Overview
As of June 2, 2018, Minnesota State D2L Brightspace learning environment migrated to D2L’s cloud hosting services, and moved onto D2L’s continuous delivery (CD) model. On D2L’s CD model, we receive monthly updates for our Minnesota State D2L Brightspace sites. Check out the D2L Brightspace Update Schedule available at the D2L Brightspace public webpage.
After each upgrade, new and updated features will be available in D2L Brightspace.
- Starred (
) items are feature or changes that impact students and sometimes instructors.
- Remaining items are features or changes that impact instructors only.
Announcements
In-line images display in emailed announcements (January 2026)
- When instructors adds an in-line image in an announcement, the image is now included in the body of the email for any notification email or emailed copy of that announcement. Note: This update applies only to images. Videos embedded in announcements are not included in emailed announcements.
Assignments
Improvements for assistive technology users in Assignments (January 2026)
- For instructors using assistive technologies, several improvements were made to the Assignments tool. On the Submissions page in Assignments, the drop-down menus for submissions, feedback, and results per page now include accessible labels.
Brightspace Pulse
Review Due, Start, and End dates on content in the Pulse app (January 2026)
- In the Brightspace Pulse app (December 5, 2025 release), an enhancement brings due dates, start dates, and end dates for content topics within the course's Content tab. This feature is available when using the Pulse app version 2.2511.0.1003200 on Android or 2.2512.898 on Apple (or later versions).
Classlist
Export Classlist details to CSV and improved print output (January 2026)
- The Classlist tool now includes a new Export button that allows instructors a quick way to download student Classlist details to a CSV file, such as to review the Classlist offline. Additionally, improvements were made to the existing Print option in the Classlist that now displays more information, including pronouns and details about the course in the printout.
Quick Eval
Improvements for assistive technology users in Quick Eval (January 2026)
- For instructors using assistive technologies, several improvements were made to the Quick Eval tool. These improvements are: (1) the number of search results returned is read aloud by assistive technology in the Submissions view in Quick Eval, and (2) the status messages that show the number of search results are now accessible to screen readers in the Activities view in Quick Eval.
Quizzes
Restrict quiz to lock each attempt to a single D2L Brightspace login session (January 2026)
- If enabled for a quiz, instructors can now require students to complete a quiz attempt within a single D2L Brightspace login session. When the session restriction option is enabled, students cannot resume the quiz attempt using another browser or device. If interested in this feature, instructors should contact their local D2L Campus Site Admin.