Brightspace to become UU's new LMS
After a carefully run European tender process, it is known which party will be allowed to supply the UU's new Learning Management System (LMS). Supplier D2L with their LMS Brightspace won and was awarded the contract. Brightspace is a modern and user-friendly LMS that suits UU's education perfectly.
Evaluation criteria
Four parties participated in the tender. To have a chance of being awarded the contract, these parties first had to meet UU's programme of requirements. In addition, they were assessed on quality and price. Price accounted for 20% of the tender and quality for 80%.
The quality was assessed on themes such as user-friendliness, public values, sustainability and various requirements in terms of interactive content, activating work formats and possibilities for collecting learning analytics, among others. For each theme, a committee with UU experts was formed, which assessed the four parties on predefined criteria.
User-friendliness was assessed through user tests among lecturers, students and key users/administrators. Brightspace scored the highest on average in these. Teachers, for instance, were very pleased with the navigation and the ease of finding everything. Students indicated that Brightspace works in a clear and structured way.
High score on usability and public values
D2L, with its LMS Brightspace, is the party that best meets UU's programme of requirements and wishes. That is why the contract was awarded to them. Besides user-friendliness, they also scored very high on public values. For example, D2L has a sharp vision on the use of algorithms and AI and the intention to be compliant with the European AI act. D2L also ensures a very digitally accessible system. Finally, D2L also managed to convince with their vision of preventing 'vendor lock-in'. In doing so, they promise easy data migration and export capabilities. The quote "we want our customers to feel loyal, not trapped" is illustrative.
Other plus points of the Brightspace LMS include the various functionalities for creating interactive content and activating work forms and the mobile experience (app and mobile website) of the LMS. D2L also received an excellent rating in terms of sustainability. Many other educational institutions in the Netherlands use Brightspace as an LMS, such as the University of Groningen, Radboud University, TU Delft and Wageningen University & Research. D2L facilitates an active community in which exchanges between users take place and ideas for improvements can be put forward. Curious about Brightspace? Take a look at the demo video below.
Follow-up steps
In academic year 2024/2025, the partial implementation will take place, in which each faculty will gain experience with Brightspace in a number of courses. These courses have been determined in coordination with the faculty LMS implementation coordinators. The aim of the partial implementation is to gain learning experience with Brightspace and pick up best practices. Based on this, improvements in the set-up of the LMS can also be implemented and the way in which lecturers are supported can be adjusted.
From September 2025, all initial education at UU will move to Brightspace. In preparation for this phase, all lecturers and support staff will receive education and training, adapted to the user as much as possible, to enable a smooth transition to Brightspace.