Leiden University chooses D2L’s Brightspace platform to realise vision of educational innovation

D2L, the global learning technology leader, has announced that Leiden University has chosen the Brightspace platform to enable delivery on a renewed teaching and learning vision that promotes active learning, stimulates the development of academic and professional skills, and offers flexibility for individual learning paths.  

Leiden University is the Netherlands’ oldest university, and is comprisied of seven faculties with over 50 departments. It houses more than 40 national and international research institutes.

The university has a long, rich history, and is seeking to deliver an ambitious teaching and learning vision to more suitably equip students for the modern world of work and an increasingly globalised and technology-driven society. Leiden was looking for a platform to deliver on this vision, and when the contract came up to tender in 2017, the Brightspace platform was selected as the learning platform of choice.

“With Brightspace, we are able to fulfil our teaching and learning vision, deliver uniformity in course structures and achieve greater integration between systems,” said prof. Han de Winde, Chairman of the steering committee of the implementation project at Leiden University.

“We chose Brightspace because it offered everything we needed to deliver the learning experience we envisoned for our students and help them gain the skills required for the modern world of work.”

The Brightspace platform was chosen because it offered the flexibility and usability Leiden University needed to support its ongoing learning vision, as well as integration across systems to break down the siloes that had impacted its previous system. A pilot programme is set to launch in September 2019 and a full, university-wide deployment is scheduled for September 2020.

“Given we have been using our previous system for 19 years, making this change is a big leap for us, but we are looking forward to seeing how this rollout positively impacts our users and enhances their overall learning journey,” continued prof. de Winde. “We’re taking our time implementing Brightspace to make it as easy and seamless as possible for our staff and students, as well as ensuring that current work processes and system usability is fully optimised. D2L has been a huge help in ensuring it’s a smooth transition. Ultimately, Brightspace’s enhanced featuresets will help us push forward our vision.”

“We’re excited to be in partnership with such a long-standing, prestigious university,” said Elliot Gowans, senior VP International, D2L. “Leiden University’s vision for the future of learning, its focus on equipping students with the skills of the future, and its promotion of active learning reflects D2L’s own ethos for modernising teaching models. We look forward to Brightspace being at the heart of delivering on this vision.”

QUICK FACTS:

• The Brightspace platform will be implemented across the whole university. A pilot begins in September 2019, with a full rollout in September 2020
• The Brightspace platform will play a core role in delivering on Leiden University’s new teaching and learning vision

ABOUT LEIDEN UNIVERSITY: Founded in 1575 and is one of Europe’s leading international research universities. It has seven faculties in the arts, humanities and sciences, spread over locations in Leiden and The Hague. The University has over 6,700 staff members and 29,520 students. The motto of the University is ‘Praesidium Libertatis’ – Bastion of Freedom.

ABOUT BRIGHTSPACE: A cloud-based learning platform built by educators, for educators that works on any device. It’s secure, worry-free technology that puts customers first — allowing you to create engaging courses within your existing technology to fit your unique needs. With Brightspace, you can easily set up individualised learning paths for your students, keep them on track with automated nudges, provide them with personalised feedback and increase their engagement through gamification, social tools, video and other powerful features.

Brightspace is the only learning platform chosen as a partner of the National Federation of the Blind’s Strategic Nonvisual Access Partnership programme, which has been redesigned as their Centre of Excellence in Nonvisual Access. Brightspace was named the #1 VLE in Higher Ed by Ovum Research and #1 in Adaptive Learning by eLearning Magazine. Aragon Research also included D2L in its highly coveted Hot Vendors In Learning list.

ABOUT D2L: Learning is the foundation upon which all progress and achievement rests. Working closely with organisations globally, D2L has transformed the way millions of people learn online and in the classroom. Learn more about D2L for schools, higher education and businesses at