D2L Brightspace vs. Trakstar Learn

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
D2L Brightspace
Score 5.1 out of 10
N/A
Brightspace 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
Trakstar Learn
Score 8.0 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Trakstar Learn (formerly Mindflash) is an online training platform. Users can create courses, add quizzes and track results. Users can upload external content and access the platform via mobile devices. It also provides user management and reporting for internal and external training and scaling purposes.
$149
per month
Pricing
D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Basic
249/mo
Advanced
599/mo
500 trainees
Pro
1,199/mo
1000 trainees
Enterprise
Call for details
Unlimited
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
Free Trial
YesYes
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
Features
D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
Learning Management
Comparison of Learning Management features of Product A and Product B
D2L Brightspace
5.9
10 Ratings
32% below category average
Trakstar Learn
9.3
4 Ratings
13% above category average
Course authoring2.110 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Course catalog or library10.06 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Player/Portal9.87 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Learning content9.69 Ratings9.03 Ratings
Mobile friendly1.19 Ratings5.03 Ratings
Progress tracking & certifications9.49 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Assignments2.110 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Compliance management8.01 Ratings10.02 Ratings
Learning administration2.19 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Learning reporting & analytics2.110 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Social learning8.49 Ratings00 Ratings
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D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
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Score 9.5 out of 10
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Medium-sized Companies
Sakai
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Score 8.7 out of 10
Bridge Learning Platform
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Score 9.9 out of 10
Enterprises
Schoology Learning
Schoology Learning
Score 9.1 out of 10
Bridge Learning Platform
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Score 9.9 out of 10
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User Ratings
D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
Likelihood to Recommend
1.5
(45 ratings)
10.0
(13 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(25 ratings)
10.0
(5 ratings)
Usability
6.4
(11 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Availability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
10.0
(6 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
Online Training
4.0
(2 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
1.6
(3 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
D2L BrightspaceTrakstar Learn
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.
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Mitratech
We use Mindflash for a lot of our internal training needs, and it is very versatile to accomplish your needs in training employees in a variety of different areas. I've never tried to use it for external needs, but I feel like the software at the advanced level wouldn't suit that need very well at all. At the Pro level, you get a lot more flexibility, but the cost is prohibitive for the size of our company.
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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.
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Mitratech
  • Mindflash is very clean and user-friendly. Very easy for learners to navigate and understand.
  • Mindflash’s reporting tool is unmatched. You can pull any type of report you could want or need.
  • Customer service is top-notch. From our Sales Executive to our CSM, all the way up to the VP, our experience has been amazing.
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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.
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Mitratech
  • Integration with Salesforce using professional level software. Mindflash's limited integration to only work with the higher level of Salesforce product.
  • More brand customization for multiple product line trainings.
  • Communication of trainers using Mindflash and sales team. We have multiple trainers sending invitations for training with no way for them to communicate with our sales team when a person has completed training.
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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.
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Mitratech
The number of people using Mindflash is only going to rise and we need a system that remains easy to use for everyone involved. [update] This is especially vital now that we've lost head count in critical departments. Getting all of our training and Safety objectives met would be impossible without Mindflash.
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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.
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Mitratech
The interface is just so simple to understand. It's clean and efficient. We showed Mindflash off to the Safety group, who are not computer gurus and they were beyong excited to use it.
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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.
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Mitratech
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.
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Mitratech
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.
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Mitratech
Any problems or questions we have had with Mindflash have been handled promptly and effectively. I normally use the online chat option but have had to correspond with them through email and phone as well. We have never had an issue languish for weeks or months with Mindflash. They either fix the problem or let you know that the software isn't capable to handle the need at that point.
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In-Person Training
D2L
Did not participate in the in-person training due to distance; training was completed online
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Mitratech
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.
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Mitratech
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.
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Mitratech
If you're going to develop a short course to demo the product internally, don't bother avoiding your own topics. Mindflash rolls whatever content you create during the trial into your production environment when you decide to buy. The time taken to go from not having a system to being live with Mindflash is virtually instant. What you'll be wanting for is time to develop content and people to test it out.
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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.
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Mitratech
This is an alternate software that we have looked into, right now we don't have the need for the increased flexibility that Lesson.ly provides with learning from your mobile or tablet. We haven't seen a lot of those things as particularly useful for our current training methods, but we see the quality to be similar.
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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.
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Mitratech
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.
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Mitratech
  • Mindflash has had a positive impact on our business because it allows us to train more new users with less effort, and ensure that trainees have access to the course materials for a period of time after they have started using our software to do their daily jobs. Review of the course materials allows them to get answers to common questions without having to submit requests to our support team, thereby reducing the administrative burden on our resources.
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ScreenShots

D2L Brightspace Screenshots

Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of Screenshot of

Trakstar Learn Screenshots

Screenshot of Trainer home - Get key information on how a program is doing with real-time graphs on the new Trainer Home. From here, viewers can dive into the details on users, courses and series using the convenient and persistent left navigation bar.Screenshot of Personalize the view - On every grid, the settings cog can be used to select the columns to view. This will be the new view even when logging in from a different computer. To maximize the content, collapse the left navigation bar to reveal just the icons.Screenshot of Filters - Advanced filters on users, courses, series and catalogs help get to just the list of items to focus on.Change, reset or keep these filters while moving across items.Screenshot of Bulk Actions - Once the list is filtered down to just the trainees to focus on, a couple of clicks a couple of clicks are required to take actions like setting a new deadline, reminding or dropping users.Screenshot of Export - Extract the whole list or the filtered list of trainees to Excel for further analysis.Screenshot of Trainer Photo - Take a photo in Mindflash and use it as a trainer photo.