On October 1, 2026, D2L (the company that makes Brightspace) announced that the Classic Content view in Brightspace will be removed from the platform in 2029. After June 2029, all Brightspace courses will use the New Content Experience from that point forward.
According to D2L, this change is being made because the New Content Experience “provides a modern content authoring and delivery experience and is the focus of ongoing innovation in Brightspace.” Additionally, “NCE delivers a better user experience and aligns with accessibility standards.” This also helps simplify the student experience so that they have a consistent learning environment and user interface. As a reminder, this change from Classic Content to the New Content Experience does not result in the loss of any information or data and is only a visual change to how that same information is displayed. This does have an impact on how Instructors and other course builders add course materials to their course, which is why we have online guides on how to manage course content in both Content views.
While this will be a big change for some instructors and programs, D2L’s update gives institutions three years to prepare. This also helps reinforce our decision earlier this year to begin transitioning new courses to the New Content Experience starting with courses in Fall 2027. During this transition, instructors and other course builders will retain the ability to switch back to the Classic Content view as long as that is an option. We will have more information on this transition as we get closer to the 2029 deadline.
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