D2L Brightspace

What differentiates D2L Brightspace from other similar products?

There is excellent product support and robust features for administrators. It is possible to design almost anything a learning designer can imagine.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

The potential for advanced online learning interactions. Intelligent agents and conditional release allow for a great deal of automation that can save instructors time and allow for advanced differentiated learning design techniques.

What do you dislike most about this product?

D2L has a poor user experience. Creating assignments and grading assignments have completely different interfaces. Grade items are decoupled from their corresponding assignments by default, so all grade items need to be manually created. Revising or adding an assignment after a course is already running takes many steps that are not practical for most users. There is poor discoverability for relatively simple actions, such as the re-ordering of grade items. (There is a way, it's just unintuitive). The learning objectives and competencies settings are too difficult to use and link to grade items-- too many steps need to be taken by the user.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

I would recommend to test out the newest version of the product by doing a full course development, including gradebook setup and grading example students, to get an idea of the learning curve. It is not as intuitive as Canvas, but the company is very responsive to its user base and every new update comes out with great improvements. It is therefore important that the administrators continuously maintain the most recent version and communicate with their clients about updates and upgrades.

What differentiates D2L Brightspace from other similar products?

D2L Brightspace engages it's clients to test/improve the product/features. The company focuses on accessibility for all users and has a passion for teaching/learning - not just technology. The basic platform has very few major changes that require a new full training session to master. User roles/permissions are robust with a lot of options which is great but needs some time to set-up and manage too. The Sales staff work with clients and have reasonable pricing that works with academic purchasing/budgets (based on student FTE) - worked out CE by user/year too. Fusion conference has client presentations - not just sales pitches for products.

What is your favorite aspect of this product?

D2L Brightspace has fantastic client/tech support from knowledgeable & friendly people. The LMS features are easy to use and standardized throughout the platform so it's easy to teach/learn. LMS Admins can implement the updated features when ready with clearly stated end of support dates (1-2 years), Tech support is layered for quick help and gets back to you quickly. System updates are automatic. Grades are very flexible to set-up and connect to assignments to calculate the total grade easily. The Quizzes tool has built in accessibility features and allows tests to be built with randomized question pools and paged as needed - very flexible.

What do you dislike most about this product?

D2L Brightspace develops new features with purpose and more testing. While the features become available in the platform a little slower, they are also more tech stable and ready to use. The Discussions area will be updated and definitely looking forward to seeing new features/look. Attendance tool does not connect directly to input grades. Course statistics are easy to access but overall organization (higher level) stats are harder to pull out. Some purchased customized reports may be needed and/or higher level computer programming skills needed to build reports. Program/course objective/goals tracking improvements are in development.

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

D2L Brightspace is a great bang for the buck platform! It's cost effective and well supported technically. I choose (and some of my peers) to do customized training since the platform can be customized and branded. Third-party integrations are easy, User roles/permissions are very flexible. FYI: Your own servers/maintenance are used for this system. Then, the D2L Brightspace staff deploy the monthly updates/fixes on the platform. For LMS admins, it's generally low maintenance and more user support issues. I have had good experiences working with faculty/students and the D2L support staff for several years.

What differentiates D2L Brightspace from other similar products?

User intuitive, fast and versatile

What do you dislike most about this product?

Difficult changing grades after it is locked and made mistake automatically

What recommendations would you give to someone considering this product?

Be prepared for a great product.