An Introduction to D2L

By Sara Selby, MA
South Georgia State College




What is D2L?

The D2L Corporation is the company that designed the learning management system (LMS) used by the University System of Georgia (USG) to deliver online courses as well as to support and/or enhance face-to-face courses. The LMS was known first as Desire2Learn, later as D2L, and now as Brightspace. D2L recently redesigned the Brightspace platform to be more integrated and responsive for all devices, and they call their redesign the Daylight Experience. Within the USG, the LMS may be known by several different names, such as D2L, Brightspace, CourseDen, Folio, GoView, or GeorgiaVIEW, depending on the institution.

In this course, we will refer to it as D2L. D2L offers instructors a wide variety of tools to integrate with texts and course materials to support student learning outcomes. Through D2L, you can build and deliver content, create and assess discussions and assignments, create and administer quizzes, manage and record grades, and communicate with learners. If you created content in another LMS, you may be able to import it into D2L, as D2L allows import of course content from several other systems, including Blackboard, Moodle, and WebCT.

The instructions for D2L provided here are general instructions. The settings made by the D2L administrators at your institution may be different from the settings of the author, thus there may be some small differences. Similarly, not all tools mentioned by the author may be available at your institution. Any tools that are added on to the D2L platform, such as publisher add-ons, multimedia, communication tools, etc., are called third-party integrations. A full list of approved integrations for USG can be found here. Third-party integrations need to be approved at the system level before they can be requested at your institution. D2L administrators limit third-party integrations because of their possible dangers to the stability of the D2L platform, their cost, their accessibility, time-constraints and available staffing at individual institutions, and other factors. Please check with your D2L Administrator on your campus to learn more about any tools you would like to use in your courses. You will learn more about third-party integrations in Course 2: Improving Student Engagement and Cultivating an Online Learning Community.


Platform Requirements

Learners accessing your course via desktop computers must enable JavaScript and Cookies in their browsers. They need to have Adobe Flash Player 10.1 or greater installed. D2L works best with the latest version of the following browsers:

  • Google Chrome

  • Apple Safari

  • Microsoft Edge

  • Mozilla Firefox

It also works well with Android and Apple tablets and mobile devices using Chrome or Safari browsers. Brightspace offers four apps:

  • Brightspace Pulse, which provides learners a schedule of calendars, assignments, grades, and announcements

  • Brightspace Assignment Grader, which allows instructors to download and evaluate assignments, synchronize grades and feedback, and schedule grade release to learners

  • Brightspace Binder, which enables learners to download course content for offline reading and annotation

  • Brightspace ePortfolio, which allows for storing, organizing, and sharing of documents and files

App compatibility varies with D2L platform versions. You may need to contact your LMS administrator to insure you have appropriate instructor permissions. Some institutions may not permit usage of certain apps.

Compliance with WCAG accessibility standards is built into D2L. Fonts and display settings are optimized for assistive technologies, as are navigation and formatting. Templates created by D2L and licensed under a Creative Commons license provide instructors the means to create accessible content.


Navigating the My Home page

Learning Environment - Navigate Your Homepage and My Courses - Instructor

It is helpful to become more comfortable navigating the homepage and My Courses widget in Brightspace Learning Environment. This tutorial shows significant visual changes to the homepage and My Courses widget with the implementation of the Daylight Experience in Brightspace Learning Environment.

Watch: Navigate Homepage and My Courses

Download text instruction: D2L-Navigating the My Home page.pdf

Navigating the Course Home page

The Course Home is the landing page for the course. It is the first page you see when you open the course. The Course Home may vary according to institution.

Watch: Navigate Brightspace Learning Environment

Download text instruction: D2L-Navigating the Course Home page.pdf