Interacting with D2L
February 15, 2014

Interacting with D2L

Brenda Schoolfield | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

10.3

Overall Satisfaction with Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn is the learning management system (LMS) used by all resident faculty and by the faculty offering courses online. It serves as a communication system between professors and students for delivering documents, keeping grades, sending messages, and posting announcements. While not all faculty use all the components of the system, all the faculty and the students have access to it. I use this LMS with all my resident classes in addition to the ones I have created for distance learning. I communicate via email and announcements (sometimes even with synchronous chats) as well as post documents, receive and return assignments, and keep grades with D2L.

Our university uses it for the delivery of training for technology resources, from the D2L system itself to workshops on leadership and advancement. It is also in use for delivery of faculty advancement portfolios.

Pros

  • Providing an updated class list for ease of communication
  • Storing documents that students will need to use
  • Providing space for student groups to work in chat rooms and with document sharing
  • Keeping grades that students can access at any time
  • Allowing for a secure place to post recording from class
  • Copying content and set up from one semester/session to the next

Cons

  • The interface for creators of content can be clunky--lots of clicks, lots of steps to remember
  • The discussions and dropbox files do not work well with rubrics--very awkward
  • The system's updates, while helpful, seem to come both too often and without enough of the changes needed
  • Cleaner appearance than other LMSs we have used
  • Effective ways of measuring student progress through the course in a distance learning environment
  • Accommodation of a wide range of teaching/learning styles
  • Blackboard,Moodle
I have used both Blackboard and Moodle as a student in classes; I used Moodle as a designer and instructor. While I was not on the LMS selection team, the major benefit of D2L seemed to be the willingness of the designers to listen to our needs and the cost of the system. While I could use some other system independent of my university, I find it is easier on students to remain with one uniform LMS.
D2L is well suited for Distance Learning settings. It does provide a clean appearance (at least in our branded version it does) and easy-to-follow tabs for content. It is supposed to be for an educational setting, but it might work well for large companies that need to deliver training courses. I find D2L works well in any measure of blended learning--resident classes with online assignments.

Using Desire2Learn

I am not in a position to cancel service with D2L, but I cannot see abandoning the system. D2L listens to feedback and offers extensive training opportunities to interested users. If asked, I would not recommend changing systems. While no LMS is perfect, I seem to have had fewer significant problems with D2L than my colleagues in other places have had with other systems.

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