Preview Release Notes
Video: Release Highlights
Release Highlights for August 2025/20.25.08 will be available on August 7, 2025.
General Announcements
- The Locale and ForceLocale fields are now included in the Course.CourseOffering JSON block returned by the Course API GET call. This enhancement ensures consistency between the Brightspace user interface (UI) and API responses. Previously, these fields were not available via the API, preventing customers from retrieving course-specific locale information programmatically. Customers can now access this data as part of their course integration workflows.
To view the change log for this release note landing page, go to Change History at the bottom of this page.
Analytics Builder – Brightspace Data Sets Major Version 10 is now the default | Updated
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Analytics Builder is part of the Performance+ package. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager. |
Brightspace Data Sets (BDS) data contracts are versioned and managed through a clear change management policy to ensure consistent and predictable changes. In adherence to the policy, BDS Major Version 9 is no longer supported in Analytics Builder. Authors must adopt BDS Major Version 10 by updating their custom datasets and analyses that rely on BDS Major Version 9.
For step-by-step instructions, refer to Updating Analytics Builder for Brightspace Data Sets Major Versions in Brightspace Community.
After the version update and a full data set run completes in Data Hub, BDS Major Version 10 is pulled into Analytics Builder. BDS Major Version 9 updates will end, and anything mapped to BDS Major Version 9 will continue to function but will have outdated data.
Analytics Builder will attempt to auto-upgrade datasets and assets from Major Version 9 to Major Version 10. If the auto-upgrade fails, Authors will receive a Brightspace notification, and the impacted assets will be moved to a dedicated Assets to Review folder in Analytics Builder. BDS Major Version 9 will be available until September 30, 2025, so that Authors can resolve any breaking changes. After this date, unresolved items with breaking changes may become non-functional.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Large impact to administrators who must rework their assets to keep them aligned with the latest data.
Availability:
- This feature is available to clients with the Performance+ package and clients who have provisioned their instance of Analytics Builder.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for clients with Analytics Builder.
- Ensure the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 10.4.
- Authors must have the Analytics Builder > Can Manage Analytics Builder permission at the org level and must be granted an Author license.
Data Hub – End of adoption period for Brightspace Data Sets Major Version 10 | Updated
Brightspace Data Sets (BDS) data contracts are versioned and managed through a clear change management policy to ensure consistent and predictable changes. In adherence to the policy, the adoption period for BDS Major Version 10, which was announced in April 2025/20.25.04, has ended. Major Version 10 is now the only supported version. Any clients who are still using Major Version 9 are automatically migrated with this release.
The following Brightspace Data Sets have been replaced and are no longer available in Data Hub:
- Quiz Question Answers
- Survey Question Answers
- Quiz Question Answer Options
For more information about this version update, refer to Motivations behind the changes in Data Hub Brightspace Data Set (BDS) Major Version 10 in Brightspace Community.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Large impact to administrators due to disruptive changes to existing data sets.
- Analytics Builder and Insights Report Builder Authors must review and adjust their affected assets. Refer to update instructions for Analytics Builder and Insights Report Builder (English only).
Availability:
- This feature is available to all Brightspace Core clients.
To enable:
- Ensure administrators have the Brightspace Data Sets > Can Access Brightspace Data Sets permission at the org level.
- Ensure the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 10.4.
- New and changed data sets appear the first time the data set runs after the version update.
Groups – Enrollment limit increase | New
To support growing class sizes, the Groups tool now allows enrollment of up to 3000 users per group within a group category. Previously, the limit was 200 users per group.
This increased limit applies to all enrollment workflows, including:
- Automatic enrollment during group creation
- Automatic enrollment during Classlist enrollment, where automatic enrollment group types exist
- Manual enrollment using the Enroll Users and Import options within the Groups tool
- Groups enrollment via the Bulk User Management tool
- Enrollment using Brightspace APIs
The 3000-user limit is now strictly enforced across all methods of group enrollment. Previous workarounds that bypassed the former enrollment limit will no longer function for any group that has reached the 3000-user limit.
Currently, the automatic enrollment overflow functionality enrolls users into other groups in the same category if the selected group is full. However, when the 3000-user limit is reached in all groups, further enrollment attempts will fail. To continue processing enrollments, you must add additional groups to the category.
In cases where enrollment fails due to the user limit, the following indications appear:
- Brightspace APIs return an error
- Bulk User Management and Group Import CSV display user-specific errors in the import results
- IPSIS and Banner integrations report failures
- In the Groups tool, additional users cannot be selected without deselecting users already enrolled in the group
For more information about this feature and future developments, refer to the Improving groups with increased enrollment limits blog post.
This feature implements the following PIE items:
- D6942 (Allow for more than 200 people in a group/section)
- D4750 (Remove 200 member cap on Self-enrolling Groups)
Technical Details
Impact:
- Moderate impact to administrators due to the 3000-user group limitation set for all enrollment workflows.
- Moderate impact to instructors due to the ability to organize classes into groups that accommodate larger numbers of learners.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for all users.
- This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions or existing configuration variables.
Honorlock – New Partner Offering | New
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Honorlock is a partner add-on solution that must be purchased separately. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager. |
Honorlock is now available as a D2L partner add-on solution, offering a powerful, AI-enhanced online proctoring solution designed to support academic integrity and provide a seamless experience for learners, instructors, and administrators.
Honorlock proctoring offerings are available for higher education institutions on a per-user or per-exam basis. Corporate use is not currently supported.
The following features are included with Honorlock:
- Live Pop-In™: Minimizes false positives by escalating only real-time concerns to trained human proctors, saving instructors and administrators hours of manual review
- BrowserGuard™: Secures test browsers by blocking access to websites, applications, and keyboard shortcuts like copy and paste
- Cell phone detection
- Speech detection
- Additional AI-driven monitoring features
All sessions are managed through secure Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure, adhering to strict data protection and institutional compliance standards.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators, instructors, and learners who benefit from a streamlined and secure assessment experience.
Availability:
- Honorlock is available globally to eligible higher education institutions upon purchase and completion of a standard implementation process. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager.
To enable:
- Honorlock integrates with Brightspace via LTI 1.3. Setup includes registering the tool and may involve minimal configuration by site administrators. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager.
Insights Report Builder – Brightspace Data Sets Major Version 10 is now the default | Updated
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Insights Report Builder is part of the Performance+ package. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager. |
Brightspace Data Sets (BDS) data contracts are versioned and managed through a clear change management policy to ensure consistent and predictable changes. In adherence to the policy, BDS Major Version 9 is no longer supported in Insights Report Builder. Authors must adopt BDS Major Version 10 by updating their DataFlows, reports, and dashboards that rely on BDS Major Version 9.
For step-by-step instructions, refer to Updating Insights Report Builder for Brightspace Data Sets Major Versions in Brightspace Community.
After the version update and a full data set run completes in Data Hub, BDS Major Version 10 is pulled into Insights Report Builder. BDS Major Version 9 updates will end, and anything mapped to BDS Major Version 9 will continue to function but will have outdated data.
Following our Change Management Policy for Insights Report Builder, Authors have three months after a BDS major version release is set as default to adopt the changes in Insights Report Builder. We will delete BDS Major Version 9 and any DataFlows, reports, and dashboards that use it from Insights Report Builder in December 2025/20.25.12.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Large impact to administrators who must rework their assets to keep them aligned with the latest data.
Availability:
- This feature is available to clients who purchased Performance+ before April 2024 or purchased Brightspace Insights in the previous packaging model and have provisioned their instance of Insights Report Builder.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for clients with Insights Report Builder.
- Ensure the d2l.Tools.BrightspaceDataSets.Version configuration variable is set to version 10.4.
- Authors must have the Analytics Builder > Can Manage Analytics Builder permission at the org level and must be granted an Author license.
Local Authentication Security – Email-based two-factor authentication (2FA) | New
To improve secure access options for all users, Brightspace now offers email-based two-factor authentication (2FA) in addition to third-party authenticator applications. This feature ensures that users do not have to use a personal device with a configured authenticator app to access Brightspace securely. Administrators can enable or disable email-based 2FA for users with local logins based on their organization’s authentication policies.
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Important: Users without an external email configured for their Brightspace login will not be able to see the option to configure email-based 2FA. |
This functionality is controlled by the new configuration variable, d2l.Auth.TwoFactor.EnableEmail2FA, which is OFF by default.
When enabled for the organization, users can select their preferred 2FA method from one of the following options in Account Settings:
- Receive an emailed login code to the external email address they have registered in Brightspace
- Use an authenticator application
- Set up both methods for flexibility
When logging in, users enter a code obtained from either method to complete authentication securely. Users with enforced 2FA configured on their account can choose to configure a single method while logging in to Brightspace. After logging in, they can configure a second method via Account Settings.
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Note: The emailed login code expires after 5 minutes. |
Figure: Account Settings displays both 2FA options.
Figure: Users with enforced 2FA are required to configure the email authentication during login to Brightspace.
This feature also includes minor visual enhancements to the authenticator app setup screens for a clearer configuration experience.
Figure: The Enable Two Factor Authentication set up screen appears.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators who can enable this functionality using the new configuration variable.
- Slight impact to instructors and learners who may be required to set up 2FA for their accounts.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- Set the new d2l.Auth.TwoFactor.EnableEmail2FA (Org) configuration variable value to ON.
- This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
My CPD Records – API routes for attachments | Updated
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This feature is part of the D2L for Associations, Corporate, and Upskilling for EDU package that must be purchased separately. For more information, contact your D2L Client Sales Executive or Account Manager. |
This release introduces new Valence API routes for the My CPD Records tool. Administrators can now manage attachments for My CPD Records via API.
Administrators with the My CPD Records > Manage Other Users' CPD Records (API Only) permission can use the following API actions:
- Post attachments to a record (PUT /d2l/api/le/{version}/cpd/record/{recordId}/attachments)
- Delete attachments from a record (DELETE /d2l/api/le/{version}/cpd/record/{recordId}/attachments)
Previously, administrators could only post or delete attachments using the My CPD Records UI.
Details of the new API routes will be available in the Brightspace Developer Platform documentation.
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators who can now post or delete My CPD Records attachments via API.
Availability:
- This feature is available to clients who use the My CPD Records tool, which is included in the D2L for Associations, Corporate, and Upskilling for EDU package.
To enable:
- This functionality is automatically enabled for clients with My CPD Records.
- This functionality is dependent on the My CPD Records > Manage Other Users' CPD Records (API Only) permission.
- This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing configuration variables.
Quizzes – Print your quiz | New
In response to customer feedback, this update provides instructors with a simple way to print an offline quiz that supports all native Brightspace quiz question types, shuffling and randomization options, question pools, multiple versions, and an Answer Key.
Figure: From the Manage Quizzes page, click the drop-down beside the quiz name and select Print .
Figure: From the Print Quiz page, select a version tab, configure formatting, and click Print [Version].
The d2l.Tools.Quizzes.PrintQuizFeature (OrgUnit) configuration variable controls this feature. It is ON by default. Administrators can turn it OFF if more time is required for documentation or training.
Options to support multiple quiz versions include:
- Shuffle Quiz (under Timing & Display) to shuffle quiz sections and questions.
Figure: In the Timing & Display section of the quiz settings, select Shuffle Quiz to randomize the order of questions and sections within the quiz.
- Shuffle questions in this section (when creating or editing a section).
Figure: When creating or editing a quiz section, select Shuffle questions in this section to randomize questions, sections, and pools within the section.
- Randomize answer order when creating or editing a supported question type, for example, Multiple Choice.
Figure: When creating a multiple-choice question, select Randomize answer order to present answer choices in a different order for each learner.
To help instructors quickly and easily grade printed quizzes taken offline, an Answer Key is provided for each version. It includes the correct answers and, where applicable, the grading method.
Figure: To grade a quiz, instructors can select Show correct answers and print the required version of the quiz with an Answer Key.
This feature implements the following PIE items:
- D362 (Print Quiz and Quiz Key)
- D3718 (Quizzes - Generate PDF of the Quiz for Printing)
- D5909 (Make all screens which have "forms" exportable to PDF)
- D7213 (Download/print completed student quiz submission)
- D8049 (Printing Quiz)
- D8599 (Export an exam or the questions library in Word format)
- D8644 (Make quiz attempt view navigation non-printable)
- D11794 (Quizzes: Print Test for Offline Completion)
Technical Details
Impact:
- Slight impact to administrators due to the default enablement of the print quiz feature, with the option to turn off the configuration variable if required.
- Large impact to instructors, who can now print quizzes.
- Slight impact to learners, who may now complete quizzes in printed format.
Availability:
- This feature is available to all clients.
To enable:
- This feature is enabled automatically.
- This functionality is controlled by the d2l.Tools.Quizzes.PrintQuizFeature (OrgUnit) configuration variable (default: ON).
- This functionality is not dependent on any new or existing permissions.
17-July-2025 Preview Release Notes published.