Open LMS vs. D2L Brightspace: Choosing the Most Powerful, Cost-Effective Elearning Solution

The era of uninspiring eLearning experiences is over! Today's learners crave engagement, personalization, and measurable results. To deliver, organizations require a powerful learning management system (LMS) that empowers them to create impactful learning journeys. But with numerous LMS options available, choosing the right one can be a challenge.

This analysis pits Open LMS against D2L Brightspace. We'll delve into their functionalities, strengths, and potential limitations to help you identify the LMS vendor that best equips you to achieve your eLearning goals.

Meet the Contenders

Open LMS

Open LMS is the world's largest open-source Moodle™-based learning management system. Hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud architecture, it delivers top-notch stability and security with an impressive 99.9% uptime guarantee.

The open-source learning platform empowers educators with a comprehensive suite of tools to design and deliver high-quality, effective learning. Natively and through its extensive partner network, Open LMS offers features like AI-powered content creation, proctoring services, learning analytics, and an accessibility toolkit. But Open LMS goes beyond instruction—it can also help organizations increase revenue through its robust ecommerce features.

It complements this first-rate eLearning experience with exceptional support services. This first-rate support provides the resources you need to manage your LMS effectively, while also offering prompt assistance for any issues you encounter.

Open LMS offers two specialized platforms to fit your learning goals:

• Open LMS WORK: focused on employee training, making it the perfect learning platform for businesses and organizations that already have learning and development (L&D) programs in place, or for those looking to start one.
• Open LMS EDU: Built for educational institutions, giving colleges, vocational training centers, and universities the tools they need to create exceptional learning experiences for their students.

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D2L Brightspace

Brightspace by D2L is a closed-source LMS that services both higher education and corporate audiences. It has a suite of features suitable for traditional virtual learning environments, with the option to unlock additional functionalities through paid add-on packages. Brightspace provides a single platform for all clients, regardless of whether they are educational institutions or organizations implementing a training program.

Open LMS: Key Product Features

1) Superior Customization Capabilities

Open LMS offers extensive customization options. Firstly, you can tailor nearly every aspect of the platform's appearance to match your organization's branding. This includes logos, colors, and fonts, ensuring a consistent and cohesive learning experience that reflects your values and goals.

Secondly, as a Moodle™-based platform, Open LMS leverages the strength of a global open-source community. There are numerous developers, educators, and eLearning enthusiasts contributing to open source’s shared educational mission. This vibrant community creates a vast repository of plugins and resources, extending core functionalities and addressing specific needs. Ultimately, this translates to even greater degrees of customization for your learning experience.Open LMS understands the importance of seamless integration, so it offers a code review service to ensure any custom integrations you choose (free or paid) won't disrupt existing configurations or introduce security vulnerabilities. This service provides peace of mind, allowing you to customize your LMS with confidence.

2) Customizable Learning Pathways

Open LMS offers a program creation feature that allows you to assemble sets of courses with optional completion criteria. This is highly convenient for building curricula plans, compliance programs, and certification tracks. You can bulk assign multiple learners to a program, and they’ll automatically be enrolled in subsequent courses along the path, alleviating administrative workload.

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3) Extensive Analytics and Reports

Open LMS equips you with a rich set of data sources for analysis, including course completion rates, enrollment figures, badge issuance records, and learner feedback. Unlike other LMS reporting tools that limit you to predefined reports, Open LMS empowers you to tailor reports to the specific metrics you need.

What’s more, the Open LMS Reports Engine (ORE) allows you to visualize data in real time. These visualizations can be embedded directly within the dashboard for easy access. This empowers your team to monitor progress effectively, make informed decisions, and strategically optimize your learning programs.

In addition, for those seeking to save time on data visualization configuration, Open LMS partners with IntelliBoard to offer comprehensive pre-built dashboards. These dashboards come equipped with commonly used insights to help you improve student satisfaction and success.

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4) Strategic Partnerships for Advanced Learning Solutions

Open LMS collaborates with innovative partners to deliver a versatile platform that supports diverse learning needs. These partnerships empower organizations to create meaningful, customized experiences while enhancing functionality and efficiency.

For those seeking advanced tools to enrich content creation, TeacherMatic offers over 70 AI-powered resources, including ready-made lesson plans, flashcards, and rubrics. This comprehensive library enables educators to produce high-quality, engaging materials in less time.

Organizations looking to manage and develop workforce skills benefit from Skillways by Ease Learning, which provides tools for adaptive upskilling, credentialing, and real-time skills tracking to align talent with business goals. Additionally, GP Strategies addresses content demands with a combination of pre-built courses and bespoke solutions tailored to unique requirements.

Beyond these specialized tools, the Open LMS partner ecosystem introduces features like automated exam proctoring, virtual whiteboards for dynamic collaboration, AI-driven detection tools, video and gamification options to enhance engagement through interactive rewards. Together, these integrations position Open LMS as an all-in-one solution for effective education and professional development.

Check out the full list of Open LMS partners.

5) Seamless Ecommerce Experience

Open LMS empowers you to create a user-friendly shopping experience within your platform through its ecommerce suite. This suite goes beyond just selling individual courses or certifications, allowing you to offer quiz attempts, premium content add-ons, and even seats for live events. Plus, you can sell site subscriptions, allowing you to offer a cost-effective alternative for learners seeking ongoing access to a wide range of resources.

The key advantage of the ecommerce suite is that it helps institutions and organizations generate new revenue streams without the need for complex configurations or expensive third-party plugins. You can also easily track user progress after purchasing a program or certification, including details like purchase and expiry dates.

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6) Empowering AI-Driven Content Tools

The AI-Assisted Editor for TinyMCE in Open LMS transforms how administrators and educators create and refine learning materials. Integrated directly into the content editor, this tool streamlines workflows by generating high-quality text, HTML elements, and CSS styles based on user prompts.

From building lessons from the ground up to improving existing content, the AI assistant simplifies complex tasks with predefined actions, including summarizing information, creating bullet points, and translating text into 13 languages. These features enhance efficiency and ensure engaging, accessible course content.Open LMS also incorporates innovative AI plugins developed by the community. Tools like text-to-question and text-to-image leverage OpenAI technology to seamlessly transform text into questions and enrich course content with engaging visuals, enhancing the overall learning experience.

7) Personalized Learning Designer (PLD)

PLD is a plugin exclusive to Open LMS that triggers actions within courses based on predefined rules. This allows instructors to personalize the learning experience for each student according to their interactions with the course material.

• Tailored training recommendations: PLD analyzes a user's learning history and suggests additional training resources that align with their specific needs.
• Automated assessment feedback: PLD provides immediate and personalized feedback on assessments, saving valuable time.
• Proactive notifications: PLD keeps students informed with automatic reminders about upcoming deadlines and course activities.

By tracking learner behavior, PLD empowers teachers to quickly identify students who are struggling and offer them targeted support. It also helps instructors accelerate the learning path for high-performing students.

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8) Design for Accessibility

Open LMS is compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, as well as the Section 508 standards in the United States. This includes full support of assistive technologies such as screen readers, text magnifiers, speech-to-text solutions, while ensuring keyboard accessibility of all functions, and more.

For even greater accessibility in your course content, Open LMS offers a strong supplemental accessibility toolkit through a partnership with Brickfield Education Labs. Its free starter version automatically analyzes courses against a set of common accessibility rules, checking all core activities. The toolkit then generates a report listing all detected accessibility errors.

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D2L Brightspace: Key Product Features

1) Intelligent Agents

Taking a page from Open LMS’s PLD feature, D2L Brightspace will monitor user logins and course activity to trigger automated responses based on predefined conditions. For instance, it may email users who haven't logged in within a specific number of days, or recommend additional practice materials to students who have scored low on a test.

2) Predictive Analytics

Brightspace offers a paid predictive analytics feature in its Performance+ package. This helps instructors to identify students at risk of falling behind. The tool uses historical data from similar students to generate a risk model based on their habits, current grades, and other data. Instructors are then notified about students who may need further support.

3) Adaptive Learning Engine

The premium Performance+ package also includes a function which allows for the automatic creation of personalized learning paths for each student. The engine analyzes a student's performance and knowledge gaps to tailor the content, quiz questions, and learning objectives according to their needs. This can be used to focus students on areas where they may require more practice.

4) Ecommerce Integration

D2L's separate ecommerce platform, Course Merchant, integrates with Brightspace to create a branded virtual learning storefront. This allows users to browse, purchase, and enroll in courses. The tools have scope for the creation of course bundles, event seat purchases, membership discounts, and early bird pricing.

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Open LMS: Weaknesses

No Predictive Capabilities

Open LMS’s platforms don't offer built-in learning performance prediction. The PLD plugin operates reactively based on automated rules. However, while predictive features offer some benefits, it's important to consider their limitations.

Predictive analytics functions, like those offered by Brightspace, rely on data to build models and make predictions. If the data is insufficient or of poor quality, the predictions become inaccurate, potentially negating the tool's value. In such scenarios, plugins like PLD, which focus on automated rules, can be more effective and reliable.

D2L Brightspace: Weaknesses

1) Low Cost-Effectiveness

Brightspace limits access to some highly useful features unless you purchase additional bundles. For example, creating interactive content requires the Creator+ bundle, while Open LMS offers this capability as a built-in feature (H5P). Similarly, advanced analytics dashboards are only available with the Performance+ package, whereas Open LMS provides this functionality through its native ORE system. Even predictive analytics, a key product feature of Brightspace, is only accessible with Performance+.

Essentially, Brightspace limits its core platform to standard LMS features, such as quizzes, forums, and predefined reports, which are common among LMS providers.

2) Limited and Pricey Customization

Brightspace, as a closed-source platform, lacks access to extensive libraries of free add-ons offered by open-source communities like Moodle™. Users are limited to integrating tools that comply with industry standards like LTI, which often come with licensing fees.

Open-source communities can create niche plugins that solve specific problems without worrying whether they’re commercially viable or not. Closed-source systems like Brightspace miss out on these valuable, custom-made solutions, hindering adaptability.

3) One-Size-Fits-All Approach

D2L offers Brightspace as its sole product, which restricts its ability to cater to specific industries or use cases. This contrasts with providers like Open LMS, offering two different platform options (EDU and WORK), each customized to its audience. By tailoring products to specific sectors, these providers can effectively address the unique challenges of each segment, with dedicated teams and development goals.

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When Is Open LMS Not a Good Fit?

Open LMS might not be the most suitable solution if:

• You have a preference for close-source technology
• You don't expect to require more than basic LMS features
• You don't anticipate needing high customization capabilities
• You don't rely heavily on analytics for decision-making, or you're comfortable paying extra for data visualization

When Is D2L Brightspace Not a Good Fit?

Relying on an LMS solution like D2L Brightspace may not be ideal if:

• You're looking to improve the results of your eLearning programs while maintaining cost-effectiveness
• You want an LMS solution that offers more than just basic LMS features out of the box
• You’re seeking an eLearning solution tailored to your specific industry
• You value having a wide range of free add-ons at your disposal to achieve higher configurability
• You plan to offer subscriptions to increase revenue

One Key Takeaway: Choose Open LMS!

Open LMS offers all the tools you need to provide a high-quality eLearning experience for both higher education and corporate training audiences. These tools include the ability to create interactive content, native data visualization dashboards, and, thanks to its open-source nature, superior levels of customization. By opting for Open LMS, you gain:

• A more finely-tailored and learner-empowering eLearning experience through its PLD and program creation plugins.
• An eLearning platform that seamlessly aligns with your needs due to the wide range of add-ons at its disposal.
• Enhanced strategic decision-making enabled by comprehensive analytics and real-time data visualization tools.
• Robust authoring tools with optional, AI-powered capabilities.
• Excellent accessibility features with a free option to further enhance your offering via a partnership with Brickfield Education Labs.
• Increased revenue potential with advanced ecommerce capabilities built right in.
• A team of LMS experts ready to solve any technical issue and guide you toward best practices in effective eLearning delivery.
• And more!