What is it all About?
Free HTML Templates contributed by Brightspace Superhero John Bayerl, Director of Teaching Excellence at Minnesota State College Southeast. Choose your page layout and add your content to add style and direction to your learning material.
Did you know D2L offers free HTML templates through the Brightspace Community?
These templates allow instructors to create visually consistent, styled learning material without having to learn HTML code.
One of the best things about using Templates, is that you can make them your own, adding branding and terminology specific to your place of learning!
Today we are so proud to present these templates which have been customized for Minnesota State College Southeast, and made available by John Bayerl, Director of Teaching Excellence.
You can download these templates for yourself to create your own beautifully styled learning material
Download Templates:
Import HTML Templates
Note: This tutorial is intended as an overview of the HTML Template Import Process. This tutorial uses Brightspace HTML Template V 3.0 as the example
1. Login to your Brightspace environment and do one of the following:
- To share the templates across the organization, navigate to Shared Files.
- To use the templates in a specific course, navigate to Manage Files from within the course where you would like to use these templates.
2. At the root level of the file tree, select Upload.
3. Drag and drop your downloaded zip file onto the target, or navigate to the downloaded zip file, and select Save.
4. Select the down arrow (context menu) next to the zip file name and Unzip the file.
Note: Large zip files may take a few minutes to unzip, you will receive a notification when your file is unzipped. Select ok, and move to the next step to enable templates.
Enable HTML Templates in Course Content
It’s good practice to set a folder where your course will draw its templates from. This saves time from browsing to the same folder repeatedly.
1. Go to the Content tool within the course where you would like to use the template.
2. Select Settings in the Content tool.
3. Select the Enable HTML Templates check box.
4. Select Change Path, then select the template folder that you have uploaded (00_MinnState_HTML_Template)
5. Choose Select Path.
6. Select Save.
Note: For Lessons tool, you will need an administer to enable the HTML Templates and the template default folder in the Config Variable Browser.
Use the Templates
1. In a module you have created, select "Upload/Create" and choose "Create a File"
2. Choose "Select a Document Template" to pick your page layout
NOTE: Content must be authored in templates. A Template can't be applied to existing content.
Template Screenshots
This is just a small sample of the page styles you get in this free download!
Guide to Template Use (Implementing)
At Minnesota State College, these HTML Templates have been designed to be used multiple times within a course, and across courses. Each unique page layout has been designed to address specific teaching and learning needs.
The second module of this offering, “Implementing Templates” offers a breakdown of the template elements, their intended use, and video tours with the creator of the templates!
You’ll love the example of how and when to use these elements to their best advantage in your next Brightspace course!
Customizing Templates
No special coding knowledge necessary! Make these templates your own using the editor right inside of Brightspace!
Access a video walkthrough with John, to learn the steps to add in your learning resources, process documents and more!
You’ll find practical do’s and don’ts, and inspiration page layouts to help you get started creating templates that are just right for your place of learning!
Access the Course
📝 You must be a Brightspace client and logged into the new Single Sign on for Community to access this resource
Languages Available: English
Feedback and Support
Although we hope to make additional improvements or revisions to these Template in the future, at this point D2L is not committed to supporting or maintaining them.. Nevertheless, we welcome your feedback and encourage you to share tips, tricks, extensions, etc., with your fellow Community members!
Known Issues
- These templates are currently not recommended for learning material that is intended for printing and saving outside of the learning environment.
- To create a course back-up or to keep a copy of the course for your own records, it is recommended to store the HTML templates at the course level, and use the Import/Export/Copy Components Tool to Export the course package, and "include course files in the export package," as well as "All Items" under "Course Appearance."
- We recommend adding images into a template page using the "Insert Image" or "Insert Stuff" buttons in the HTML Editor. This makes it easier to add your Alternative Text. If you paste an image inside of the template, you will not be prompted to add the alt text until you run the accessibility checker.
