Add course materials in Content in D2L Brightspace

Add course materials in Content

As an instructor, you can organize your learning materials in Content. Navigate to the Content tool from the course navigation bar.

In Content, you can upload the course schedule and syllabus, lectures, and learning materials so students can access them. Add documents, images, media, and links to websites or course activities as topics. And topics are organized using a structure (units/lessons/folders).

Check out this create course content video in MediaSpace for an overview. 

Create your structure

To organize your course materials, create a unit to get started. To create a unit:

1. Navigate to the Content tool.
2. In the left navigation panel, select New Unit. 
   
3. Enter a title and any other details. 
4. When finished, select Save and Close. 
5. The newly created unit is added to the left navigation.
   Note: Any additional unit is added to the bottom of the list. You can reorder the units by dragging and dropping them in the left navigation panel. 

What's a lesson and a folder?

Under a unit, there are options to create lessons and folders. These terms - units, lessons, and folders - are only visible to you as an instructor when creating or editing the page. However, you do not need to refer to the units/lessons/folders terms in student instructions, topic titles, or other labels. Please continue to use the terms that are familiar to you and your students, and that your using for your course structure. 

• A 'unit' is equivalent to level 1, like a module
• A 'lesson' is equivalent to level 2, like a sub-module
• A 'folder' is equivalent to level 3, like a sub-sub-module

As a sample, you may use a weekly structure (the 'unit') for your content. In the week's structure, you may have materials (the 'lesson') separated from learning activities. Under materials, you made provide optional resources (the 'folder'). This is just one way we can structure our content by using units and optional lessons/folders. 

To upload a file

1. In the left navigation panel, expand the unit you want to upload files to. 
2. Select Add Existing. 
3. Select the location of the document.
   • Select Browse to select and upload from your device. 
   • Select More > Course Files to select from your course files. 
   • Select More > M365 Document to sign in to your campus Microsoft 365 account and select a document, and choose link or embed. 
4. The topic is created in the left navigation panel. 

To create a HTML page

1. In the left navigation panel, expand the unit you want to upload files to. 
2. Select Create New.
3. Select Page. 
4. Enter a Title for the page and any other details or restrictions. 
5. Optionally: Select a HTML template from the Select a Document Template menu to use the outline for your content. 
6. Enter your content for the page.
   
7. When finished, select Save and Close.

To add a course activity as a topic

1. In the left navigation panel, expand the unit you want to add course activities to. 
2. Do one of the following: 
   • To create a new learning activity not in your Brightspace course, select Create New. Select the activity type. (Note: Use the 'More' option to access additional options.) Fill in the details. When ready, select Save and Close, or Create and Insert.  
   • To choose an existing learning activity already available in your Brightspace course, select Add Existing. Select the activity type. (Note: Use the 'More' option to access additional options.) Select the activity to add it. 
3. The activity is added to the bottom of the list in the unit, but can reorder the activity by dragging and dropping it in the left navigation panel. 

Replace the file for an existing topic

You can replace the file that is linked to a topic. In this case, the topic's title, properties, and restrictions remain the same, but the underlying file is replaced. For example, you may want to change the file for your syllabus topic so it reflects the current course. 

1. In the left navigation panel, expand the unit that contains the topic you want to edit. 
2. Select the topic's title you want to edit. 
3. Select the three-dot options menu and select Edit. 
4. On the edit page, select Replace. 
5. To replace the topic's file, you can upload a file from your device (My Computer) or select an existing course file (Course Offering Files).
6. When finished, select Save and Close.

Set the availability dates for content

Learn more about setting dates on content, including start, due, end dates and hiding content.