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: Discussions
Each month Brightspace release a list of updates and upcoming changes. This article summarizes updates related to instructors using discussion forums and topics in their courses.
July 2025 Updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated
Discussion Topic Evaluation View
Bulk Feedback
- Bulk feedback is a recently released option that manages feedback to all students in the course for a graded discussion topic.
- Bulk Feedback is available in the Assess Topic view for a graded individual discussion topic.
- 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)
- Retract all feedback (this will delete any feedback you have added to individual student grades)
- 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.
Note: The Assess Topic view can be accessed by choosing Discussions located under Course Menu, then for an individual topic choose Assess Topic from the menu list (the chevron drop down menu)
December 2025 Updates
Links to additional information may be added when related KB articles are updated
Enforce timely learner engagement with first post due dates
Bulk Feedback
- To ensure timely learner participation, instructors can now specify a due date for the first post in a discussion topic. This supports course pacing, institutional policies, and consistent expectations for learner engagement. This mirrors the behavior of Assignments and Quizzes, making the course experience more consistent and predictable.
- Previously, instructors could not set due dates for initial discussion posts, which made it difficult to assess timely engagement or enforce deadlines. This update improves grading accuracy, simplifies compliance with participation policies, and supports smoother course migrations from learning management systems that already include this functionality.
- The first post due date follows the same behavior as Assignments and Quizzes:
- Due dates must be between the start and end dates of the discussion topic.
- Availability types (for example, Hidden, Visible with access restricted, Visible with submission restricted) are respected.
Additional improvements include:
- Calendar tool integration: The first post due date appears in the calendar.
- Notifications: Administrators can enable notifications. When enabled, the due date will trigger a notification in Brightspace and push notification (Pulse App).
- Grading: Discussion due dates support automatic-zero grading.
- Other enhancements:
- In Manage Dates, first post due dates are visible and editable.
- In the Discussion List, due dates appear next to each topic.
- In New Content Experiences, Overdue and Late indicators appear when deadlines are missed. Classic content will continue to show the due date on the content topic.
- In Quick Eval and Consistent Evaluation, first post due dates appear in evaluation workflows.
- In the Work to Do widget, due dates appear.
Note: Discussion due dates must fall within the topic's availability window to appear in the calendar and trigger notifications.
