Brightspace LMS Reviews

Pros

It's a great way to store course materials and email the entire class.

Cons

The program was complicated and after a lot of complaints from both students and instructors, my university switched to iCollege. Was especially useless for uploading textbooks. There was an option but it never worked. A lot of times, courses wouldn't show up and when they did, they weren't in the correct order.

Pros

This software helped me get back into studying and it's got great time management.

Cons

You always need an internet connection for it to work properly.

Pros

As a first-time online user, this software was super simple to use. Everything was in one place so I didn't need to change my routine. It's neat, clean and really easy on the eyes.

Cons

At first it was hard to get in touch with people. The messaging and email system often has to be connected to your student email and sometimes you just have to guess when sending a private message.

Pros

The user experience was excellent and I really appreciated how easy it was to grade exams and write reviews for students.

Cons

What I didn't like was that there was nothing really unique about it. Some of the functions also felt like duplicates of other features.

Pros

It was great because it fit into my schedule and gave me a chance to study again.

Cons

There's nothing I dislike about it because it has been super helpful to me.

Pros

There are lots of design and layout options plus built-in templates for rubrics and assignments.

Cons

Some of the features are hard to understand at first and they're not as obvious as I'd like them to be.

Pros

It was pretty simple to use and get around.

Cons

Some features are a bit tricky but overall they're manageable.

Pros

I started teaching at Texas Christian University as an adjunct professor and had never used Brightspace before. At first, I was overwhelmed because there were so many features and options. It seemed like it would take forever to learn. But the help section is really user-friendly and within a day, I had my class set up. I love the advanced grading features and automatic percentage calculations and it saved me a lot of time since I used to do this all in Excel. Plus, since I only went to campus once a week and had a long drive, having office hours on my days off wasn't an option. But Brightspace has an amazing feature where I could connect with students over video chat anytime. It gave me more 1-on-1 time with students who needed help without having to drive to campus!

Cons

It takes a bit of time to learn the more advanced features but once you do, your productivity goes way up.

Pros

I love the feature where you can open up quizzes or surveys for individual students. I use this when a student has a valid excuse and I want to let them finish an assignment after the original deadline. I can open it back up for as long as I want. It's also really easy to use for someone who's skilled.

Cons

Even though I've learned how to use the online setup, it's still confusing for my students because there are so many options and ways to get to the same thing. I usually have to go over how to use the software before class starts and I still get a lot of questions from students about where to find things. Some of this is just because some students don't want to put in the effort but I didn't have any trouble teaching myself how to use it.

Pros

Their customer support is top-notch. You get all the features you need. There are tools for interaction and collaboration and everything is compatible. Plus, creativity is encouraged with tools like quizzes, rubrics and poll builders.

Cons

It depends a lot on your internet connection and that can cause connectivity issues sometimes. Also, adding extra tools can be pretty expensive. Plus, it doesn't support many languages.

Pros

Setting this up for our office employees was actually really smooth and easy. Everything worked well once it was in place and it didn't require much effort to get things going.

Cons

One thing I really wish for is the ability to track everything better. Having a tracking feature would help a lot in keeping track of progress and assignments.

Pros

What stands out to me is that after I started using it, everything automatically saves and is really easy to read. It's a small thing but it makes using the software a lot better and less stressful.

Cons

Working with dual credit students, many of them struggle with this software. We often end up calling customer support because of missing assignments or other issues that keep popping up.

Pros

Once you get the hang of it, you'll find it's actually faster than other programs.

Cons

This software isn't the easiest to use. Many tasks feel unnecessarily complicated and it's hard to get through some procedures.

Pros

There are definitely some strong features in D2L but sadly, a lot of them are outdated and slowly being phased out, which is a bit disappointing. It would be great if they updated them more.

Cons

It really bothers me that the site doesn't get updated frequently. A little more attention to regular updates could really improve the overall experience.

Pros

I really like how easy it is to keep track of assignments and deadlines. It's helpful to see everything that's due each week right under the course content. It keeps me organized and on top of everything. Overall, I think the site is set up pretty well.

Cons

I often struggle with the discussions section, especially when I need to manually mark that I've read another member's posts. It would be much easier if this was done automatically. It also took me a while to figure out the site but once I got familiar, it worked fine.

Pros

What I love most is the simplicity of finding assignments and coursework. I also appreciate how the software sends me a confirmation email every time I submit an assignment, giving me peace of mind. Plus, tech support is always quick to help and fix any issues that pop up.

Cons

This software glitches way too often. Sometimes when I'm about to submit an assignment, the submission title doesn't even show up in my course list for that week. After contacting tech support multiple times, their responses are pretty slow.

Pros

This platform makes managing online courses so much easier. One of my favorite features is that professors can create checklists for each module, making it much easier to stay on track.

Cons

Some of the email features feel complex. They don't work as smoothly as I expect them to and it can be frustrating.

Pros

Whether I'm using my phone or computer, it's incredibly convenient. I used it while taking a refresher course online and it was easily accessible no matter what device I used.

Cons

The interface has its moments where it's hard to tell if my assignment submission actually went through. At one point, I had to submit the same assignment three times before it registered.

Pros

My school uses it for so many different things, from online learning experiences to organizing content in a binder. It's super easy to use and I love the images used in the online classroom. The chat function is also a big plus. It helps me stay connected and engaged in class.

Cons

I feel the locker room feature is outdated. It would be amazing if students could type and edit documents directly within the platform. Also, while I like the D2L binder for storing PDFs, having a note-taking option would make studying a lot easier.

Pros

In my experience, it is quite user-friendly and visually appealing. The layout is fresh and I haven't run into any technical problems where the system didn't work the way it should.

Cons

It's a little annoying to have to click through a few extra screens to get back to where I was. It's not a deal-breaker but it's something that could be improved.