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Does it give you a Desire2Learn?
Updated July 08, 2015

Does it give you a Desire2Learn?

Steven Mitchell | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Version 10.3 SP3

Overall Satisfaction with Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn is our campus Learning Environment System here at Southern Illinois University. My job as Help Desk supervisor is to make sure that faculty and students are familiar with the system. I have found that, although there are some tools that are not intuitive to use, for the most part it is user friendly. We switched over from another LMS approximately three years ago and, although there are a few holdouts, for the most part faculty is happy with it.
  • I find that D2L has a user friendly interface and can be navigated by most instructors and students without too much problem.
  • D2L integrates well with other tools, such as e-texts, and most softwares such as Respondus.
  • D2L is easy for the help desk people to navigate, making it easy to provide good customer service for the people who do need help.
  • D2L has some issues with some of its tools that take a while to correct. There have been some problems with feedback for submissions recently.
  • There are a few things I would like to see added such as the ability to import rubrics from Excel and the ability to print the grade book.
  • A functionality that I feel needs work is the Equation editor. I find it difficult to use the editor for some functions such as logic formulas.
  • I feel that Desire2Learn has improved the overall efficiency of online learning at this university. When it is used properly it is a good tool for learning.
  • I think it has increased the efficiency of the customer service personnel also. It is easier to correct and to explain over the phone and in person to person chats.
  • It is fairly easy for the students to learn as incoming students.
I have used Blackboard/WebCT. I think D2L is more user friendly and it definitely has more useable functions than Blackboard. It is also more secure than Blackboard.
I feel it is well suited for most of the academic functions that we use it for. Some of the math and logic classes don't care for it because of the equation editor problem.

Using Desire2Learn

For us Desire2Learn (now Brightspace) is a higher education learning management system used by instructors, students, staff, important committees. It is the primary Instructional Learning Platform that we use. We have been using it for 4 years now and are very happy with the results.
I don't have much input in the decision process, but if I did I would recommend it for its functionality, its ease of use and the ability for faculty and students across a wide range of areas of study to use. I feel it is an excellent tool for distance learning.

Desire2Learn Support

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.

Using Desire2Learn

I find that it's pretty easy to work with and has multiple useful tools. As a support person I find many uses that many instructors don't use and I can recommend them.