2026 Brainshark Release Notes

May 2026

Animation cues hidden in player slide notes

May 5, 2026

We refined how autocued animation tags display. When authors use the <cue> tag within slide notes to time animations, those tags are now automatically hidden when the presentation or course is viewed in the player. This removes the manual effort of deleting tags after generating audio, keeping your visible slide notes clean for viewers.

April 2026

Faster slide narration processing

April 30, 2026

Recording slide narration is now a smoother, more efficient experience. Audio and video uploads and processing now occur in the background, allowing you to advance to the next slide without waiting. This enhancement saves you valuable time during content creation.

Pronunciation dictionary enhancements

April 30, 2026

We updated the pronunciation dictionary to give you more flexibility. The dictionary is now case-insensitive, making it easier to manage your entries. Additionally, Authoring AI now supports aliases for all languages. Phonemes are supported in English.

Roleplay AI relies exclusively on aliases. Note that the pronunciation dictionary will only pronounce things as transcribed in a Roleplay transcript. For the best results, ensure you enter terms phonetically, matching how the Roleplay partner interprets them from the transcript.

Expanded Dutch language support in Roleplay

April 9, 2026

We expanded our Dutch Roleplay language options. You can now select between two specific regional variations: Dutch (Netherlands) and Dutch (Belgium). This update provides a more accurate and localized experience for your Dutch-speaking users.

Hide the Create Activity button

April 2, 2026
Tier 3

To help streamline workflows and prevent accidental activity creation, Admins can now require users to create only Coaching and Roleplay courses. A new setting on the Learning Settings page in Administration hides the Create Activity button on Coaching pages. Admins can check “Disable creating Coaching and Roleplay activities (only use courses)" to ensure content creators follow their preferred course-building path and save them from having to recreate scenarios.

March 2026

Improved course and curriculum details pages

March 11, 2026 
Learning | Tier 2

Course authors and users will now benefit from an upgraded experience for courses and curriculums within Custom Homepages and Hub stories. We've refreshed this experience and replaced the previous modal with a dedicated details page. This new layout elevates all essential information, including comments, ratings, and attachments, directly to the main page, so nothing is hidden behind tabs.

To help you better gauge your progress, completion criteria is now more prominent on both details pages and within curriculums. We’ve also smoothed the transition between activities with a new Next button that guides you seamlessly from course to course. Finally, these pages are fully optimized for mobile devices, ensuring a consistent and effective learning experience across all your devices.

Refined Coaching experience for Roleplays

March 11, 2026 
Coaching | Tier 2

We’ve updated the Coaching tabs to provide a cleaner, more intuitive experience for managing Roleplay activities. The new layout features a refined information structure with activity icons and participant thumbnails, making it easier to scan your tables at a glance. To help you stay on top of your tasks, a new "To Do" carousel highlights activities that haven’t been submitted yet.

We also renamed and resequenced the tabs to prioritize your active work, moving the "All Activities" administrative tab to the far right. Additionally, coaching admins now have more control with a refined setting to hide download options for Roleplay audio and video when needed.

Enhanced Roleplay and video settings

March 11, 2026 
Coaching | Tier 2

We’ve introduced a new Roleplay type that allows participants to record themselves, making it easier for reviewers to provide feedback on visual presence and non-verbal communication. To ensure you’re prepared before the camera starts rolling, we replaced the automatic countdown timer with a new “Are you ready?” screen. This gives you a moment to preview your setup and adjust your camera or microphone settings at your own pace.

To provide a more professional recording environment, we also added the ability to use blurred backgrounds during Roleplays. This blurred background option is now available across all Coaching activities and courses, ensuring a consistent and polished experience whenever you're on video.