A Brightspace course can be created in two ways:

1. Automated creation via Osiris:
   A course will be created in Brightspace the following day if the course in Osiris meets the following conditions:
   • The course has the status "Definitief".
   • The field "cursus naar LMS?" is set to "Ja".
   • The course has a "werkvorm", and this "werkvorm" is scheduled in a "aanvangsblok" that is linked to the course.
   • The course is offered in the current or a future academic year.
2. The Key-user of the program requests a new course:
   The course is then set up manually by functional management.

The start and end dates are both set when creating a Brightspace course (created via the integration with Osiris or through the request tool by the Key-user). If the start date lies in the future, students will not yet have access. Instructors and key-users can already access the course to set it up and prepare it for teaching. It is the start date that determines when students gain access to the course. The initial start date can be manually adjusted if necessary by the key user or the course instructor.

If the end date has passed, students no longer have access to the course. The default end date of a course is September 30 of the following academic year +1 year.

N.B. Students therefore retain access to a course for approximately 2 years.

A course goes through the following phases in Brightspace:

1. Future Course: the course is active; both the start date and the end date are in the future. In this stage, the course is set up and prepared for teaching. The course is available to key-users and instructors, but not yet to students.
2. Open Course: the course is active; the start date has passed and the end date is in the future. In this stage, teaching takes place. The course is accessible to key-users, instructors, and students.
3. Closed Course: the course is active; both the start and end dates have passed. In this stage, teaching has ended. The course is no longer accessible to students, but still accessible to key users and instructors.
4. Inactive Course: the course is inactive. In this stage, the course is still accessible to key-users, but no longer to instructors and students.
5. Deleted Course: the course is permanently deleted.

See the overview below for the complete Course Life Cycle and which roles have access during the different phases:

Finally, an end date is not a required field for a Brightspace course. If no end date is entered, a course remains open and is therefore not included in the retention cycle. As a result, such courses remain active, which means that:

1. students continue to receive emails and updates from the course;
2. students and instructors see courses that may no longer be relevant;
3. retention and deletion policies are not complied with (student work may be stored for too long);
4. key-users continue to see all courses (including inactive courses), which makes it easy to confuse courses with similar names and codes.

It is therefore strongly recommended to always assign an end date to every course.

Functional management will perform an annual check on courses without an end date and will present these to the relevant key-user(s) of the program, asking what should be done with the courses.