D2L Brightspace Reviews & Insights

Score8.6 out of 10

78 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for D2L Brightspace are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

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.

Reviews

45 Reviews

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

Rating: 1 out of 10

September 18, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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 manually open the grade book, find the ungraded assignments one by one, open them as pop ups, and choose the attempt number. I don't understand why there isn't a simple 'to-do' list like in Canvas. Part of the problem might be my institution randomly restricting user abilities to prevent people from messing up their course pages, but I spent hours trying to streamline my page and nothing works well. I will quit my job primarily because I hate working with this platform.

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

In my opinion, it is not well-suited for teaching online courses. The design is clunky and outdated. It opens pop-ups for a lot of things that don't need pop-ups. It has unexplained icons (e.g., a question mark in a rectangle) with no tooltips.

I think it may be well-suited for wasting your time and graying out your hair.

Verified User

Employee (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

And the award for best LMS ever goes to Brightspace!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 12, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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. All in-class courses must complete their syllabi through Concourses integrated into Brightspace, use Brightspace email to communicate with the instructor, and also keep a gradebook in Brightspace. We have also used Brightspace to keep information for faculty and employee training materials.

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

Brightspace offers, by far, the best customer support! I am always able to connect with chat support instantly to solve any issues. Our account managers check in monthly to make sure there are no issues on our end and Brightspace host frequent trainings for both faculty and administrators. Brightspace also host excellent professional development trainings with tips for facilitating online courses.

Their platform is also very easy to use.

Traci Rushing

Instructional Designer - Faculty at Southern Arkansas University Tech (51-200 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

Brightspace - It's the whole package and more!

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

May 12, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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 for us. We are also part of a larger system of colleges/universities, of which there's about 32 of them, whom all use Brightspace. It is used throughout our entire institution, and we've even found uses for it beyond the primary purpose we purchased it for. We have found it to be a tremendously useful tool in delivering our regular credit-based courses through (online, face-to-face, hybrid, etc.), facilitate customized training, use for departmental collaboration, a communication tool for our whole institution (including with our students), and more. Without Brightspace, we would likely need multiple other software contracts and tools to effectively be able to do all the things we end up using it for. It may be one of our most costly software contracts that we have, but because it does so much for our organization, we would have to spend a lot more and be less efficient without it.

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

If you're an educational institution (K-12, Higher Ed, etc.), this is an amazing tool, and it will provide you all the functionality to support anything you may want and need it to do.

If you are looking at Brightspace as a tool for corporate training, I'm not sure exactly how good or bad it will be for you. My guess would be that it likely depends on your organization's size. Along that line, what I can speak to is how we use it for our customized training and in-house professional development/training, and it works fantastically for that. While we primarily use it for normal higher ed coursework, we regularly do training and professional development for all of our employees and I manage those along with our HR department. Because we use it for many other things as well, all of our employees are familiar with the product, which makes our trainings go that much smoother and makes my job that much easier.

John Bayerl

Director of Teaching Excellence in Information Technology at Minnesota State College Southeast (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

View profile

Brightspace LMS Review

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

March 6, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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

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

Likelihood to Recommend

Even though [Brightspace] has some cons the pros outweigh the cons. I would recommend this to a colleague.

Ai Ashe

Instructor at The Art Institute of Virginia Beach (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

A bright, flexible learning management system

Rating: 8 out of 10

August 3, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Brightspace is used throughout the organization with the exception of a few smaller departments. The LMS allows our instructors, employees, and students to access courses from their personal and work machines. The platform supports our traditional, hybrid, and online courses. With Brightspace, we are able to not only provide traditional slideshows and documents online for students to access, but we can also embed other technologies such as the Google Suite and the Adobe Cloud for further enhanced learning. The platform works on mobile and traditional machines as it allows developers to provide scalable resources and resources specific to each platform. I have used the service to provide three traditional in-person courses to students over the past year as well as one intensive online course. Materials are easily accessible and managing the platform becomes straightforward after a brief learning curve.

Pros

Allowing users to embed content links from YouTube or Google Drive enables learners to experience a richer lesson.
Providing a powerful editor that allows developers to also include content from Adobe Stock as well as textbook publishers and cloud storage companies gives more power and creative ability to instructors.
Providing scaling for mobile and traditional computer systems ensures students will not have issues on the go.
The customization of home pages and groups enable courses to be used for small training sessions with breakout groups, large courses with separate sections, and even just more engaging courses that present themed icons and logos.

Cons

The user interface for students is clunky, and it can be difficult to access courses once several have been registered, let alone once a student is inside of a course and has to navigate the content pages.
The instructor's interface is also difficult as courses are presented in the same fashion as they are for learners which means instructors who have taught many courses will need to dig through lists in order to find their current courses. The tools to add content to a course or design a course's appearance, while powerful, are confusing and should at least be supplemented with a detailed help guide and video series.
Gradebooks work for traditional courses; however, in gradeless or workshop settings, they are difficult to use. I have used text-based grades in lieu of numerical options, but I would still like to be able to revise or implement numerical grades in the final grade column as well. This is important for systems that do not use grades but are contract-based as the text fields may say "A" or "C", but the final numerical value may still be 0.
Certain content elements are missing from the platform, such as the ability to easily delete several items in a batch, or the ability to show and hide large and small elements at the click of a button without diving into menus. When one reuses a course, there is a high level of time involved in showing only the key elements and deleting unnecessary content which could be simplified.

Likelihood to Recommend

Brightspace can be a great platform for institutions looking for a multi-platform solution that works with standard cloud technologies and can provide a beautiful experience. The LMS can work well for online-only courses as sections can be segmented from each other inside of the same course, and grading can be automated depending on the scheme being implemented. Experienced instructors can still create useful workshops and courses with this tool, but it can be frustrating for newcomers or those used to other "plug-and-play" or "drag-and-drop" options. I would recommend trying the tool out and making some demonstration courses in which you are a student and learner in order to feel how it works and compares to other options on the market. Brightspace is definitely powerful and can provide a good experience once all stakeholders adjust to its handling.

Verified User

Professional in Professional Services (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience

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

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

June 18, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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 administrative departments of the company. Brightspace enables employees within my organization to further engage in their development by interacting with content across multiple mediums. Brightspace has offered an extremely efficient platform to engage in continuous learning via mobile, social, and video content while also providing an adaptive toolset to meet employees at their current knowledge level. Our organization sets monthly learning outcomes for employees with access to the platform depending on their position within the company. Our business has experimented with a variety of LMS tools for organizational use (Skillsoft, ANA, and in-house options) and Brightspace has offered one of the more unique and personalized continuing educational tools that we've experienced thus far!

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.

Likelihood to Recommend

As a member of a large-scale organization with a wide variety of employment positions, I view Brightspace as primarily an administrative solution for continuous learning and engagement. As an educational platform, Brightspace works perfectly for setting learning goals for particular groups or departments. Furthermore, there are many customization options intent on personalizing the overall user experience for employees. The platform also does a wonderful job of increasing overall engagement, retention, and completion of learning goals. However, I do not necessarily view Brightspace as the learning tool for all employees. There are production employees within my company and they may better benefit from other learning tools that do not require being on a computer.

Joshua Melder

Process Optimization Analyst in Corporate at Quad (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

View profile

Love it!

Rating: 9 out of 10

April 6, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Brightspace for all of our classes. All students have access to Brightspace in order to access their classes, and many of the staff and faculty have access to either teach classes, keep up with calendars, or in my case, keep up with all of the syllabi and grades.

Pros

I love that Brightspace is easy to use. Everything is pretty self-explanatory.
Although I am not in the IT department, it seems like they are able to customize Brightspace quite a bit to meet the school's and instructors' needs.

Cons

The only con that I can think of right now is that Brightspace does not integrate with our SIS. However, I believe this is an issue with our SIS. I have been told that it can be done, but we are still looking into making that happen.

Likelihood to Recommend

Brightspace is great for any school that offers online or blended courses, or any school that requires students to complete assignments online.

Verified User

Professional (11-50 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

A robust yet simple to use LMS - Brightspace

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

March 12, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We utilize Brightspace across our institution to serve as the single unified platform for teaching and learning. Our institution is robust in the fact that it has many different locations and modalities. Online, face-to-face, hybrid and self-paced are all types of education we provide. Brightspace provides an avenue to connect all of our students and instructors. Instructors are asked to utilize Brightspace for all of their courses. Sometimes this means something simple, like uploading the syllabus -- but other courses (especially online) are built entirely into Brightspace. Students complete activities in Brightspace, and instructors evaluate and assess in Brightspace.

Pros

Robust -- Brightspace can be as simple or as complex as you'd like. There are so many different configurations you can set up when implementing the product.
Intuitive for students -- Especially for learners, Brightspace is very simple to use and doesn't take much training for students to jump in and get started.
Dependable -- Brightspace (at least so far) has been very dependable for our users. In our multiple years of using the product, it has only gone down for a very minimal time.

Cons

The grade book can be very challenging to set up for instructors.
The current method of implementing learning outcomes is tedious. Although, this is being worked on.

Likelihood to Recommend

Brightspace works very well in higher education. I believe they are making a lot of strides toward the K-12 area as well. I am not as familiar with the business case, but from what I have seen in the administration of the product, it can scale and be configured in many different ways.

Verified User

Administrator in Information Technology (201-500 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

Not always intuitive but powerful and diverse LMS

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

December 11, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Desire2Learn (now called Brightspace by D2L I believe) is used across our university as the learning management platform. Assignments, information, quizzes, etc. are distributed and submitted by students to this platform. I've used it for all of the classes that I've taught and taken over the past five years as a PhD student and instructor of undergraduate students. I've used it in face-to-face, online, and hybrid courses.

Pros

Brightspace makes inclusion of TAs, assistants, observers, etc. a breeze.
The export feature makes it very easy to share materials with other instructors or plan your class for the next semester.
Automatic grading of quizzes is a huge help when appropriate.
Brightspace has done a great job providing resources to help students avoid academic integrity issues (and help instructors detect and address it).
Although it's hard to figure out how to do it at first, the interface for each class is very customizable.

Cons

Although it's improved a lot over the years, it is NOT intuitive to use for instructors or students.
The documentation is just incredibly scant. Although our university offers some support, it would be nice to be able to get help without having to call our IT department.
Unless you customize the interface (which is a bit tricky to figure out), it can be pretty cluttered and overwhelming for students.

Likelihood to Recommend

Brightspace has been particularly useful in my hybrid classes where we alternate online and face-to-face meetings. This platform is an excellent resource for bridging the gap and helping guide students through content and assignments. I teach language classes specifically, and I feel that Brightspace is very nicely suited for helping students with writing courses, especially the incorporation of Turnitin.com which allows students and instructors to see how outside material is used in students' assignments.

Ho'omana Nathan Horton

Graduate Teaching Assistant at Journal of Linguistic Geography (5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

Brightspace - A Way to Integrate More Content to your Courses

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 19, 2018

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Brightspace is used as the virtual or online component to classes, either as a blended class, as an extra form of communication to students, or as a completely online course. It's also used college-wide as a way for employees to remain up-to-date on different HR topics. It's very organized and, I believe, user-friendly. I've used it in the capacity as a student, as an employee, and have helped professors use it to create content for their students.

Pros

It's very organized. From the moment you open it, you can see your courses taking up the majority of your screen. But you also have alerts for messages at the top, so that keeps you up-to-date on what you need to know right away, instead of digging through each course.
It's very clear and easy to find what you're looking for.
It's a great way to add content to a class, even if it is already a face-to-face course. You can use it to communicate with students, to allow them to see their grades as the semester is going on, or to give them supplemental information.

Cons

If there was a way they could integrate the student's/professor's campus emails, that would be fantastic.
I could see a video chat feature to be helpful, especially for online students.
That's all I can think of for now, it's really pretty comprehensive and simple to use.

Likelihood to Recommend

It's great for 100% virtual courses. Discussion boards, quizzes, tests, supplemental material, all easy to access and use.
But I think it's also great as an addition to a face-to-face course. I think, in this aspect, it is underutilized. It would be a great way to add content to a course, and a great place to direct students to go to if they have questions once they are outside of the classroom setting.

Amanda Carpenter

Administrative Office Technician at Lebanon Campus of Harrisburg Area Community College (1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

7 years of experience

View profile

Loading Reviews List....

A bright, flexible learning management system

Rating: 8 out of 10

August 3, 2019

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Pros

Allowing users to embed content links from YouTube or Google Drive enables learners to experience a richer lesson.
Providing a powerful editor that allows developers to also include content from Adobe Stock as well as textbook publishers and cloud storage companies gives more power and creative ability to instructors.
Providing scaling for mobile and traditional computer systems ensures students will not have issues on the go.
The customization of home pages and groups enable courses to be used for small training sessions with breakout groups, large courses with separate sections, and even just more engaging courses that present themed icons and logos.

Cons

The user interface for students is clunky, and it can be difficult to access courses once several have been registered, let alone once a student is inside of a course and has to navigate the content pages.
The instructor's interface is also difficult as courses are presented in the same fashion as they are for learners which means instructors who have taught many courses will need to dig through lists in order to find their current courses. The tools to add content to a course or design a course's appearance, while powerful, are confusing and should at least be supplemented with a detailed help guide and video series.
Gradebooks work for traditional courses; however, in gradeless or workshop settings, they are difficult to use. I have used text-based grades in lieu of numerical options, but I would still like to be able to revise or implement numerical grades in the final grade column as well. This is important for systems that do not use grades but are contract-based as the text fields may say "A" or "C", but the final numerical value may still be 0.
Certain content elements are missing from the platform, such as the ability to easily delete several items in a batch, or the ability to show and hide large and small elements at the click of a button without diving into menus. When one reuses a course, there is a high level of time involved in showing only the key elements and deleting unnecessary content which could be simplified.

Likelihood to Recommend

Verified User

Professional in Professional Services (10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

1 year of experience