Relevant to: students
This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, policies and procedures may effect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.
Introduction
Brightspace is SUNY Empire University's Learning Management System (LMS). This article will provide a quick tour of the platform and what you can expect when you log in.
Terminology
- Widget: Main links to important categories of information. Examples include the links to your courses on the Brightspace homepage.
- Accordion: A menu with headers that can expand to show more detailed information or remain closed to keep the page less cluttered.
- Breadcrumb Trail: Found in the inner pages of a course, a breadcrumb trail is a path of links that allow you to "back out" of the pages you have visited. Appears right under the navbar.
- Ellipses: Three dots in a row (...), often used to hide more options. Select the ellipses to see the options.
The Brightspace Landing Page
When you log into Brightspace, you'll be on the Brightspace landing page. (Please note: to access Summer 2024, log into the SUNY-wide instance of Brightspace)
At the top of the page, you'll find the minibar. The minibar appears in this spot wherever you are in Brightspace and includes the following links, going from left to right:
- The SUNY Empire University shield icon, links to the Brightspace landing page.
- A waffle or grid-shaped icon called the course selector, contains links to all your courses
- An envelope icon contains message alerts and links to your email within Brightspace
- A conversation bubble icon, which contains subscription alerts and links to your discussions
- A bell icon contains update alerts such as new or updated announcements, due dates, end dates, and grade updates.
- Your name, which includes links to your profile, notifications, account settings, progress and log-out
- A gear icon, which contains links to administrative tools such as an audio/video note editor
Right below the minibar is the navbar. The links on the navbar change depending on whether you're on the Brightspace landing page or inside a course. On the Brightspace landing page, the following links appear from left to right:
- MySUNYEmpire
- Library
- Student Support
- Policies
- Discover
- Help
Below the navbar is the SUNY Empire Announcements.
Below announcements is the My Courses area, where you'll find links to your courses.
To the right of the My Courses area is the Calendar, where upcoming events are shown.
The Course Landing Page
From the Brightspace landing page, choose one of the links in the My Courses area to get to the course landing page.
At the top of the window is the minibar, with the same links as on the Brightspace landing page. The only change is that there is now a link to your course homepage next to the SUNY Empire shield icon.
Below the minibar is the navbar. Notice that the links are different than on the Brightspace landing page – inside a course, the navbar contains links to major areas of the course such as the course content, assignments, discussions, and grades.
Below the navbar, the page is divided into two columns. Moving from top to bottom, the left column contains the following:
- Visual TOC (table of contents), with widgets that link to the main sections of the course
- Work to Do, with activities that have upcoming due or end dates
Moving from top to bottom, the right column contains the following:
- Welcome
- Announcements, with announcements from the instructor
- Calendar, with important dates and events
- Teacher Profile, with a profile of the course's instructor