Getting started
Find your course
Brightspace will be the online ‘home’ for many of your courses. If your instructor is using Brightspace, they will make your course available to you (often by Day 1). So if you don’t see all of your courses in advance- don’t panic!
Step 1: Access
Go to bright.uvic.ca or click the Brightspace link on UVic Online Tools.
Step 2: Log in to Brightspace
Log in using your NetLink ID and passphrase. If you don’t have a NetLink ID or have forgotten your passphrase, contact helpdesk@uvic.ca
Step 3: Find your course under "My course"
You will find all sites you have access to under “My Courses” Courses organized by term (e.g. Fall 2021) or category (e.g. My Supports).
On this page
Further resources
Why can't I find my course?
There are several reasons why a course may not be visible:
- You are waitlisted – some instructors allow waitlisted students to access where others do not.
- The course is not open – your instructor is responsible for activating the course and allowing access.
In either case, contact your instructor for assistance. If your course is year long, you should find it in the “year long” tab in “My Courses.”
Using the content tool
Use the Content tool to access course materials, complete required activities, and monitor your completion progress on topics contained within each course module. The Content tool is located on the navigation bar at the top of the course page.
Finding course material using the classic content experience
In the classic content experience, you may see the following sections: Overview, Bookmarks, Course schedule, and Table of Contents.
Overview
Instructors may use the Overview section to post the course syllabus and introductory course material. However, many instructors will post introductory course materials in a separate module. To find introductory materials, look for the overview section or a course information module, which should appear as the first module in your course.
Note: Your course may not include an overview section if your instructor has opted to include introductory information in a course information module.
Bookmarks
Brightspace allows you to bookmark important course content. Topics you bookmark will appear in a list on the Bookmarks page. To add a new bookmark to the list, click the Add Bookmark icon
while viewing a topic. The number beside the Bookmarks link indicates how many bookmarks you have.
Course Schedule
This page lists important course material dates, as well as other course events for the upcoming week. Upcoming events (within 7 days) on the course schedule include all events within the course from the Calendar tool. The number beside the Upcoming link indicates how many upcoming events are on the calendar.
Table of Contents
The table of contents lists all the modules available in your course. The number next to the module indicates how many topics or pages are contained within each module. Select a module from the Table of Contents to view its materials.
Watch an overview of the Content tool
The video below demonstrates how to navigate course content in the classic and new content experience. The FAQ links lead to relevant posts, like adding content in the HTML editor and accessing course content using ReadSpeaker.
Classic content experience
New content experience
Using the Brightspace Pulse App
Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app that can help learners stay connected and on top of their courses. In Pulse, learners can view their course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades, and announcements in one convenient place.
Benefits of using the Brightspace Pulse App?
Notifications sent straight to your phone
Learners are sent real-time alerts when course announcements are posted, new course content is added or existing content is updated, and when grades are made available by the course instructor.
An overview of upcoming tasks
The schedule view and weekly visualization provides learners with a quick overview of what is due daily, weekly, and later in the term across all their courses.
Other information
Browser requirements
- Use the automated System Check to see if your browser/platform meets the minimum requirements.
- Refer to the Brightspace documentation for Browser support for more information.
Brightspace Terms and Conditions
At the beginning of each term when you sign into Brightspace, you will be asked to agree to the following terms and conditions:
Brightspace is UVic’s primary platform for learning and teaching.
When you log into Brightspace and interact within the university community and with UVic’s online learning resources, you are subject to university policies and expectations including:
• Online Student Conduct for respectful and supportive learning environments;
• Academic Integrity adhering to the ethical values of honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility;
• Copyright for legal protection to original works of authorship;
• Non-academic Misconduct which applies to students participating in university activity
• Protection of Privacy, Security and Acceptable use of Electronic Information Resources
Student personal information is used in Brightspace for the purpose of facilitating learning, teaching, student collaboration, and participation in registered courses and community sites. Your name and preferred email address will be visible to other students using Brightspace. You can specify on your MyPage whether Brightspace uses your personal email address or your uvic.ca email address. UVic recommends that you use your uvic.ca email address for university activity.
Brightspace is compliant with BC privacy law and meets UVic’s rigourous security requirements. It is important to be aware of privacy and security in all online systems; be careful with your personal information and do not share information about yourself that you do not want others to see.
If you have questions or concerns about your use of Brightspace, please contact ltsisupport@uvic.ca
Suggestions for improving Brightspace
If you have ideas for changes and improvements to Brightspace, please share your ideas with us in the by emailing Learning and Teaching Support and Innovation..
You can also provide feedback directly to D2L in the Product Ideas Exchange (PIE) website. On this site you can submit new ideas for product changes and vote on existing ideas. The product developers use this site to determine which changes are important to instructors, staff and students. Go to Brightspace Community and click on the Product Ideas Exchange link. You’ll need to sign-up for a free account on the Community with your UVic email in order to use the exchange.
Refer to the Brightspace Product Idea Exchange Overview for details on how the PIE works.