How do updates work in Brightspace?
Brightspace is a cloud based learning management system. Updates are carried out by D2L, the supplier of Brightspace, on a monthly bases. There is no downtime for updates, meaning you can continue working in Brightspace while updates take place.
Updates may contain new features, improvements to existing tools, new settings, but also for example security patches that are less visible to you as a user.
Updates are announced by D2L in advance in so called Release Notes. They contain the exact changes that will take places in a future update.
Some of the changes in the Release Notes may not be relevant for you as they may affect parts of Brightspace that we don't use at THUAS or they may be technical changes that are not directly visible. It is also possible that new features become available but we decide not to use them directly.
So, do you need to keep track of future updates yourself? Well, we at THUAS' Brightspace support organisation keep a close eye on future changes that may affect students and teachers work in Brightspace. If updates are planned that are expected to have impact on our users, they will be announced here and if necessary through other communication channels at THUAS as well. So it is not necessary to start reading Release Notes. If you want to you can keep track of important updates, just keep an eye on the support website.
What about other changes?
Apart from the monthly update cycle other changes may take place in THUAS' Brightspace. For instance if we change how the Course Homepage looks, or if we decide to make a new tool available. As this may affect students and teachers, these type of changes will be shown on the support website too.