University of Ottawa

Challenge

Building the University of Tomorrow

First established as College of Bytown in 1848, University of Ottawa (uOttawa) is a leading public research university in Canada. It is the largest French-English bilingual university in the world and is committed to Francophonie as well as the revitalization of Indigenous languages. As a member of the prestigious U15 Canada group, uOttawa receives over half a billion Canadian dollars in research funding a year and is among the top five Canadian universities for research intensity. As of Fall 2025, the university employs over 6,000 academic and support staff and enrolls more than 49,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students across 550 programs in 10 faculties. 

“One of the things that makes me the proudest is the fact that the people at uOttawa care,” says Tansy Etro-Beko, a philosophy professor. “And I think our students feel it, and that makes them work that much harder. That success will translate to the rest of their lives.” 

For close to a decade, uOttawa’s learning management system (LMS) of choice has been Brightspace. 

“We had offers from many different vendors, but D2L stood out for their commitment to accessibility and bilingualism,” recalls Pascal Wickert, acting director of the Teaching and Learning Support Service. “They’re a Canadian company based in Ontario, so we share the same culture, which means much smoother collaboration. It’s not just a customer-vendor relationship, it’s a true partnership.” 

With a vision of building the University of Tomorrow, uOttawa has embarked on a strategic plan named Transformation 2030. The plan’s key focus areas include building inclusive and transformative learning opportunities, playing a frontline role in the Franco-Canadian culture and remaining an employer of choice through outstanding leadership and management. As uOttawa moves toward a more connected, more agile and more sustainable future, it needs to maintain strong foundations in learning and research, and a consistent experience both for students and faculty across several campuses and online learning courses. 

Solution

Expanding a trusted partnership

As part of its strategy, uOttawa negotiated a 12-year renewal of the Brightspace platform, creating a stable backbone from which faculty will be able to continue innovating. 

“As in all other universities, we change systems from time to time and we realize that change management is a major issue for our users,” comments Alain St-Amant, vice-provost of academic affairs and chemistry professor. “By entering into a long-term contract with D2L, our professors get stability. Any upgrades they make to their courses will have lasting value and they need not worry about porting content to any new environment in the near future. Consistency is critical when you are supporting tens of thousands of students and thousands of faculty members,” says St-Amant. 

D2L has been working closely with uOttawa’s Teaching and Learning Support Service (TLSS)—the department responsible for managing learning technologies and pedagogical innovation—to support the university’s strategy as the technology evolves. Through regular meetings between the teams, D2L takes on feedback from staff and students and supports TLSS with improving the platform. 

Making learning engaging on and off campus

Boosting student engagement with Brightspace has been a core strategy for faculty over the past decade. Using Creator+ and H5P, professors can easily embed interactive resources such as videos or crosswords into course content. The Brightspace platform’s discussions feature also provides a space for interaction that students often find less intimidating compared to asking questions during in-person classes. 

“Some students feel much more comfortable participating through discussions than speaking up in a large lecture,” says Etro‑Beko. “The discussion forums give students a space to ask questions, share ideas and engage with the material in ways that feel more approachable, and in some cases, more accessible.” 

Using the built-in accessibility checker and Universal Design for Learning principles in Brightspace, faculty can effortlessly meet the various educational needs of their students. “The accessibility tools are wonderful—it’s really just one click and I can fix headings, colors and anything else to make sure I am fulfilling my duty to accommodate our students,” says Etro-Beko.  

Result

Championing Transformation 2030

Today, uOttawa has positioned itself as a leader in teaching and research on an international level, with bilingualism at its core. On average, the Brightspace platform supports more than 4,000 online and hybrid courses per term. Uptake is high, with 85% of faculty and 98% of students using the LMS. As the university executes its Transformation 2030 strategy, Brightspace will support faculty in providing consistent, accessible bilingual education. 

With a familiar and user-friendly LMS, faculty are empowered to innovate at scale, making courses more flexible and using their research expertise to support learning beyond the scope of the curriculum for thousands of students. 

“With my Politics and Economics of Healthcare course, I have used tags in Brightspace to structure it into two routes,” explains J. Craig Phillips, a nursing professor. “The ‘express route’ is the minimal content that the students need to be successful in the course. The ‘scenic route’, meanwhile, contains additional things that I’ve learned through years of working in policy and that may be helpful for students keen on learning more about the topic.” 

For students, Brightspace also ensures a centralized, consistent experience even when on the move. “Brightspace really helps me as a student because everything is in one place, it’s nice to not have to go back and forth between apps to do all of my tasks,” says Marissa Tomas, a biomedical science student. “And the Brightspace Pulse app comes in very handy when I don’t have my laptop—I can look at all of my course content during my commute on the bus, or on the treadmill at the gym.” 

By staying future-ready through its long-term partnership with D2L, uOttawa can streamline its journey to the Transformation 2030 vision. The university is currently working on an initiative to create more online courses that will encourage enrollment of Francophone students from remote locations, both within Canada and internationally. And with D2L Course Merchant, uOttawa is looking to offer online upskilling courses to foster socio-economic growth and workforce agility, both locally and abroad, while generating new revenue streams. 

“Brightspace is at the heart of teaching for uOttawa,” concludes Wickert. “It provides engaging tools that transform the way students learn. It also supports faculty by facilitating their work and encouraging them to focus on their teaching and research. Ultimately, it helps further our mission to help our students become ‘citizens of tomorrow’ who can have an impact on the world in a flexible, sustainable, and inclusive way.”