Learning Management Systems

D2L Brightspace Summer17 Offers Efficiency, Data Access

• By Rhea Kelly
• 07/20/17

D2L is introducing a number of enhancements to its Brightspace learning management system with a new Summer17 release. Overall, the company says it has focused on time-saving features that streamline common tasks and help instructors reach every learner.

"Our D2L teams have been working closely with instructors and learners of all ages in hundreds of design sessions. They made it clear they want to spend more time personalizing learning," said John Baker, CEO of D2L, in a statement."We've listened  to our customers and the new abilities in Brightspace make it easier for instructors ⎯ in schools, on campuses and in workplaces ⎯ to connect with all of their learners and help them reach their potential."

New features include:

• Brightspace Activity Feed. Similar to a social media platform, the Activity Feed "provides a place on the course home page for teachers to communicate easily with students about reminders, upcoming assignments, new content or discussions in an engaging, familiar format to keep all their students on track." The feed integrates with Google Drive and can link to YouTube, course videos, websites and more.
• Brightspace Lessons. Lessons combines content from publishers, school-provided content, open educational resources and instructor-created materials, and suggests pacing to help instructors see how the materials will fall into a class calendar. It also provides visualizations on how a course's content aligns to standards.
• Data Access. Summer17 introduces access to 50-plus category-based datasets, allowing institutions to combine Brightspace data with their own data sources to track organizational goals. The new release also includes visualizations and category-based data extracts for business intelligence tools.
• Brightspace Quizzing. A new quiz tool makes it faster and easier to create quizzes, shuffle the order of quiz questions, copy and paste from other sources, and manage formatting and images.
• Daylight Interface. The device-agnostic Daylight user interface utilizes responsive design, providing a similar experience across mobile phones, tablets, Chromebooks or PCs.
• SIS Integrations. New configuration options streamline the process of integrating Brightspace with other campus systems.

For more information, go to the D2L site.