IT 400: Help Desk Support for Brightspace D2L

1. What tasks can I perform as a Helpdesk User Manager for Brightspace D2L?

There are several tasks that IT employees can perform with the role of Administrator in Brightspace D2L. This role is reserved for those employees who need system-wide access to Brightspace D2L to assist users.

2. How do I access Brightspace D2L with my Administrator role?

You simply login to Brightspace D2L with the administrator username and password assigned to you, which is different than your New River email username and password.

3. How do I find out what a username is for someone?

If you know the user's actual first and last name you can query People Search by Last Name to locate the email address of that person. For example, if Sam Smith calls asking for help with logging into Brightspace D2L and he doesn't know his username (even though it is the same as his email username) you can go to People Search to find him. The username for Brightspace D2L is the same username we use for email.

The password for Brightspace D2L is the same password used for email. Initially this is the 9-digit ID number but users may change email passwords. If forgotten, the Help Desk resets the password back to the 9-digit ID number and informs the client. We have configured Brightspace D2L so it relies on our email server to authenticate users. This means that while you can't change your Brightspace D2L password within Brightspace D2L, you can change it within Outlook Web Access.

4. How do I reset a user's password in Brightspace D2L?

You must reset the password using SSRPM by clicking the Forgot Password link on the portal login page. Users may also reset their own passwords using that same link.

5. How do I enroll users into an Brightspace course?

Enrollment information in Brightspace D2L is updated multiple times each day by scripts that integrate with Ellucian Banner. If a student registers for a course today he/she should appear in the Brightspace D2L course no later than 4 hours after the data in Banner are updated. Brightspace D2L can also be updated manually by system administrators as needed.

6. How do I find out which courses a student is enrolled in?

The official course roster is in Self-Service Banner (or Internet Native Banner for those who have this access). Students can view their own list of registered courses in SSB. Help Desk personnel and Instructors may compare enrollment data in Banner to enrollments in Brightspace D2L to verify that the information is correct. If a student is removed from a course (dropped for non-payment or withdrawn), the enrollment in Brightspace D2L is not updated automatically. This makes it important for Instructors to view enrollments in Banner, which is the official enrollment record. Enrollments are not automatically updated in Brightspace D2L to avoid losing student academic progress.

To view Brightspace D2L enrollments, login to Brightspace D2L and click the Administrator Console link. Click the User Accounts link and locate the student. Click the little head and shoulders icon to the right of the person's username and you'll see a list of the Brightspace D2L courses which that person is currently enrolled in.

7. How do I find help for using the Brightspace D2L?

Brightspace D2L has built-in help that is available by clicking the icon that looks like a question mark on the left side of your screen.

8. How do I create a user in Brightspace D2L?

Anyone who has an email account at New River automatically has access to Brightspace D2L, so you should never need to create accounts for Brightspace D2L.