Brightspace Reviews

Numerous design and layout options Embedded templates for rubrics and assignments

Some functionality is not intuitive in nature

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.

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.

adding modules, changing the course image

The gradebook is a nightmare! Every semester its a nightmare. Something that should be so intuitive is so complicated on Brightspace. When I create an assignment it doesn't just go into the gradebook--I have to "link it". But then when brightspace duplicates a column in the gradebook I cannot just "delete" a column in the gradebook! You cannot do anything in the gradebook simply! I also cannot trust the gradebook's math because it will count somethings and not others! One semester it duplicated a whole assignment (but I only had ONE dropbox for it?!?!) and I could not get rid of it---all students ended up with duplicate grade for it. I loved the original D2L--so easy to use! This brightspace? a disaster....

The most impactful features of BrightSpace are discussion opportunities, auto-grading, and navigation.

The cost of the LMS is the only drawback.

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!

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

Brightspace is flawless. It makes seeing your grades, assignments, class resources, discussion forums, and online lectures accessible from anywhere. It is compatible with every device (laptop, desktop, phones). Brightspace help services are clearly stated and always available. Great customer service skills as well.

Brightspace is not the easiest when teachers do not know how to properly use it. A simple video how to guide for each feature would enhance all aspects of Brightspace.

I like that Brightspace is easy to use. In previous online courses, we had used another program, which was a hot mess. Brightspace is user-friendly and really easy to find what you're looking for. The useability, however, depends mainly on the professor/teacher/whoever that may set up the course. Currently, everything is laid out in weeks, so each "module" contains what is due that week. Very simple to use, from a student standpoint.

I have noticed that when posting/replying to a discussion board, there are no notifications. And by this I mean there are no "push" notifications, so it's sometimes hard to see if people are responding to my post. Once I log in on a desktop/laptop, I can easily see if people have responded. However, if I'm using the app on my phone, it doesn't necessarily "pop up" and say that someone commented or posted something new. I personally would like a notification when this happens.

This Learning Management System is GOOD but not the best. It is great that D2L and Brightspace have an easy-to-use portal that differentiates between student, instructor, and even TAs. However, the options that come with competitors like CANVAS are far superior...

CANVAS, a competing LMS, provides more external resource use, such as Virtual Office Hours during Conferences, and even grouping students into smaller groups to use MS Office through Collaborations. Brightspace is user friendly for students but more difficult to manage for administrators/teachers.

I like the complex features that are offered by this LMS. Course creators can embed external sources, create several nested modules and access plenty of documentation. Users can also access content on nearly all browsers and operating systems.

There is a steep learning curve, and it can be difficult to even access basic course information as a learner, or to even find out how to create a single module for students as an administrator. The issues related to mobile access, Safari, and flash are still present in this LMS as well. It will be difficult to access certain pages, and some external links do not allow you to access them either.

The LMS is very robust and flexible. It is also reliable.

The interface is often not intuitive. Often multiple clicks are needed to find an important setting in an assessment. The communications piece ("intelligent agents") which allows the faculty to send automated emails when a student meets certain criteria (for example, sending a note to the student if they haven't logged into the course in 5 days) is quite limited and lacking in "intelligence."

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.

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.

The interface looks nice, and it's easy to sort student. The discussion board threading works well, and the left hand menu bar is easy to navigate. I appreciate that there are multiple ways to arrive at different areas in the course, and the seminar integration is really easy and nice.

I wish the seminar would let me review the actual comments as I grade, the integration of a competency based rubric is clunky, when you have a CLA as well as something else for an assignment one overwrites the other in a very maddening way taking multiple steps to finish up a grade. The announcements section is now difficult for students to read, but that could just be our set up as well.

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.

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.

BrightSpace includes all of the typical features of any LMS. However, D2L has improved the platform over time and has made the system more intuitive and user friendly. I also use CourseDen (the higher ed version of BrightSpace) for my college courses and the features are essentially the same with a few differences. However, the two platforms are enough alike that, once you know one system, learning to use the other one is a cinch. The features allow for very specific customization of assessments, discussions, and other features. I have built my own courses within the LMS, so I am familiar with a majority of the features and capabilities of the LMS.

No cons were added to this review

The simplicity of navigation is amazing. I have to navigate through multiple courses within Brightspace, and it's very well organized and categorized. Which makes school all the easier. There is never any confusion regarding what I am trying to find, and how to find it.

The only negative thing I can say about Brightspace is the inability to access previous courses and work submitted within the courses. With that being said, I believe that is a school-based setting, and not a fault of Brightspace.

I like that I've been able to do away with collecting paper in most of my courses. I am also able to easily arrange course materials for my students to access. Depending on your course, the original setup can be intense, but it is very easy to copy the course over for a new semester of a different section. I enjoy being able to post grades and attendance in D2L. I love that I can grade a quiz by question. Sometimes, I need to only look at one question.

There can be some misleading language such as "locked" on the calendar list next to a discussion assignment. Students see this as meaning that they cannot access the activity. But what it really means is that there is a period of time for which the assignment will be locked. It doesn't necessarily mean that the assignment can't be accessed at that time. I get lots of questions about this. I still find the grade calculating tool is not as robust as I need it to be.

-My school uses a lot of the D2L platform, from learning experience online to binder. -It is really easy to use and very user-friendly. -I love the images that were used in the online classroom platform for D2L -The chat-like function in the classroom is also very useful especially

-the locker room is a little bit outdated, I think they should add a function where students are able to type document and edit document while in the locker room in the class platform. -In the D2L binder where PDFs document can be stored for studying purposes, I like this function but I wish that it would make studying ease by adding note-taking opportunity.

So many options for different uses.

No cons were added to this review

I like the ability to stay on top of my assignments in classes and know what is to be expected throughout the semester. It is easy to see what is due week by week under the course content. I think the site is set up fairly well.

I sometimes have trouble with the discussions section where I need to manually press that I have read another members posts, I wish it appeared automatically. It also took a bit to be able to navigate the site but after becoming familiar I have had no problems.

This resource carefully organizes all your school material. It allows for each class to have a separate section. It is like a virtual binder. Teachers can upload quizes, tests, and any additional material. Such a great resource for any age student. I have been using it for over 6 years now.

It sometimes glitches which makes it difficult to submit assignments, look up something, but that will happen with any software.

Brightspace has a really lovely minimalist interface, allowing faculty and students to focus on what's most important. Compared to other LMS's i've used over the years, Brightspace has made serious progress in providing meaningful visualizations and analytics on student progress and forward-thinking features. The system looks and feels like a modern LMS, clearly standing out from some of the big traditional companies which can't seem to move forward from their early-2000s design. Mobile experience is great as well.

One of my biggest complaints is that i cannot directly mark up my students papers as i can in other LMS's - this feature is one of the key components in my own move to paperless grading, so it was very frustrating. Although i'm not directly an admin, I do get the sense that D2L operates much more around a 'suite' of resources that seems a bit more complicated to manage than other LMS's i'm familiar with.

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).

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.

I like how Brightspace gives you access to all of your courses at one simple dashboard. You not only get notifications for when items are updated, published, or reviewed but you also get access to the list of people that are also enrolled in your course. This can be super helpful when you have a question and want to ask one of your peers vs asking the instructor directly. This application is very user friendly and straight to the point, which is very helpful for someone like me who is not the most computer savvy.

I dont like how the courses are not automatically saved one you finish one, as I do tend to like to get back and review previous course materials.

I like that platform in that it has so much available from one login. Grading, student contact, administering assessments, and pretty much everything that one might possibly need all in one spot.

Because of the amount of things it does, at times switching from one thing to another can be a bit clunky. That is merely a minor inconvenience, however.

I like how it's easy for students to use. Students are able to watch seminars, communicate with instructors, and access stored documents and assignments.

I don't like how the system crashes. There's been a few times where D2L has been down due to technical issues.