Press Release
D2L, a global leader in learning innovation, announced the winners of D2L’s 2026 Excellence Awards. The annual Excellence Awards celebrate leaders, educators and trainers who have used D2L Brightspace to foster innovative, accessible and engaging learning experiences. Global nominations were submitted for an individual, team, program or organization.
We are delighted to celebrate the many innovative ways our customers are using D2L Brightspace to transform the way people learn. The 2026 Excellence Award winners show what’s possible when the right design and technology is leveraged to have a bigger impact on outcomes. These excellence awards reflect the power of learning to unlock potential in people, support communities, and achieve elevated impact across K-12, higher education, and corporate learning.
D2L is set to recognize the 2026 Excellence Award winners at D2L Fusion, taking place July 8-10, 2026, in Phoenix, Arizona. Register today to celebrate their achievements with us.
Learn more about the award-winning programs, teams and leaders:
American Nurses Association
The American Nurses Association (ANA) represents more than 5 million registered nurses and is committed to supporting nursing excellence through education and advocacy. From Theory to Practice: Bridging the Ethics Gap identified a need to update the ANA code of ethics. In response, ANA’s Education and Resources team and Center for Ethics and Human Rights created Decoding the Code, a self-paced learning program delivered through D2L Brightspace that helps nurses apply the 2025 Code of Ethics to real-world challenges. Since its launch, the program has enrolled more than 1,400 learners, with 93% of completers saying it improved their practice. ANA has also significantly reduced course development time by 80% through reusable templates and a more scalable design model.
University of Akron
The University of Akron, located in Ohio, serves more than 15,000 students across undergraduate, graduate and professional learning pathways. Through From Compliance to Impact: A Scalable Accessibility Learning Model, the university used D2L Brightspace to create the UDX Accessibility Bowl, a campus-wide, gamified learning experience that helps faculty and staff build digital accessibility skills through practical, real-world remediation challenges. Since launch, the initiative has helped accelerate accessibility improvements across the institution, including improvements to more than 29,000 pieces of course content, increased adoption of accessibility tools and stronger faculty confidence in creating inclusive digital learning experiences.
Southern New Hampshire University
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private, nonprofit institution serving more than 3,000 on-campus students and over 200,000 online learners through accessible, future-ready programs designed to support diverse learning needs. Through its initiative, Advancing Equitable Student Outcomes through LMS-Enabled Faculty Development, SNHU used D2L Brightspace to deliver a six-week faculty development program focused on inclusive online teaching practices, including effective announcements, discussion facilitation and forward-facing support. The initiative trained more than 200 adjunct faculty across two pilots and demonstrated meaningful gains in student success. Particularly for Black or African American and Hispanic learners who saw a 5.9% increase in course success rates, helping advance SNHU’s mission to expand equitable pathways to education.
Good Roads
The Ontario Good Roads Association (Good Roads), founded in 1894, is a municipal membership organization that provides education and professional development for Ontario municipalities, First Nations communities and transportation and infrastructure professionals. Through Transforming Municipal Professional Development: Good Roads’ Rapid Growth in Online Learning, its Education Department leveraged D2L Brightspace and H5P to build a learner-first online education ecosystem. The initiative expanded access to training for municipal professionals who may otherwise face long travel times, staffing constraints or cost barriers. In just three years, Good Roads grew online registrations from 40 to 548, achieved completion rates above 90%, expanded access to learners across Ontario and First Nations communities and created a financially self-sustaining model for scalable professional learning.
Irish Deaf Society Further Education and Training
The Irish Deaf Society Further Education and Training (FET) program is one of the only further education provider in Ireland delivering Deaf-led education in Irish Sign Language, while also offering ISL courses to Deaf, Hard of Hearing and hearing learners. Through Bringing Education to the Irish Deaf Community Anytime, Anywhere, FET used D2L Brightspace to build a flexible, accessible digital learning environment that supports ISL-based teaching, asynchronous resources, online lessons, automated communications and centralized learner administration. The program has expanded to reach learners across Ireland and beyond, enrolling more than 2,100 learners and helping FET scale high-quality Deaf-led education while helping to reduce administrative burden for its team.
Michigan Virtual
Michigan Virtual delivers flexible online learning experiences for middle and high school students across Michigan, while equipping educators and leaders with professional learning opportunities to strengthen teaching practices. Through The Student Pacing Tool: Empowering Student Success with Dynamic Scheduling, Michigan Virtual partnered with D2L’s Custom Development team and leveraged D2L Brightspace to build a tool that gives learners personalized assignment due dates, grade-to-date visibility and real-time progress insights based on their individual enrollment timeline. Early results show more timely assignment submissions, higher assignment completion rates and statistically significant gains in final course grades. The tool also helps students, mentors, families and instructors better understand progress and intervene earlier when support is needed.
Serefin
Serefin is a corporate leader in care coordination and employee wellness, providing internal education and professional development for care coordinators, clinical staff and corporate teams around the world. Through A Competency Ecosystem Powered by Brightspace, Carrie Maynard used D2L Brightspace to build a professional development ecosystem that improves workforce readiness by connecting onboarding and ongoing employee growth to clear skills, learning goals and measurable progress. The initiative has transformed Serefin’s learning environment from a collection of trainings into an accessible, data-informed program that supports workforce readiness, equitable growth and high-quality, client-centered care.
Mount Royal University
Mount Royal University is an undergraduate post-secondary institution in Calgary, Alberta, located on Treaty 7 territory and serving approximately 16,000 students. Through Desire to Indigenize – Learning from a Blackfoot Odyssey, Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Grignard, Blackfoot (Kainai) Elder and Niitsitapi ceremonialist Joe Eagle Tail Feathers (Iitsooahp’potah), and eLearning Developer Khethwen Woo, reimagined D2L Brightspace as an authentic digital learning sacred space grounded in Blackfoot knowledge, ethical collaboration and treaty relationship. The initiative supports MRU’s Indigenization and Decolonization goals while creating a culturally respectful online learning experience that has inspired students, faculty and other institutions exploring how Brightspace can support community-grounded learning.
Learn more about the 2026 Excellence Awards here.
About D2L
D2L is transforming the way the world learns, helping learners achieve more than they dreamed possible. Working closely with customers all over the world, D2L is on a mission to make learning more inspiring, engaging and human. Find out how D2L helps transform lives and delivers outstanding learning outcomes in K-12, higher education and businesses.
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