News

Pronouns in bCourses Display Now Live

As part of the Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy, as of January 8, 2026, pronouns now display for users in bCourses who have opted to share them. Pronouns are sourced from official campus systems of record (CalCentral and/or UC Path) and will automatically be updated in bCourses in the same way that lived names are synced.

Starting for the Spring 2026 semester, instructors can use a new feature in bCourses called Discussion Checkpoints to set multiple due dates for graded discussions.

RTL was made aware during Summer 2025 that Kaltura had inadvertently deleted or rendered unplayable a subset of Kaltura media files that had been created prior to 2022. 

Research, Teaching, and Learning (RTL) will be operating on modified schedules for campus curtailment during the winter break, Wednesday, December 24 through Thursday, January 1. See details below. Emails and requests received during this time will be answered when the campus reopens in January 2026.

RTL is changing the way the Zoom to Kaltura integration works. Starting on January 6, 2026, Zoom cloud recordings will be copied to Kaltura *only* for users that have indicated that they need this integration to continue to function in order to accomplish their instructional goals.

Review semester end resources in the latest issue of the RTL Update.

My Media in bCourses (and in Mediaspace) now provides a "Recycle Bin" feature that allows you to delete media you own with an option to restore later (within 30 days of being deleted).  If you don’t want to wait 30 days for media to be fully and permanently deleted, it’s just a few steps to go into the Recycle Bin and delete from there.

In the latest issue of the teaching newsletter, we explore Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) and how to best use them.

Starting October 31, 2025, advertisements may start displaying on any YouTube video embedded in bCourses. This is due to a change in how the bCourses vendor (Instructure) works with YouTube. Before playing the video, viewers will see a message letting viewers know that ads may be displayed before, during, or after the video. These ads are controlled by YouTube and cannot be disabled in bCourses by instructors, students, or admins.

Update September 19, 2025: Google has removed the “Homework Help” feature from Canvas pages with the latest Chrome update. However, the functionality can still be accessed by manually launching "Search with Google Lens" from the Chrome settings menu or using the "Ask Google about this page" option in the browser URL bar.

In the latest issue of the teaching newsletter, we explore teaching resources with accessibility in mind.

In the latest issue of the teaching newsletter, we offer resources and tips for making the first week of class meaningful.

Review RTL's Learning Paths and additional resources to support the instructional commuity with semester start in this mid-August edition of the RTL Update.

Review updates and resources to support the instructional community for semester start in the August RTL Update