Notifications enable you to customize what methods you want to use to receive notifications, such as email, as well as what events will trigger notifications.
Students can control how they receive information about course activity through their notification preferences. They can customize which actions in Brightspace will trigger a notification.
The Notification tool allows users to:
Subscribe to a summary of activity for each course and receive a daily email.
Specify your preferred email address for instant notifications and announcements.
Receive instant notifications about course activity, such as edited content, new discussion posts, assignments, grades, course announcements and upcoming quizzes.
Instructors can help their students to keep up with their coursework by encouraging them to setup their notification preferences. Additionally, there is a Getting Started for Learners Video Playlist that students should watch to get familiar with Brightspace.
Follow these steps to do it.
To customize notification preferences, users should:
From your Personal Menu (located in the Minibar), select Notifications.
Select the email address to which notifications will be sent.
Select the course activities for which you would like to receive notifications.
Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.
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In Brightspace Tip #562: Microsoft OneDrive, I suggested that you could use the Microsoft OneDrive Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) integration to easily insert files directly from OneDrive into your Brightspace courses.
Classic OneDrive LTI tool sunsetting on September 17, 2026
Microsoft released a new Microsoft 365 Document LTI integration to replace the existing classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI integration. The classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI is scheduled to sunset on September 17, 2026. This is important because if you used the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI integration to insert OneDrive files into your courses, you must take action before September 17th. After that date, any content links in courses using the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI will stop working. Files created by the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI will remain accessible through the course's Microsoft 365 Group and SharePoint site. Currently, there's no automatic migration path or copy available from classic Microsoft OneDrive file links to Microsoft 365 Document LTI file links used in Brightspace courses. You can manually migrate files by reselecting and re-linking or embedding the file through the new Microsoft 365 Document LTI in Brightspace course content.
Follow these steps to do it.
One-time per course configuration
Before the new Microsoft 365 Document LTI can be used to link documents in a course, a one-time configuration process must be completed. This one-time configuration must be done in each course.
Steps showing the one-time configuration process to get Microsoft 365 Document LTI setup in your course.
During the configuration process, you will be prompted to select Microsoft apps to be enabled. For this step, you should enable OneDrive and disable the other apps as shown in the gif above. Detailed instructions can be found in this Microsoft 365 Document integration guide.
Add OneDrive files to your course modules
Once you complete the one-time (per course) configuration process, you will be able to use the Microsoft 365 Document LTI to add OneDrive files to your Brightspace course modules. From the Existing Activities link, choose Microsoft 365 Document and navigate to locate the file you want to link to.
Content area showing the Existing Activities menu with the Microsoft 365 Document option highlighted
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Brightspace Pulse is a mobile app that can help learners stay connected and on track with their Brightspace courses. It provides one easy view of course calendars, readings, assignments, evaluations, grades, and announcement items. The app can help learners make better decisions about how to handle their workload, when to submit assignments, and when to prepare for tests. Real-time alerts can let learners know when classes are canceled, class is meeting in an alternate location, or new grades are available. The schedule view and weekly visualization enables learners to quickly at a glance view what is due today, this week, and upcoming across all their courses.
While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too.
While the Brightspace Pulse app is designed for the learner, instructors can benefit too. When instructors enter due dates or end dates for assignments and activities the information is populated in the Pulse app enabling learners to stay connected and on track. Thus, instructors can spend less time reminding and more time teaching.
Additionally, using Quicklinks provides direct, easily clickable links to specific course content, assignments, announcements, and more, within Brightspace. This makes it significantly easier for students, especially when using the Pulse app, to quickly find the information or activity they need without having to manually search through modules and sub-modules. This enhances the overall navigation and accessibility of the course for all students, including those who may be using assistive technologies or have learning differences.
Instructors can make their courses Pulse friendly by including due dates or end dates for assignments and activities. When instructors do not enter due dates or end dates, no associated information is available in the Pulse app.
The Pulse app is great for helping students stay on track in face-to-face classes as well. Instructors can set up their face-to-face assignments and activities as events in the Brightspace course calendar. Students will get those date feeds in the Brightspace Pulse app.
Help keep students on track for success in all their courses by using Quicklinks and including a due date or end date for assignments and activities.
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
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.
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A Quicklink is a way for instructors to insert a direct link to content that is inside or outside of their course.
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:
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
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.
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
Image credit: image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
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:
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
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.
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
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
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.
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
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.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, 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)
Note: Are you doing something innovative in Brightspace or perhaps you've discovered a handy tip? Share how you are using Brightspace in your teaching and learning in The Orange Room.
