Pros and Cons of D2L Brightspace 2025

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.

Learn from top reviewers

I think it's a clunky platform that feels like it is was made in 2003.

Rating: 1 out of 10

October 11, 2023

Vetted ReviewVerified User

We use D2L Brightspace to teach online courses. I think in comparison to CANVAS it is very clunky and counter intuitive. Grading an assignment, for instance, requires you to m...

Verified user

Employee

1 year of experience

Brightspace - It's the whole package and more!

Rating: 10 out of 10

November 16, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

Working within a higher education institution, we need a product to deliver online courses through and to enhance all our other offerings, Brightspace has been that product fo...

John Bayerl

Director - Information Technology

Director of Teaching Excellence

Minnesota State College Southeast

8 years of experience

And the award for best LMS ever goes to Brightspace!

Rating: 10 out of 10

May 12, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

Brightspace is currently being used as the LMS system for our campus. This is how we facilitate our online courses and also house various materials for our in-class sections. ...

Traci Rushing

Team Lead - Other

Instructional Designer - Faculty

Southern Arkansas University Tech

3 years of experience

Brightspace LMS Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

March 6, 2021

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

Brightspace is a learning management system used by the college in all aspects of managing student learning, student achievement, student communication and teacher training.

Ai Ashe

Professional - Other

Instructor

The Art Institute of Virginia Beach

3 years of experience

Employee-Tailored LMS Tool That Offers Unparalleled Customization for Improved Engagement

Rating: 8 out of 10

June 18, 2019

IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User

I work in a large-scale corporation that strongly emphasizes continuous learning and improvement. Brightspace is an LMS tool that has been implemented within some administrati...

Joshua Melder

Analyst - Corporate

Process Optimization Analyst

Quad

2 years of experience

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Pricing

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D2L Brightspace

N/A

Unavailable

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

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

View more demos

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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.

5.8

Avg 8.2

2
Course authoring
(10) Ratings
Users can develop and assemble online learning content.
10
Course catalog or library
(6) Ratings
Learning content is organized into a course catalog or browsable library.
9.8
Player/Portal
(7) Ratings
Students or employees can engage with content and take courses using this interface, which may be called a player or portal.
9.6
Learning content
(9) Ratings
The vendor offers high quality pre-made courses or assets. These may be specific to certain industries or technologies.
1
Mobile friendly
(9) Ratings
Students or employees can access content from mobile devices. Course authors can develop responsive learning content.
9.4
Progress tracking & certifications
(9) Ratings
The system tracks individuals’ progress on courses, scores, transcripts, certificates, etc.
2
Assignments
(10) Ratings
Users can assign courses/curricula to individuals or groups, with due dates.
8
Compliance management
(1) Ratings
Users can identify potential risks and ensure that requirements are met and that certifications are up to date.
2
Learning administration
(9) Ratings
Administrators can manage the content and people (students/employees, course authors, instructors, etc.) on the platform.
2
Learning reporting & analytics
(10) Ratings
Provides insights into course completion, engagement with learning content, etc.
8.4
Social learning
(9) Ratings
Includes features for collaboration and knowledge sharing among peers.

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Product Details

About
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:

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

Show Unsupported 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 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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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(79)

Reviews

(1-5 of 45)

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I think it's a clunky platform that feels like it is was made in 2003.

Rating: 1 out of 10

October 11, 2023

Verified User

Employee in Other

Writing & Editing Company, 201-500 employees

Vetted Review

Verified User

1 year of experience

Pros

Make you click a thing to click a thing to click a thing to get what you are looking for.
Make you click a thing to click a thing to click a thing to get what you are looking for.
Make you click a thing to click a thing to click a thing to get what you are looking for.

Cons

Create a to-do list.
Let users customize course page layouts.
Embedded videos take forever to even appear on a page when you get there. This gives me the false impression that content is missing.
I think Gradebook sucks. It has question marks and weird icons all over, but there is no tooltip explaining what they mean.
In my experience, grading is clunky and takes a lot of clicks to get to an assignment.

Brightspace - It's the whole package and more!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

November 16, 2021

JB

John Bayerl

Director of Teaching Excellence

Minnesota State College Southeast (Higher Education, 201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

8 years of experience

View profile

Pros

Provide an online platform for education/training.
Serve as a institution-wide communication channel.
Allow for customization to institutional needs.

Cons

Consistency across the platform.
May take time to customize to best fit institutional needs.

And the award for best LMS ever goes to Brightspace!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 12, 2021

TR

Traci Rushing

Instructional Designer - Faculty

Southern Arkansas University Tech (Higher Education, 51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

3 years of experience

View profile

Pros

The layout is amazing! Students who have used other LMS's have often commented on the ease of navigability Brightspace offers.
The annotation features for course assignments are easy to follow.
The layout of the homepage is very user-friendly and places focus on course announcements.
Brightspace email is also a bonus feature!

Cons

I wish there was a way that we could block students from their courses and provide notification as to why they have been locked out of their accounts.
I wish there was a way to change the order of pinned course in the my courses widget.
The instant messenger features in Brightspace are not really that great. I wish there was a way to link it to your phone or that it would provide a different alert. It currently works pretty similar to email.

Brightspace LMS Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 06, 2021

AA

Ai Ashe

Instructor

The Art Institute of Virginia Beach (Higher Education, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

3 years of experience

View profile

Pros

Creating and organizing assignments
Able to upload files of all types
Manage calendar
Student reminders of work due via built in calendar

Cons

Editing assignments: too many steps, can be more streamlined
Courses are presented the same for instructors and learners. Instructors have to use 'student view' to see course from learners' point of view. Must click a button to deactivate
Using the built in course management system to create modules can be challenging

Employee-Tailored LMS Tool That Offers Unparalleled Customization for Improved Engagement

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 18, 2019

JM

Joshua Melder

Process Optimization Analyst

Quad (Printing, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

Verified User

2 years of experience

View profile

Pros

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.

Cons

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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iSpring Learn

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

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