Library Guides & Databases
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Widgets are main links to important categories of information in a course.
Accordions are menus with headers that can open to display more detailed information, should the user want it, or closed to keep pages less cluttered.
These help you organize content on one page and allows your learners to focus on specific subtopics.
As you navigate through a course, you will often want to "back out of" the pages you have visited. Other times you may want to return to an area two or three steps before where you are currently working. As you work into modules, submodules, and content a path will appear underneath the navbar. You can click on any title in that list to return to that area.
Ellipses, which look like three dots in a row (...) are often used to hide more options. In a breadcrumb trails (see above) they can signify more options in which page you return to.
In some areas, they are hidden until you hover over them. For example, if you take your cursor to the far right of the navbar a set of ellipses will appear, showing you some lesser used options.
A chevron is a "V" shaped symbol wither on its side (">") or pointing downward ("v"). They can be found at the beginning or the end of a title, and signify that there is more hidden information or options. They are sometimes called a carrot or a dropdown arrow. Click on chevrons to reveal hidden contents or a dropdown menu of options/ actions.
These are hidden menus that only appear when you hover over or click on a chevron.
These menus are not universal, but are "contextual", or specific to whichever chevron you are addressing.
This is your primary navigational tool in Brightspace. It holds the course selector, your personal settings, and notifications. You can always find the minibar at the top of your screen, no matter where you are in Brightspace.
Working form left to right across the Minibar you will find: New Paltz home icon, course selector, messages/notifications, discussions, and updates.
This area contains links to tools within your course and external URL's (like the Library link).
This navigation area can change depending on where you are in Brightspace.
Our campus customized our homepage Navbar which can be seen below.
All courses you are either added to, enrolled in, or create will be shown in this section.
This link can be found under the "Instructor Only" tab. Hover over the "instructor only" tab and select "course admin". This will open up all the available course tools.
As Librarians, we need to be added to a course as a builder in order to see the course administration dropdown.
The Content Browser widget enables you to browse course content, view recently visited topics, and view bookmarked topics from your course homepage.
You can access your recently viewed and bookmarked topics from the content browser home and use the left column menu to navigate course content topics and modules.
As you navigate deeper into content modules, the navigation at the top ("breadcrumbs") enables you to move up one module level or jump backwards to the Content Browser home.
To view a topic, click on its name to launch it in View Content. The Content Browser widget retains the place you left off when you return to your course homepage. Continue through the accordion you are currently viewing to see some of the useful widgets you can add to your Content Browser.
Area on the course homepage where announcements are displayed. See Engaging Students section for more specifics about communicating with students.
The calendar is located on the left panel within a course site. The calendar displays due dates for the course.
Personal Settings are found under your Username on the far right of the Minibar. From there you can edit your Profile, Notifications, and Account Settings. This is also where you can Log Out of Brightspace or enter a "Student View" mode.
You can add a photo, preferred name, where you are from, and a link to a personal website.
You can choose your preferred contact methods, see a summary of your activities within courses, customize notifications received, and even exclude notifications from specific courses.
You can change email, change password, set pronouns, font size, set "read content", adjust video settings, set language, set time zone, format clock, format calendar, format how numbers and percentages are displayed, edit online status setting.
By clicking View as Student, you change your screen view so you can see your content how your learners will see it. Use this to verify your course content is how you want it- viewable or hidden.
You can log off in the upper right area within Personal Settings.