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Brightspace Content Levels & Organization

Keeping organized with Units, Lesson Folders, and Pages

The AACPS Office of Instructional Technology

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Organizing Content in Brightspace

Content in Brightspace can be organized by nesting lesson folders and pages within units.

Unit/Module

Lesson/Topic

HTML Doc/Topic

Folder/Topic

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Units/Modules

What is it?

A unit is the top level of organization in Brightspace.

What goes into a unit?

  • Lesson Folders
  • Pages

View Examples of Units here.

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Things to know:

  • Units can be reordered, but cannot be changed to a lesson folder.
  • Can have release conditions applied
  • By default, when a unit is created it is hidden from students. When a unit is hidden from students, all materials contained within are hidden.
  • The main page can not be viewed full screen or in another tab.
  • Availability Dates can be added when created or edited later. Turn on visibility when setting the date/time.

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What will students see when they click on a unit?

  • Text
  • Embedded files
  • Videos- YouTube or Video Notes
  • Table
  • Images
  • Hyperlinks to websites
  • Quick Links to other items in Brightspace

Name of Unit

Examples of items that can be added to this space.

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**Note: When building, be mindful student Chromebooks have a smaller viewing area then teacher devices.

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Lesson or Folder

What is it?

A lesson folder falls under a unit or another lesson folder. It can be a second or third level of organization.

What goes into a lesson or folder?

  • Lesson or folder
  • Topics

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Things to Know:

  • Lessons/folders can be moved between units and reordered, but cannot be changed to a unit.
  • Can have release conditions applied.
  • The main page can not be viewed full screen or in another tab.
  • The second level of lesson folders can only hold pages.
  • Availability Dates can be added when created or edited later. Turn on visibility when setting the date/time.

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What will students see when they click on a lesson folder?

  • Text
  • Embedded files
  • Videos- YouTube or Video Notes
  • Table
  • Images
  • Hyperlinks to websites
  • Quick Links to other items in Brightspace

Name of lesson folder

Examples of items that can be added to this space.

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**Note: When building, be mindful student Chromebooks have a smaller viewing area then teacher devices.

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Topics

What is it?

Topics fall under a unit, lesson, or folder. It is the lowest level of organization in the Content area.

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What can be a page?

  • HTML document
  • File
  • Google Assignment
  • Brightspace Assignment
  • Quiz
  • Checklist
  • Discussion

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Things to Know:

  • Topics can be viewed full screen* and/or in another tab.
  • Many topics, such as assignments and quizzes will require students to click a button to open the item in another tab.
  • Topics can be moved between units and lesson folders.
  • Availability Dates can be added when created or edited later. Turn on visibility when setting the date/time.

*When viewed full screen, extensions such as Read&Write will not be available.

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What will students see when they click on a page?

This will depend on the item included on the page. Examples of different pages are below.

Web Link

Embedded Google File

Uploaded MS Word Document

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What do students see for assignments and quizzes?

Google Assignment

Brightspace Assignment

Brightspace Quiz