Brightspace Reviews

Pros

I found this software very easy to use and pretty intuitive. It is fresh looking on the screen and I've not had any issues with the system not working as it should.

Cons

There are a few extra clicks that have to take place in some parts of the software to get back to where you want to be. That is somewhat annoying, but a minor issue.

Pros

Brightspace is very intuitive; users can jump into the LMS and figure out what they need to do with little to no instructions.
I like the power it gives admins to build in automation and customize how students work through the course. This is done via intelligent agents and release conditions.
Brightspace just looks great. Is the most aesthetically pleasing LMS on the market as far as I have seen.

Cons

The platform seems more geared toward traditional schooling systems rather than asynchronous models at times. For example, there is no easy way for students to add their own due dates to assessments; they can only be added for the entire course, which does not work when students are all pacing differently. Brightspace for Parents is also not as strong as I would have expected. There seems to be limited features and out parents are just not really interested in using it.

Alternatives Considered

Edsby, CANVAS and Schoology

Reasons for Choosing Brightspace

We were looking for something that worked well out of the box. D2L manages all of the updating of the system, hosting, etc. Using something like Moodle requires at least one person on the team with a strong tech background. Brightspace can be run with little to no tech experience.

Switched From

Moodle

Reasons for Switching to Brightspace

We felt Brightspace packed in the most functionality and also looked (and felt the best).

Pros

I like the ability for there to be an online classroom and I like that it records the lectures. I like how the online classroom allows for screensharing and chatting also. I also like the look of the software; it doesn't look dated.

Cons

At this point, I have used several types of software like Brightspace as I have been in higher education for almost 7 years now as an undergraduate student and now, a graduate student. I think out of all those other software that I have used, Brightspace is the least intuitive to navigate. On the outset, I think the website looks clean and modern and it feels like a website that would be easy to navigate. But when you actually do start navigating the website, you find out how hard it is to find simple commands. For example, to simply program and then score a quiz online is much harder than it needs to be. Menus for basic things like how to see the students' grades were hard to find and I had to ultimately turn to google to figure out how to grade the quiz. I am new to this software, so maybe it just takes some getting used to, but so far, as a new user, I am finding that Brightspace is not intuitive or easy to navigate.

Pros

What I like most about this product is the ease of navigating each feature of the product. There are quite a few features, all of them being outstanding and easy to use.

Cons

There seem to be quite a few bugs for us with this product. However, the product has been integrated going on two years, so there is bound to be some issues going forward.

Alternatives Considered

CANVAS

Reasons for Choosing Brightspace

The other LMS was going away, and we had to look for a new product, also one that was cheaper.

Switched From

Blackboard Learn

Reasons for Switching to Brightspace

Brightspace was cheaper than others, with a much better quality.

Pros

I enjoyed the formatting and how easy to use brightspace was compared to the previous software my university used. It made tracking grades and all of the content my teacher posted so much easier to follow. It also shows how your grades were compared to other students and allows you to track your own performance.

When I was a TA, it was also really easy to post news items, enter grades and insert comments on students' papers.

Easy to understand for all users!

Cons

It can be difficult to operate on mobile devices - there are less buttons to navigate the pages but it's not impossible to use.

Pros

Polished software with a multitude of features makes this an outstanding "investment".

Cons

Pricing is competitive, however some value-added services are locked behind a premium/paid tier.

Alternatives Considered

Set a Time, Edsby, itslearning, Sakai LMS, CANVAS, Moodle, CYPHER Learning, Kannu and Tovuti

Switched From

MapleLMS, LearningCart, Vedubox, FLOWSPARKS and Chamilo

Pros

Have used Brighspace as a student and as a faculty. As long as the faculty sets it up well it is exceedingly easy to navigate. The features really benefit the educational experience.

Cons

Setting up the individual course takes time. I felt like I needed to be a coder to actually use to features. We have two full time hired staff to help keep the online classes in this running. Also, the email is ridiculously complicated.

Pros

- UI has been modernized and made responsive
- useful on a large scale

Cons

- no integration with PeopleSoft
- administrative functions are not user-friendly; functions hidden behind too many buttons
- lack of up-to-date documentation
- very expensive

Pros

Brightspace offers a great LMS with lots of options for customization. You can completely run an online or in-person class with ease using Brightspace. Everything from assignments to discussions to grading to groupwork is integrated.

Cons

Brightspace isn't especially user-friendly and there's a pretty steep learning curve. Also, there aren't a lot of good tools for collaborative work, and I typically rely on Google Drive for when I want to have students collaborate.

Pros

A helpful platform for managing online courses. I especially like the ability for professors to create a checklist for each module.

Cons

Some of the email messaging features are a little clunky.

Pros

This app has everything students can use to avoid failing deadlines. It helps students to keep all critical data in one place, so it makes them more organized and aware of the education process. In Brightspace you can drag and drop all kind of files, as well as rearrange them, so new content can be easily seen. For teachers, it is also easy to create different types of tests or quizzes without spending much time or many resources. Brightspace is a well-known LMS and is used across our college as the learning management platform. It is used to distribute the different type of information, assignments tests, which makes the education process for both students and teachers more convenient.

Cons

This app lacks an intuitive interface. It is difficult to get used it, and it requires time to understand how to activate one feature or another. You need time to customize your interface; otherwise, it will be cluttered and even more complicated to use. There is an option to create discussions, but it is hard to organize them. It also would be nice to have a video chat option so that some lectures can be given online. Tech support can be improved, as it is not helpful and it usually blames users instead of fixing the problem.

Pros

I used D2L Brightspace throughout all of university. In terms of uploading any learning documents such as assignments, solutions, homework, PowerPoints, lecture videos, and more, it was always very easy to navigate and get what you need on your computer or on mobile. Navigation is very simple, and the user interface is easy to learn. The best feature was the notifications bell which I used the most to have consistent and clear updates for all of my courses.

Cons

I think there are some aspects of the user interface which could be redesigned to be more aesthetically pleasing. Some features and sections appear out of date and could use some visual improvements. The onus of including or excluding certain sections I believe is on the onus of the professor, but maybe there could be more clear instruction to them on how to best format course pages/sections.

Pros

I was recently employed by Texas Christian University as an adjunct professor, and this was the first time I had ever taught a class at a different university. I had never used Brightspace before and to be honest I was a little bit overwhelmed with it at first. There are so many different functions and options that at first glance it seems like it will take months to learn. However, I think their help section is really user friendly and within a day I had my class pretty much set up. I love all of the more advanced grading features and automatic % calculations that this does, it saves so much time as I used to do this all in Excel. Also, I was only on campus once/week and was driving from over 40 minutes away on days that I was there. So, having office hours on days off was pretty much not going to happen. However, Brightspace has an amazing feature that can connect you to students over video chat from anywhere! This allowed me to have more personal 1-on-1 time with students who needed help while not having to drive all the way to campus!

Cons

There is quite a bit of a learning curve to get to the more complex stuff, but after you learn it your productivity skyrockets.

Pros

I really like the feature where you can open up quizzes or surveys for individual students. I use this when I have set a time/date for an item to close by and then students give me a valid excuse, then I can open it back up for them for whatever length of time I choose for them to complete the assignment. I also like that it is easy for a skilled user to navigate.

Cons

Even though I know how to navigate through the online set up now, it is sometimes troublesome for my students because there are just so many different options and different ways to navigate to the same thing. I usually have to do a short run through on how to use the software before the class begins and then I always have those that reach out with numerous questions regarding how to find something. This too has to do with the laziness of some students since I had no problem teaching myself how to use it.

Pros

D2L is the most organized and functional software for universities to use. Students have one place to access all their courses and find all information they need. Using d2L, professors post all the content from their course and organize it however they want. Quizzes, discussions, and assignment drop boxes are found on D2L as well. D2L provides easy online accessibility for both teachers and students, making going to school a much easier task.

Cons

The due dates for assignments get confusing, not sure if thats a user error via professors, but they always seem to have to email student to say they don't know how to change the due date for certain assignments.

Pros

-It places the student at the center of learning.
-It provides collaboration and interaction.
-It has a variety of tools.
-It combines most learning theories.
-It can be used by both educators and trainees.
-It combines education and learning resources with assessment and analysis features to create an integrated e-learning environment.

Cons

-The cost: It has an annual cost and is tailored to the number of users connected at the same time.
-It is not installed locally.
Course files are stored on a remote server that manages D2L.
-Network delay time is often slow and disturbing.

Pros

I really enjoy the simplicity of how to find assignments and course work. Something else that is great is that anytime you send it an assignment the software will send you a confirmation email assuring your completion and submission. Technical support always knows how to correct an issue that is going on.

Cons

I have experienced the software glitching on many occasions. I will need to complete an assignment and turn it in to a specific place and that submission title is not uploaded in my course selection for the week. I have also contacted technical support many times, in which they reply pretty slowly.

Pros

Brightspace is an easy to navigate software for delivering online courses! It provides ample data, on things such as when a student last logged into the course materials, or how long students spent on an assignment. I find the information it provides is great!

Cons

I am a bit hesitant on some of the data Brightspace provides, such as how much time someone spends on an assignment, because they could have easily just downloaded it and looked at it on their own time.

Pros

Brightspace is functional - you can upload work, access grades, etc.

Cons

It's ugly - the user interface isn't intuitive

Pros

It has improved some things, like being able to cut and paste into discussions.

Cons

1. The layout is not clear to students. Many have problems locating things in the Content because they don't understand the structure.

2.When I log in as a student and go to discussions, even when I have "grid view" and "threaded" selected, I don't really see a thread structure, just a list of messages. Since I teach literature, discussion is essential to the course, but this makes it almost impossible to use really well.

3. When I'm logged in as myself and switch to "student" view, I don't see what the students see. I have to log out and log in as a different user to see that.

4.The grading and attendance features are not flexible and don't allow me to keep the kinds of records I need.

5. The email is much too limited.

6. When I add a new topic to a module, I can't reorder the list of topics, but have to move the new one up one topic at a time. This takes a very long time.

Pros

The customer support team is excellent, providing very helpful advice and bug fixes almost at a whim! Whenever we've had a problem, Brightspace were they almost instantly to lend a hand.
There are a huge list of features on offer, allowing for a wide variety of lessons and exercises be taught.
The session in-activity is incredibly useful, we use this in shared-classrooms where its not guaranteed that the user will log-out when finished.

Cons

Not very easy to use, buttons and tools seem to be hidden away either within a menu or a seemingly random location.
Communicating with attendees via Brightspace is a pain, there isn't an easy way to send out bulk emails to students. There is some automated process here, but just sending out a basic text email to all students on a course would be very useful.

Pros

The everything in one place aspect of it. This means fewer different logins and software platforms to keep up with, which means more focus on things that matter.

Cons

Occasionally there is maintenance that prevents logins, but it is usually announced in plenty of time to make arrangements for alternatives. And they do try to make it happen during off-peak hours.

Pros

Flexible and versatile. Provides many basic features that facilitate the learning of students in our K-12 DL school. Students and parents find it easy to use and teachers find it easy to provide quality content in their courses.

Cons

Difficult to get specific detailed help on specific issues particular to our K-12 organization. Help to implement single sign on and Google integration to our Education Google Apps account seems difficult to get.

Pros

This software provides the bare minimum of what would be required from the software. It allows teachers to post assignments adequately (no better than any other system I have seen in class).

Cons

The system is not intuitive and takes a while to locate various functions. The grading component is awful on the student end. Overall grades cannot be seen by the student. Should a student wish to know his or her overall grade they must manually calculate it. This on its own is still a problem since Brightspace doesn't even show the point value of each grade, just the percentage. This program is only useful for students to know their grades a small period of time before they would be handed back in class.

Pros

The user interface is logical and intuitive. Support is wonderful.

Cons

So far, I haven't found anything I don't like! Hard to believe, but true. My institution has just moved to BrightSpace and I love it. Integration with my publishers appears seemless and course management is a breeze.