By: Susan McInnes, Senior Product Manager
Understanding our Content Experiences
Brightspace has 3 different Content Experiences, Classic Content, New Content Experience, and Learner Experience. This article will explain the differences between these experiences to help you understand and make an informed selection about which view to use within your course.
There have been different names for all experiences, so first, we are going to clarify those terms for you since both come up when looking up material for Content.
Classic Content, is the original content experience from Brightspace. The objects in Classic are referred to as modules (the organization structure) and topics (the material for learners to view and complete).
New Content Experience (NCE) has also been known as Lessons. When Instructors are using NCE, there are two options from a learner perspective (this selection is controlled by administrators). The first (and preferred option) is for learners to see the same view as the instructor, and the second is to use the Learner Experience (the 3rd content experience), which offers a view for self-paced courses that deviates from what Instructors see. The content organization structure in NCE is commonly referred to as units/lessons/folders instead of modules; however, starting in 20.25.12, administrators will be able to choose to use the Module/Submodule language used in Classic Content.
Visual Comparison
Here’s a quick look at what you’ll see in the content section of each.
New Content Experience
As an Instructor:
As a Learner:
A course using New Content Experience 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
Learner Experience is the optional view that can be enabled for Learners if Instructors are using New Content 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.
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.
Common Workflow Comparison
Consider these common navigation workflows learners and instructors take, and how the user navigates each experience for that workflow.
Learner: 1) Viewing a specific topic; 2) Navigating to the next topic; 3) Viewing personal progress to pick up where they left off
Instructor: 1) Viewing a specific topic; 2) Editing a specific topic; 3) Monitoring class progress
Viewing a Topic
New Content Experience | 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 folders, this will require expanding each module until the topic is found. |
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Learner Experience | Find the parent unit in the central table of contents screen. Expand the unit, find the topic and select it. Learners can also 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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Classic Content | 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. |
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Navigating to the Next Topic
New Content Experience | Next/Previous arrows are at the top of the reading view page. When a user is on the last topic of a module, the next button loads the next module description page. The topic list is always in the side navigation, where users can select the next topic. |
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Learner Experience | 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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Classic Content | 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
New Content Experience | 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. These edit pages have a consistent layout for all different types of activities. |
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Learner Experience | N/A |
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Classic Content | 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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Monitoring Personal Progress
New Content Experience | The side navigation includes a completion tracker for each Module, indicating how many topics are available and how many have been completed. For each completed topic, the side navigation bar includes a Completed status. A completion status card is displayed on Assignment, Quiz, and Discussion topics. |
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Learner Experience | 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 back to those topics. |
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Classic Content | 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
New Content Experience | A completion summary view is available for Assignments, Quizzes, Discussions, and LTI topics. For other topic types, Instructors can access completion tracking in the Class Progress tool or through the Content Reports. |
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Learner Experience | N/A |
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Classic Content | 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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Use Case Comparison
Legend:
- Supported
- Not Supported
- Partially Supported
Educator Use Cases
Creating a Course | New Content | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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Create/Edit and Add Content in Consistent Pages |
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Can use Templates for better Page layouts |
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| Template paths are set by admins to help ensure consistency |
Schedule Content with dates and release conditions |
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| Only supports dates on tools that have native date support. |
Adapt the Course for Individual Learning Plans |
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| NCE through Special Access; Classic through Exceptions |
Bulk Edit Dates, Topic Visibility and Completion |
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| New topics can created default visible, and bulk edit dates is available. Other settings can be bulk edited via API calls. |
Associate Standards (Learning Outcomes) |
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| Both NCE and Classic support Competencies. |
Teaching | New Content | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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Course Syllabus |
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| New syllabus can be added as a new module; Existing syllabus appears and is editable |
Present to learners showing the same layout |
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| If Learner Experience is enabled learners will see a different view |
Monitoring and Evaluating | New Content | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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Track Learner Progress |
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| Can view assessable activity progress directly; other activities in Class Progress |
Intervene with Direct Messages to Learners |
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View content statistics and Reporting |
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Learner Use Cases
Engaging with Course Material | New Content | Learner | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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View All Content and use previous/next navigation |
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Immersive Display Hiding Brightspace Navigation |
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| See Roadmap |
Alerts for Newly Released Content |
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Search for Content |
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Studying and Managing Workload | New Content | Learner | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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Identify upcoming work using Due Dates and Availability Dates |
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| Visibility outside Availability Dates is new in 20.25.12. |
Identify Required vs Optional Activities |
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| Shows for Assessable Activities |
Central Table of Contents with full course layout |
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| See Roadmap |
Identify Peers in Group Assignment or Discussion |
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Bookmark For Future Reference |
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Offline Studying |
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| Printing is limited, can instead use browser print or download |
Tracking Personal Progress | New Content | Learner | Classic | Notes about New Content |
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Identify Completed Activities and view a Module Rollup |
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View Assessment Results (Feedback and Grades) Inline |
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