Overview
What is D2L Brightspace?
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.
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A robust yet simple to use LMS - Brightspace
Brightspace - It's the whole package and more!
And the award for best LMS ever goes to Brightspace!
Brightspace LMS Review
A bright, flexible learning management system
Employee-Tailored LMS Tool That Offers Unparalleled Customization for Improved Engagement
Love it!
Not always intuitive but powerful and diverse LMS
Brightspace - A Way to Integrate More Content to your Courses
D2L does the job
Desire to Learn or Desire to suffer
Lots of Bang for Your Buck
My D2L Experience in Higher Ed
D2L Gives A Solid Performance
Popular Features
- Learning content (9)9.696%
- Assignments (10)2.121%
- Learning reporting & analytics (10)2.121%
- Course authoring (10)2.121%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
What is D2L Brightspace?
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.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos
D2L Brightspace | Tips & Tricks | How to Use Virtual Classrooms to Increase Student Engagement
D2L Brightspace | Tips & Tricks | Using Intelligent Agents to Automate a Welcome Message
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Creating Dropbox Folders
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Grading Discussion Topics
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Creating Discussion Forums
Demo of Shuffling Quiz Questions in Brightspace
Features
Learning Management
Features of LMS and LCMS systems, related to designing, administering, and consuming learning content in an educational, corporate, or on-the-job context.
- 2.1Course authoring(10) Ratings
Users can develop and assemble online learning content.
- 10Course catalog or library(6) Ratings
Learning content is organized into a course catalog or browsable library.
- 9.8Player/Portal(7) Ratings
Students or employees can engage with content and take courses using this interface, which may be called a player or portal.
- 9.6Learning content(9) Ratings
The vendor offers high quality pre-made courses or assets. These may be specific to certain industries or technologies.
- 1.1Mobile friendly(9) Ratings
Students or employees can access content from mobile devices. Course authors can develop responsive learning content.
- 9.4Progress tracking & certifications(9) Ratings
The system tracks individuals’ progress on courses, scores, transcripts, certificates, etc.
- 2.1Assignments(10) Ratings
Users can assign courses/curricula to individuals or groups, with due dates.
- 8Compliance management(1) Ratings
Users can identify potential risks and ensure that requirements are met and that certifications are up to date.
- 2.1Learning administration(9) Ratings
Administrators can manage the content and people (students/employees, course authors, instructors, etc.) on the platform.
- 2.1Learning reporting & analytics(10) Ratings
Provides insights into course completion, engagement with learning content, etc.
- 8.4Social learning(9) Ratings
Includes features for collaboration and knowledge sharing among peers.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is D2L Brightspace?
It's key capabilities and benefits include:
- Mobile-first design - Brightspace works on any device – whether a laptop or hand-me-down smartphone or tablet.
- Personalized learning - Release Conditions and Intelligent Agents in Brightspace offer a high level of granularity and control over individual learning paths.
- Teaching tools for educators and instructors.
- Automation of routine course management tasks.
- Built-in analytics to improve decision-making.
- Tools like gamification, videos, badges, and others to increase learner engagement.
- Learning experience that meet all accessibility standards.
- Support for in-the-moment feedback as well as automation of assessments.
D2L Brightspace Features
Learning Management Features
- Supported: Course authoring
- Supported: Course catalog or library
- Supported: Player/Portal
- Supported: Learning content
- Supported: Mobile friendly
- Supported: Progress tracking & certifications
- Supported: Assignments
- Supported: Learning administration
- Supported: Learning reporting & analytics
- Supported: eLearning
- Supported: Assessments
- Supported: Live online learning
- Supported: In-person learning
- Supported: Micro-learning
- Supported: Video learning
- Supported: SCORM-compliant
- Supported: Social learning
Additional Features
- Supported: Social Assessment
D2L Brightspace Screenshots
D2L Brightspace Videos
D2L Brightspace Integrations
- Google Drive
- Microsoft 365 Business Premium
- Credly
- Top Hat
- Ellucian Banner
- Ellucian Colleague
- Equatio
- Google Workspace
- Honorlock
- Alta from Knewton, a Wiley brand
- MATLAB
- Mercer Mettl Online Examination and Proctoring Solutions
- Mercer Mettl Coding Assessments
- McGraw-Hill Connect
- Microsoft 365
- OneNote
- OpenSesame
- Zoom
- YuJa
- WileyPLUS
- Unicheck
D2L Brightspace Competitors
D2L Brightspace Technical Details
Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
---|---|
Operating Systems | Unspecified |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Mobile Web |
Supported Countries | Global |
Supported Languages | English, Arabic, Danish, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(77)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
D2L Brightspace has proven to be a versatile and essential tool for a wide range of users. For instructors, it has been instrumental in facilitating online and face-to-face courses, eliminating the need for paper and allowing for the review and assessment of student coursework in a digital format. The platform has also served as a communication tool within educational institutions, enabling customized training, departmental collaboration, and the distribution of course materials. Moreover, it has supported faculty advancement portfolios, continuous learning in administrative departments, and the delivery of professional development training.
Additionally, D2L Brightspace has been widely utilized by students across various educational settings. It has provided a unique and personalized continuing educational tool, offering options for presenting and managing content to create efficient and engaging learning opportunities. The platform has served as a common repository for storing information, allowing students to access course materials, submit assignments, participate in discussions, and take quizzes online. With its user-friendly interface and flexibility in posting material and grading, D2L Brightspace has made online learning accessible and convenient for students.
Overall, D2L Brightspace's use cases span from supporting traditional classroom environments to facilitating distance learning and hybrid courses. Its integration with other technologies further enhances the learning experience by embedding tools like the Google Suite and Adobe Cloud. The customizable nature of D2L Brightspace enables instructors and institutions to tailor the platform to their specific needs and deliver classes in various formats – in-person, hybrid or fully online. Additionally, its mobile accessibility ensures that users can access course materials anytime and anywhere. With positive feedback from faculty regarding its functionality and ease of use, D2L Brightspace continues to serve as a reliable Learning Management System for universities, colleges, community colleges, and other educational organizations nationwide.
Seamless migration process: Several users have stated that the migration process from ANGEL to D2L Brightspace was smooth and hassle-free. This suggests that D2L Brightspace has effective tools and support in place to ensure a seamless transition, minimizing disruptions for educational institutions.
Flexible customization options: Many reviewers have appreciated the ability to customize widgets and change the layout of home pages in D2L Brightspace. This feature allows instructors to personalize their course pages and create a tailored learning experience for students. It highlights the software's flexibility and adaptability in catering to individual instructor preferences and instructional needs.
Commitment to user feedback: The user community has expressed appreciation for D2L Brightspace's collection and prioritization of new ideas. This showcases the software's dedication to incorporating user feedback and continuously improving its features based on customer input. The emphasis on user feedback demonstrates D2L Brightspace's commitment to meeting the evolving needs and expectations of its users.
Confusing and Non-Intuitive User Interface: Some users have found the user interface of D2L Brightspace to be confusing and not intuitive, requiring multiple steps to complete tasks.
Limited Customization Options: Several reviewers have mentioned that the customization options for page layouts and graphics in D2L Brightspace are limited. Users desired easier customization capabilities to personalize their courses.
Difficulties with Calendar Tool: The Calendar Tool in D2L Brightspace has been reported as difficult to navigate and manage by some users. They have expressed challenges in using this tool effectively for scheduling and keeping track of important dates.
Based on user reviews, there are three common recommendations for Brightspace. One important recommendation is to carefully consider the ease of use and quality of customer service. Users recommend thoroughly exploring all available options, asking questions, and taking into account potential future updates and improvements. Brightspace stands out for its highly intuitive interface and responsive customer service, making it an excellent choice for educational purposes.
Another key recommendation is to ensure proper setup and configuration of Brightspace during implementation in order to align with long-term goals. Users highly advise engaging a Technical Account Manager for comprehensive support and successful deployment. It is also recommended to compare costs and assess essential features when evaluating competing alternatives.
Users strongly advocate for utilizing the abundant resources and features offered by Brightspace. They recommend taking advantage of the available tutorials and other platform resources to enhance usage and instruction. While Brightspace is generally considered reliable, user-friendly, and intuitive, some users have noted that entering notes may not be as seamless as desired. It is also suggested to explore different areas within Brightspace to become familiar with its functionalities, and to enable direct communication between the messaging system and external email platforms for improved correspondence.
Overall, Brightspace is regarded as an outstanding learning management system (LMS) that offers great control and customization options for instructors. Users highly recommend it for effectively organizing students' classwork and facilitating video conferences. However, it is advised to carefully evaluate the pros and cons of implementing Brightspace, considering the additional time commitments it may require for professors.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-3 of 3)A bright, flexible learning management system
- 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.
- The user interface for students is clunky, and it can be difficult to access courses once several have been registered, let alone once a student is inside of a course and has to navigate the content pages.
- The instructor's interface is also difficult as courses are presented in the same fashion as they are for learners which means instructors who have taught many courses will need to dig through lists in order to find their current courses. The tools to add content to a course or design a course's appearance, while powerful, are confusing and should at least be supplemented with a detailed help guide and video series.
- Gradebooks work for traditional courses; however, in gradeless or workshop settings, they are difficult to use. I have used text-based grades in lieu of numerical options, but I would still like to be able to revise or implement numerical grades in the final grade column as well. This is important for systems that do not use grades but are contract-based as the text fields may say "A" or "C", but the final numerical value may still be 0.
- Certain content elements are missing from the platform, such as the ability to easily delete several items in a batch, or the ability to show and hide large and small elements at the click of a button without diving into menus. When one reuses a course, there is a high level of time involved in showing only the key elements and deleting unnecessary content which could be simplified.
- Course authoring
- 70%7.0
- Course catalog or library
- 80%8.0
- Player/Portal
- 100%10.0
- Learning content
- 70%7.0
- Mobile friendly
- 100%10.0
- Progress tracking & certifications
- 90%9.0
- Assignments
- 100%10.0
- Learning administration
- 90%9.0
- Learning reporting & analytics
- 100%10.0
- Social learning
- 100%10.0
- Brightspace has allowed our department to provide more courses online as well as in person since more can be managed by an instructor or team.
- Brightspace has led to some negative comments during our annual meetings as some staff prefer free options or paid options with different interfaces.
- Brightspace has allowed our instructors to understand how much work individual learners have interacted with, where they may have quit or encountered difficulties, and has even allowed us to understand why some have received non-complete grades.
- Brightspace's assignment drop boxes have enabled our department to easily run originality checks and have timestamps to understand when assignments were completed.
- Canvas and Blackboard Learn
- Delivering classes online and to users on various platforms.
- Providing an easy to use platform for students and instructors.
- Providing sufficient power to designers in order to create courses that are interactive, engaging, and tap into the research within the field of the instructor.
- We have delivered synchronous workshops inside of an intensive online training session for our department.
- We have included elements from Adobe Stock and Adobe CS in order to provide a more kinesthetic approach to learning rather mundane topics.
- We have been able to tweak master courses for easier online course teaching which also enables newer teachers to understand the platform better.
- We may be able to use it for meetings with the inclusion of Adobe Connect.
- We may be able to present much more interesting assignments to students as we can include larger files and videos hosted on Google Drive for projects that would not normally be uploaded to an LMS.
- We may be able to implement more gradeless courses and create a greater sense of inclusion.
Here we go again a new LMS selection process!
- Migration of content from ANGEL worked fairly well.
- Grade book provides many options for faculty needs.
- The ability to customize the various widgets and changing the layout of the home pages was a feature our faculty appreciated.
- Collection and prioritization of new ideas from the user community is appreciated.
- D2L needs to review their community of ideas and move forward with prioritized postings.
- Additional cost for features not included is frustrating when they should be part of the product.
- The Discussion tool is very difficult to navigate and the user community is asking for a revision that needs to be recognized.
- There needs to be a greater working relationship with third party solutions (Turnitin, Ellucian, ...).
- Migration of content from ANGEL helped with the overall conversion time to a new LMS
- Blackboard,Canvas,Moodle
- Teaching Online Courses for Credit Students
- Supporting Face-to-Face Courses for Credit Students
- Supporting both Continuing Education Courses and internal Professional Development for staff and faculty.
- We use D2L for compliance training for faculty and staff
- We provide student orientations for new students.
- Use the system for additional Continuing Education courses
- Use the system for free courses or MOOCS
- Use for Clubs and Organizations at the college
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
- Vendor implemented
- Implemented in-house
- Correct installation on our servers (self hosted is not common today)
- Migration of ANGEL data in to D2L is not perfect (systems do not always match content)
- Integration with our SIS system BANNER is still ongoing (Final Grades to SIS)
- I liked the Grade book Wizard to help with setup
- The student and faculty tutorials are all Closed Captioned and helped with the training process
- The administrative interface (DOME) is very robust and provides administrators with tools to help with managing the LMS system.
- The Discussions in 10.3 are very difficult to follow and grade from instructor perspective
- The customization of home pages and themes is difficult to manage for a typical instructor
- The Grade book is robust but very difficult to find all the settings in one location for typical instructor
- The built-in D2L email tool is very old and does not provide abilities found in new systems like Google.
A lot of Desire unfulfilled with Desire2Learn
- Grade Book function and features were adequate for faculty and students
- The ability to give special extended time and deadline for quiz and assignments for students with disabilities was easy.
- Notification messages were easy to configure
- The GUI interface needs to be completely redesigned so that both faculty and students can navigate with fewer clicks
- Needs more extensive SCORM tracking data anaytics
- Administration for roles and permissions is very complex and needs to be simplified
- Faculty training on D2L had to be very intensive
- The system is not intuitive for a new LMS user or a user that has used other LMS like Blackboard or Moodle
- Students found the interface very confusing, specially when they have drilled into a specific content folder and have to figure out how to get to the root page view
- Instructional Designers
- LMS administrators
- Learning Management System for Students
- Professional development courses for faculty
- Surveys
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
- Product is immature
- Product code and build out is inconsistent across the platform. It appears that the product us a mashup of code made by several developers working independently.
- Cost of product is high
- Product vision, roadmap and new features appear to be developed in isolation and not in an organic process
- Features and functions for improved learning appear to be far behind mature LMS products like Moodle and ItsLearning
- Product Usability
- Involve more technical people
- Have a longer evaluation period
- Have a more meaningful evaluation and criteria rubric
- Talk to other established innovative Higher Ed schools who use LMS in effective and innovation ways
- Consider true cost of ownership
- Vendor implemented
- Professional services company
- Course conversion from WebCT/Vista
- No user data could be brought in from old courses
- Addressing new and deficient features/functions
- Gradebook
- Adding media
- Drag and drop content in folders
- Customizing nav bars
- Customizing course skin
- Setting up weighted grade categories
- Lot of clicks to navigate