What is happening? Adobe has announced that Flash will no longer be a distributed and supported product as of the end of 2020. New web standards such as HTML5 have replaced Flash and enhanced the user experience. All the major browsers have announced the removal of Flash from their systems prior to the end of 2020. Brightspace has adopted HTML5 capabilities throughout the platform while leaving some Flash fallbacks in place for compatibility for years. With the removal of Flash from browsers, the fallbacks within Brightspace will be removed to ensure users don’t see erroneous error messages to install Flash. What is changing in Brightspace? Brightspace adopted HTML5 features before the Flash End of Life was announced. This End of Life furthers the convergence on HTML5 technologies and allows for removal of older Flash failovers from the system. There are a few areas within Brightspace that previously fell back on Flash technology if HTML5 functionality was not available or the equivalent HTML5 based tool was not enabled.Video Note does not use Flash and the fall back on Flash has been removed. Video Notes are saved in MP4 format therefore no conversion is necessary for files that were previously created using Flash. For any browsers that are not fully WebRTC compliant, users will be unable to record video or audio in the browser using Video Note; instead they will get the upload screen where they can choose to create video or audio using their computer’s native recording technology then upload the created file. The Legacy Audio Recorder, which preceded the current Video Note tool, uses Flash and will be removed in a subsequent release according to the normal release process. When Video Note is enabled, the legacy Audio Recorder is no longer available. Video Note has been enabled for all clients in advance of these Flash changes and access to these features can be controlled using Roles and Permissions.Capture does not use Flash and most legacy recordings were converted to MP4 using the in-application conversion features available in previous versions. There should be no changes needed in Capture for this end of life.The Kaltura integration has been upgraded multiple times. The most current functionality uses Remote Plugins to insert videos. A legacy version of Kaltura that was available as a Widget did utilize Flash, and so clients that are still using the Widget integration will be contacted to move to Remote Plugins. Partner Changes The version of YouSeeU in use within Brightspace does not require Flash so no current changes are necessary.Respondus StudyMate Class uses Flash as well as the legacy D2L SOAP web services. This product has replaced by StudyMate Campus and clients should be actively moving off this solution. Additionally, the Flash End of Life from Adobe as well as the D2L Web Services End of Life from D2L make the end of usage for this product imminent.Readspeaker has moved to using HTML5 and reliance on Flash has been removed so no current changes are necessary.All other D2L Partners are being notified to validate any effects to their products caused by this change. What do you need to do to prepare? Users of Brightspace should prepare themselves for the removal of Flash ahead of the End of Life date. Any objects that were created using Flash should be converted to a different format such as MP4. There are many options available for this type of conversion. It is recommended that users work with their Institution’s Information Technology department to determine what conversion software is available for their use. D2L recommends validating that no Flash objects remain in active courses moving forward to avoid any disruption to users. Materials such as SCORM objects, Video Recordings, and Links within Content Files are potential areas where Flash could have been used. The upcoming Semester Start or Course Building periods in 2020, as with all such periods, are a great time to evaluate your courses to ensure they are using the most up-to-date technologies.