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May 2026 D2L Brightspace Release
Effective May 21, 2026, new and updated features within D2L Brightspace are available to Instructors as part of the monthly update.
Release highlights include updates to Competencies, Content, Grades, Quizzes, and Tools. Review the additional resources to learn more.
Competencies
Align and assess with existing competencies, but no longer create competencies
With the May 2026 release, instructors will no longer have an option to create competencies and learning objectives in their courses using the legacy Competencies tool.
With this update, instructors can continue to align existing competency learning objectives to activities and items (such as assignments, discussions, quiz questions) and assess student work against those competencies.
If interested in moving to an alternative solution, please reach out to your D2L Campus Trainer and D2L Campus Site Admin.
Figure: Competency tool in 'Standard View' no longer has the New menu with create options.
Figure: Competency tool in 'Advanced View' no longer has create options under the New section.
Content
New Content Experience is the default experience for Content
As part of ongoing efforts to improve consistency and usability across D2L Brightspace, the Senior Vice Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs approved the ASA Technology Council recommendation that the New Content Experience be the default experience in all Brightspace courses starting summer 2026.
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The New Content Experience was enabled for all courses (including development and sandbox), except past ISRS semester courses.
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Spring 2026 and prior semester courses still use the Classic Content experience.
With the New Content Experience in the Content tool, instructors can expect a similar experience of the existing creation and editing of course materials, but with a few changes and new features.
Students can expect new features and some changes to their experience with navigation and interacting with Content in the New Content Experience.
Grades
"This activity is past due" may display for student when automatic zero grading is enabled by instructor
With the May 2026 release, when an instructor has their grade book set up the Automatic zero grading for students who missed the due date, the student's view now displays "This activity is past due" in the grade's Comments & Assessments column. This change provides a student a way to identify overdue work from their grades.
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The text only displays in the student's view. (Learn more in these articles about previewing your class from a student's perspective.)
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The text will not display when the instructor (1) enters a score/feedback before the automatic zero is applied, or (2) updates the score or feedback for the student after the automatic zero is applied.
Figure: The Grades view from the student's perspective, displaying "This activity is past due" text in the Comments & Assessments column.
Quizzes
Improved import buttons for browsing question library when adding questions to a quiz
With the May 2026 release, when an instructor is adding questions to a quiz by browsing the question library, there may now be two import buttons, depending on whether the quiz has sections of questions.
- For quizzes without sections of questions, the main Import button has two options: import to top of quiz and import to bottom of quiz.
- For quizzes with sections of questions, the new Import to Section option is a separate button to import questions to a section.
This is an improvement to make importing questions to the quiz section easier to access.
Figure: The Browse Question Library import options fo ra quiz without sections.
Figure: The Browse Question Library import options for a quiz with sections.
Tools
Six course tools will be set off by default, but instructor can turn back on
With the May 2026 release, six course tools will be set to off by default, but instructors can turn back on in their courses. The following tools will be set off in courses:
In their course, an instructor can turn back on the tool(s) or they can contact their campus D2L Help Desk for help turning them back on. Learn more in the article about Review course tools in D2L Brightspace.
Figure: In this sample, the Course Builder tool toggle is set off from the course Tools page.
Figure: Toggle the switch to set the tool on to be available in your course again.
Additional Resources