November 2026 D2L Brightspace Release
Effective November 19, 2026, new and updated features within D2L Brightspace are available to Instructors as part of the November 2026 release.
Release highlights include updates to Groups, HTML Editor, Minibar and Course Banner, and Quizzes.
Review the webinar recording and slide deck for What’s New in November 2026 (available after the Oct. 12th webinar). And learn more about the November 2026 release updates for students.
Groups
Improved experience to manage group membership when using the new Manage Groups experience
With the November 2026 release, the new Manage Groups experience now includes an improved Manage Members page. (Learn about the new Manage Groups experience.) Instructors can manage student group membership by viewing groups and the student enrollments (from the Groups tab) or by viewing students and the groups to which they belong (from the Learners tab).
Additionally, from the main Groups page, there is a new Not Enrolled column that identifies the number of students who are not enrolled in any group in the category. Selecting the linked number opens the Learners tab, automatically filtered to students not assigned to any group in that category.
Use the Groups tab to manually adjust multiple students for a specific group
From the new Groups tab, you can view groups and the students who are enrolled. To navigate to the Groups tab:
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Do one of the following:
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From the main Groups page, select Manage Members from the category's menu (group enrollments in a category).
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Select the category's name, and then select Manage Members from a group's menu (specific group enrollments).
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The Groups tab displays by default.
Figure: From the Groups tab (in this case all groups in a category), view the students who are enrolled in each group.
Figure: From the Groups tab, select the + icon for a group. Select one or more students to enroll in a group.
Review students who are not enrolled in any group within a category
Back on the main Manage Groups page, there is a new Not Enrolled column. Select the link to navigate to the Learners tab, filtered to show only students not enrolled in any group in that category.
Figure: From the Manage Groups page, select the Not Enrolled link for a category.
Figure: Review students not enrolled in any group in that category.
Use the Learners tab to manually adjust multiple groups for a student
From the new Learners tab, You can view students and the groups to which they belong. To navigate to the Learners tab:
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Do one of the following:
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From the main Groups page, select Manage Members from the category's menu (group enrollments in a category).
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Select the category's name, and then select Manage Members from a group's menu (specific group enrollments).
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Select the Learners tab to display the page.
Figure: From the Learners tab, view students and their group enrollments in a category.
Figure: From the Learners tab, select the + icon for a student. Then select one or more groups to enroll the student in those groups.
Use the Learners tab to enroll multiple students in multiple groups
- From the main Groups page, select Manage Members from the category's menu (all group enrollments).
- Select the Learners tab to display the page.
- Select the check box next to each student you want to enroll in multiple groups.
- Select Edit Membership above the list of students (right side of the page).
- In the Edit Membership dialog, select each group you want to enroll the students into.
- Select Continue.
- Review the changes and select Save.
Figure: From the Learners tab (category membership), select multiple students then select Edit Membership. Select the group to enroll and save the changes.
Figure: Review changes screen when changing group enrollments for the selected students.
HTML Editor
Use replace strings to display course Start and/or End Date in the HTML Editor
With the November 2026 release, the {OrgUnitStartDate} and {OrgUnitEndDate} replacement strings are now supported in most* tools that use the rich-text HTML Editor. (Learn more about using replace strings to personalize text in D2L Brightspace.) *Note: In Content HTML webpages and topic 'descriptions', replace strings are removed with the actual content upon saving the page. This means that future updates will not reflected in the content. This is a limitation of Content.
Previously, these two replace strings were limited to use within Intelligent Agents.
This update allows instructors to dynamically reference and display the Brightspace course start and end dates across multiple areas, including announcements and discussion descriptions. This ensures that students have more visibility into the course start and end dates.
Figure: When creating an announcement, use replace strings to display the course dates.
Figure: The announcement displays the course Start Date and End Date when viewed from the course homepage.
Minibar and Course Banner
After navigating to a course, view upcoming course end date in the minibar and optionally on course homepage banner
With the November 2026 release, students and instructors can now reference a course's future end date from the minibar when in an open course. After navigating to a course, the course date displays under the course title in the minibar. This update makes course dates easier for students to find without navigating to the My Courses widget outside the course.
Instructors can now reference a course's past end date (with 'closed' tag) or future start date directly from the minibar when in a closed course. Additionally, instructors can optionally display the course date on the course homepage banner by selecting the course banner menu (three-dots icon) > Customize course banner > Display Course Status check box. From the course banner menu, there is now a link to the Course Offering Information for instructors to access.
Figure: A course's future end date and time displays under the course title in the minibar.
Figure: For instructors, a 'closed' course tag displays (along with the course's past end date and time) under the course title in the minibar.
Figure: For instructors, a course's future start date and time displays under the course title in the minibar.
Figure: The new 'Display Course Status' check box when customizing the course banner.
Figure: From the course homepage banner, the course date and time displays under the course title (when checkbox is selected).
Quizzes
Improved group and section filters on View Statistics and Grade Quiz pages
With the November 2026 release, the Quizzes tool now uses the combined View By filter with separate, searchable Groups and Sections filters. This is now consistent with filters on other tool pages (such as the Classlist and Grades).
For Instructors using Quizzes:
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On the Grade Quiz page, the updated filters are available on the Users and Attempts tabs. Filter selections are specific to the active tab, preventing settings from being reset when navigating between different views.
Note: The Questions tab does not contain these filters.
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On the View Statistics page, the updated filters are available on each tab: User Stats, Question Stats, and Question Details. Filter selections are specific to the active tab, preventing settings from being reset when navigating between different statistical views.
Figure: On the Grade Quiz page, use the Sections or Groups filters to filter by course sections or groups, respectively. Select Apply to update your selections.
Figure: On the View Statistics page, use the Sections or Groups filters to filter by course sections or groups, respectively. Select Apply to update your selections.