Relevant to: faculty and staff
This article contains information considered accurate at the time of publishing. Technology updates, changes in University security practices, and/or policies and procedures may affect the information in this article - updates to articles are scheduled on a periodic basis and will address any required changes.
Brightspace Updates: Assignments
Each month Brightspace release a list of updates and upcoming changes. This article summarizes updates related to instructors using assignments in their courses.
December 2025 Updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated.
Group Assignment Evaluation
This release introduces enhancements to the Email Group button in Group Assignment Evaluation. Previously, the Email Group button displayed in Group Assignment Evaluation even if a group has no members.
If a group has no members, the Email Group button no longer appears. The button now displays only when it is actionable, reducing confusion and improving interface clarity.
October 2025 Updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated.
Assignment Settings
Assignment Type
A new drop-down menu for selecting the Assignment Type will be used to differentiate between a Group or an Individual. Previously, a radio button was used to distinguish between an individual or group.
Annotations
Informational Tip
A new informational tool tip has been added to make it easier for instructors to understand what the Annotations tool does and which types of assignments you can use it with. The new informational tool tip now appears beside the existing Annotations check box in the interface for creating assignments.
When you hover over the new information ( ? ) button, a tool tip displays Annotation Tools help.
If you click on the new information ( ? ) button, a pop-up window will explain what the Annotations tool does and which types of assignments you can use it with. The annotation tool allows you to add feedback directly to uploaded documents by highlighting, drawing, and commenting. This is available for file submission only.
Check Box Appearance
To make it easier to immediately understand whether you can use Annotations on an assignment, the Annotations check box now appears disabled (grayed out) for non-file type assignments, such as Text, Observed, or On Paper assignments.
Locked Settings
Annotation settings are locked for submissions that are not a File or File or Text.
In addition, if learners already made submissions to the assignment, the annotation settings will be locked and disabled.
July 2025 Updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated.
Assignment Submission View
Bulk Feedback
- Bulk feedback is a recently released option that manages feedback to all students in the course for a graded assignment topic.
- Bulk Feedback is available in an assignment submission view.
- The bulk feedback option is now turned on by default for all courses, instructors can choose to opt-out of this option until October 2025 when it will be permanently turned on.
- Bulk feedback has 3 options
- Publish all feedback publishes any feedback saved as a draft. This option is grayed out if there isn't unpublished feedback saved as a draft.
- Add feedback to all (this will add the same feedback to all student grades and delete any feedback you have already entered). This option is not recommended - previously entered feedback cannot be restored. This is located in the More Actions drop-down menu.
- Retract all feedback (this will delete any feedback you have added to individual student grades). This is located in the More Actions drop-down menu.
Note: The Assignment submission view can be accessed by choosing Assignments located under Course Menu, then for an individual assignment choose View Submissions from the assignment menu list (the chevron drop down menu located after the Assignment name).
October 2025 updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated
Update to Assignment Type Selection
- This feature introduces a refinement to the Assignments Creation interface by replacing the existing radio button selection for Individual and Group assignments with a drop down menu. This change is foundational and intended to support future enhancements to the Assignments tool.
- Assignment type selection presented as a drop-down menu with conditional availability based on group configuration. If no groups are configured within the course, the Group option appears disabled in the drop-down menu (greyed out), preventing selection.
Annotation Availability Awareness Enhancements in Assignment Creation
To improve the Assignment Creation experience with Annotations and to improve clarity for instructors, we have added the following updates to the annotation settings within the Assignment Creation workflow:
- Informational Tooltip: A new informational tooltip has been added beside the checkbox for Annotations. When selected, this tooltip will open to a new information dialog which will provide additional information on which assignment types support annotations, enabling instructors and administrators to verify whether annotations are available for specific assignment types during assignment creation.
- Annotation Option Disabled for Text/Observed/On-paper Assignment Types: Since annotations are only available when there is a file submission, the annotation toggle is now automatically disabled (greyed out) for assignment types where annotations are not supported such as Text, Observed, and On-Paper assignments. This change helps prevent misconfiguration and ensures consistency in assignment creation for instructors or admins.
- Updated messaging based on Context:
- In the scenario where annotations are not available due to the assignment type, a new message 'Annotations are only available for assignments with file submissions' will be shown to the user
- In the scenario where annotations are disabled since submissions have been received ' Annotation settings are locked after submissions are received' is displayed