Brightspace (Standard) - Brightspace Access, Roles and Course Availability

• Access to Brightspace is limited to:
  • Active Villanova employees (faculty and staff)
  • Active Villanova students enrolled in a Brightspace course
• System-level roles determine baseline access:
  • Instructor: Assigned to active Villanova employees (faculty and staff)
  • Learner: Assigned to active Villanova students
• Course-specific roles (e.g., Instructor, Learner, Teaching Assistant) are assigned within individual courses and determine what users can see and do within a course.

By default, individuals can only access courses (as an instructor or learner) in which they are officially enrolled through the Office of the Registrar, or through faculty request to add a Teaching Assistant/Graduate Assistant to their own course. Elevated access provides additional permissions beyond standard enrollment.

• UTS D2L-Brightspace Support Staff: Have elevated access to support system administration and provide assistance to faculty, students, and staff.
• Administrative and Academic Departments: Some staff may receive limited elevated access to courses within their department, college, or school based on job responsibilities.
• Access is restricted to only the features required (e.g., viewing content, editing content, managing assignments or grades).

Requesting Elevated Access:
All requests must be submitted to support@villanova.edu and are reviewed by UTS D2L-Brightspace Support Staff and LMS Governance.

Appropriate Use

• Must align with job responsibilities
• Must comply with Villanova policies, including information security and FERPA requirements
• Access should be updated or removed when no longer needed

Inappropriate Use

• Circumventing user access controls or security measures
• Bypassing institutional policies or procedures
• Improperly accessing or modifying course or user data

• Instructor Access: In order to have "Instructor" access to a Brightspace course, an individual must be assigned as an Instructor to a course by the Office of the Registrar.
• Learner Access: In order to have "Learner" (student) access to a Brightspace, an individual must be enrolled as a Student to a course by the Office of the Registrar.
• Learn more about the "Instructor" and "Learner" role in Brightspace.
• Users must meet system access requirements (active employee or active student).

Support roles are available to assist with teaching, learning, and course administration.

• Examples include Teaching Assistants, Tutor or other support roles.
• These roles provide limited, role-specific permissions within a course.
• As stated in the "Brightspace System Access" section, in order to access the Villanova Brightspace LMS, individuals must be an active Villanova employee (faculty or staff) or an active student enrolled in a Brightspace course.
• Learn more about the Support Roles 

• Brightspace Course Availability for Students: Learn when Brightspace courses become available to students in Brightspace.
• Courses may appear in the dashboard before access is granted, but cannot be opened until available.

• Brightspace Course Availability for Faculty: Learn when Brightspace courses become available to faculty in Brightspace.
• Faculty typically have access to their courses before students.