Brightspace roles

Access to the tools and functions within a Brightspace course are controlled by the role assigned to the user. For example, the Instructor role gives a user access to many features that someone in the course as a Student does not have.

This article lists the main roles in Brightspace and gives a short description of the permissions associated with the role within a Brightspace course.

Instructor

Tool Access for Instructor Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	Full viewing and authoring.
Assignments	Full creation, viewing, and assessment.
Awards	Create, view, issue, and revoke badges and certificates.
Calendar	Access and manage events.
Checklist	Create and view.
Class Progress	View progress for all enrollees.
Classlist	View enrollees and send email.
Content	Full viewing and authoring.
Discussions	Full creation, posting, and assessment.
Email	Access address book and send emails.
External Learning Tools	Link 3rd-party integrations into content and view.
Grades	Creating grade book and assessing submissions. Import/export grades.
Groups and Sections	Manage groups and sections.
Homepages	Set homepages and manage widgets.
Import/Export/Copy Components	Import into and export from the course. Copy content between courses.
Intelligent Agents	Manage agents.
Links	Manage links within the course.
Navbars	Manage navigation bars and custom links.
Quizzes	View, author, manage, and assess quizzes.
Seating Chart	View and manage.
Survey	View, author, and manage surveys.
Users	View Brightspace user email, enrollments, and contact information.

Sandbox Instructor

The Sandbox Instructor is a special case of the Instructor role. When a sandbox course is created, all instructors are added as Sandbox Instructor unless otherwise requested.

The role is required for sandbox courses as enrollments do not occur automatically like for-credit courses. Sandbox Instructor has all of the same characteristics of the Instructor role with the additional ability to enroll and unenroll individuals in the sandbox course. This allows the instructor to add other faculty or students as needed.

Librarian

Tool Access for Librarian Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	View.
Assignments	View and author.
Awards	N/A
Calendar	N/A
Checklist	View and manage.
Class Progress	View for all enrollees.
Classlist	View enrollments.
Content	Full viewing and authoring.
Discussions	Full creation, posting, and assessment.
Email	Access address book and email enrollees.
External Learning Tools	Launch links.
Grades	N/A
Groups and Sections	View and manage groups.
Homepages	Manage homepage and widgets.
Import/Export/Copy Components	Import into and export from course. Copy components between courses.
Intelligent Agents	N/A
Links	N/A
Navbars	N/A
Quizzes	View and manage but not assess.
Seating Chart	N/A
Survey	View and manage.
Users	View email address and contact information.

Teaching Assistant

Tool Access for Teaching Assistant Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	Full viewing and authoring.
Assignments	View, manage, and assess.
Awards	N/A
Calendar	Manage events.
Checklist	View and manage.
Class Progress	See progress for all enrollees.
Classlist	View enrollees.
Content	Full viewing and authoring.
Discussions	Full creation, posting, and assessment.
Email	View address book and send emails.
External Learning Tools	N/A
Grades	N/A
Groups and Sections	View and manage.
Homepages	Manage homepages and widgets.
Import/Export/Copy Components	Import into and export from courses. Copy components between courses.
Intelligent Agents	N/A
Links	Manage.
Navbars	Manage navigation bars and custom links.
Quizzes	View and manage quizzes but not assess.
Seating Chart	N/A
Survey	View and manage quizzes.
Users	View email addresses and contact information.

Grading Assistant

Tool Access for Grading Assistant Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	View.
Assignments	View submissions and assess.
Awards	N/A
Calendar	View.
Checklist	View.
Class Progress	View.
Classlist	View.
Content	View.
Discussions	View, post and assess student submissions.
Email	See address book and send emails.
External Learning Tools	N/A
Grades	Full assessment.
Groups and Sections	N/A
Homepages	N/A
Import/Export/Copy Components	N/A
Intelligent Agents	N/A
Links	View.
Navbars	N/A
Quizzes	View quizzes and submit grades.
Seating Chart	N/A
Survey	View and take surveys.
Users	View email addresses.

Tutor

Tool Access for Tutor Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	View.
Assignments	N/A
Awards	View and earn badges and certificates.
Calendar	View.
Checklist	View.
Class Progress	See user progress.
Classlist	View.
Content	View.
Discussions	View and post.
Email	View address book and send emails.
External Learning Tools	Launch.
Grades	N/A
Groups and Sections	View.
Homepages	N/A
Import/Export/Copy Components	N/A
Intelligent Agents	N/A
Links	View.
Navbars	N/A
Quizzes	View.
Seating Chart	N/A
Survey	View and take surveys.
Users	View email addresses.

Tutor with Announcements

Tutor with Announcements supports all of the same features as Tutor with the additional ability to create and edit announcements on the course homepage.

Student

Tool Access for Student Role

Tool	Access Type
Announcements	View.
Assignments	View, submit, and receive feedback.
Awards	Earn badges and certificates.
Calendar	View.
Checklist	View.
Class Progress	See own.
Classlist	View.
Content	View.
Discussions	View and post.
Email	See address book and send emails.
External Learning Tools	Launch.
Grades	View.
Groups and Sections	View.
Homepages	N/A
Import/Export/Copy ComponentsN/A	N/A
Intelligent Agents	N/A
Links	View.
Navbars	N/A
Quizzes	View and take.
Seating Chart	N/A
Survey	View and take surveys.
Users	N/A

Student-Incomplete

Student-Incomplete has all of the same abilities of the Student role with the addition of the ability to enter the course after the course's End Date has passed. Student-Incomplete is assigned to students that need to get back into a closed course to complete the work needed to change and IP grade to a letter grade.

When a student needs access to satisfy an IP, the instructor notifies TLT and requests the role switch. Once the IP is completed, the teacher again notifies TLT and the role is reset back to Student, ending access to the closed course.

Additional information

Related articles

• Brightspace roles
• Brightspace course shell creation
• Brightspace update schedule
• Brightspace purge schedule
• Enroll assistants in Brightspace courses