mycourselink (Instructors)

mycourselink (Brightspace by Desire2Learn) is the online learning management system that instructors at Lakehead University use to deliver their fully online, hybrid, and on-campus classes.  mycourselink is also used to provide academic support, training initiatives and professional development.  Units interested in using mycourselink for administrative or other non-academic purposes are welcome to contact us at mycourselink@lakeheadu.ca. 

Log into mycourselink: https://mycourselink.lakeheadu.ca/

Course Site Creation

Online course sites are automatically created in mycourselink when course sections are scheduled. Instructors who have access to their class roster will also have access to their online course site. Instructors are advised to contact their academic unit with any questions regarding access to class rosters.

Crosslinking Course Sites
Instructors must contact their academic unit to request to have sections of courses crosslinked.  This would include courses that are cross-calendared, cross-taught, multi-sections, etc.  It is strongly encouraged that these requests are made prior to the start of the term to avoid any unexpected disruptions to course delivery after the term has commenced.  Refer to the Crosslinked Courses FAQs page for more information.
Course Enrolments and Withdrawals
Course enrolments and withdrawals are immediately reflected on mycourselink classlists.  Instructors cannot manually add or remove students from their online sites as this is automatically done through the integration with the student information system and mycourselink; however, instructors have the ability to add Graduate and Teaching Assistant accounts to their sites.  Refer to these instructions for adding Graduate and Teaching Assistants to course sites. 
Support Resources

The Brightspace Community provides an extensive and up-to-date collection of support resources for every tool and service available within Brightspace.  In some cases, the Brightspace Community documentation refers to the New Content Experience (Lessons). Lakehead University’s instance of Brightspace (mycourselink) is configured in the Classic Content Experience.  Every effort has been made to direct users towards the most appropriate resources, print and multimedia materials, that are in line with the Classic Content Experience. Please note, that references may be made within these resources to tools and plugins that are not included in Lakehead’s current license or have not been enabled at this time. Visit the menu items on the left or use the quick links below to access support documentation to set up and use Brightspace course tools.

Features and Tools Available in mycourselink

The Brightspace platform:

  • supports content in multiple formats (e.g., audio, video, text)
  • offers tools to create engaging and interactive learning such as quizzes, discussions, video assignments, virtual classrooms, and digital portfolios
  • provides features that motivate and recognize learners' achievements through online certificates and badges, grade items, and embedded feedback
  • includes built-in analytics allowing instructors to review and monitor individual and class progress, and for learners to track their own progress on course activities
  • meets global accessibility standards across all tools to ensure usability by people with disabilities and interoperability with assistive technologies
  • integrates with other university-supported technologies such as Zoom, myreadings, and Lakehead GMail.

Course sites are set up using a standard default template and include the following course tools and links on the course navigation menu:

navigation menu in a course site

  • Course Admin - dashboard to edit course properties (instructor view only)
  • Content - a repository for course materials
  • Assignments - a tool to collect and return marked assignments
  • Quizzes - a tool to evaluate learners through timed or untimed assessments
  • Discussions - an asynchronous communication tool for posting and replying to messages
  • Classlist - list of enrolled students
  • Grades - a tool for managing grade items
  • Library - quick link to Library Research Guides
  • Other Tools - a collection of other course tools and integrated applications
  • Jump To - a selection of quick links to University services and supports
  • Help - support documentation for mycourselink and other integrated technologies

mycourselink also includes instant messaging, subscription alerts, and a notifications feature.  These options are located on the top-level main navigation menu that appears on all course sites. 

navigation menu

The layout of a course homepage includes the following additional course tools:

  • Announcements - a communication tool to post important news and announcements
  • Updates - a tool that displays information from other tools (e.g., unread submissions, ungraded quizzes, etc.)
  • Calendar - displays list of upcoming events associated with other course tools (e.g., assignment due dates, quiz periods, etc.)

Access information on setting up and using these tools from the course tools pages.

Instructors are encouraged to visit the Preparing Your Course for Delivery section of our site for ideas and resources to help them design and teach engaging and effective courses based on the principles of universal design for learning.

 Additional Resources