January 2026 Updates

Brightspace Updates

New This Spring: YuJa Panorama

When reviewing course materials, look for the Accessibility Indicator — a person inside a shape [hexagon, triangle, or octagon] with color. This indicator provides a snapshot of the accessibility of your content. A gray, incomplete shape (not pictured) indicates that the content cannot be evaluated for accessibility.

Students are also presented with a Panorama icon (person inside a circle) to signal when alternative formats of content are available, making it easier to access content in formats that work best for them.

For details, contact accessibility@arizona.edu or visit the link below.

A Game-Changer for Discussions: Due Dates

The wait is over! Brightspace now lets instructors set a due date for students’ initial post in a Discussion Topic. This long-awaited update transforms how discussions operate. Previously, the Discussion tool did not offer a way to set deadlines for initial posts, making timely engagement difficult to assess and enforce.

With due dates in this tool, participation policies are easier to uphold and expectations are clearer for learners. The feature also integrates with the Calendar tool, Brightspace notifications, and supports automatic-zero grading when a student does not post by the due date.

Pulse Mobile App Now Shows Content Dates

Learners can now see due dates, start dates, and end dates directly on Content Topics in the Brightspace Pulse app. This update brings key scheduling details into Pulse, creating a more consistent experience with the web platform and helping learners plan their workload more easily.

Previously, due dates, start dates, and end dates on content were only visible on the web platform.

Zero-Point Questions in Quizzes

Quizzes now support zero-point questions, making it easy to collect non-graded information. Instructors can assign 0 points to any quiz question type, allowing space for reflections, feedback, or acknowledgement items, such as an Academic Integrity Code, directly within a quiz. Zero-point questions are excluded from the quiz total, keeping grading clean, accurate, and intentional.

Images Now Included in Email Notifications

Images added directly within Brightspace Announcements are now included in emailed and instant notification versions of those announcements. Previously, only images attached as files appeared in notification emails, while in-line images were omitted.

Including in-line images helps ensure learners who rely on email notifications receive the same visual information as what appears in the announcement itself, reducing the chance that important details are missed.