Custom widgets using API calls in JavaScript to help instructors with designing/reviewing courses and downloading course data.

Reminders that help to ensure the course is ready for students before the semester begins. The widget displays important information about the course in one location with suggested actions for improvement. The code checks for course status, start/end dates, syllabus in Content, long descriptions in Content, video files uploaded to Manage Files, and grade schemes that include a 4.0 GPA scale. [Watch the video on this widget created for D2L Fusion 2025.]

Simple checks if certain materials have already been created in and/or copied into the course, such as Announcements, Assignments, Content items, Discussion forums, etc. Syllabus in Content checks for the word syllabus in the title of items and modules.

Simple way to download all discussion posts in the course as a CSV file. Just click the button. Feedback message will display below the button when download is successful or if there are no posts in the course.

Upload the .js files to Public Files or Manage Files within a course (edit paths in code where necessary). Go to Course Admin, Widgets, and Create Widget in your D2L course. Check the box to Render in iFrame before pasting in the HTML code for the content of the widget in the source code editor. Add release conditions so that only faculty and staff roles at your institution can see the widget. Once the widget is created, add it to your active homepage.

Alternatively, you can upload the HTML files directly to Content and hide them from students rather than creating a custom homepage widget. However, unlike widgets, you will not be able to copy these pages using Course Admin -> Import / Export / Copy Components. The code uses a replace string for the OrgUnitID which will get replaced by the actual ID number of the original course when copying HTML pages in Content.

All the endpoints can be found at the Brightspace API reference website: https://docs.valence.desire2learn.com/reference.html

The creation of the Course Reminders widget was inspired by the University of Groningen's Course Info widget: https://github.com/rijksuniversiteit-groningen/BrightspaceWidgets