Introduction
The Course Overview widget is a dashboard that is displayed on the left-hand side of your unit/module homepage. It is designed to show you valuable data about student access and engagement, which it does in the form of interactive charts and tables.
This guide will provide examples of the ways you can use the widget to reflect on, and potentially increase your students’ engagement with Brightspace and the learning resources and activities you have provided therein. This guide also provides detailed information relating to supporting students who may potentially need additional individual guidance and assistance, and includes signposting to where staff and students can access this additional support within the university.
Initially, what you will see of the widget is a bar chart showing how many people have visited the unit or module in the last 7 days (and if any quizzes have been submitted today - quizzes can be a central part of an online pedagogy, and seeing that your students are interacting with them can be a useful reference point; see picture opposite). Immediately beneath that chart are three clickable headings:
- Class Engagement
- Course Access, and
- Tool Access
We will look at each of the above in more detail over the next few pages.
Class Engagement
Clicking on the Class Engagement heading brings up an interactive report in three parts (pictured opposite, click to enlarge):
- The number of students that have not logged in in 7 days or more
- Grade distribution (absent if no grading)
- A full list of all those enrolled on the unit or module, with initial information about grades, access and discussions.
Looking at the areas of this screen in more detail
In the top left of the screen, in a box, you are given information about the number of students that have not visited the course in the past 7 days.
Beyond this, if you put check marks beside particular students you can send an email to those selected students.
In the top middle of the screen, in the box titled 'Grade Distribution' you will see colour coded blocks representing students currently scoring within certain brackets, e.g. 80-90.
Note: If you do not use the Grade Center in your unit or module, this box will not be present.
Taking up the majority of the screen is the full list of those enrolled (all roles) on the unit or module.
- Clicking on a name in the Name column will take you to the Progress Summary screen;
- Clicking on a grade in the Grade column will take you to the Grade Progress page within the Class Progress tool;
- Clicking on a time period in the Last Visited column takes you to the Course Access Progress screen; and
- The final two columns (Discussions) both take you to Discussions Progress.
Class engagement screen - the tip of the iceberg!
As indicated on the previous page, almost every element of the Class Engagement screen is clickable/interactive, for example the student names listed in the Name column (as shown opposite). Clicking on any of the names will take you to the Class Progress interface.
Far more than a summary of a student's grades, as the name might suggest, Class Progress offers usage data in 11 separate categories (Grades, Objectives, Content, etc. as shown in picture opposite).
Clicking any of the headings highlighted opposite will take you to a screen with dates and times of access, and where applicable, detailed results.
Clicking on a right-facing arrow (circled opposite) gives additional information about the content in that category (for example, clicking on the arrow to the right of Grades Recieved will show each grade item (most recent first) with results, submission date/time, and feedback).
Course Access
At the top of the report are buttons to export the report in either a Microsoft Excel format or a .CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.
By default, the report displays the data for the past 7 days for all user roles in the system. Use the filter options on the right side of the screen to filter for different start and end dates or to see various user roles.
The graph below the bar chart shows access events from the start date of the course through the end date.
The text below the charts/graphs will list the number of 'access events' for the time frame shown in the bar chart. An access event is a user accessing the course's home page.
Clicking on Course Access brings up an interactive report, dominated by a bar chart showing how many users have accessed the unit or module in the past 7 days.
Looking at the areas of the Course Access screen in more detail
In the top right of the screen you will find various filtering options and ways to download the report for further analysis. In the picture opposite:
- The buttons highlighted in Area 1 allow you to download a course access report in either Microsoft Excel format (xlsx) or in.CSV (Comma Separated Values) format.
- Area 2 allows you to set a date range of your own choosing.
- Area 3 is, by default, set to show 'All Roles' but if you remove the tick beside All Roles, you can filter for one or more specific roles (e.g. Student).
In the main part of the Course Access screen you are able to visualise the access of various users over time. In the picture opposite (click to enlarge):
- Box 1 indicates the particular roles that are shown in the graph.
- The date range shown in the main chart is also shown zoomed out as a shaded area in Box 2. Note: This area of the chart is interactive, you can click and drag your mouse to select a date range.
- Box 3 gives total figures for the chosen date range.
Consider this...
Scan a range of days, see if you can spot any anomalies (for example, certain weekdays are significantly quieter than others). Could this be an opportunity to have your students work on a collaborative activity that would bring them back to the learning environment?
Access events for one day
Tool Access
The visualisation of choice in Tool Access is the pie chart. Colourful and informative, the pie chart shows the percentage of overall use of a tool that has been viewed at least once over a date range.
Like the Course Access screen, the date range (Area 1 opposite) can be manipulated (by default it shows 12 months but can be changed to last month or last 7 days), as can the role displayed (all roles by default).
The chart itself (Area 2 opposite and below) is not clickable but hovering over any section will display how many times that tool was viewed in the time period:
Beneath the pie chart you will see tool access information in table form. The table is not interactive but does help give an alternative way to visualise the information.
Using Tool Access to achieve the benchmarks for the use of technology in learning and teaching
The new UHI Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy 2022-27 was launched in autumn 2022. Learning and Teaching is currently working on updating the Benchmarks for the use of Technology in Learning and Teaching which are based on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement strategy. This guidance refers to the previous version of the Benchmarks and will be updated during the current academic year. Until this guidance is updated to reflect the new Benchmarks please feel confident to continue using it.
The university has an approved set of Benchmarks for the use of technology in learning and teaching. The benchmarks provide guidance and exemplars for the effective use of Brightspace and the associated technologies for learning and teaching in pedagogically sound and evidence-based ways. The benchmarks are aligned with the university’s Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy, and enable the embedding of the Learning and Teaching Enhancement Values in how we use Brightspace to support learning, teaching and assessment.
The Learning and Teaching Enhancement Value ‘Enriching learning through digital practices' is particularly relevant to how we make use of Brightspace, and defined as:
"We will harness digital technologies and spaces for learning, teaching and assessment to support active engagement in individual and collaborative learning, and to enable students to have a meaningful and connected learning experience regardless of their place or mode of study. This will incorporate authentic digital practices whereby students use technology to create and share resources, to evidence their learning, and develop their digital literacies."
In order to provide guidance and exemplars to aid staff in achieving the above, the university has defined three benchmarking categories for how Brightspace can be used in learning and teaching (shown opposite, click to enlarge).
Clicking on the requirements for each benchmark category reveals suggestions as to how you may meet that benchmark by using the tools built into the learning environment.
Brightspace has many tools that can be used to give learners a personalised and collaborative learning experience, regardless of location, for example the Discussions tool can be used to host reflective activities (students can upload all forms of multimedia to Discussions) in which students share with and learn from each other.
Your use of the Course Overview Widget may provide some insight into where your modules or units are in relation the Threshold benchmark, and may help identify where you could enhance your practice in moving towards the Developed and Exemplar benchmarks. More specifically the Tool Access screen can be very helpful in identifying how much use your students are making of the tools within Brightspace.
Look at the information given in the Tool Access table (example shown opposite), think about the tools you see listed. If there are low percentage scores beside collaborative tools such as Discussions, or interactive tools such as Quizzes, consider increasing your use of these tools.
Reflecting on and enhancing engagement
While not exhaustive, the following points are offered as general guidance in relation to the above and to help staff consider and further develop how they are supporting students in Brightspace.
For guidance that relates to individual students who may not be engaging, and who may be in need of specific forms of support and guidance, please see the section ‘Identifying those in need and responding to disclosures’.
Have you provided clear guidance to your students, including within your module or unit in Brightspace, on how Brightspace and the resources and activities you have provided therein are intended to be used by your students, including how to use them most effectively to support their learning, coursework and assessment? This kind of information should be as clear as possible.
You may also want to ensure that your module or unit has a clear timeline relating to what your students should be planning to do online, and when.
Also consider where the substantial learning and teaching activities for your unit or module are taking place. If they are occurring elsewhere (e.g. in classroom/workshop/lab/field/workplace) then it may be that your students only need to be engaging with Brightspace for specific purposes.
It may be that your students have accessed key documents once, when they have first needed them, and downloaded their own copy to make continued use of. However, you may want to check with your students that they know where to find key documents and you may want to post announcements or reminders at specific points in time when they should be reading specific materials.
Have you been clear on the purpose of the interactive content and activities you have provided, including how they complement other learning and teaching activities to be undertaken in the classroom, other spaces away from Brightspace, or the coursework students are to undertake either individually or collaboratively? Similarly, are you indicating how video clips or other media-based content complement and should be used alongside written materials you have provided?
Are there specific tasks or types of discussion associated with the online discussion boards you have provided, for example asking general questions about coursework, discussing a particular topic, having advance or follow-up discussion relating to that week’s lecture/seminar/workshop/tutorial? And is there clear guidance provided in relation to what you expect from your students, including the points in time by which to post initial and final contributions?
Please see the university’s Benchmarks for the Use of Technology in Learning and Teaching (https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/learning-and-teaching-academy/innovation/ltes/benchmarks/), which provide a range of evidence-based (tried and tested) approaches to using technology to support various kinds of individual and collaborative learning, teaching and assessment activities.
The new UHI Learning and Teaching Enhancement Strategy 2022-27 was launched in autumn 2022. Learning and Teaching is currently working on updating the Benchmarks for the use of Technology in Learning and Teaching which are based on the Learning and Teaching Enhancement strategy. This guidance refers to the previous version of the Benchmarks and will be updated during the current academic year. Until this guidance is updated to reflect the new Benchmarks please feel confident to continue using it.
Identifying those in need
One of the tools within the Class Engagement section of the widget, is the filtered email tool (activated via the Email Class button shown in picture opposite, click to enlarge).
The Class Engagement screen will identify anyone who has not logged into a unit or module for 7 days or more.
Clicking on the number listed, e.g. 20 in the picture opposite, will filter the list of students shown to the screen, leaving only those who have not logged in recently.
Clicking on 'Email Class' will open an email window into which you can compose a message.
Dealing with student disclosures
After sending an encouraging email, the question becomes - what do you do with those who respond with issues, bearing in mind such respoonses are often not explicit and there is frequently more than one issue which you are told about?
The content below deals with what you can do on receiving a response from a student who has been absent, a response that might touch on several different causal factors. Click to expand the accordions to read about various topics and scenarios that might be disclosed by a student in their response to you. The information looks at possible ways of approaching them, and links to further guidance.
Do not keep these disclosures to yourself, pass them on directly as soon as possible to your Student Services Support Team. They can then establish the student’s circumstances and it may be that you are then informed of specific requirements or mitigations that apply to this student.
Special groups: Student status
- Being a carer - Carers Trust Scotland define a carer as ‘anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.’ Often this applies to young carers, who bear a considerable burden. However increasingly we also have students with elderly relatives who also depend on them. Inclusive support - Disability matters: Carers
- Being care experienced - The term refers to anyone who has been or is currently in care or from a looked-after background at any stage in their life, no matter how short, including adopted children who were previously looked-after. This care may have been provided in a one of many different settings such as in residential care, foster care, kinship care, or through being looked-after at home with a supervision requirement (definition as used by the Scottish Funding Council) Inclusive support - Disability matters: Care experienced. Every Academic Partner has a named person who is responsible for working with care experienced students but, like Health and Safety, there is a duty on all of us to play our part.
- Being estranged - If you are irreconcilably estranged from both of your biological or adoptive parents, or only living parent, then you would be considered an estranged student. Inclusive support - Disabillity matters: Estranged students
- Being pregnant/on maternity/paternity leave Staff guidance: Student pregnancy, maternity, paternity and adoption (adopted from ECU guidance). This ruling applies through the Equality Act of 2010.
- Gender Based Violence/Sexual Assault/Stalking/Sexting - pass any issues raised, including historic abuse, onto the GBV Lead at your Academic Partner. They will advise you on your response to the student and provide additional support to the student as appropriate.
Gender Based and Sexual Violence guidance.
- Safeguarding issues – where children aged under 16 may be involved or there are vulnerable adults – it may not relate to the student themselves, but to a child or other person in the household. Safeguarding information.
- Terrorism or Extremism – any hints that the person may be radicalised needs to be passed on. Again, these issues are dealt with sensitively by the referral agencies who respond and the confidentiality of the person reporting is maintained. Prevent information (the term ‘Prevent’ refers to measures taken to safeguard members of the university community who might be at risk of being drawn into terrorism). *Please note: This guidance site is for staff only.
- Feeling suicidal/attempting to take their own life - The Suicide Prevention and Risk Management Policy has a key focus on ‘intervention’ giving details of what to do, who to inform and the boundaries of confidentiality.
There is plenty of support available to students but never tell them they are entitled, instead say that they may be entitled, as when the full facts of the case are known, there may be circumstances in which the university or college cannot help.
Fees and living cost support
Issues usually fall under two main headings: fees and living cost support. Rules around these vary widely on the level of course (FE, undergraduate, postgraduate) the mode of study – full or part-time, residency eligibility and number of years already funded.
Refer students to the local Academic Partner’s Student Services or Student Funding staff.
For living costs there are, potentially, student loans (HE), bursaries (FE and HE), Educational Maintenance Allowances (FE), living cost loans (PG) and Discretionary Funds, but the rules and eligibility are set by the Scottish government and the Scottish Funding Council. These are complex and have annual external audit with specific evidence requirements. Support for Childcare is also possible, but again, has evidence requirements and eligibility criteria which need to be fulfilled.
Students can find the evidence requirements intrusive. However, they are specified by Government Agencies and although there is some room for discretion, there are some areas which are non-negotiable.
If a student cannot afford a laptop for their course, since the Covid pandemic, there has been separate Government provided support for digital support administered through the Academic Partners at a local level.
There have also been separate Covid Funds – specifically where hardship is related to Covid e.g. lack of employment income, extra heating costs etc. These are a bit more relaxed with eligibility and evidence but there are still rules.
There are also some external Scholarships and Trusts which students may be eligible to apply for.
Local Student Services teams are also often well-versed in benefits that students may be entitled to and can provide links to local CAB and other such organisations to help with complex cases and debt management.
For people in dire straits, many Academic Partners have good links with the local Food Banks, some can refer or provide vouchers themselves.
Offering a supportive environment
Our role is to offer them a supportive environment where they can manage these issues and still manage their study. For some, a person to talk to is a good starting point. The counselling service at your local Academic Partner may be relevant – either at the local Academic Partner or through the Green Button online counselling service. These services are free to students and can provide short term support to work through difficult emotions.
However, not everyone in difficult circumstances needs or wants counselling, some may just need some understanding by their tutors about what is causing their dip in performance. Depending on the individual, 'Mitigating circumstances procedures' (see page 8 of Personal Academic Tutor Pack) may be possible for HE students or in more extreme circumstances suspension of studies. Options are more limited for FE students, they may be given extra time to complete work, but cannot simply suspend their studies.
Although students are encouraged to disclose before they start and again when they do start, for various reasons some people do not. Many do not realise that we may be able to provide support, or do not want a label; others may not be aware they have a condition, or were hoping that their condition might not impact their ability to study.
The good news is that there is a lot of support available, when we know that there is an issue. The need and potential solutions are usually arranged between Inclusive/Disability Support Staff and the student at each Academic Partner. If the student will agree, you can refer them to this service, reassure them that it is confidential and there to be supportive to their study. It is not easy to admit that you need help or are struggling, so has taken courage to do so and people can be apprehensive and fear judgement.
This is not the case – UHI and all its partners has a responsibility in law to provide reasonable adjustments – which can also include amendments to assessment methods - and to provide support for people with a disability. Many people do not consider themselves disabled who fit into this category. Disability is a broad term – and statutory definitions include asthma, diabetes, epilepsy etc as well as many other conditions which may be well controlled, but also which have the potential to flare up and cause an issue in certain circumstances.
If it is more far-reaching than that, check out our information here Inclusive support - Disability matters
It may be that reasonable adjustments may be appropriate – if a student needs an adjustable chair or desk, is the floor they are on wheelchair friendly, do they need to know about provision for Disabled parking? And gritting from this to the main entrance as a priority? This is where issues should be anticipatory – we are expected to be able to facilitate students with a disability to access our buildings, our campuses, and our courses. If undertaking a practical course, this might include ensuring the workshop, lab, or salon etc is similarly accessible and disability friendly.
If these are issues which are being raised – please discuss with your Facilities Manager and/or your Equality and Diversity lead at your Academic partner.
There is now a UHI-wide Inclusive Practice Toolkit which helps to explain for all staff our roles and responsibilities in relation to disability.
If a student by reason of a disability, requires recordings of taught sessions, this policy allows for that to happen in most circumstances. Again, your Inclusive Practitioners at your local Academic partner should be able to facilitate getting this agreement put into place. However, there are some exceptions relating to group chat or confidential topics where exemptions may apply.
One of the main tools we use to support students with a disability or health issue is a Personal Learning Support Plan which marries the student, their individual barriers to learning, and the course they are taking, to provide individually tailored support.
Depending on the nature and impact of the issue, if they are studying at HE level, they may be able to apply for Disabled Student Allowance through SAAS which can give access to money for specific assistive technology, personal non-medical support etc. Our Disability Staff can provide help and support throughout this process and help to establish eligibility. However, this process can be lengthy – several months - so will not necessarily help straightaway. This is where a PLSP can be written to provide some mitigation until DSA measures are in place, and then be reviewed.
You don’t need to get into this too much with a student, but for a support plan and more so for DSA, we usually need some ‘evidence’ of the issue/condition from a third party – often a health practitioner, previous school, but also a variety of other qualified professionals. If Dyslexia is the issue and the student does not have acceptable evidence of diagnosis, our staff may also be able to support the student to get the diagnosis. This can also be a lengthy process.
Dyslexia is one of the most common learning difficulties and is one where there is great help available. However, the diagnostic process can be off-putting, so please encourage students to talk to the Inclusive Practitioners in their Academic partner to establish routes of support. If there is appropriate evidence of a diagnosis, student sat both FE and HE level can now use the Disability Sticker Scheme to allow their work to be marked for sense and content, and not for spelling and grammar.
Please bear in mind that not all mental health issues or conditions require support or intervention from us. Many people may have a condition that they have had for many years, and they cope well with medication and/or other support. However, conditions can be variable and when in a ‘dip’, some extra support may be helpful.
One of the main things you can do to help the student is to respond without judgement and with care and compassion. It is not your job to sort out the issues that they are facing, but it is your role to let them know about the help and support available to them as a student to help them to maintain their studies and to deliver their best academic work.
There is still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health issues, so your response can really help to dispel any lingering feelings of shame or disquiet that they may have about being treated ‘differently’ by disclosing.
If you wish to know more about some of the common mental health conditions, how they can affect studying and how we can support a student in this position, please look at the UHI Mental Health Toolkit.
Support plans for mental health
If the student has already disclosed their mental health issue, there may be a Personal Learning Support Plan in place. If there is and you are a PAT or Module Leader, you should have been notified via UHI Records. If you are a Module Tutor, the PAT should have sent you a copy of the Summary of Support, which details the institutional adjustments we are required to make to support that student. This may include styles of teaching, additional time for assessments and other course and person-specific on-going support requirements.
If the student does not have a PLSP, you can suggest that they investigate whether it would be helpful – pass them on to the Disability Officer/Support Team at your Academic Partner Inclusive support - Disability matters: Accessing learner support. They can arrange a needs assessment and ensure that appropriate support relevant to the student, their condition, and their course, is included within the plan. It is up to teaching staff to ensure that the parts relating to teaching and learning are implemented, including any assessment conditions.
Every Academic Partner has counselling provision in place for students offering for students., please check with your local Academic Partner for details. Since Covid19, most counselling has been virtual – using WebEx or other suitable online platforms - and this has worked surprisingly well. However, we also offer specific online counselling through UHI EO which can use instant messaging, be text-based, or use WebEx.
Therefore, our counselling provision is available to all our students, wherever they are based in the UK. For any student based overseas, we cannot offer counselling because of differing ethical practicalities and considerations.
Chaplains can provide religious and non-religious students with pastoral support and deal with questions of faith. The university works with a selection of external chaplains who are willing to support students virtually by phone or video call. Where chaplains are not available, we are sometimes able refer students to external religious and humanist organisations that students may find helpful.
If a student indicates that they are having suicidal thoughts or actions – please contact your local Student Services immediately for advice and guidance, or contact the Mental Health and Counselling Manager, Allie Scott, for urgent advice.
UHI has adopted a single policy relating to Suicide Intervention and Risk Management. The accompanying Guidance supports all staff to deal effectively and compassionately with these circumstances.
Where we have concerns about a student’s mental state adversely affecting their ability to study effectively or where their behaviour is impacting on the other students learning experience, you may wish to refer to the Support for Study Procedure. This is designed, as the name suggests, to be a supportive mechanism to help students, not a punitive system.
Please discuss any issue that you think may fit under this heading with your local Student Services team in the first instance.
If any student is not happy with an aspect of the course or feels that something is being done wrongly, there is the informal channel of the Red Button and the formal channel of the complaints process.
The complaints policy should only be used as a last resort, when informal ways of resolving differences have been exhausted.
Specific issues
They could be having issues with IT (as so many of us do). do they have issues with their device or connection? Do they know about the ServiceDesk? Or they may need something better/different, let them check out the academic partners Digital Support provision where a loan of a PC or help to upgrade a connection may be possible.
Are they suffering from bullying on the course or any other form of harassment in college or online? If so, we have the Student Code of Conduct (which in turn is covered in the university's Promoting a positive learning environment policy).
Are they feeling socially isolated? New to the area? Make sure they know how to link in with HISA locally About @ Highlands and Islands Students' Association (uhi.ac.uk)
If peer support would help Support with your studies - Peer support (uhi.ac.uk) there may be ways of finding this.
Are they contemplating changing course or dropping out?
Our Careers Service UHI Careers can help people to make the right decisions and help them to know what their option are. There are also financial considerations if students drop out – so they may need to talk to their Student Finance officers before taking action.
If they are considering suspending studies or need Mitigating Circumstances, they should talk to their PAT in the first instance, if at all possible. The rules vary depending on the course type and level, and there can be knock-on effects on funding eligibility later.
FAQs and exceptions
To access Content progress from the navbar click on Course Tools > Class Progress > Content.
To access Content Progress from the Course Overview widget, first select Class Engagement, then click on a student's name (blurred here to protect the user's identity) from the Name column (shown opposite).
Next, select Content from the left-hand menu (shown opposite).
You will now be looking at the Content Progress screen. From the very top of the page you will see interesting/important information including topics visited (ratio of visited to possible); total visits to the unit/module; total time spent (hrs:mins:secs).
As you scroll down, you will see the names of your content areas, the proportion of topics (this includes content items, quizzes, links, etc.) completed within those areas and the most recent date that the user visited that area.
For additional detail, especially for multi-item areas, click on the blue links to [x] Topics, [x] Modules beneath the folder name (shown opposite). This will expand the items within, giving details of when they were visited, or not. In the case opposite the documents were both viewed and downloaded.
If you have ever experimented with 'View as Student' in Brightspace, you may have noticed that when you are a student content areas (e.g. Week 3) feature a Download button near the top of the page (see picture opposite).
Clicking this button will download every item in the content folder into a zip file for the student.
In such a scenario (download only), Brightspace will only tell you (the lecturer) that the student has downloaded 4 items) - nothing else is recorded, for example, when they were downloaded, and to the right the status 'Never visited'.
A student selects Download from the drop-down menu beside an item of content, but does not view the item online, will I be able to tell?
Every item you upload to Brightspace has an associated downwards arrow to the right of it.
A student uses Blackboard Ally to create and download alternative formats of items, without viewing any items online, will I be able to tell?
One of the strengths of Blackboard Ally is that it can offer students multiple formats of every item you upload, with no additional effort on your part.
The item would remain as 'Never visited' in Content Progress. Unlike the example above, this action will not even feature mention of the item having been 'Downloaded'.
