- Access & Accounts
- Availability
- Courses
- Clickers
- Need Help?
Access & Accounts
How do I access Brightspace?
To access Brightspace, navigate to https://commonwealthu.brightspace.com and click on Commonwealth User Login. This will take you to the Single Sign-On page. Enter your email address and password.
What is my Brightspace username and password?
Your Brightspace username and password are your email credentials which you use for all University network systems.
- Complete Commonwealth University email address
- Password: Commonwealth University email password
How can I change my Brightspace password?
You can't change your password in Brightspace. Your password is the same password you use for all Commonwealth University systems. If you need to change your password, click the 'Forgot My Password' button on the Single Sign-On page. Please read the directions on the Password Change page carefully as changing this password will change your campus network password too.
When do new, incoming students have access to Brightspace?
New incoming students should have access to Brightspace once they are in Banner and registered for courses.
How long will I have access after graduation?
Generally, graduates lose access to University systems one month into the semester they graduated the following year.
- Fall grads will be removed one month after the Fall semester starts the following year.
- Spring grads will be removed one month after the Spring semester starts the following year.
- Summer grads will be removed one month after Summer session starts the following year.
Examples:
- Spring 2015 graduates would lose access February 2016
- Summer 2015 graduates would lose access June 2016
- Fall 2015 graduates would lose access September 2016
Do alumni have access to Brightspace?
No, alumni do not have access to Brightspace.
How can I access my BOLT ePortfolio after I graduate?
If you signed up for an EduDentity account and exported your ePortfolio to myDesire2Learn, you will be able to access and modify your ePortfolio outside of BOLT after graduation. If you did not, you will not have access to the ePortfolio as we have migrated to Brightspace.
Availability
Is Brightspace ever unavailable?
Brightspace is very rarely unavailable during maintenance now. Maintenance used to occur the 2nd Sunday of every month from 1:00AM to 7:00AM EST. However, Desire2Learn has improved maintenance and downtime is extremely minimal. If Brightspace has expected downtime, we will post an announcement to let all end users know about it.
Why is the maintenance page still up?
If a maintenance window has passed and you still see the maintenance page, there could be several reasons why:
- If maintenance goes over the allotted time, which can happen but is rare, you will still encounter the page until maintenance is complete.
- The page is cached in your browser. To clear it and access Brightspace, try clearing your browser cache.
Courses
How do I find my courses in Brightspace?
Your courses are available by clicking on the Select a course icon at the top of the page in Brightspace. It looks like a grid. We recommend pinning the current semester's courses so they show up at the front of the list in your My Courses widget. You can also find your courses via the My Courses widget.
When are this semester's courses available?
Students registered in Banner should see the courses in their My Courses widget. These will be greyed out and inaccessible until the start date of the course, and after the end date of the course.
Why don't I see my courses in Brightspace?
If a course is not showing up in Brightspace,
- You just registered for the course. It takes a few minutes for the registration to go from Banner to Brightspace.
- You don't have it pinned to your My Courses widget or haven't filtered by the semester.
PointSolutions Student Response System (formerly Clickers)
How do I register my Point Solutions account in Brightspace ?
For information on how to register, see the PointSolutions widget on the My Home page in Brightspace.
Do I have to register my account every semester?
No. Once you register via Brightspace, you will stay registered. You should check your subscription, though. Subscriptions are required for students to receive credit for responding in class.
Need Help?
How can I get help using Brightspace?
Check out the Support widget in Brightspace for our on campus support hours and contact information, as well as a form you can submit to request help or use to search the articles on this Infobase.
We also have 24/7/365 Brightspace Support from our vendor for after hours assistance. Just call 1-877-325-7778.
Please browse our student support website. We have a number of pages with help docs and videos for students. If you still need assistance, or if you need to troubleshoot a problem in Brightspace, you can contact CATS
How can I get help using Zoom?
For help with Zoom, go to https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us