Creating a clear course structure from the start can help you feel organized in stressful times. By structure we mean directly students where to the course materials and assignments, what to do (and when!), and how all the course components fit together.
Create a Brightspace Course That’s Easy to Navigate
Brightspace works well as the central place for course materials and updates, as opposed to keeping some content in MS Teams and some content in Brightspace. Students are more likely to be confused if you store things on multiple platforms. Your Brightspace course can house links to recorded lectures, readings, assignment descriptions and student submissions and more! Here are some tips for creating an organized site.
- Use weekly modules
- Organizing content by week and topic helps students quickly locate what they need when they need it (i.e., Week of March 1: Topic(s)
- Use consistent naming
- Use a predictable naming pattern for files and activities, such as “Week of March 1– Readings".
- Consistency makes it easier for students to recognize the structure at a glance.
- Minimize Student Confusion
- If you’re using both Teams and Brightspace, be clear about where students should go for what.
- In most cases, having one primary place for course materials keeps things more manageable for students.
Tips for Sharing Course Content
There are several ways to share course materials. Most courses use a combination of tools, depending on the content and what students need access to.
Record lectures
Recorded content can be used in asynchronous courses to explain key concepts and provide context to other course materials. Here are some tips for creating effective content
- Record mini-lectures (10 – 15 minutes) using Microsoft Teams or ClipChamp (part of UVM’s Office 365 license). Research shows that viewers’ retention declines if videos are longer plus students can more easily revisit topics if they are “chunked.”
- If you recorded using MS Teams, you can use ClipChamp to edit recordings or create a series of shorter videos focused on key ideas.
- Your recordings don’t have to be perfect! Students are fine with the occasional “um” in your narration.
- Use automated captioning features and be sure to check for accuracy. You can also submit your video/audio files to Office of Accessibility Servies for captioning via their request form.
Use Brightspace’s HTML Document Template to Achieve a “Clean” Look
Using Brightspace’s “Create a file” function, you can create consistent pages by using the document template tool. You can also in-page navigational elements such as “accordions” and tabs. Your page will have accessible formatting such as headers. View a Brightspace tutorial on the Brightspace HTML tool for more information.
Ensure All Course Materials are Accessible
Building accessibility into course materials supports a wider range of learners and aligns with current accessibility requirements.
- The Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) can support captioning and accessible PDF remediation.
- Ally in Brightspace can also identify accessibility issues and suggest fixes.
Additional Resources
- Brightspace Content & Activities UVM Knowledge Base Article
- Brightspace Course Design Recorded Workshop Video (~40 minutes)
- During this workshop, we highlighted different approaches for structuring course materials in the Content area of Brightspace. We covered some Content fundamentals as well as provided tips for thinking about optimal ways to structure course materials, creating a cohesive experience for students.
- The following chapters of the recording may be especially helpful: Course Design Considerations • View Examples • Add Student View • More Examples • Prioritize Active Modules • Create Modules • HTML Editor / Document Templates