# Page 5 | Brightspace Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 5 - Is Brightspace the right Higher Education solution for you? Explore 234 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/reviews --- Brightspace 4.3 (234) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/122854/Brightspace/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Page 5 - Reviews of Brightspace ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 101-125 of 234 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use PM Paul M. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Used this for virual teaching" December 3, 2021 5.0 Made things so much more manageable. Will use it once virtual learning ends, as homework platform. Pros Once I got the hang of this, it was an amazing tool for collecting and assessing. Knew instantly which kids hadn't handed things in, or who got things done quickly and well. Allowed for easy feedback. Cons Took awhile to get the hang of it. Videos worked well. Review Source Lamar Y. Online College - Training and Technical Support Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great learning system" April 21, 2016 4.0 What an easy platform to use. I have used 4 different ILP's over the years and I have to say this one has to be the best and easiest to use. Brightspace was very helpful when we had to convert from our old system to theirs. Out entire campus uses the product and we have been very please with the product. Pros Ease of use for faculty and students. Third-party platforms work well with the system and good apps available for faculty and students. Customer/Technical support is second to none. Every time I call I get a great technician on the phone who quickly addresses my needs. Cons Other than the system being a little pricey I really do not have anything negative to say. Overall good system. Review Source NC Neal C. Mathematics Instructor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy to use content and record keeping software for educational institutions." February 8, 2018 5.0 Use it for posting assignments, content resources and grades for students in a Mathematics class. Sometimes even use it for grading. 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. Review Source PW Peter W. Web Developer Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Feature rich, but not intuitive, LMS" November 27, 2018 5.0 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. Review Source YC Yash C. Admin Officer Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Review" April 21, 2021 5.0 Pros The user-interface of the software is amazing and it's very easy to navigate through the courses. Moreover, the software has been easy to navigate in today's era of Blended Learning. Cons The software is amazing. I would suggest adding some more colors and graphics. Review Source CH Carol H. Adjunct Instructor and Course Creator E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Am I using all of the features?" January 23, 2019 4.0 So far, so good, except the idea of "bumping around in the dark" until you find your way is unnecessary. Webinars are needed! Pros This LMS is an upgrade from Sakai. The overall platform is more aesthetically pleasing. Some added features like uploading of video and student-teacher interaction capacity. Grading interface is more professional and user-friendly; before you had to cut and paste, now the rubrics are embedded. Cons I've been using it for almost two years and am only now discovering features. The company should provide schools with a new user training webinar or course. I feel that there are so many untapped resources. Review Source DS Dustin S. Parent E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Must have for parents and students " September 13, 2022 5.0 Pros Right space is easy to navigate and very user friendly. Cons I found everything easy to use and applicable Review Source mS maja S. Therapeutic Assistant Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brightspace Review " August 9, 2022 5.0 Pros 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. Cons 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. Review Source EB Elena B. Lecturer E-Learning Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Using D2L" July 11, 2022 5.0 I created several Master course shells using D2L and use D2L while teaching my students. I use lots of media in my courses and I like ways how I can integrate them into the course Pros So much in this product that I like! Very easy to design courses and teach students using it Cons Sometimes it is difficult to find the results of the test - for me it is not obvious where to get them and it takes some times Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Instructor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Horrible for teachers" December 11, 2018 1.0 Pros Nice look to the web pages as expected from any product. There are many ways for students to view course content. Cons The workflow to setup the class and create activities and assignments is completely illogical. Managing the grades gets worse. Dropbox folders, assignments are optionally associated with gradebook items. Gradebook items don't show up as graded until a dropbox evaluation is 'published'. Dropbox drill-down is cumbersome for the instructor in order to confirm or re-evaluate grades for individual students. Constant slow total page-refresh any time simple changes are made. Save buttons stay highlighted even if no changes have been made. There is zero help except to send the frustrated instructor to a community page, with no contact available. Review Source Christine G. Instructional Technician Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Course Materials and Collaboration In One Place" February 29, 2020 4.0 My overall experience with Brightspace is positive, as it gives me a self contained learning space, and it always functions technically as it should. Pros I have taken 2 higher learning courses online using Brightspace. I like that course materials, discussion boards, assignment submission and grading/feedback are all included. Cons I find it difficult to navigate sometimes, as the user interface is confusing. There is so much text on the landing page, I would prefer to see buttons that take me to the portions I need, and a "back to main page" button for convenience. Review Source JS Jess S. Academic Advisor Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Love it" October 11, 2018 5.0 Pros I love BrightSpace. My old school switched from another LMS that did not have near as many features as BrightSpace. I was happy to learn that my new school also uses BrightSpace. Cons I cannot think of any cons about BrightSpace. However, starting a job at another school after using BrightSpace taught me that it is very important that it is set up right. My new school is not using many of the features that my old school uses. I think it is important to make sure that each school sets it up to make sure that students are able to get everything they can from it. Review Source NK Nancy K. Instructor, English Department Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Review of D2L" March 18, 2015 2.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Associate System Engineer Computer & Network Security Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good, Clean, Easy" October 10, 2017 4.0 Was able to have classroom resources outside of the classroom. Pros I like this product a lot because it is very cut and dry. Even some users that had little to no computer skill were able to successfully use this product. It has a lot of features in its own way. Cons Some of the UI looked a bit outdated. Certain features were complicated for students. Can be complicated with pricing Review Source JT Jack T. Student Education Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Brightspace needs to do a better job with the grade feature" March 28, 2019 4.0 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. Review Source NC Neal C. Mathematics Instructor Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Mathematics Instructor" August 8, 2017 5.0 It is easy to use, and students are pleased with it. Pros 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. Cons 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. Review Source JA Jennifer A. PhD researcher Research Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Brightspace is worse than Blackboard" May 5, 2022 3.0 Brightspace does the job, but other learning management systems like Blackboard are better Pros Brightspace is functional - you can upload work, access grades, etc. Cons It's ugly - the user interface isn't intuitive Review Source LL Leslie L. Resident Coordinator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "So Many Uses" February 28, 2017 5.0 I use D2L daily not not use it in the typical fashion of teacher-learner. I use it as a place to store data (Physician lectures, journal reading links, PowerPoint's, etc.) for resident physicians. This is a great way to get info out and I can track each resident to see how they are progressing. I can send emails and messages individually or as groups. I can see login attempts, pages they have been to and how much time was spent. I really like the dropbox feature. This allows them to put specific 'assignments' in and it is time stamped and does not crowd my email. I can easily see the information they upload and I can leave comments. I highly recommendD2L. There is so much to offer! Pros So many options for different uses. Review Source JB Jeff B. Chief Innovation Officer Used the software for: 2+ years ### "The support has been great. The tool itself is on par with others - not amazing but not bad at all." January 5, 2018 5.0 If the organization is centralized, D2L seems to be the best choice for an LMS that I know of (I've been working in this space a long time!). Pros Our school needed a lot of flexibility and customization, as well as integration capability. They have a rich API layer that allowed us to create an "uber" system - a next-gen learning system that all appeared to be a single entity even though it was made up of multiple platforms. Cons The costs for flexibility and data are problematic - it's an issue for all LMS companies but it would be great to see more progressive thinking around our school's data. Review Source RJ Rose J. Consultant Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "No more paper!" March 25, 2015 4.5 Pros 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. Cons 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. Review Source MJ Melissa J. Educator E-Learning Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Impractical for e-learning" September 6, 2021 2.0 Pros It’s good that it can be linked to the official roster for the class. The self-grading tests are a good idea. Cons Every part of day to day classroom activities is a headache with brightspace. My students hated it. I could never find a way to make it work. The design is unappealing. I waited to get the OK from my administration that I could switch to Google Classroom and I did that instant. Review Source JJ Jessica J. Adjunct Professor Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Smooth Transition and Adaptable Interface" September 4, 2018 5.0 Overall smooth transition with nicely organized rubric. Pros My university was previously using Blackboard before switching to Brightspace. During the transition we were able to explore and train in the new Brightspace course shells. The menu organization and dashboard tools are wonderfully intuitive, and I can easily switch between multiple courses. Cons While adaptable, there is some jumping required in some of the thread grading. I would love to see that set up become more harmonious with fewer windows to navigate. Review Source Steve B. User Experience Lead Financial Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Not easy for students - hard for teachers" April 9, 2019 4.0 D2L Brightspace was the chosen tool for my online university's IT department for submitting work. The instructor sent out a few emails saying he had difficulty setting up assignments and letting us know we could email our assignments in if needed. When the software worked, it was intuitive and seemed to know what was happening. When it didn't work, it wasn't always clear why, and it sometimes created false negatives indicating there was a problem with an assignment submission when, in fact, it had gone through. This may have been a latency issue, but an app designs for use on limited bandwidth should factor this in. It wasn't a terrible product to use, but I certainly hope there are better options. It does get kudos for being accessible to users with visual disabilities. Pros Working on any mobile or desktop device, D2L Brightspace was very convenient from an access perspective for me while taking a refresher course using distance learning. Cons The interface was clunky at times, and not always easy to determine if my assignment submission was successful on the first attempt. In one instance I had three submissions for one assignment. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Professor Higher Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "So far, so good! Wonderful new LMS for my courses" December 20, 2022 5.0 Using BrightSpace to connect with my students and manage my courses has been wonderful! Clicks needed to accomplish tasks are very few (in contrast to our previous LMS) and publisher content for my courses integrates easily. Setting up tests and other assessments is a breeze! 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. Switched from [Blackboard](https://www.capterra.com/p/14500/Blackboard-LMS-for-Business/) It was mandated by my institution Review Source GK Germaine K. Program Assistant Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "D2L " December 15, 2020 5.0 I think Brightspace is a great asset for college students and other academic professionals. Pros 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. Cons I don't like how the system crashes. There's been a few times where D2L has been down due to technical issues. Review Source Similar Products Featured