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Brightspace Tip #597: Manage Dates

Janice FlorentAugust 17, 2026August 16, 2026Leave a comment

Instructors can use the Manage Dates tool to view, edit in bulk, and bulk offset date availability from one central location. You can also set the calendar status of all content topics and modules, discussion topics and forums, assignment submissions folders, grades categories and items, announcement items, quizzes, checklists, and surveys in their course in the Manage Dates tool.

Course objects display in a grid that you can sort by any of the column headings. You can also use the Type column to sort the Manage Dates page based on the tool-specific order and use advanced filter options to work with smaller sets of objects. If you filter your course objects, any bulk changes you make apply only to the filtered results. This enables you to update multiple availability dates based on specific criteria.

In addition to managing dates, you can open each course object in a new window by clicking on its name. This launches the object's edit page where you can edit additional properties for that object without leaving the Manage Dates tool.

The Manage Dates tool can be very useful after a course copy. For example, if you copied content from one course into another course, you can use the Manage Dates tool to easily adjust dates after the course copy. Additionally, if you've entered dates on items in your course and later need to adjust dates in bulk, try using the Manage Dates tool.

Follow these steps to do it.

To edit dates in bulk:

Get into the course you want to change the dates of course objects.
On the NavBar (of the course you want to change dates in), click Course Admin.
Click Manage Dates.
Select the check box of the items for which you want to bulk edit dates.
Click Bulk Edit Dates.
In the Bulk Edit Dates dialog box, update the due dates and availability dates.
Click Save.

Want More Information?

About Manage Dates
Bulk edit dates in Manage Dates
Manage Dates - Offset Dates (video)

View current, past, and preview upcoming Continuous Delivery release notes
Instructors Quick Start Tutorial
Brightspace Known Issues
Request a sandbox course
Sign-up for Brightspace training sessions
You can find Brightspace help at D2L's website.
Join the Brightspace Community.
Try these Brightspace How-To documents.
Visit our Brightspace FAQs for additional Brightspace information
or schedule a one-on-one session, email, or
call Janice Florent: (504) 520-7418.

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Image credit: calendar by tigerlily713 from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #596: Quicklinks

Janice FlorentAugust 16, 2026Leave a comment

A Quicklink is a way for instructors to insert a direct link to content that is inside or outside of their course.

Brightspace Editor shown with the insert quicklink icon highlighted

Quicklinks are useful because they allow instructors to provide students with a direct link to content in the course. For example, instructors can create an announcement or email for students with links that take students directly to specific content files or assignments inside of the course. When creating content, instructors can create a quicklink to a rubric so that students can have easy access to it.

Instructors should take advantage of Quicklinks, they are useful for pointing students to specific content in the course!

Follow these steps to do it.

Watch this short video for instructions on inserting Quicklinks:

Get more out of Brightspace with Quicklinks

Want more information?

Brightspace Tip #530: Brightspace Editor
Using the Brightspace (HTML) Editor (video)
About Brightspace Editor
Insert and Edit Images with Brightspace Editor
Insert and Edit Equations with Equation Editor

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Brightspace Tip #595: Copy Course or Copy Components

Janice FlorentAugust 13, 2026Leave a comment

There are a some situations where you may want to copy components of a Brightspace course OR copy an entire Brightspace course into another one. For example,

You have a course from a previous semester and you would like to copy the course contents into your empty course shell for the current semester.
You have a Master Course Shell that you input content into and would like to copy the course contents into your empty course shell for the current semester.
You are teaching multiple sections of a course, you created all the content in one Brightspace course section and want to copy the content into the other sections.
You created content in one course (e.g. rubrics, discussions, quizzes, etc.) and would like to copy that specific content from one Brightspace course into another.

Copying an entire Brightspace course OR copying components of a Brightspace course into another Brightspace course is not hard. As long as you are the instructor for both courses, it is a simple process you can do.

Notes About Copying Between Courses

Here are some things to consider when copying a course or copying components of a course.

Overwriting and Duplicating Items

In general, course components already in the destination course will not be affected by copying course components. The only course component that can be overwritten is a course file, i.e., HTML pages that have been created in the course site or files that have been uploaded to it. A course file is overwritten if one of the files being copied into the course has the same name as an existing file.

If copying components from the same source multiple times, be careful not to copy the same items more than once, or this will create duplicates that may be visible to users in the course.

User Data

: User data is not copied from one course to another; only the course structures are copied. For example, if a Discussion topic is copied, only the prompt and discussion settings are copied, not the posts inside the topics. Similarly, if you copy Assignments folders or quizzes, user submissions and quiz attempts are not copied.

Links and Associations between Components

: If you are copying linked or associated components, you must copy all of the related components at the same time. For example, if a discussion topic has release conditions based on the results of a quiz, you must copy all three components—discussions, quizzes, and release conditions—at the same time. Similarly, if you have a quiz that is associated with a grade item, be sure to copy both the quiz and the grade item at the same time. As long as the associated components are copied together, links between them are retained.

Copying VoiceThreads

: We have integrated VoiceThread using LTI 1.3 with deep linking, that means that your VoiceThread activities will copy automatically when the course is copied in Brightspace. Review this VT Course Copying FAQ for some important things to know about how VoiceThread course copying works.

Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB) Settings

: Copied courses that have tests/exams with RLDB enabled require instructors to access the Respondus LockDown Browser Dashboard once after the copy to update the RLDB settings in the destination course. This has to be done before students will be able to take exams that require RLDB.

Turnitin-enabled Assignments

: When you copy course components from one course to another, confirm that all settings are configured for the Turnitin-enabled assignments in the destination course.

Turnitin PeerMark Assignments

: Our Turnitin integration does not support copying of PeerMark Assignments. You will have to recreate your PeerMark assignments in the destination course.

Follow these steps to do it.

If you want to copy an entire Brightspace course OR copy components from a Brightspace course into another course, you should:

Get into the course you want the content copied into (i.e., the target course).
In the NavBar (of the course you want the content copied to), click on "Course Admin".
Click on the "Import/Export/Copy Components" link.
Click on the "Copy Components from another Org Unit" radio button.
In the Course to Copy option, click the "Search for Offering" button.
Enter the name of the course you want to copy from (i.e., the source course) in the search field and click on the Search button.
Click on the radio button to the left of the course you want to copy content from and then click on "Add Selected".
Verify your selections are correct before proceeding.
At the bottom on the browser window you will click on either "Copy all Components" OR "Select Components" and follow the prompts.

Important:

Double-check to make sure that you are in the course you want the content copied into AND that you have selected the correct course you want to copy content from. There is no way to reverse the copy process once the wrong course is selected and the copy request is submitted.

Want more information?

About Import/Export/Copy Components
Import/Export/Copy - Copy Components video [1:31]

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Image credit: image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

There Can Be Only One

Jason S. ToddAugust 12, 2026August 12, 2026Leave a comment

For several years now, each fall I've taught two sections of XCOR 1000, and every fall I've done the same tidy thing: merged the two sections in Brightspace. If you've never done it, merging combines two course sections into a single course so you only have one set of content to maintain. For two identical classes, it's a small act of self-preservation — one gradebook, one set of modules, one place to post an announcement.

I still recommend it. But last fall I learned that merging comes with a catch now that the College of Arts & Sciences has begn requiring the use of Simple Syllabus.

In the 1986 film *Highlander*, the Quickening is a powerful mystical energy surge that happens when one Immortal beheads another. The victor absorbs the life force, knowledge, and power of the defeated.

Here's the thing about how we merge sections on our campus. Brightspace doesn't blend two classes into some neutral third space. It picks a winner. Every student from one section gets poured into the other — the "primary" — and the primary's identity takes over. My sections were 9 and 16. Brightspace moved everyone from 16 into 9. Section 9 lived. Section 16, for all practical purposes, lost.

Which is where the Highlander problem starts. There can be only one.

Simple Syllabus links a specific syllabus to a specific section based on the CRN (Course Record Number), so students get exactly the version built for their class, and as a result, the instructor can see who has opened it and how far they have read. In a course where "did you read the syllabus?" is a real question and not a rhetorical one, that's data I actually want.

But after the merge, there could be only one syllabus, and it belonged to section 9. So my section 16 students opened their syllabus and found someone else's schedule waiting for them: Monday at 11 instead of Monday at 1. Same course, same content, wrong meeting time.

The second cut was quieter. My section 16 students were never recorded as reading section 16's syllabus, because section 16's syllabus was no longer theirs to read. They read the syllabus for section 9, and my Simple Syllabus dashboard told me that a big chunk of the class had skipped the assignment.

None of this makes merging a bad idea. The efficiency is real, and I'm not giving it up. But you need to plan for this conflict between Brightspace and Simple Syllabus, and you need to give up that built in tracking that Simple Syllabus offers.

Merge away. Just know going in that when two sections become one, there can be only one syllabus.

Brightspace Tip #594: Course Design Suggestions

Janice FlorentAugust 10, 2026August 6, 2026Leave a comment

I usually get a lot of questions from faculty related to setting up their Brightspace courses. In the spirit of starting the academic year with less stress, I offer the following infographic with course design suggestions to reduce your course setup and management stress:

Accessible PDF version of Course Design Zen infographic.

Want more information?

Course Design Suggestions
Merging Courses
Set up your Fall Courses
Set up your Grade Book
Use Date Management
Using Quicklinks
Copy Course or Copy Components

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Brightspace Tip #593: Merging Courses

Janice FlorentAugust 5, 2026August 13, 2026Leave a comment

Faculty can request to have two or more of their courses combined into a single course. Combining courses can be useful when you are teaching multiple sections of the same course or when you are teaching a course that is cross-listed. Merging courses allows you to have all the students in a single Brightspace course which can be useful for collaborative work. Merging courses reduces the number of courses an instructor has to manage within Brightspace, especially when each section has identical content.

Once your courses are merged, you can upload your course content and assignments into the merged course; communicate with the students in the merged course; setup collaborative course work; and have one Grade Book for the merged course. You can create groups within your merged course that correspond to the original course sections. This way you can target a particular course section (group) of students for specific things (e.g. send email to a specific group, make content available to specific group, enter/view Grade Book entries for a specific group, etc.)

NOTE: Merging of courses is typically done at the start of the semester before content is added and before students submit course work. You should wait to request your courses be merged if there is a possibility that there will be last minute changes to instructor course section assignments. You can request a Master Course Shell to build your course and then transfer the content into your merged course.

You should carefully consider whether merging courses is right for you. Some things to consider are:

There are Simple Syllabus considerations for merged courses:
- If there is one instructor for the merged courses, no additional action is necessary.
- If there are multiple instructors for the merged courses, the Brightspace Administrator will have to add all the instructors to the merged course. Doing so will give them edit access to the Simple Syllabus for the merged course.
- Dr. Jason S. Todd provides additional Simple Syllabus considerations in his There Can Be Only One blog post.
Course enrollments for the merged courses will be combined which can make grading student work a challenge. If you create groups for the different sections, you will be able to view your Grade Book by groups to make grading easier.
Only one due date and start/end date can be assigned to an assignment, discussion, quiz, etc. Therefore you will not be able to assign different due dates and start/end dates to the activity (e.g., assignment, quiz, discussion, etc.).
If you decide you want to unmerge courses after students have submitted course work, student work and grades will be lost. Only student enrollments are retained when courses are unmerged.

Follow these steps to do it.

A system administrator will have to merge your courses. Send an email to Karen Nichols (knichola@xula.edu) if you want to merge courses. You should include the course ID (including CRN) for all the courses you want merged together.

NOTE: When courses are merged, one of the existing courses will serve as the "merged" course. If all the course sections are empty, it won't matter which one is used as the "merged" course. If you have already created content in a course, you should request that the course with the content be the "merged" course. This will reduce the need to copy content.

Want more information?

Merge Courses
Working with Groups

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Image credit: "why merge" by jflorent is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 and is a derivative of merging by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #592: Set Up Your Fall Courses

Janice FlorentAugust 4, 2026August 4, 2026Leave a comment

Our Information Technology Center (ITC) has created the fall courses in Brightspace.

NOTE: You should see your fall courses in the My Courses widget. If you do not see your fall courses in your My Courses widget, you should click on the link to "View All Courses" (located at the bottom of the My Courses widget). Verify that you are listed as the instructor for the course in Banner. You can find more information about the updated My Courses Widget sort logic at this link.

As you prepare to teach this fall, you can get started setting up your Brightspace courses. To get started, you can post your syllabus, course documents, announcements, and setup your Grade Book in your Brightspace courses. You can also customize your course homepage and/or course image/banner.

If you teach a course that is cross listed you will have a Brightspace course for each cross listing. You can combine the cross listed courses into one Brightspace course so that you can post course materials and grades to one combined Brightspace course. Combining courses may also work for you if you are teaching different sections of the same course and would like to have the different sections combined into one Brightspace course so that you can post course documents and grades in the one combined course. The beginning of the semester is the best time to submit a request to merge your Brightspace courses before you add course materials or grades to the courses.

Additionally, if the fall course you are teaching is the same as one of your previous courses you can copy the entire course (or copy components) into your "empty" Brightspace fall course.

NOTE: ITC will enroll students in Brightspace courses after the first deregistration (dereg) of students who are not fiscally cleared. The dereg process usually occurs Friday after registration. The registrar informs ITC of when the dereg process is complete. While students are not initially enrolled in in Brightspace courses, instructors can still email students. This can be done by sending email to students in Banner or email the students through EAB.

Follow these steps to do it.

Listed below are links with instructions to:

Want more information?

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Photo Credit: image by Alex Barcley from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #591: July Continuous Delivery Updates

Janice FlorentJuly 23, 2026July 22, 2026Leave a comment

the word update written on a chalk board

D2L (the company that owns Brightspace) uses Continuous Delivery to update our Brightspace system. The Continuous Delivery model gives us regular monthly updates allowing for incremental and easily integrated changes with no downtime required for our Brightspace system.

Our Continuous Delivery update occurs on the 4th Thursday of each month. D2L provides release notes to help users stay up-to-date with the changes.

Here are some of the updates in the July 2026/20.26.07 release were added to our system:

1) Assignments – Publisher selection dropdown locks after learners begin an activity

After learner submissions begin, instructors can no longer change the Publishers setting on the assignment creation page. Locking the Publishers setting after submissions begin ensures that publishing rules remain clear and predictable during evaluation and publishing workflows. Changing publisher rules after activity is underway can affect who can publish evaluations and may result in conflicts that require additional intervention. This update provides a smoother, more reliable evaluation and publishing experience.

The "Select Evaluators" window with two evaluators selected. — The "Select Evaluators" window.

The Evaluation and Feedback panel showing options for rubrics, annotation tools, anonymous marking, evaluators, and publishers with the Select Evaluators link and Publishers options highlighted. — The **Publishers** options in the **Evaluation & Feedback** settings.

Important: To change the publisher selection after the dropdown locks, instructors must recreate the assignment and ask learners to resubmit. To avoid this scenario, review publisher selections during course setup and before the assignment is available to learners. For assignments that use Advanced Assessment, confirm which publishers can publish evaluator evaluations before submissions or evaluations begin.

Instructors can use start dates or hide assignments until the required configuration is complete. After submissions or evaluations begin, instructors can still add, update, enroll, or unenroll publishers. Only the publisher selection dropdown is locked.

Previously, instructors could change the Publishers configuration after receiving submissions.

2) Discussions – Anonymous Discussion posts are visible when assessing learners and viewing statistics

With this update, instructors with the See Anonymous Post Author permission can view anonymous posts when assessing individual learners in Discussions. Anonymous posts display an Anonymous post label to indicate that the learner posted anonymously.

Previously, instructors with the See Anonymous Post Author permission could reveal a learner's name on an anonymous discussion post, but they could not see anonymous posts when assessing learners or view discussion statistics that included anonymous posts.

Instructor view of an anonymous discussion post. — Instructor view of an anonymous discussion post, showing that the learner’s name is visible to the instructor but hidden from other learners.

Instructors without the See Anonymous Post Author permission continue to be unable to assess anonymous posts.

Discussion statistics now include anonymous post counts for roles with permission to see anonymous post author information. Statistics include counts only for anonymous posts created after this feature is introduced.

3) Groups – Increased limit for groups per category (200 to 1000)

Categories that allow instructors to specify the number of groups now support up to 1,000 groups. Single-user, member-specific enrollment type groups also support up to 1,000 groups per category.

This update makes it easier to create larger group sets in high-enrollment courses.

The 1000-group limit applies to all group creation methods and cannot be exceeded. This includes creating groups on the Manage Groups page, creating groups using the API, and automatically creating groups when enrollment capacity increases.

Previously, instructors could create up to 200 groups per category.

This feature implements the following PIE items:

D888 (Ability to create more than 200 groups in one Group Category)
D6824 (Max number of groups per category)

If you are interested in getting more information about this and all the May Continuous Delivery updates, refer to the Brightspace Platform July 2026/20.26.07 Release Notes.

Additionally, refer to the Brightspace Release Notes for Continuous Delivery Releases, for details about current, past, and to preview upcoming continuous delivery updates.

Want more information?

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Image credit: image by geralt from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #590: Help Resources

Janice FlorentJuly 20, 2026July 19, 2026Leave a comment

As you move forward with using Brightspace in your teaching and learning, you may have some Brightspace questions. Here is a list of Brightspace help resources you can use to get answers to your questions:

Also, did you know there is a virtual assistant that is integrated directly into Brightspace? If this is news to you, refer to Brightspace Tip #589: Lumi Chat to find out more about it.

Additionally, if you are having difficulties using any of the course tools, you can get help from D2L. This help is available 24/7 via Email and Live Chat. You will find options to request Email Support and Live Chat Support in Lumi Chat. You must be logged into Brightspace to access Lumi Chat.

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Image credit: Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Brightspace Tip #589: Lumi Chat

Janice FlorentJuly 15, 2026Leave a comment

Lumi Chat is an AI-based help tool that is integrated directly into Brightspace. Lumi Chat appears as a pop-up from the speech bubble button in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Lumi Chat speech bubble located in lower right-hand corner of web page — Click the **Lumi Chat** icon to ask a question

After typing in a question, Lumi Chat uses generative AI responses to provide answers. Generated answers take the user query, identify the user's intent, and create a freeform text answer with information from D2L's knowledge bases while also linking to related documentation resources where applicable. By accessing support documentation, you can find workflows, articles, and videos that help you to complete your task.

The Lumi Chat dialog box is open and waiting for a prompt from the user — Lumi Chat dialog box

All users have the option for further assistance. Lumi Chat contains an option to contact Support for further assistance by submitting a ticket or chatting with a live agent.

After closing Lumi Chat, you are prompted with a CSAT (Customer Satisfaction) Survey to gather your feedback. The survey is prompted automatically when you close the chat window and is accessible any time through the star icon in the chat. Participation in the survey is optional.

Lumi Chat is available in all four EUS-supported languages: English (CA), French (CA), Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese. The user’s chosen Language and Locale settings in their profile determine the language of the Lumi Chat output messages, the language of the support articles provided, and the language of the support received by email, or chat.

Note: If a user’s chosen Language and Locale setting is not supported, the default language is English.

Want more information?

About Lumi Chat

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Notes About Copying Between Courses

Overwriting and Duplicating Items

User Data

Links and Associations between Components

Copying VoiceThreads

Respondus LockDown Browser (RLDB) Settings

Turnitin-enabled Assignments

Turnitin PeerMark Assignments

Follow these steps to do it.

Important:

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1) Assignments – Publisher selection dropdown locks after learners begin an activity

2) Discussions – Anonymous Discussion posts are visible when assessing learners and viewing statistics

3) Groups – Increased limit for groups per category (200 to 1000)

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