Semester Start-Up: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Brightspace?

Brightspace (formerly known as D2L) is Memorial University’s learning management system. It is a web-based technology, which means that you and your students can access a course in Brightspace from any device, from anywhere, at any time. It is a convenient ‘one-stop shop’ with many different types of tools to assist you in the delivery and facilitation of your course.

What is a course shell?

A course shell is an older term used to refer to the Brightspace site for your course.

How do I get a Brightspace course site for my course?

If you are teaching a course in the current semester, you will automatically be provided with a Brightspace course site. Once you are listed as the instructor in Banner (Memorial’s student registration system) each semester, a Brightspace course site will be automatically created for you for each of your courses.

Can I get a Brightspace site for testing and development?

Yes. Please contact CITL Support Centre to make your request.

Do I have to get ANOTHER username and password?

No. All you need to log in to Brightspace is your MUN login ID and password (the same password you use to login to my.mun or to access webmail).

Where do I go to log in to Brightspace?

There are several ways to access Brightspace:

  • go directly to online.mun.ca,
  • go to Memorial’s homepage, click ‘Log in’ in the top right corner and select ‘Online Learning’, or
  • log in to my.mun.ca and access it through the Online Learning widget available under the ‘Students’ or ‘Employees’ tab.

If I teach multiple sections, will I have a separate course site for each section?

You can if that is what you wish. You also have the option of combining the sections of your course. This means that all the sections of the same course you are teaching would share the same course site. This is convenient in that you only have to maintain one course site containing all of the sections, instead of a course site for each section of the course.  You can learn more about this on our combining sections page.

How do my students get access to the course site?

Student will use their MUN login ID and password. If they are registered for your course in Banner, your course will appear on their list of courses in Brightspace.

Why is my course site blank? I thought I would see everything I had set up last semester.

Each term you will get a new empty course site for the courses you are teaching. You can then copy all of the content and settings from a previous offering into your new course site. This only takes a few seconds. For information on how to transfer components from a previous course offering, visit our resources on copying course components.

Can teaching assistants (TAs) get access to my course in Brightspace?

Yes. TA’s can be given access to your courses. You can easily add a TA to your Brightspace course by using the Course Site Enrollment Tool.

What aspects of the course can teaching assistants access?

TA’s have access to the Classlist, Grades, Quizzes and the Assignment tool. They cannot upload content. For information on different roles in Brightspace and privileges associated with them, please visit this resource.

Is Brightspace used widely for on-campus courses?

Yes. Over 500 on-campus courses use Brightspace.

Who can I contact if I need help?

If you need technical assistance with Brightspace, such as adding accounts, or any other technical problems, you can contact the CITL Support Centre.

If you need assistance with using the tools in Brightspace, you can contact the Teaching and Learning Exchange at tlx@mun.ca.

Who can my students contact if they need help?

Students can contact the CITL Support Centre or, if they are on-campus in St. John’s, they can also visit the Commons in the QEII Library where student staff are available to provide one-on-one assistance to students who need help with using Brightspace.