"rendered":"make your brightspace course homepage work for you!"},"content":{"rendered":"
when you (or your students) first click on a course from the main landing page in brightspace, the\u00a0default first page is a homepage that has the announcements tool and the calendar tool pre-loaded. however, the default is not your only option. in fact, you have quite a bit of control over what your students see when they click on your course. your options include the following.<\/p>\n
the default homepage design is called a widget-based homepage, and the two widgets it contains are the announcements tool and the calendar tool. if you like the homepage more or less the way it is, but want to tweak it, there are two ways to do that.<\/p>\n
first, you can go to course admin, then to course offering information. this page will allow you to add your course image as a banner on the homepage.<\/p>\n
second, you can go to homepages, also under course admin. there you will be able to add or remove\u00a0widgets from your homepage to customize your widget-based homepage to maximize its usefulness. we have an on-demand resource here<\/a> that can walk you through the steps in that process.<\/p>\n you can eliminate the homepage entirely, and instead have students\u2019 first entry into the course be a tool within the course. for example, if the only tool you are using in brightspace is the content page, why not eliminate as many of the other pages as possible, and have students go straight to the content page when they enter your course? if you have created a checklist to guide students through important tasks, why not make that the first thing they see?<\/p>\n replacing your\u00a0widget-based homepage with a brightspace tool is a simple process, and we have a guide to walk you through the steps here<\/a>.<\/p>\n if your students will frequently need to access an external web resource like a digital textbook site<\/a> or a class blog<\/a>, you can have that site open up as your homepage to give students easy and frequent access to the site. (note: some web resources, such as google sites, have code\u00a0in them that prevents this sort of linking, but most sites will work.)<\/p>\nmaking a tool (like content or checklists) the homepage<\/h4>\n
make another website your homepage<\/h4>\n