Written By: Andrew Ko, Product Manager
Important update regarding Courses tool configuration variables and Form Elements
As of the June 2025/20.25.06 release new Courses configuration variables were introduced to control Department and Semester requirements in the Course creation process.
These new configuration variables are automatically migrated based on the Form Element settings of your organization. These configuration settings are identical with Form Elements settings. Therefore, D2L strongly recommends that you ensure both configuration variables and Form Element settings for displaying and requiring department and semester match. Form elements will be decoupled from Courses in a future release.
Courses tool documentation
The Courses tool is now available in all production environments of Brightspace as of the June 2025/20.25.06 release. Therefore Courses tool documentation is migrated to our help documentation.
Refer to the following pages for more information:
Extended adoption period to transition from Course Management to Courses tool
In the February 2025/20.25.02 release, we introduced the new Courses tool to test environments only of Brightspace only.
The Courses tool is now available in production environments of Brightspace as part of the June 2025/20.25.06 release.
We planned to remove the existing Course Management tool from production environments as part of this release. However, the after receiving valued feedback from clients working with Courses in test environments, we decided to extend the availability of the Course Management tool to January 2026 to facilitate user transition to the improved Courses tool.
We are actively gathering feedback from our customers on the new Courses tool during the adoption period in order to mitigate the impact and continue improving the experience. Contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager to provide feedback.
Introduction
In recent years, we've made significant investments into the usability of Brightspace with some great results. For example:
Video: Get to know the new Courses tool
An overview of changes to Course Management
The following section provides a quick overview of the exciting changes we are implementing in test environments of Brightspace as of the February 2025 / 20.25.02 release.
The current Course Management tool
In case you need a reminder, here is the legacy Manage Courses page, which is accessed in Brightspace by navigating to Admin Tools > Course Management.
Figure: The existing Course Management experience in production instances of Brightspace offers a legacy view.
The updated Courses tool
The updated Courses tool provides a modern and accessible update.
Figure: The new Courses tool, available in test environments of Brightspace by navigating to Admin Tools > Courses.
The Courses tool uses Daylight components, providing consistent components across the platform. You will also see a familiar layout, similar to Classlist, Quizzes, or even Users, allowing you to complete your regular tasks quicker and easier than ever.
Here, you'll find modern search and filter options so you can find exactly the course(s) you're looking for!
Figure: Search for and filter courses easily by Department, End Date, and more!
Improved course creation workflow in test environments
From the Courses tab, click the Create Course button. On this new Create Course page, you'll see a standard set of required fields.
Figure: You have the option to use an existing template or create a new template with the new course. This is consistent with the options provided in the legacy Manage Courses tool.
To improve your experience, Form Elements no longer dictate the required fields when creating a course. This eliminates the ability to create a course without entering a Name or Code.
Easy course copy workflow
Easily re-offer a course by selecting the Actions menu next to a listed course and then choosing Copy. Using this copy workflow will copy the course branding like homepage, navbar, and theme but will not copy course components.
Important: Copying a course does not copy course components.
Easy access to course homepages and course admin
To view a course homepage, click the course name or click the Actions menu and select View. To navigate directly to the Course Admin page, select Manage.
Figure: If you select View, you will navigate to the course homepage. If you select Manage, you will navigate directly to the Course Admin page of the course.
Review and select courses from one list
You'll notice that in the new list page, you have the ability to select more than one course from the list.
Note: As of the February 2025/20.25.02 release, Delete is the only bulk action available. Deleted courses are placed in the Recycle Bin in the Org Unit Editor. To permanently delete courses, you must empty the Recycle Bin.
Figure: Select multiple courses or course templates and delete them in one bulk action.
We have plans to add more actions here, like updating start and end dates or active/inactive status. These tools will be incorporated in future updates.
Additional updates to test and development environments in the 20.25.04 release
New default course status
The default course status will be active when creating a new course with an option to toggle off (inactive).
New prefix for auto-generated templates
To better distinguish between a Course Offering Code and Course Template Code created with auto-template generation, a prefix (T_) appears at the beginning of the auto-generated Course Template Code.
General improvements to search algorithm
The Courses tool also has an improved search algorithm to enhance the user experience when searching within the Courses tool.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What happens if we don't use Departments or Semesters?
You will see set standard org unit types in the Manage Types area of Org Unit Editor.
Is the enablement of this new experience configurable? Can I turn it off?
To ease support during this transition, we will not allow opt-outs in this experience.