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Get Started with the Pulse - Brightspace App
Pulse is a free app created by D2L (the company behind Brightspace) to access Brightspace easily on your mobile devices (both iOS and Android). Pulse is especially useful to keep up to date with changes in the course content and announcements placed by instructors. Of course Pulse also allows you to navigate to your courses and to access course modules, and view files.
Once you have downloaded the Pulse app, open it and tap on Get Started. You will now be asked to pick your school. Search De Haagse Hogeschool in the search bar. Once you tap on De Haagse Hogeschool the login page will appear.
Log in Steps
Log in using your Student Account. You can now start using Pulse - Brightspace.
If you wish to add another account, tap on the De Haagse Hogeschool Logo on the top left corner of your screen. A sliding screen will appear. Tap the + Add Account option and fill in your other account's details. Now you can easily navigate through all of your accounts.
Log Out Steps
Enter the Pulse App on your phone. Once inside the App tap on De Haagse Hogeschool Logo on the top left corner of your screen. A sliding Option screen will appear. Tap the Settings Option and look for the last available Option: Sign Out of All Accounts. A pop-up asking you: Are you sure you want to Sign out? will show up. Tap the Yes Option and now you will be sent at the Starting Screen of the App.
Calendar | Courses | Notifications Details
Pulse has three main tabs, displayed on the bottom of the screen. From left to right, these are Calendar, Courses and Notifications. Let us look at each in more detail.
1. Calendar
When instructors use the Brightspace Calendar, this can also be accessed using Pulse. The calendar can be seen both in Week view and in Schedule view. The Week view shows the activities of the selected day, whereas the Schedule view shows the activities for the entire course in one overview.
2. Courses
The Courses tab displays your courses and the course content, like your lecture slides. This tab opens by default when you open the app.
3. Notifications
The Notifications tab is divided into Updates and Subscriptions . Updates show what content has been altered. Subscriptions allows you to see contributions from other users to discussion threads you are following. This includes all replies to discussions you are subscribed to and @-mentions in discussion threads.
Students are able to receive Notifications via the Pulse app, which includes:
- Content updates: every time a new content item is published, Pulse will send a notification. This also applies to content items with due dates associated with them.
- Content Overview documents: whenever Instructors add or update new content to Overview, students will receive an instant notification via email.
- Course announcements: instructors can send Announcements from their courses to communicate important updates or reminders. Students will receive the announcement as soon as it is published.
- Grades: When an instructor enters grades in the gradebook, students receive an update on this.
These notifications can be customized by changing the settings on the Notifications link.
Some items in Pulse might not be visible, for which it would be best to use your desktop browser. One example of this is file descriptions. Descriptions for a file will display in a web browser, but not on the app. Some descriptions of course Units are also difficult to view in the app, especially when the description is very long.
Pin and Unpin Courses
You can pin and Unpin courses from the Courses screens. Pinning a course ensures it remains at the top of the screen for easy access.
To pin or unpin a course in Brightspace Pulse, do one of the following:
- From the Courses screen, tap the ellipses (…) icon in a course tile.
- From the Course Homepage screen, tap the ellipses (…) icon at the top of the screen.
- From the list of actions, tap Pin or Unpin. A pinned course is denoted by a Pin icon. Unpinning a course removes the pin icon.
Left Figure: The Courses screen displaying an unpinned course tile with the ellipses (…) icon
Right Figure: The Courses screen displaying the Pin Option
Figure: The Courses screen displaying a pinned course tile with the ellipses (…) icon and the pin icon