D2L Brightspace: Student FAQs | Information Technology (2024)

To log in to D2L you need your GHC user account credentials, which are the same as those used to log in to your GHC student email account.

You can retrieve your username and initial password in the GHC Banner Portal by clicking on GHC ID Lookup. Enter the required information when prompted. Doing so will give you your GHC ID, GHC username, and initial password. We encourage you to change your password. Remember that after you do so, the initial password shown at GHC ID Lookup will no longer work.

To log in to D2L, navigate to the GHC D2L Course Access Page and enter your GHC email address and password. If you forgot your password after changing it, please submit an IT Help Request.

You will be able to view your courses in D2L beginning on the first official day of the course. Check the start date of your courses on your student schedule in the SCORE system (linked on the Banner Portal).

If you have enrolled in the course today, it may take up to 24 hours for the course to become available.

For full semester courses, you will be able to view your courses in D2L starting on the first official day of class.

Click on your name in the top right to access Profile, Notifications, and Account Settings.

Adding information to your Profile is optional. All information that you add can be seen by all members of all the courses in which you are enrolled. All information and pictures in your profile are governed by GHC Student Code of Conduct. Georgia Highlands College reserves the right to remove or alter any and all profile information and pictures that violate GHC or University System of Georgia rules, policies, and standards.

You may customize Notifications to receive emails or texts (periodically or instantly) about activity in your courses. You may wish to turn off all notifications at the end of the semester. You may also download the Pulse app to stay connected to your courses via your phone.

In Account Settings you can change font, video, language, time zone, discussions, and email settings. Please note that changing your password here will not change the SSO password that you use to log in to D2L. You may change your SSO password at myaccount.microsoft.com if you know your existing password. If you do not know your existing password, you may change your password at passwordreset.microsoftonline.com. (This latter option works only if you have setup security questions. If you have not done so, contact IT to reset your password.)

Note: Since GHC uses single sign-on (SSO) authentication, you will not be able to change your email address or password from within D2L.

D2L’s Class Progress tool helps you check your progress in a course. To access it, click on your name in the top right corner.

• Do so from the My Home page to access your progress in all your classes.
• Do so while in a particular class to see your progress in it.

By subscribing to your D2L Calendar’s iCal feed, you can access its events on calendars (such as Outlook or Google) outside of D2L. Doing so keeps you updated without logging in to D2L. To get your D2L calendar’s iCal feed:

1. On the Content Items menu, click Calendar.
2. In the Calendar views area, click Settings.
3. Select the Enable Calendar Feeds check box.
4. In the Calendar views area, click Subscribe.
5. From the drop-down list, select which calendar you want to subscribe to. Your options include All Calendars and Tasks, Tasks Only, and the calendars of particular classes.
6. Copy or Download the URL.
7. Follow the instructions specific to your external calendar (such as Outlook or Google) for adding an iCal feed.

D2L’s email tool allows you to send email within D2L. (It cannot send email to or receive email from external email addresses, including your GHC email address.) Note that some instructors ask that you communicate with them via their GHC email addresses and not their D2L email addresses. Check the course syllabus for your instructor’s policy.

To find your instructor’s D2L email address:

1. Click on Communication.
2. Click on Classlist.
3. Click on your instructor’s name.
4. A blank email to your instructor’s D2L email address will open. Type your message and send.

1. Content in your course will not be visible to you if:
   • its start date is in the future or its end date is in the past.
   • you have not met its release conditions. (For example, your instructor may have set up the course to require you to read a module’s material before you can take its quiz.)
   • it is hidden.
2. Contact your instructor with any questions.

Navigate to Assessments and then Discussions. In the top right, click on the blue Settings (next to Help). Select the check boxes to determine whether to:

• always show the Discussions List pane
• default to the Grid or Reading View
• include the original post in reply
• subscribe to the thread by default when creating a new thread
• default to a threaded or unthreaded view of discussion topics
• show the preview pane or search bar
• display the post ID
• limit the number of characters of the subject to display in the post

To create a discussion thread, navigate to Discussions and click the discussion topic in which you want to post. Click Start a New Thread. Type the subject of your thread. You may then type your discussion thread or, via the Insert Stuff button, add a Video Note to it. Click Add Attachments to upload a file, link to a file in the course, or record and attach video or audio.

To reply to a discussion thread, navigate to Discussions and click on the discussion thread to which you want to reply. To reply to the main thread post, click Reply to Thread. To reply to a particular post inside the thread, below it click Reply.

If you are unable to access a discussion, your instructor may have made it no longer be available or may have set a release condition that requires you to do something else (e.g., read materials in the module) before you can access the discussion. Contact your instructor with any questions.

If you can access a discussion but can’t post in it, the discussion’s permissions are set so that the discussion is visible for viewing but is locked and not available for posting. Contact your instructor with any questions.

If you receive an error message when you attempt to access a quiz, it may be unavailable or you may have already completed the maximum number of attempts permitted on the quiz. Contact your instructor with any questions.

Yes, Respondus Lockdown Browser can be downloaded onto Chromebooks with Georgia Highlands College’s unique download link. Watch the How do I install Lockdown Browser video tutorial for an explanation of how to do so.

Please note that you may not be able to install the LockDown Browser for Chromebook extension if the version of ChromeOS installed on the Chromebook does not meet the minimum version requirement. Some older Chromebooks will have reached their end-of-life in regards to receiving updates from Google. If so, you’ll need to use a different device for your exam that requires LockDown Browser.

Yes, an iPad can be used with RLDB if instructors enable it.

• Note: The LockDown Browser iPad app is not compatible with Pearson MyLab exams.

Students, follow the steps for D2L Brightspace on this page to take an exam with the iPad Edition of LockDown Browser.

See Respondus’s short YouTube videos for Windows, Mac, and Chromebook installation directions.

1. Check that your computer meets the operating system, memory, and browser RLDB System Requirements (scroll down to the list).
2. Log in to D2L, go to your course, and on the Assessment tab menu, click Quizzes.
3. On the Quiz List page, click on the quiz that your instructor has provided.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of the instructions page (see Figure 1) where you will find two buttons.
5. Select the “Download Respondus LockDown Browser” button. This is labelled by the “1” in Figure 1.
6. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the install.
7. If prompted to close a blocked program (e.g. screen capture, instant messaging), choose “Yes.”
8. After the installation is complete, exit D2L and restart your computer.

RLDB requires you to remove Screencastify (or other screen recording software) from your device before it can be installed. Respondus provides this explanation of how to do so.

RLDB may consider Screencastify to be installed on your computer if it is accessible via a school account that is logged in on the device. You may be able to “remove” the screen recording software by logging out of the school account on your device.

Respondus provides live chat help within Lockdown Browser for any pre-exam issues related to the webcam and microphone with Respondus Monitor.

Note: Before you can take a quiz with RLDB, you need to install it on your computer. Follow the directions above to do so.

• Close all programs (except any used to connect you to the Internet).
• Log in to D2L, select your course and navigate to the quiz.
• Click the “Launch LockDown Browser” button, to open LockDown Browser and start the quiz.
• If prompted to close a blocked program (e.g. screen capture, instant messaging) choose “Yes.”
• If you are required to use a webcam to record yourself during a quiz, a startup sequence will then guide you through a webcam check and other items required by the instructor. The webcam check will confirm that your webcam and microphone are working properly. The first time the webcam check is performed on a computer, Adobe Flash Player will require you to select Allow and Remember.
• That’s all! The quiz will then start.

See also Respondus’s Quick Start Guide to LockDown Browser and Respondus Monitor.

Note: The quiz timer will not start until you complete the startup sequence. Once a quiz has been started with RLDB, you cannot exit until you submit the quiz. For more information, check out the Respondus LockDown Browser Student Quick Start Guide.

• If you installed LockDown Browser last semester, you should update it.
• Confirm that your computer meets the operating system, memory, and browser RLDB System Requirements (scroll down to the list).
• Contact your instructor to confirm that the quiz has been appropriately setup for RLDB.
• Contact Respondus Technical Support.

See RLDB’s system requirements for information about device compatibility.