Empowering community success through accessible training
Sourcewell launches online training and certification programs for educators and public service professionals—helping them better serve local communities.
Holly Doyle is the eLearning program administrator for Sourcewell, a self-funded government organization in Minnesota that operates as a procurement and purchasing cooperative for 50,000 public service providers. Here, Holly shares her perspective on what it’s been like watching D2L grow over the years and how Sourcewell chose D2L Brightspace as its learning management system (LMS).
Holly’s Experience With Brightspace
I have been using Brightspace since 2008. I started in the higher education system, then went to Sourcewell, and have pretty much been with Brightspace since. It’s my tool of choice when it comes to online learning.
My favorite thing to tell people is that I started when you had to do coding in the background. I remember D2L bringing out drag and drop and thinking, “Oh my gosh, this is fantastic,” knowing that the faculty we supported would be much happier. I’ve seen it evolve over time, from changing to Daylight and the addition of other products, like Creator+.
I feel like D2L is always one step ahead of what we know we need. In my head, I might be thinking, “Golly, it’d be great if we could do this,” and the next thing I know, it’s rolling out. I’m like, “Huh, they’re reading my mind.”
What Led Sourcewell to D2L
When I started, we were in the middle of an RFP process, but D2L was not in it. I was very honest and said, “I’ve been using this product for years. I’ve watched them progress. I’ve already researched the ones you’re looking at, and they’re not going to do what you want them to.” Unfortunately, we were too far in, so we did end up going with a different LMS at the time. I did everything I could to make it work, but by the end of the contract, there were quite a few people who were not happy with that product.
We went to RFP again, only this time they went through a procurement with an entity that had contracts with different LMSs. We were able to find three that we could select from, all of which went into our review process. When I identified the pros and cons, it was evident that D2L was going to be leaps and bounds ahead of what anybody else could provide.
Listening to Feedback
It’s very obvious when I’m using these products that D2L takes into account the feedback of the people they’re serving.
I have firmly promoted the Brightspace Community since day one. They’ve always had really good how-to articles and resources. I’ve always thought, “I’m not going to reinvent the wheel.” I learned what I learned because D2L had the information for me to learn it. I was able to find it, practice it and apply it. There are very few LMSs that provide you with that depth of information.
Creativity Made Easy With Creator+
When D2L launched Creator+, a course creation tool, there wasn’t anything like it on the market. It gives other authoring tools a run for their money. Interactive design elements have been brought into the LMS, and you don’t have to pay for or be trained on an extra system. Making learning engaging, fun and exciting is as easy as drag and drop.
The advantage of having Creator+ in Brightspace is that you don’t have to learn another tool or build content somewhere else. You have this bucket of resources that can help even the least creative person be creative, all in Brightspace. If you have to change something, you’re going to open up that element and work on that specific piece. There’s no fear of, “Crud, I forgot to save it” either. It always asks if you’re sure you want to leave without saving.
A Partner in Learning
If someone were wondering why I like D2L and why it would be beneficial to consider Brightspace as an LMS, I’d tell them that they would never have to worry about the learning, the flexibility, the tools or the capabilities, both as an administrator and for the people they are administering that system for.
There’s also the responsiveness and ability to contact someone within D2L and have them get back to you. I absolutely love my D2L team. My success manager and my account manager are phenomenal. My boss is like, “Yeah, we’re not used to this.” I mean they’re that good. I told them, this is what I’ve experienced my entire time at D2L. These are the things you get. You get attention, and you feel important. I don’t care who you are. I felt just as important in higher ed as I do in this government entity, and you can’t beat that.
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