Published October 2024
Originally Published October 2021
By: Catrina Ascenuik & Shayne Fogle, Instructional Designers from D2L's Learning and Creative Services team
Updated by: Susan Kleisath, Product Manager
D2L offers two and a half different content experiences in Brightspace. In this article, we are going to discuss the different experiences to help you decide which one is best for you, and try to answer some frequently asked questions about the content experiences.
When setting up a new course, choosing between the Classic and New Content views will be one of the first decisions you are faced with. It can be confusing if you don’t have all the information. We’ll do our best to explain the differences and equip you with all the information you’ll need to make an informed selection about which view will be most suitable for your purposes. We’ll compare and contrast the two and will point out some of the advantages of each.
What’s great is that you can actually try both experiences and determine which user interface is best for your organization – enablement is via a configuration variable and you can switch between them at any time without impacting any content that has been created.
I’m sorry, what’s your name?
One of the most confusing things that educators and designers have come across when looking up material regarding the experiences is the naming conventions. There have been different names for all experiences, so first, we are going to clarify those terms for you.
Classic Content, also known as just Content, is the original content experience from Brightspace. If you’ve been using Brightspace for many years, you’ve likely been working in Classic. The content in Classic is referred to as modules (the organization structure) and topics (the material for learners to view and complete).
New Content has also been known as Lessons. When Instructors are using New Content, there are actually two options from a learner perspective that could be selected (hence the two and a half content experiences). The first is for learners to simply see the same view as the instructor, and the second is to use the Learner Experience which offers streamlined views for self-paced courses but does deviate from what Instructors in the course see. This selection is controlled by the administrators. The content organization structure in New Content is referred to as units/lessons/folders instead of modules.
Here’s a quick look at what you’ll see in the content section of each.
Classic Content
A course using Classic Content shows modules and nested sub-modules in the side navigation bar. Clicking on a module will open the table of contents for that module in the center. Clicking on a topic will launch a separate reading view for that topic.
New Content (Lessons)
A course using New Content shows units and nested topics or lessons in the side navigation bar. This is the full table of contents. Clicking on a module or topic will open it on the same screen allowing users to see both the table of contents and read their topic.
Learner Experience
A course using Learner Experience shows units and nested topics and lessons in the center of the screen as the full table of contents. Clicking on a module or topic will launch a separate immersive reading view for that topic - meaning the Brightspace navigation is collapsed so learners can focus on their topic.
How do I navigate in each experience?
Consider these common navigation workflows learners and instructors take and how the user navigates each experience for that workflow.
Learner: 1) Viewing personal progress to pick up where they left off; 2) Viewing a specific topic; 3) Navigating to the next topic;
Instructor: 1) Monitoring class progress; 2) Viewing a specific topic; 3) Editing a specific topic
Classic Content
Personas Who Can Use It | Course Creators, Instructors, or Learners |
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Monitoring Personal Progress | The side navigation bar includes a number of incomplete topics for each module or a checkmark if all child topics are completed. The table of contents center view includes a progress bar indicating how many topics have been completed. Beside each topic on the table of contents, there is a dot showing incomplete or a checkmark showing complete topics. Viewing a specific topic in the reading view shows an Activity Details section which outlines the completion state of that topic. |
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Monitoring Class Progress | View a topic; at the bottom of the page, there is an option to select ‘Completion Summary’ to view the list of learners and the status of their completion on that topic. For higher-level tracking, Instructors can view this in the Class Progress tool or through the Content Reports. |
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Viewing a Topic | Find the parent module in the side navigation bar. Find the topic in the central table of contents screen and select it. Note: for topics nested within multiple modules, this will require clicking through each module until the topic is found. Module nesting has no limit, but can drastically impact a learner's experience if topics are nested too deep as this increases the number of clicks to get to a specific topic. |
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Navigating to the next Topic | Next/Previous arrows are at the top and bottom of the reading view page. When a user is on the last topic of a module, the next button loads the table of contents page for the next module. A topic list can be expanded from the reading view to select the next topic. Users can also navigate through the breadcrumb trail located above the content. |
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Editing a Topic | Title – View the topic and click the title to edit it, or click the ‘v’ dropdown and select ‘Edit Title’. Dates – View the topic and click either ‘Add dates and restrictions..’ or if dates already exist click on the date. Description – View the topic and click either ‘Add a description…’ or if a description already exists click on the description. Note, that some activities don’t support descriptions. Grades -View the topic and click either ‘Add a grade item…’ or if a grade is already attached click on the grade item. Material - Only some topic types support editing the material. This can be done for HTML, Weblink, or Audio/Video topics. In each case, there is an 'Edit {type}' button available from either the view topic page or from the 'v' dropdown. |
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New Content (Lessons)
Personas Who Can Use It | Course Creators, Instructors, or Learners |
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Monitoring Personal Progress | There is currently no indicator for Learners to see which topics have previously been completed within this view. A completion status card is coming soon for Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and LTI topics. Stay tuned for further updates. Learners can access their completion tracking in the User Progress tool. |
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Monitoring Class Progress | There is currently no indicator for Instructors to know which learners have completed which topics within this view. A completion summary view is coming soon for Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and LTI topics. Stay tuned for further updates. Instructors can access completion tracking in the Class Progress tool or through the Content Reports. |
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Viewing a Topic | Find and expand the parent unit in the side navigation bar. Find the topic in the side navigation bar and select it. Note: for topics nested within a unit, lesson, and folder this will require expanding each module until the topic is found. Module nesting is limited to 3 sub-modules deep (Unit > Lesson > Folder > Topic). |
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Navigating to the next Topic | Select the next topic/unit from the side navigation bar. Note: There are no arrows available. |
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Editing a Topic | View the topic you wish to edit. From the ‘…’ menu, select ‘Edit’. All items that can be edited for that module or topic are available on this page. Note: New Content currently does not support descriptions on topics. |
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Learner Experience
Personas Who Can Use It | Learners |
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Monitoring Personal Progress | The top of the table of contents shows the last topic that was viewed along with a link to go back and continue that topic. Beside each Unit on the table of contents and the side navigation bar is a completion tracker indicating how many topics have been completed. Beside each completed topic on the table of contents and the side navigation bar is a checkmark. The End of Unit summary page includes a progress dial indicating how many topics have been completed. This page also includes a list of the incomplete topics with links to directly navigate back to those topics. |
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Monitoring Class Progress | N/A |
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Viewing a Topic | Find the parent unit in the central table of contents screen. Expand the unit, find the topic and select it. Learners can also instead choose to ‘Launch’ the Unit/Lesson to proceed. Note: for topics nested within a unit, lesson, and folder this will require expanding each module until the topic is found. |
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Navigating to the next Topic | Next/Previous arrows are at the top of the reading view page. When a user is on the last topic of a unit, the next button loads a summary screen outlining the learners' completion within that unit. From this page, learners then go back to the table of contents page to select the next unit. A side navigation bar can be expanded from the reading view to select the next topic within that unit. |
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Editing a Topic | N/A |
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How do I organize and set up my course?
If you’re a first-time course creator, research and user experience have shown that New Content is more intuitive and new users find it simpler to use. This is a result of the clear graphics such as a very prominent make visible toggle, visual icons, and a simple Create New button to create new units, lessons, folders and topics.
Step 1: Select + New Unit
In New Content, the +New Unit button sits at the top of the table of contents side navigation bar. This creates a new unit for organizing content topics.
Step 2: Select Create New or Add Existing
Once you have a new unit, to populate that unit, you will then have to choose either:
- Create New: if you are building the material from scratch right now;
- Add Existing: if the material has already been created (such as a video, pdf file, an existing Brightspace Assignment, etc)
Step 3: Choose what you wish to create/add
Both Create New and Add Existing will bring you to a menu where you can choose what kind of content you want to create/add.
Some helpful tips:
- Use Create New to add more structure (lessons or folders) to the material in your course. For example, if you have a Unit for Interviewing 101, you may want a new Lesson that groups all items related to Preparing Your Application. It is important to note that Units/Lessons/Folders are for organization purposes – the same as modules in Classic Content. Module level completion is calculated based on the completion of the child topics, not on viewing the module directly.
- To create new text-based material, click Pages. This opens an editor that allows you to write out your own material. Much like you would see in any text editor, there are formatting options available to easily help make your new material look organized and engaging without needing to know anything about HTML. This is where you can also insert Creator+ elements and practices into your course material.
Note: Creation of content using Classic is similar, with options to Add a module…, Upload, Create, and Existing Activities.
Which features are unique or different in each experience?
One factor that may persuade you to choose one experience over the other is the different features that are offered within each experience.
Completion Types:
In Classic Content, the completion type on a topic can be set to Required: Automatic, Required: Manual, or Not Required.
In New Content, currently, completion only supports choosing Required or Optional. There is not currently a way for learners to manually complete a topic.
Availability Date Behaviour:
In New Content, topics with either start or end dates are hidden from learners outside of those availability dates. This behaviour in content also applies for Assignments and Discussions even though they have the availability settings control.
In Classic Content, start and end dates still display the topic in the list, but prevent learners from clicking into that topic.
Standards or Competencies:
New Content allows associating topics with Standards and Competencies. Note each course cannot actively use both Standards and Competencies, as a result, if there are Standards available for that course then this is what the experience will default to.
Classic Content only allows associations to Competencies.
Colour Coding:
Units in New Content are colour coded, and within each unit, all lessons and folders will be displayed as different shades of the same colour for easy identification. Organizations can also choose to use an organization branding colour set in Navigation and Themes to match the course navigation bar.
Classic Content does not use colours for module identification.
Depth of topics:
In New Content, when organizing topics, it can only be set up to six layers deep; these layers include units/lessons/folders/topics.
Classic Content does not limit how many layers deep topics may be. It is recommended to reduce the depth of topics to make it easier for learner navigation.
Overview:
In Classic Content, there is an Overview page automatically embedded into the experience. Though this does not exist in New Content, there is the option to add widgets (such as the Welcome Widget, or the Meet your Instructor widget), or use a Unit Description/topic to track the course Overview.
Note: The widgets are also available for the homepage if using Classic Content.
Searchability:
In Classic Content, the user has the ability to search and bookmark content, while in New Content this is not possible.
Module Introduction Pages:
In New Content, each unit (module) has an introduction page visible with a description including images and text of what the module will cover. This could be viewed as creating the need for extra thought and organization when being designed, but it also adds a helpful level of clarity for learners.
In Classic Content, the modules are on the side navigation bar, and the central view shows the child topics. To achieve this same introduction page, a course designer would need to either add an extra HTML page at the start of each section or have the description appear in the table of contents before the list of topics, activities and assessments for the module. There is no option to have a separate module description page as is seen in New Content.
Which experience best suits my course?
For users in K-12 and our Corporate clients, New Content is often the preferred view as it is clean and simple from the learner's perspective. Learner Experience is often successful when used for self-paced courses where the Learner and Instructor do not expect to see the same screens. Some higher-ed. users may find they need some features that are currently only offered in Classic Content. Ultimately, the decision is based on user preference as all views have their advantages.
