Brightspace Course Templates
What Are Course Templates?
Course templates are files made available by Design & Development Services (DDS) to help faculty develop and post online course materials. DDS offers course templates for 16 week courses and for courses 8.5 weeks long or shorter:
Both the 16-week and 8-week templates are optimized for use in Brightspace and provide faculty with pre-created modules and sample pages with placeholder text for easy course development.
Why Would You Use Them?
- Speed-up course development through use of sample pages and placeholder text.
- Help meet QM standards through the use of sample pages and placeholder text.
- Ensure visual consistency across pages.
- Custom layouts with the advanced templates support a variety of media and provide visual interest.
- Icons in the advanced templates improve student wayfinding.
- Differentiate courses by applying custom colors and logos with the advanced templates.
Just Need a Jumpstart?
Don't need all of the weekly modules created or all of the fancy templates? The Starter Course template is a great alternative if you are just getting started with Brightspace or, just want to make more use of it with your traditional face-to-face course. The starter course includes an Orientation module along with some useful faculty resources and template examples. You can create your own modules. It also includes a sample assignment, quiz, discussion and announcement.
How Do You Get Started?
In order to get started using the templates, download one of the template files and then follow the steps below:
Note: If prompted by your computer, simply save the file to your disk. It is important that you DO NOT unzip the files on your computer before uploading as the ZIP file includes special files necessary to build all of the course modules, quizzes, etc...
- Navigate to the course you would like to add the templates to.
- Click on the My Tools menu and choose Import/Export/Copy.
- Scroll down the page and select the Import Course Backups option.
- Note:Be sure the default option, from a course package, remains selected.
- Click Start.
- Click on the Upload button and follow the prompts to upload the ZIP file or, drag-and-drop the ZIP file into the upload window.
- After the file is finished uploading, click on Import All Components and follow the prompts as directed.
- Note:If you only need a component of the templates, you can choose the Advanced Options button.
How Can You Get Help?
Contact DDS for support with the Course Templates (DDSHelp@uakron.edu, x4455)