How to Integrate Top Hat with Your Brightspace Course - Faculty Guide


Introduction:

Integrating Top Hat with Brightspace allows seamless syncing of your course roster and grades, and provides students with a unified learning experience. This guide walks you through the steps to connect your Brightspace course to Top Hat using the LTI 1.3 integration.


Step-by-Step Instructions:

  1. 1. Log in to Brightspace.
  2. 2. Navigate to the course you want to integrate with Top Hat.
  3. 3. Go to the Content area.
  4. 4. Click + New Unit and name it something like “Top Hat Course Launch Link.”
  5. 5. Inside the new unit, click Add Existing > External Learning Tool.
  6. 6. Select Top Hat LTI 1.3 from the list. 
    Tip: Make sure the unit is visible to students so they can access Top Hat and sync their grades.
  7. 7. After selecting the tool, a new tab will open.
  8. 8. Choose the Top Hat course you want to link.
  9. 9. Confirm the connection when prompted. You should see a message: “Your courses are connected!”

Manual Roster Sync

Top Hat automatically syncs with your Brightspace classlist daily. To sync manually:

  1. Open your Top Hat course.
  2. Go to the Students tab.
  3. Click Sync Roster in the top-right corner.

Grade Sync

To sync grades:

  • Use Deep Linking to add Top Hat assignments to Brightspace.
  • Grades will sync automatically or can be manually pushed from Top Hat.

Troubleshooting Tips:

  • If you encounter issues, try disconnecting and reconnecting the integration from your Top Hat course settings.
  • Ensure your course is using the LTI 1.3 integration, not the legacy version.

Additional Resources: