Navigating the D2L Homepage

The homepage is the first page you see when you log in to D2L Brightspace or enter your course. The D2L Brightspace homepage contains various things that are important for students and faculty.  The typical default homepage is widget-based. Widgets are sections of content that provide information and links to tools, courses, and personal settings. Course homepages can point to Brightspace tools, such as Announcements or Content, or an external URL.

Login to D2L with your username and password. You will then see all of your courses assigned to you. Select the course from My Courses that you want to work with. As an instructor, all of your current courses will be towards the bottom of the list. Pinning them to the top is a good idea, so that you can quickly find them.

You will then see a homepage similar to the one below.

(To use this graphic, find the corresponding number below the graphic to explain what that feature of the homepage layout is about.)

Note: The supported browsers are the latest version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari or Edge.

1. Course selector or waffle icon is used to search for your assigned courses.  Use the pin icon next to the course name to save it to the top of the list.
2. Create emails or texts. View an email sent log. Enter the body of the message using Brightspace Editor. See section on the Brightspace Editor below for more details.  Add your e-signature found under the Settings gear.
3. View alerts for subscribed discussion posts.
4. View notifications for announcements, due dates, end dates and grades.
5. Personal menu (profile picture): Edit personal settings which includes role change, profile, notifications, account settings, and language preference (English only is available at this time). If needed, you can change the time zone under Account Settings > Account Settings tab. In Account Settings > Email tab, you can change your default email address and set up an e-signature.
6. The gear provides access to Media Library and ePortfolio.
7. Course Home links back to this homepage. If you move to a different section, you can click on the Course Home to bring you back to this course's homepage.
8. Content is the primary place to add files and other learning materials and share them with students. It can also be used to organize all the course activities.
9. Assessments has a drop-down menu that includes several categories; Attendance, Awards, Checklist, Class Progress, Competencies, Dropbox, Grades, Quizzes, Rubrics, Self Assessments, and Surveys. The bold words represent the most frequently used by faculty.
10. Communications has a drop-down menu that includes several categories; Chat, Course Mail, Discuss, Groups, Virtual Classroom, and Zoom-DSU. The bold words represent the most frequently used by faculty.
11. Resources provides a drop-down menu that includes several categories; Ally Course Report, Calendar, Classlist, Course Builder, ePortfolio, Locker, Manage Files, System Check and a VitalSource Digital Materials link.
12. Help lists student resources available on campus, such as the DSU Bookstore, DSU Library, DSU Policies, DSU Support, the Writing Center, TrojanConnect and Tutor.com along with D2L Instructor and Student guides.
13. Edit Course allows you to access and manage all of the files, tools and resources for this course.
14. The Getting Started section provides information for students specific to the course that they can quickly access like your Syllabus, Professor information, technical requirements for the class and standards of conduct. 
15. Course Info provides students with contact information and office hours for the Professor and it also lets the students know how quickly to expect a response back from the Professor.
16. Updates is a place that displays items like ungraded assignment submissions and quizzes.
17. News allows instructors to communicate updates, changes, and new information to students.

Click on the video below to see the video walkthrough of the D2L homepage.