Get Help with BeachBoard

A-Z Index of Beachboard Help Topics

A

Accessibility - Our team is invested in the production of content that is equally available to all users regardless of their means of access.

• Accessibility and BeachBoard
• CSULB's Accessibility Technology Site
• Accessibility and Navigation Center
  • Navigating the Learning Environment
  • Accessibility Features for Screen Readers
  • Using Screen Readers in the "New Content Experience" Mode

Activate Your Course - Each semester, a BeachBoard shell is automatically created for all courses; the instructor has the option to activate it at any time. 

• How to Activate a BeachBoard course

Attendance - The Attendance tool enables you to create registers that track attendance for activities within your organization or course. You can track attendance for any number of activities and customize your registers to suit your needs.

• Attendance in BeachBoard
• Basics of Taking Attendance

B

N/A

C

Calendar - The Calendar tool allows for the creation of events, due dates, office hours, etc., which then can be displayed and managed on BeachBoard. 

• Calendars in BeachBoard
  • Viewing your Calendar
  • Setting up your Display
  • Exporting Events and Subscribing to Feeds
  • Creating and Adding Events
  • Managing Events
  • Using the Calendar Widget
• Managing a Calendar and Course Events

Camtasia- Camtasia makes it simple to record presentations or screencasts, add audio, narration, and visual effects. Advanced video editing skills are not required to create engaging videos to share with students on BeachBoard or other platforms

Checklist- A Checklist is a way to highlight important or required assignments, readings, or other items students need to complete. A checklist may list all the items students need to complete at once or may have items appear as they complete other items.

• Using Checklists in BeachBoard
• How to Create a Checklist

Classlist- The Classlist can be used to see who’s enrolled in a course, check who’s currently online, and send emails

• Using Classlists in BeachBoard

Content- The Content tool is used to upload and organize course materials, such as the syllabus, lecture notes, readings, etc.

• The Content Tool in BeachBoard
  • Uploading a Syllabus or Document
  • Creating Modules and Topics
  • Managing Modules and Topics
  • Creating and Arranging your Course Content
  • Embedding Media Content
• Creating Course Content with the Content Tool

Course Administration and Homepages -The Course Administration area is a central area for accessing tools related to setting up and managing your course. This area includes tools to customize and import course content.

• Course Administration Overview
  • Activating a Course
  • Copying Course Components Between Courses
  • Navbar Administration
• Course Administration (Brightspace)

Course Builder - The Course Builder interface is straightforward and efficient, transforming the process of course design and set-up from multiple steps in different tools into simple one-step actions. Course Builder is an excellent tool for planning and organizing course materials.

• Course Building in BeachBoard
  • Understanding the Organization of Course Builder
  • Understanding Nodes, Modules, Placeholders, and Objects
  • Understanding the Relationship Between Course Builder and Content
  • Managing Nodes on the Course Tree
  • Building and Managing your Course Structure
  • Creating and Editing Objects
• Building a Course (Brightspace)

Course Homepage -Instructors have the opportunity to customize the layout of a course's homepage and use BeachBoard Widgets.

• Course Homepage Information
  • Setting up and Managing your Course Homepage
  • Adding and Moving Widgets on your Course Homepage
• Creating a Course Homepage and Widgets (Brightspace)

D

Discussions - The Discussions tool is a collaboration area where students can post, read and reply to messages on different topics, share thoughts about course materials, ask questions, share files, or work with peers on assignments and homework. Discussions take place in Topics, which are organized into Forums.

• Discussion and Collaboration in BeachBoard
  • Create a New Forum or Topic
  • Managing Discussions
  • Finding, Reading, and Moderating Messages
  • Restricting Access
  • Assessing Topics
• Getting Started with Discussions (Brightspace)

Dropbox - The Dropbox tool enables users to set up folders to which other users can submit their assignments. This eliminates the need to collect assignments and helps to track submitted assignments.

• Using the Dropbox in BeachBoard
  • The New Assignments Creation Experience Option
  • Creating Dropbox Folders and Categories
  • Managing Dropbox Folders and Categories
  • Managing Dropbox Submissions
  • Viewing and Evaluating Dropbox Submissions
  • Previewing Dropbox
  • Using Dropbox Originality Check (Turnitin)
• The Dropbox (Assignments) Tool (Brightspace Videos)

E

Email - The Classlist tool allows you to send emails from within BeachBoard. Emails sent through BeachBoard will be sent to a user's preferred email address, as set in MyCSULB.

• Emails in BeachBoard

F

FAQ - The FAQ tool enables users to provide a list of common questions with answers that users might have when accessing a course. FAQ questions and answers are organized into categories, and all questions and answers must belong to a category.

• Creating FAQs for Learners (Brightspace)

G

Gradescope - Gradescope speeds up the grading process helps instructors to quickly see what types of issues are most prevalent among students.

• Gradescope Support Page

Grading - Use the Grades tool to manage and share grades on assignments and tests. Students can see individual grades and comments, as well as class averages and feedback. They can also view their final grade and the grade formula used for evaluation if grades are released.

• Grading in BeachBoard
  • Understanding Grading Systems
  • Understanding Final Grade Calculations
  • Creating a Grade Book with the Grades Setup Wizard
  • Changing Grades Setting
  • Creating a Grade Scheme
  • Creating a Grade Book Category
  • Creating a Grade Item
  • Managing Grade Categories and Items
  • Entering Grades
  • Exporting and Importing Grades
  • Exempting Specific Grade Items
  • Calculating Final Grades
  • Editing the Calculated or Adjusted Final Grades
  • Managing Grades Event Logs
  • Creating a Formula in the Grades Formula Editor
  • Viewing Grade Statistics or Tracking Grades with User Progress
• FAQs on Grading (Brightspace)

Groups - The Groups tool is used to create group work areas (discussion topics, dropbox folders, and lockers) for users. Groups can be used to organize users’ work on projects or assignments or to create special work areas for users with different learning needs.

• Setting up and Managing Groups in BeachBoard
  • Understanding How Groups are Set Up
  • Creating a Group Category
  • Create, Edit, or Delete Groups and Categories
  • Enrolling Users, Deleting Users, and Setting up Self-Enrollment in Groups
• Setting Up Groups (Brightspace)

I

iClicker - iClickers or Student Response System (SRS) is a classroom technology that provides professors with instant feedback on student responses to in-class polling questions and quizzes.

• iClickers Overview at CSULB
• iClicker Product Information Page

Intelligent Agents - Intelligent agents monitor a course to find an activity that matches preset criteria.

• Intelligent Agents in BeachBoard
• Brightspace Center on Utilizing Agents

K

Kaltura  - Kaltura helps you create your own videos, presentations, and podcasts within BeachBoard.

• Overview Kaltura 

L

• Labster - interactive, virtual lab simulations that can be uploaded and graded within BeachBoard
• Lecture Capture
• Links - Linking to other websites, embedded content, or to course content is easy with the Linking tool.
• Linking in BeachBoard

M

Managing Files - The Manage Files tool is a file management system that can be used to organize and upload files associated with a course offering.

• Managing Files in BeachBoard
  • Creating Content in 'Manage Files'
  • Uploading and Downloading in 'Manage Files'
  • Administering Content in 'Manage Files'
• Uploading and organizing course files with the Manage Files Tool (Brightspace)

My Media - My Media is your link to Kaltura tools in BeachBoard for creating and sharing your videos, presentations, and podcasts.

• Getting Started with My Media

My Courses Widget - The My Courses widget on the BeachBoard Home page helps organize your courses and provides important notifications.

• Overview of My Courses

N

Navbars - The default Navigation bar contains links to the various areas and tools within BeachBoard, including Course Home, Content, and Grades, among others. You can customize your Navigation bar to include other tools such as Groups, Rubrics, Lecture Videos, and Surveys. 

• Setting up and Managing Navbars in BeachBoard
• Introduction on Navbars (Brightspace)

News - The News feature allows for the communications of announcements, updates, changes, etc. to users as soon as they enter BeachBoard and each course/organization.

• Posting and Managing News and Announcements in BeachBoard
• Posting Course Announcements (Brightspace)

O

Online Rooms - Online Rooms is a tool for creating online meeting rooms for you and your students, the interface houses features that help you create a more interactive and engaging virtual learning experience.

• Online Rooms

P

PlayPosit - create interactive video by inserting polls, multiple-choice questions, fill-in-the-blank, and other assessments for student reflection. 

Poll Everywhere - create interactive, online polls that students can respond to via mobile phone or computer.

Q

Qualtrics - Qualtrics is a web-based survey tool for conducting survey research, evaluations, and other data collection activities. Download the data collected for analysis in SPSS, SAS, Minitab, or other statistical software products.

• CSULB Qualtrics Web-Based Surveys

Quick Eval - The Quick Eval tool in BeachBoard is a central dashboard that allows you to view and evaluate all student submissions for Dropbox, Quizzes, and Discussions across all your courses. Access the Quick Eval tool through the Resources tab on your BeachBoard homepage.

• Overview of Quick Eval

Quizzes - Quizzes can connect with various items in BeachBoard like Grading or Rubrics. Setting up a quiz is a multi-step process to control permissions, attempts, scoring, and more.

• Overview of Quizzes in BeachBoard

R

Respondus - Respondus is an application that allows for the creation and management of exams and surveys that can be printed on paper or published directly to BeachBoard.

• Creating Easy-to-use Exams in Surveys in BeachBoard with Respondus
• Respondus Product Page and System Requirements

Respondus LockDown Browser - The LockDown Browser will prevent your students from accessing other applications or opening other tabs in their web browser when taking an online exam through BeachBoard.

• Using Respondus LockDown Browser Guide

Rubrics - An assessment tool used to evaluate an activity or item based on a predefined set of criteria, rubrics help ensure that activities and items are evaluated fairly and consistently.

• Overview of Rubrics in BeachBoard
• Creating and Associating Rubrics
• Managing Rubrics
• Grading with a Rubric

S

Self Assessments - Self Assessments is a formative assessment tool that enables you to provide students with a series of questions and immediate feedback for responses.

• Competencies - Tracking Competency Assessment (Video)
• Self Assessments (Brightspace's Documentation)

Surveys - An excellent method to solicit feedback for your course, you can create surveys and use the included statistic tools to monitor course trends and opinions.

• Surveys in BeachBoard
  • Creating and Editing Surveys
  • Creating Survey Questions
  • Importing Survey Questions from a Text File
  • Laying out Surveys
  • Creating Reports for Surveys
  • Viewing Survey Results
• Surveys (Brightspace's Documentation)

T

Turnitin - Turnitin is a plagiarism prevention service available in BeachBoard. Students submit their papers electronically, and Turnitin compares the text of those papers to the text in billions of other documents on the Internet, in papers submitted by other students around the world, and in commercial databases of journal articles and periodicals.

• Turnitin anti-plagiarism in BeachBoard
• Turnitin's Product Support Page

W

Widgets - The Widget Management tool enables you to create, edit, delete, customize, and preview the widgets in your organization. Information on utilizing system widgets and creating/placing custom widgets is available.

• Creating and Managing Widgets in BeachBoard
  • Managing BeachBoard Widgets
  • Using System Widgets
  • Creating and Using Custom Widgets
  • Replace Strings
  • Setting up your Course Homepage
• How to Create a Custom Widget (Brightspace)

Y

YouTube - Content uploaded to YouTube (or Vimeo) is easily embedded within BeachBoard content editing information.

• Creating a Video for Your Course
• Embedding a Video on BeachBoard
• Creating Subtitles and Closed Captions (Video)
• Guide to Accessible Captions, Transcript and Audio Descriptions

Z

Zoom - Access the Zoom cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems.