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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    D2L Brightspace

    Score7.8 out of 10
    N/ABrightspace is an academic and corporate learning management platform. It provides core e-learning features, as well as mobile accessibility and granular personalization and analytics insights.N/A

    Open LMS

    Score5.8 out of 10
    N/AOpen LMS (formerly Moodlerooms) is an open source learning management system for educational institutions, formerly supported by Blackboard, and now part of the Learning Technologies Group.

    $999

    per year

    Pricing
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Innovator
    $999
    per year
    Professional
    4,599
    per year
    Enterprise
    Contact for custom quote
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    YesNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsMust contact vendor for pricing information. 30-day free trial is available.
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Considered Both Products
    D2L
    No answer on this topic
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    60%
    Would buy again
    3 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    4 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Features
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of D2L Brightspace and Open LMS
    Feature
    D2L Brightspace
    7.4
    11 Ratings
    8% below category average
    Open LMS
    9.2
    1 Ratings
    13% above category average
    Course authoring3.011 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Course catalog or library8.07 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Player/Portal9.08 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Learning content9.010 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Mobile friendly9.010 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications9.010 Ratings6.01 Ratings
    Assignments6.011 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Compliance management8.01 Ratings8.01 Ratings
    Learning administration8.010 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics8.011 Ratings9.01 Ratings
    Social learning5.010 Ratings10.01 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Small Businesses
    Google Classroom
    Score8 out of 10
    Google Classroom
    Score8 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    D2L Brightspace
    Score7.8 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (46 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (25 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    7.0
    (12 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    10.0
    (6 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Online Training
    4.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    1.6
    (3 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    D2L BrightspaceOpen LMS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    D2L
    If you're an educational institution (K-12, Higher Ed, etc.), this is an amazing tool, and it will provide you all the functionality to support anything you may want and need it to do. If you are looking at Brightspace as a tool for corporate training, I'm not sure exactly how good or bad it will be for you. My guess would be that it likely depends on your organization's size. Along that line, what I can speak to is how we use it for our customized training and in-house professional development/training, and it works fantastically for that. While we primarily use it for normal higher ed coursework, we regularly do training and professional development for all of our employees and I manage those along with our HR department. Because we use it for many other things as well, all of our employees are familiar with the product, which makes our trainings go that much smoother and makes my job that much easier.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    I currently use, talk about and promote all educators using Moodlerooms. The functionality that Moodlerooms provides is unmatched in most software. It is well suited in all educational realms. Teachers that teach all online electronic courses could use this to post assignments online, separate the classes and post a variety of assignments, tasks, and activities. Additionally, in blended situations where some students are face to face and sometimes working at home, the Moodlerooms makes it easy to education and be a hands-on teacher and a hands-on learner. Less appropriately, I find using Moodlerooms in some of the private sector industries could be tougher. Moodlerooms provides people and content management, and to use it in advertising or marketing and accounting, it could be difficult to find an easy use and function for it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    D2L
    • Allowing users to embed content links from YouTube or Google Drive enables learners to experience a richer lesson.
    • Providing a powerful editor that allows developers to also include content from Adobe Stock as well as textbook publishers and cloud storage companies gives more power and creative ability to instructors.
    • Providing scaling for mobile and traditional computer systems ensures students will not have issues on the go.
    • The customization of home pages and groups enable courses to be used for small training sessions with breakout groups, large courses with separate sections, and even just more engaging courses that present themed icons and logos.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    • Something that Moddlerooms does very well is that it allows teachers to structure their online classroom as one focused curriculum.
    • Moodlerooms also allows for customization of the layout. Being able to add and remove certain functions that Moodlerooms can perform definitely helps.
    • Moodlerooms is able to add different types of activities to the rooms for increased interaction.
    • Moodlerooms provides large chat opportunities to all students that are online at the same time.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    D2L
    • One can feel a bit rushed on the Brightspace platform during the log-out period. Security requirements may require this, but it makes end-users more conscious about getting through content than taking notes.
    • From my experience, there is not a direct connection between the platform and Outlook.
    • Some content on the platform can feel redundant.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    • Easier to change permissions.
    • Adding the ability to tweet.
    • Decrease bandwidth to improve back end loading times.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Usability
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Reliability and Availability
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    In-Person Training
    D2L
    Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Online Training
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation Rating
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    D2L
    I have used Blackboard Learn 8 and 9. I am currently learning about Canvas. Blackboard is overall much clunkier and lacks the intuitive feel in some parts of D2L. Its grade book is much harder to control and manipulate than D2L's. Its navigation menu can be more radically modified from the default than D2L's, but this doesn't seem that useful to me. Discussions in Blackboard can be more easily reorganized than in D2L, but no grading of discussions is possible. Blackboard Assignments is a good innovation which allows markup directly in the students' submissions, but it displays student work in a confusing manner that doesn't allow for any customization, and its markup options need further tweaking. Furthermore, no rubrics can be used in Blackboard in any way to grade any kind of work (that I am aware of). Overall, I would choose D2L over Blackboard.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    I would select Moodlerooms over many competitors as a result of what it offers in terms of functionality and control. Google classrooms has a definite place in education; however, Moodlerooms provides significantly more control for authors. As the owner and manager of the content, and as someone familiar with technology, I can incorporate a lot more functions and create different layouts with functionality boxes
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    D2L
    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.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    D2L
    • I cannot speak to whether this system is less expensive than the more fully featured Blackboard, but employees are far less efficient, frustrated, and require frequent calls to the help center to set up fairly simple course templates.
    • I have been asked to consider teaching courses which will be completely online at my current institution. I have done such online courses several times at other universities, but I have decided Desire2Learn is too frustrating and cumbersome to do so. I am now exploring using Google Drive to teach a course online. Otherwise, I will not teach online until required or I find an alternate system.
    Read full review
    Learning Technologies Group
    • Moodlerooms has given classes of mine a positive ROI because it improves the educational experience for all students. It has helped all of our students, and with this, we can even help students who can not get to the classroom for some reason.
    • It helps to improve student scores, GPAs, and college attendance.
    • The positive impact can be directly correlated with the improvement of grades for students. Being able to access work in person and via Moodlerooms helps students to learn anywhere and any time. Grades have improved, and that is due to Moodlerooms.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    D2L Brightspace Screenshots

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