Class Progress

What You Can Do With Class Progress

Class Progress helps you:

• Monitor engagement at a glance: See which students are actively participating and which may be falling behind
• Track multiple metrics: View up to 4 performance indicators simultaneously (content completion, grades, discussion activity, login history, and more)
• Identify at-risk students: Quickly spot students who haven’t logged in recently or aren’t completing required activities
• View individual progress: Drill down into detailed reports for specific students
• Prepare progress reports: Export data or review comprehensive summaries for advising conversations

Accessing Class Progress

1. Open your course in Brightspace
2. In the navbar, select Progress
3. In the dropdown menu, select Class Progress

You’ll see a dashboard displaying all students in your course with 4 performance indicators shown by default:

• Content Completed: Shows how many required content topics each student has completed
• Objectives: Displays progress toward learning objectives (if you’ve set them up)
• Logins: Number of times student logged into Brightspace (system-wide, not course-specific) in the last 30 days
• Grades: Current final grade plus visualization of last 15 grade items

Important: Login data shows system-wide logins to Brightspace, not course-specific access. A student might log in for other courses without accessing yours. For course-specific access, use the Course Access indicator (see Customizing Indicators section below).

Understanding the Dashboard

Reading the Visualizations

Each performance indicator uses visual cues to highlight student progress:

Content Completed:

• Bar shows percentage of required content topics completed
• Hover over the bar to see exact numbers (e.g., “5 of 10 topics”)
• Green indicates high completion, red indicates low completion

Grades:

• Shows current final grade percentage
• Bar chart visualizes performance across last 15 grade items
• Hover to see specific assignment scores

Logins:

• Number shows total logins in last 30 days
• Absent period indicates days since last login (e.g., “Oct 30, 2024 – absent period: 3” means student didn’t log in for 3 days)

Filtering by Groups or Sections

If your course uses groups or sections:

1. At the top of the Class Progress page, look for the filter dropdown
2. Select a specific group or section to view only those students
3. This is helpful for large courses or when different sections have different requirements

Viewing Individual Student Progress

Customizing Your Dashboard Indicators

You can display any 4 of the 9 available progress indicators. Choose the ones most relevant to your teaching priorities.

Available Progress Indicators

• Content Completed: Required content topics completed (must set content as “required” for tracking)
• Objectives: Learning objectives achieved (requires objectives to be set up and linked)
• Assignment Submissions: Assignment completion status
• Grades: Current final grade and recent performance
• Checklist Completion: Checklist items completed (requires checklists)
• Content Visited: Content topics viewed (whether required or not)
• Discussion Participation: Posts and replies in discussion forums
• Login History: System-wide logins to Brightspace in last 30 days
• Quiz Performance: Quiz attempts and scores
• Survey Completion: Survey responses
• System Access: Times student accessed Brightspace (via browser or Pulse app) in last 30 days

Note about Course Access: Course Access (which shows when students accessed YOUR specific course, not just Brightspace) is only available when viewing individual student reports. It cannot be added as a dashboard indicator. To check course-specific access, you must click on a student’s name and select “Course Access” from the left menu.

To Change Which Indicators Display

1. From the Class Progress dashboard, click Settings in the top-right corner
2. You’ll see your current 4 indicators listed in numerical order (1-4)
3. Click the dropdown arrow next to the indicator you want to replace
4. Select Replace
5. In the popup window, choose a new indicator from the list
6. Click Save and Close

The new indicator will immediately appear on your dashboard.

To Reorder Indicators

1. From the Class Progress dashboard, click Settings
2. Click the dropdown arrow next to an indicator
3. Select Move Up or Move Down
4. Click Save and Close

Setting Up Content Tracking

For the Content Completed indicator to work, you must mark content topics as “Required.” By default, all content in Brightspace is set to “Not Required.”

Setting All Future Content as Required by Default

To automatically make all new content required:

1. Go to Course Content
2. Click Settings (gear icon) in the top right
3. Scroll down to Completion Tracking
4. Under Default Completion Status, select:
   • Required Automatic: All new content automatically marked complete when viewed
   • Required Manual: All new content requires students to click “Mark Complete”
5. Click Save

Important: Changing the default setting only affects NEW content you create. Existing content remains “Not Required” unless you manually change each item.

Using Class Progress for Early Intervention

Week 3-5 Check: Review Class Progress to identify students who:

• Haven’t accessed the course in 7+ days
• Have completed less than 50% of required content
• Haven’t submitted early assignments
• Show no discussion participation

Before Midterms: Check again to:

• Identify students with low grades who might benefit from support resources
• Spot students who’ve stopped engaging after initial participation
• Reach out proactively before students fall too far behind

Combining with Intelligent Agents: Set up an Intelligent Agent to automatically alert you when students meet concerning criteria (e.g., no course access in 7 days). Then use Class Progress to get the full picture of their engagement before reaching out.

Printing or Exporting Progress Reports

To print an individual student’s progress report:

1. Open the student’s Progress Summary page
2. Click the Print icon in the top right
3. Your browser’s print dialog will open
4. You can print or save as PDF

This is useful for advising meetings or documentation purposes.

Limitations and Considerations

Login vs. Course Access: The default “Logins” indicator shows system-wide logins, not course-specific access. Students using the Brightspace Pulse mobile app may not register as “logged in” at all. Use Course Access (in individual reports) for more accurate course engagement data.

30-Day Window: Login and access data only covers the last 30 days. Historical data beyond this window is not available.

Content Tracking Requires Setup: Content Completed only tracks items marked as “Required.” If you haven’t set content as required, this indicator won’t provide useful data.

Real-Time vs. Cached Data: Some indicators update immediately while others may have a slight delay. Grade changes typically reflect quickly, while content completion may take a few minutes to update.

Mobile App Limitations: The Brightspace Pulse mobile app may not register all student activity the same way browser access does. This can lead to underreporting of actual engagement.

Tips for Success

Choose indicators that align with your course structure: If your course is heavily discussion-based, prioritize Discussion Participation. If it’s content-focused, use Content Completed or Content Visited.

Check Class Progress weekly: Regular monitoring helps you catch issues early when intervention is most effective. Consider making it part of your Monday morning routine.

Focus on patterns, not single data points: A student missing one login isn’t cause for alarm, but missing both content completion AND assignment submissions AND discussion posts suggests genuine disengagement.

Combine with personal outreach: Class Progress provides data, but conversation provides context. Use the data to identify who to reach out to, then have actual conversations to understand what’s happening.

Set up Intelligent Agents for automated monitoring: Configure agents to alert you when students meet concerning criteria, then use Class Progress to investigate further before deciding how to respond.

Mark key content as required from the start: If you want to track content completion, set up your Content settings before students begin accessing materials. It’s harder to track retroactively.

Use System Access or Content Visited for engagement: Since Course Access isn’t available as a dashboard indicator, use System Access (shows Brightspace usage via browser or Pulse app) or Content Visited (shows which content students have viewed) to monitor engagement patterns on your main dashboard.

Further Resources

• D2L: About Class Progress
• D2L: Set Up Class Progress
• Intelligent Agents Quick Guide

Contact [email protected] for more information.