I think it's a clunky platform that feels like it is was made in 2003.
We use D2L Brightspace to teach online courses. I think in comparison to CANVAS it is very clunky and counter intuitive. Grading an …
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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- Learning content (9)9.696%
- Assignments (10)2.121%
- Learning reporting & analytics (10)2.121%
- Course authoring (10)2.121%
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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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Product Demos
D2L Brightspace | Tips & Tricks | How to Use Virtual Classrooms to Increase Student Engagement
YouTube
D2L Brightspace | Tips & Tricks | Using Intelligent Agents to Automate a Welcome Message
YouTube
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Creating Dropbox Folders
YouTube
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Grading Discussion Topics
YouTube
D2L Brightspace v10.4 Creating Discussion Forums
YouTube
Demo of Shuffling Quiz Questions in Brightspace
YouTube
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Product Details
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- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is D2L Brightspace?
Brightspace is a learning management platform used to drive better learning outcomes by offering every learner a personalized, digital experience. From the kindergarten classroom, to college campuses, to global corporations, Brightspace aims to help create inspired and engaging learning for all.
It's key capabilities and benefits include:
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 101: Building Better Learning Experiences
Establishing Student Engagement and Confidence with Brightspace Pulse
Virtual Classroom for Brightspace
D2L Brightspace for K-12 Learning
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
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.
Blackboard Learn by Anthology, Canvas, and Schoology Learning are common alternatives for D2L Brightspace.
Reviewers rate Course catalog or library highest, with a score of 10.
The most common users of D2L Brightspace are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- 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
(1-2 of 2)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
October 01, 2014
Here we go again a new LMS selection process!
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We are a Community College using Desire2Learn for credit online and face-to-face courses. We provide course shells for all 2,000 sections offered each semester at the college. We currently have over 5,000 online students using the system. We migrated from our ANGEL LMS during the past year that was the major need from our faculty.
- 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
The Desire2Learn system provided a greater ability to customize the learning environment than the Canvas system we evaluated. We did like the simpler interface that Canvas provides and the navigation was easy to follow. We also evaluated the Blackboard LMS and found a large variety of tools that were difficult to navigate.
We have both students and faculty using the Desire2Learn system. We have three different roles in the system (System Adminstrators, Faculty and Students)
20
We have our support of the hosted system inside Information Services and also faculty training and support with our Educational Technology Center
- 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
Yes
ANGEL LMS system from Blackboard
- Price
- Product Features
- Product Usability
- Product Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
We were impressed with the customer satisfaction from other schools that migrated from ANGEL to D2L
If possible to remove the sales teams from the evaluation process. We knew what we wanted but sometimes you are promised items without the ability to test and confirm. I would spend more time asking for a list of current customers.
- Vendor implemented
- Implemented in-house
Yes
We have the initial installation of the software on our servers in Phase I, Then we had implementation team work on specific settings for our institution, next we began migration of data from SIS system (BANNER) and then finally migration of existing content from ANGEL system. (About six months)
Change management was a big part of the implementation and was well-handled
We needed to keep everyone informed to events and system settings
- 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)
Yes
We currently pay for a TAM but had hoped that this would be a free service.
Yes
The bugs we have reported are typically replicated on their end and then sent to the next level of support for status update. This can sometimes take a few days to complete if not marked urgent.
Our implementation team did an excellent job of listening to our questions and have been available after the initial go live date. These relationships with the initial implementation team are very important.
- 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.
Yes
Mobile interface works for certain tools and needs additional work. The system is not customizable like can be found in the desktop system.
February 12, 2014
A lot of Desire unfulfilled with Desire2Learn
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Desire2Learn was used across the whole organization as the Learning Management System. It served as the platform for faculty to create online resource for academic courses, grade assignments, communicate and collaborate with students. Students used this platform to access digital course content and view grades.
- 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
We did not select D2L. In fact pilot studies at our campus showed that faculty preferred Moodle by a wide margin. We were forced to select Desire2Learn by University System of Georgia. Their evaluation and final decision to select Desire2Learn was highly flawed.
10000
Students, faculty, Instructional designers, LMS adminitrators, enterprise IT and administrators
3
- Instructional Designers
- LMS administrators
- Learning Management System for Students
- Professional development courses for faculty
- Surveys
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
- NA
Yes
WebCT was replaced since Blackboard was not going to support this product.
- Product Usability
From my understanding the single most important factor for the University System of Georgia to choose Desire2Learn was the ability to use multi-tenancy on a single server. In other words, several schools could have its own slice of installed instance.
- 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
Implemented by central resources at University System of Georgia
No
- Course conversion from WebCT/Vista
- No user data could be brought in from old courses
- Addressing new and deficient features/functions
Yes
The solution given was that the bug would be resolved in future release
Not applicable
- 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
Yes
Mobile interface works adequately without the need to download a dedicated app.