Blackboard Learn vs Brightspace | TrustRadius

What users are saying about

Score 7.1 out of 10

Based on 173 reviews and ratings

Score 7.1 out of 10

Based on 62 reviews and ratings

Likelihood to Recommend

I've used Blackboard for many, many years. With each version I remain hopeful that the formatting tools will improve. Battling simple text formatting considerations have looong been a struggle, with the most recent "upgrade" leaving me in total and complete exasperation. No, that's not an exaggeration. Yes, I do understand that importing text, and the process of copying and pasting can often include residual coding which can sometimes create havoc. Sadly however, I'm referring to the direct keystroke entry of content, directly within the Blackboard pane. Plain and simple, it's an absolute buggy nightmare.Even the limited formatting tools that I found here on TrustRadius are:

Fabulous by comparison to Blackboard
Easy to use
Intuitive for the first time user
Don't result in a wonky, embarrassing presentation
All of the above

Wow, look, even the bullet points and indents worked!Honestly Blackboard, this is getting really, really old. Two words of advise, beta testing.

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Instructor

Milwaukee Area Technical CollegeEducation Management, 1001-5000 employees

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Brightspace can be a great platform for institutions looking for a multi-platform solution that works with standard cloud technologies and can provide a beautiful experience. The LMS can work well for online-only courses as sections can be segmented from each other inside of the same course, and grading can be automated depending on the scheme being implemented. Experienced instructors can still create useful workshops and courses with this tool, but it can be frustrating for newcomers or those used to other "plug-and-play" or "drag-and-drop" options. I would recommend trying the tool out and making some demonstration courses in which you are a student and learner in order to feel how it works and compares to other options on the market. Brightspace is definitely powerful and can provide a good experience once all stakeholders adjust to its handling.

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Verified User

Professional in Professional Services

Higher Education Company, 10,001+ employees

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Feature Rating Comparison

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Course authoring

Course catalog or library

Player/Portal

Learning content

Mobile friendly

Progress tracking & certifications

Assignments

Compliance management

Learning administration

Learning reporting & analytics

Social learning

Pros

Provides HTML quality course content that is easily retrievable and viewable.
Provides multiple methods of communication: email, threaded discussions, real-time "live" online discussions, as well as grade portal.
Allows facilitators multiple methods of grading or providing feedback: threaded discussions, rubric scoring, personal comments, inline viewer, or download/upload attachments.

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Senior Faculty

College of Pharmacy, Harding UniversityEducation Management, 501-1000 employees

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File sharing capability between users is largely unparalleled in the LMS space (from my experience).
The user interface has continued to receive valuable updates that have created an incredibly efficient platform to navigate.
Brightspace offers a single source of truth for standardized learning outcomes based on company objectives.

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Process Optimization Analyst

QuadPrinting, 10,001+ employees

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Cons

Although the current graphic user interface is easy to use, it can be improved with larger fonts, dynamic menus, and attractive graphics.
The system does not include a module to pay the school fee.
The roster tab lacks detailed information about students.

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IT Project Manager

The George Washington UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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D2L should find a way to allow markup of student writing directly in the review panel of the dropbox. Blackboard and Canvas do this.
When you set the number of points an item is worth in the dropbox, it doesn't carry this value over into the grade book automatically, which means you have to be careful to enter the same information in two different interfaces.
The rubric function needs a wider range of options. It should be possible to upload rubrics from external files and make them usable within D2L.
The discussions are hard to reorganize. Grading discussions using a rubric is not possible inside D2L, as far as I know.
When using the Record audio function to provide student feedback, the audio quality is too poor to be used in many situations.

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Instructional Academic Staff

University of Wisconsin-Eau ClaireHigher Education, 501-1000 employees

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Likelihood to Renew

Blackboard Learn 4.6

Based on 11 answers

There are several aspects of Desire2Learn that outweigh the benefits of using Blackboard. I find that the Desire2Learn system is a bit more user friendly and looks more up-to-date. However, the decision to renew systems is not up to me because the entire University uses the same system. Regardless, I think I would choose Desire2Learn over Blackboard because of its improved user interface.

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Research/Teaching Assistant

University of GeorgiaHigher Education, 10,001+ employees

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Brightspace 9.0

Based on 25 answers

I would never give any system a perfect score. In the technology environment today we need to be constantly looking at ways to improve the user experience and LMS companies like Desire2Learn need to know that we have options today with other systems and they need to stay current with features and listen to their customers.

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Director, Distance Learning

Johnson County Community CollegeHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Usability

Blackboard Learn 10.0

Based on 5 answers

It is very usable for both faculty and students. The interface is pretty intuitive and most students can use it without a lot of additional training. Faculty do need some training to effectively use the interface, but they usually get it pretty quickly. We have had to create some additional programming to give faculty a way to delve deeper into the content.

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E-Learning Instructional Designer

Florida State College at JacksonvilleHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Brightspace 6.4

Based on 11 answers

Overall, the learning environment works as expected. However, there are plenty of bugs. For example, for a few versions, trying to print out a PDF from the Content screen in several browsers would produce a blank page. We inform D2L support about these issues, most of which are known issues. However, they are very slow to respond. D2L seems to spend more time selling than actually coding and testing their product. Most of the issues are not major -- however, there have been a few that are unbelievable. In fact, this past week we had a sudden issue where the "Submit" button in quizzes would not appear if users had a certain browser/operating system combination. This is a major problem, if students cannot submit their exams! D2L is slow to respond to these kinds of situations, which do occur more often than I would like.

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Verified User

Program Manager in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 501-1000 employees

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Reliability and Availability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Brightspace 9.0

Based on 1 answer

Both students and instructor enjoy the 24-hoiur access. After, all isn't that the point of online learning. As an instructor located in an Eastern time zone state it is great to connect with students located in a Pacific time zone state. I have gotten comments about the early hours I am in the course room grading assignments . . . 4:00 a.m. PST; 7:00 a.m. EST So, it's sleep time for my students and "first cup of coffee" time for me.

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Randi Tucker Barr, MBA, PhD

Online Course Professor

Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Performance

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Brightspace 9.0

Based on 2 answers

Easy to navigate; little to no delay from one section of the course room to another; actually fun to use after overcoming the learning curve.

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Randi Tucker Barr, MBA, PhD

Online Course Professor

Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Support Rating

Blackboard Learn 8.0

Based on 15 answers

Itʻs a good platform for certain things such as tests. Blackboard may not be the most user friendly but there is always room for improvement in any website, business, etc. When used with other platforms such as Google Classroom, Blackboard can be more effective, but when used by itself I feel it is not as impactful from a student perspective.

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Quincy Tamaribuchi

Student

Kamehameha Schools KapalamaE-Learning, 5001-10,000 employees

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Brightspace 9.9

Based on 5 answers

I have had excellent support from Desire2Learn. Any ticket that I submit is acknowledged immediately and the correction is usually almost as quick. We use this for thousands of classes and it is pretty well liked by both faculty and students. We have been using it for almost 4 years now and most of our instructors have become pretty proficient with it.

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Steven Mitchell

Microcomputer Systems Specialist II

Southern Illinois UniversityHigher Education, 5001-10,000 employees

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In-Person Training

No answers on this topic

Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online

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Randi Tucker Barr, MBA, PhD

Online Course Professor

Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Online Training

Blackboard Learn 7.0

Based on 1 answer

No answer on this topic is available.

Brightspace 4.0

Based on 2 answers

The training provided online did not, necessarily, fit the version of the system that I was using. Screens were somewhat different and not all options were readily available. This could have been due to customization on the part of my institution however, I rather believe it was due to version changes and training materials not yet being updated.

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Instructional Development Specialist

The Ohio State UniversityHigher Education, 10,001+ employees

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Implementation Rating

Blackboard Learn 10.0

Based on 1 answer

Blackboard's Managed Hosting was top-notch in getting us up and running quickly.

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Verified User

Manager in Information Technology

Higher Education Company, 501-1000 employees

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Brightspace 1.6

Based on 3 answers

The D2L implementation team listened to our concerns and built a system based upon our needs. We wanted to keep them after the initial implementation.

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Director, Distance Learning

Johnson County Community CollegeHigher Education, 1001-5000 employees

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Alternatives Considered

I have used Schoology before, and I think Blackboard Learn has many more features, and is easier to navigate. It is well organized, and easy to customize for each user. Schoology might be better suited for a mobile device, but when the mobile version of Blackboard is not up to par, I have been able to get on a mobile browser on my phone instead.

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Alumni Representative

Arizona's Children AssociationE-Learning, 501-1000 employees

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Desire2Learn is similar to Blackboard but with less functionality and intuitiveness in terms of use. Grading options are more limited. Desire2Learn uses a cluttered interface with many tabs and options needing to be used to create even basic assignments for upload and grading. When entering grades in Blackboard, changes are instantly saved but Desire2Learn requires you hit a Save button at the bottom of the interface. If you fail to hit save, your grade changes will not be entered.

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Verified User

Professional in Research & Development

Higher Education Company, 5001-10,000 employees

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Scalability

No score

No answers yet

No answers on this topic

Brightspace 9.0

Based on 1 answer

During my first semester working with Desire2Learn the integrated learning management system was more down than up. This meant reconfiguring assignment due dates, frustration for both the instructor, students, and help desk staff. After an upgrade, Desire2Learn has been reliable.

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Randi Tucker Barr, MBA, PhD

Online Course Professor

Trine UniversityHigher Education, 201-500 employees

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Return on Investment

At one of the institutions that I worked for, the ROI was excellent for the number of users we were serving; however, I could not speak to other instances as I was not aware of the overall cost of the contract.

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Instructional Designer

Independent contractorHigher Education, 1-10 employees

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D2L has allowed us to create master courses that are regularly updated and then copied over from semester to semester. The copy process is very quick and easy so this have been a time saver for us.
Sometimes the learning curve for end users has been a little difficult as the recent upgrades (9.4 to 10 to 10.1) have had some very significant changes. In the end I think the changes are an improvement but sometime faculty and students get nervous because "things look different".

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Jennifer Hendryx

Instructional Technology Coordinator

University of Wisconsin Colleges OnlineHigher Education, 11-50 employees

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Screenshots

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See All (6) Brightspace Screenshots

Pricing Details

General

Free Trial

—

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

—

Entry-level set up fee?

No

General

Free Trial

Yes

Free/Freemium Version

—

Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Yes

Entry-level set up fee?

No

Rating Summary

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

Blackboard Learn

Brightspace

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