D2L (or Desire2Learn) is a

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

-based global software company with offices in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. D2L is the developer of the Brightspace learning management system, a cloud-based software suite used by

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

al institutions, and

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

es for

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

and blended classroom learning. The company is also the developer of Open Courses, a

Massive Open Online Course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the World Wide Web, Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and p ...

platform.

History

D2L was founded in 1999 by Canadian John Baker, who became

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

. He founded D2L while studying systems design engineering during his third year at the

University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a Public university, public research university located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to uptown Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also op ...

. He was awarded the

Meritorious Service Cross The Meritorious Service Cross () is a State decoration, decoration that is, within the Orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, Canadian system of honours, one of the two Meritorious Service Decorations gifted by the Monarchy of Canada, Canadia ...

in 2017, for his work at the company to advance learning across the country and around the world. D2L raised $80 million in Series A funding, one of the largest tech funding rounds in Canada at the time, to expand its product offerings and grow internationally. The company went public with an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in November 2021, on the

Toronto Stock Exchange The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX; ) is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the List of stock exchanges, 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in th ...

. D2L named Stephen Laster as D2L, President in 2022. D2L acquired Connected Shopping Ltd., makers of Course Merchant in 2023.

Developments

In 2004, D2L first introduced support for Competency Based Education, and launched an integrated

ePortfolio An electronic portfolio (also known as a digital portfolio, online portfolio, e-portfolio, e-folio, or eFolio) is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually but not only on the Web (online portfolio). Such elec ...

product to allow learners to document their own learning. The company became the recipient of the 2012 Platinum Learning Impact Award in the event hosted by IMS Global. In 2013, D2L was recognized by the

National Federation of the Blind The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is an organization of blind people in the United States. It is the oldest and largest organization led by blind people in that country. Its national headquarters are in Baltimore, Maryland. Overview An ...

for its leadership in Accessibility with the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Award. Three years later, the company partnered with the National Federation of the Blind's Strategic Nonvisual Access Partner program to ensure learning systems are fully accessible. That same year, D2L launched a beta of a redesigned interface using

responsive web design Responsive web design (RWD) or responsive design is an approach to web design that aims to make web pages render well on a variety of devices and window or screen sizes from minimum to maximum display size to ensure usability and satisfactio ...

to offer full functionality on mobile devices, which saw general release in 2017. In July 2024, announced the acquisition of H5P Group, a developer of

content creation Content creation or content creative is the act of producing and sharing information or media content for specific audiences, particularly in digital contexts. According to '' Dictionary.com'', content refers to "something that is to be expresse ...

tools to enable educators develop interactive content.

Products and services

D2L Fusion Registration - Kissimmee 2019

Brightspace

Brightspace is a cloud-based learning management system (LMS) developed by D2L (Desire2Learn) for use in K-12, higher education, and corporate training environments. Brightspace is a platform for creating, delivering, and managing online and blended learning experiences. Brightspace allows for customization, integrates with third-party tools, and provides mobile and accessibility support, making it adaptable to various learning environments. D2L's first

virtual learning environment Virtual may refer to: * Virtual image, an apparent image of an object (as opposed to a real object), in the study of optics * Virtual (horse), a thoroughbred racehorse * Virtual channel, a channel designation which differs from that of the actual ...

clients included

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

, Virtual High School (Ontario), the

and Fanshawe College. Brightspace was built using

microservices In software engineering, a microservice architecture is an architectural pattern that organizes an application into a collection of loosely coupled, fine-grained services that communicate through lightweight protocols. This pattern is characterize ...

and operates as a

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike o ...

. It incorporates

Web Components Web Components are a set of features that provide a standard component model for the web allowing for encapsulation and interoperability of individual HTML elements. Web Components are a popular approach when building microfrontends. Primary t ...

and Google Polymer,

HTML5 HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language 5) is a markup language used for structuring and presenting hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. It was the fifth and final major HTML version that is now a retired World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommend ...

, and

to provide a user interface that can work on any mobile device. Brightspace combines a

Learning Environment The term learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context, or physical setting in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to " classroom", but it typically refers to ...

, Learning Repository, Video Recorder, Virtual Classroom, and Mobile apps, in one cloud-based platform. In May 2020, Brightspace signed an agreement with

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

-based

edtech Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech", ...

company RepresentEdTech to resell and distribute its cloud-based learning platform in the Nordic region.

Creator+

D2L Brightspace Creator+ is a bundle within the Brightspace learning management system (LMS) developed by D2L (Desire2Learn). It is designed for educators and content creators to develop interactive and accessible learning materials. Creator+ has features like multimedia content creation, customizable templates, interactive elements such as practice questions, and accessibility checks.

Performance+

Performance+ is a bundle

learning analytics Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. The growth of online learning since ...

to help automate tasks and identify risks. An adaptive learning engine personalizes the content for each learner.

Learning Analytics Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of data about learners and their contexts, for purposes of understanding and optimizing learning and the environments in which it occurs. The growth of online learning since ...

and

Intelligent Agents In artificial intelligence, an intelligent agent is an entity that perceives its environment, takes actions autonomously to achieve goals, and may improve its performance through machine learning or by acquiring knowledge. Leading AI textbook ...

provide early intervention to help learners and a set of data that can be used to make improvements based upon analysis. In 2016, Fast Company recognized D2L as a leader in Data Science.

D2L Achievement+ for Brightspace

An add-on package designed for schools, institutions, and organizations offering competency-based education programs. It includes an interface for aligning course activities and assessments with learning outcomes, as well as a data dashboard for reporting.

D2L Lumi

In 2024, D2L launched D2L Lumi, a set of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered features to support building content, assessments, and activities.

Open Courses

In 2008, D2L entered the massive open online course MOOC market to support MOOC pioneers

Stephen Downes Stephen Downes (born April 6, 1959) is a Canadian philosopher and commentator in the fields of online learning and new media. He has explored and promoted the educational use of computer and online technologies since 1995. He gave the 2004 Bun ...

and

George Siemens George Siemens is a Canadian expatriate professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington and professor and director of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning at the University of South Australia. He is known for his theor ...

. The

University of Tasmania The University of Tasmania (UTAS) is a public research university, primarily located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1890, it is Australia's fourth oldest university. Christ College (University of Tasmania), Christ College, one of the unive ...

used D2L's MOOC platform for tens of thousands of learners, with more than 70% of students completing the courses.

Course Merchant

A SaaS e-commerce and course catalog enables institutions and organizations to sell and manage access to online courses and other educational content.

Services

D2L's services include: onboarding services, end-user help desk support, technical account management, technical data management, advisory consulting, program management, training, course development, customization, and accessibility design support.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:D2L Virtual learning environments Educational software companies Learning management systems Companies based in Kitchener, Ontario Classroom management software Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Educational technology companies of Canada