Most teachers using Brightspace are teaching more than one class. And Brightspace is designed with a single class in mind: you enter a course, navigate to an assignment, check for missing submissions, go back to the course list, enter the next course, and start again. There is no cross-class dashboard, no aggregate view, no shortcut that spans courses. Every class is its own siloed island.

For a teacher with four or five sections, that silo problem compounds quickly.

The hidden time cost of multi-class tracking

Let's put some rough numbers to it. Suppose you have 5 classes and you're monitoring 3 assignments per class. Getting the missing-submissions view for a single assignment takes about 5 to 6 clicks and a page load. Multiply that across all your classes and you get:

Classes 5
Watched assignments per class 3
Clicks per assignment check ~6
Total filter operations per weekly check 15 separate operations
Estimated time 30 to 40 minutes per week

That estimate doesn't include the time spent writing down what you find or figuring out what to do with the information once you have it. It's just the time spent navigating Brightspace to see the lists.

Brightspace has no cross-class missing work view. This is a known gap that teachers have been requesting in D2L community forums for years. As of 2026, the closest native option is running a grade report, which shows grades, not submission status, and requires substantial manual interpretation.

How ClassWatcher handles multiple classes

ClassWatcher is built around the reality that teachers have multiple classes. The setup is designed to match how teachers actually work in Brightspace:

1
Create one watch list per class In the ClassWatcher panel, create a named watch list for each class: "Period 1 English", "Grade 10 Math", or whatever matches your setup. New watch lists automatically become your active list when created, so you can start adding pages right away.
2
Save your regularly-checked assignment pages Navigate to each assignment you check regularly and click Watch in the panel. This saves the page name and URL to the active class watch list. You only do this once per assignment. After that, one click from the panel takes you straight there.
3
Switch between classes in the panel The panel has a class switcher at the top. Click a different class name and your watch list for that class loads immediately. Your monitored assignments for each class stay separate and organized.
4
Open any watched assignment and see missing students instantly Click a saved page from your watch list. ClassWatcher scans it automatically as it loads and shows the missing-student list in the panel, with no filter to apply and no extra clicks.

Auto-detect when you switch classes in Brightspace

One of the more useful features for multi-class teachers is automatic course detection. ClassWatcher reads the course ID from every Brightspace URL and knows which class you're currently looking at. When you navigate from one course to another, it can respond in two ways, and you choose which you prefer:

Manual mode ClassWatcher shows a small nudge pill at the bottom of the panel: "You're now in Period 3 Biology. Switch?" One click confirms the switch. You stay in control.
Auto mode ClassWatcher silently switches your active class to match wherever you navigate in Brightspace. No nudge, no click needed. Your watch list for the current class is always loaded automatically.

Either mode eliminates the need to manually manage which class is active. ClassWatcher tracks your location in Brightspace for you.

Contacting the right people for each level

Once you have your missing-student list for a class, ClassWatcher lets you reach out without switching apps. Who you contact depends on your school level:

Each contact is logged in ClassWatcher's contact history, so you always have a record of when you reached out and what you sent. This is useful for parent meetings, grade reporting periods, or any situation where documentation matters.

The Pro plan: unlimited classes and pages

ClassWatcher's free beta gives you access to the full feature set through July 31, 2026. After that, the Pro plan ($19/month) includes unlimited classes and unlimited watched pages, appropriate for teachers who cover a full schedule with several sections and multiple assignments in each.

Watch list tip for multi-class teachers: Start by adding just your two or three most frequently-checked assignments per class. You'll build a rhythm with those before deciding what else to add. Over-saving everything at once makes the panel harder to scan quickly.