Basic Navigation in D2L Brightspace

Audience

Faculty

Question

How do I navigate D2L Brightspace?

Answer

 

Basic navigation in D2L is done using links, menus, and icons. If at any time you want to know what an icon does, point and hover your mouse over it and a box will pop up with a description.

BSU Homepage

  1. When you log into D2L, you will arrive on the Homepage. You will navigate using links, menus, and icons.
  2. If you have access to courses at other Minnesota State schools, you will see school tabs listed across the top and you can select them to switch between schools. 

  3. On the right side of the page, you will see campus-wide announcements. After you have read an announcement, you can dismiss it by selecting the X in the right corner. To see dismissed announcements, select the Announcements heading. 

  4. The navigation bar has several useful items:

  • Select a course icon for switching between courses.
  • Alert icons for messages, subscriptions, and updates. 
  • Personal menu for setting up your profile, notifications, and account settings. 
  • Links to tools: Quick Eval, Discover, System Check and Course Self-Service.

Course Access (2 options)

1.    My Courses Widget: In the My Courses widget you will see up to 12 courses that you are enrolled in. You can use the filter tabs at the top of the widget to see specific courses. For example, if you select the Fa25 filter, you will only see courses from that semester. If you would like to pin courses to the top of the My Courses list, hover over the right-hand side of the course image and select Pin. If you are teaching a course, you also have the option to change the course image. To enter a course from the My Courses Widget, select the course image. 

2.    Select a Course Icon: At the top of every D2L page you will find a waffle-shaped icon, called “select a course.” You can select this icon to access all courses. Pinned courses are displayed at the top of the list.  To enter a course from the waffle icon, select the course name.

Other Widgets

1.    On the right side of the homepage, you have access to Microsoft 365. Sign in using your Minnstate credentials to quickly see upcoming calendar items, email messages, and OneDrive files. 
2.    You also have a Helplinks widget. This will give you easy access to local and system office resources. 
3.    If you have signed in to Microsoft 365, at the bottom right of the homepage you will have access to the Request Help widget. This widget allows you to search for help topics and request help from eLearning Support at BSU or the Minnesota State service desk. Select the hamburger menu in the upper left corner to see additional options.

Course Homepage

When you enter a course, you land on the course homepage. This page contains several items.  

  1. To return to this page, select the course title at the top of the page.
  2. Mini Bar: Course selector, alerts, and your personal menu.
  3. Navigation Bar: Direct access to Content, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes and Grades. Additional tools are found in the Other Tools and Course Tools menus.
  4. Course Banner: Displays the image associated with your course. You can change the image and change the text on the banner.
  5. Announcements: Used to communicate with students throughout the term. It works like a bulletin board for your course. Since this is the landing page for the course, we recommend that you add a Welcome message as your first announcement.
  6. Updates: Displays information on recent activity such as new discussion posts, submitted assignments and quiz attempts that need to be graded.
  7. Instructor Profile Widget: Select the links in the widget to update your personal and course information.
  8. Calendar: Upcoming events in your course.
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