Bulk-create Brightspace analytic rubrics by importing CSV/Excel/Word (instead of manual copy/paste)

June.R.2628

Hi D2L Community,

CMCC already uses Brightspace as our LMS. I recently spoke with CMCC’s Instructional Designer (Natalee S.) to inquire if there were supported ways to make Brightspace Rubrics faster to create/build for instructors and institutions.

What I’m trying to do:
Create new Brightspace analytic rubrics from an external template (a CSV, or Microsoft Word Document, or an Excel file, for instance) where the rubric components are already laid out in columns and rows, and then upload/import that file so Brightspace populates the rubric automatically, rather than requiring manual copy/paste for each field.

Specifically, I am hoping to import/populate:

• rubric criteria
• levels per criterion
• level descriptions and instructor feedback at each level
• points (or weights/%) per level

Question:
Is there a supported way in Brightspace today to import an analytic rubric from a CSV/Excel/Word file to auto-populate the Rubrics tool?

If direct import is not available:

• Are there any recommended workflows to speed up the creation of many new rubrics (not just reusing an existing one)?
• Has anyone created/produced an API/integration-based approach to generate rubrics from a spreadsheet template?

Why this is important:
This would support instructors and institutions by making rubric creation significantly faster and more consistent, especially when building multiple rubrics.

Thank you in advance for your guidance.
June Roberts-Sherman
Chair, Instructor
Graphic Design Department
Central Maine Community College

Niccolo.C.4346

Hi June,

Thank you for outlining the use case so clearly.

Based on the documented Brightspace workflows, I do not see a direct Rubrics tool workflow for uploading a CSV, Excel file, or Word document to automatically create a new analytic rubric.

The documented Rubrics tool workflow is to create the rubric directly in Brightspace by selecting New Rubric, choosing the rubric type and scoring type, then adding criteria, levels, descriptions, feedback, and points. Documentation: Create a rubric using the Rubrics tool - Brightspace

For speeding up rubric creation, the documented options are to copy an existing rubric, copy individual criteria or criteria groups, share rubrics from higher-level org units where appropriate, or build rubrics in a course template for reuse in course offerings. The same Rubrics article documents that copying a rubric creates a new rubric with the same properties, levels, and criteria. About Import/Export/Copy Components - Brightspace

Rubrics can also be copied, imported, and exported as course components through Import/Export/Copy Components. That workflow is package/component based, rather than a CSV/Excel/Word import into the Rubrics tool. Documentation:

For an integration-based approach, the Brightspace Developer Platform documents rubric API routes, including POST /d2l/api/le/(version)/(orgUnitId)/rubrics/ to create a new rubric in an org unit. That API uses a JSON RubricInput structure, not a CSV/Excel/Word upload. Documentation: Assessments and rubrics — Developer Platform (August 2026)

So, for the specific question: a direct CSV/Excel/Word import to auto-populate new analytic rubrics in the Rubrics tool is not a documented workflow. The documented options are rubric copy/reuse, course component copy/import/export, or a custom API-based process that converts the external rubric template into the required Brightspace rubric API JSON structure.

Regards,

Niccolo