D2L Supercharges Its Integrated Learning Platform with Adaptive Learning, Robust Analytics, Gamification, Windows(R) 8 Mobile Capabilities, and the Newest Content All Delivered in the Cloud

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE--(Marketwired - July 14, 2014) -

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FUSION 2014 - D2L, the EdTech company that created the world's first truly integrated learning platform (ILP), today announces it is supercharging its ILP by providing groundbreaking new features and partnerships designed to personalize education and eliminate the achievement gap. Available immediately, the D2L ILP provides full integration of its adaptive learning solution (D2L LeaP), more robust analytics, game-based learning, an expanded mobile offering with Windows 8 capabilities and the newest education content all within a single, open platform.

D2L also announced today that its ILP has been branded as Brightspace. The platform is the industry's most complete solution for integrated learning with support for over 100 new applications being developed each month, gathering together all of D2L's powerful capabilities.

"A simple LMS no longer addresses the needs of the education market. Organizations and educators need more than a basic productivity tool - they need a platform that makes it easy for them to personalize the learning experience for each student and improve overall outcomes," said John Baker, President and CEO, D2L. "The Brightspace platform is about transforming learning through technology to help build a brighter future for millions."

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

The Brightspace platform is further enhanced by various tier one partnerships also announced today:

• D2L has partnered with IBM to embed its Cognos® business intelligence engine into D2L Insights™, the company's predictive analytics solution for learner success.

• D2L has collaborated with Microsoft to expand its mobile offering with a Windows 8 mobile app for D2L Binder™, the company's cross-platform mobile and desktop application that allows learners to consume, organize, and annotate eBooks, course content, and personal learning materials from any location.

"Brightspace personalizes the student experience by engaging learners with the most innovative learning technology available - such as adaptive learning tools and predictive insights - within one platform," added Baker. "We're striving to create a global learning culture built on a foundation of success, retention, and accomplishment. With the partners we've announced today - IBM, Microsoft, and the major educational publishers - we're in a stronger position than ever to solve the most difficult challenges facing education."

DEEP CONTENT INTEGRATION

• The Brightspace platform is integrated with the Achievement Standards Network (ASN) - acquired by the company this past winter - which houses the industry's largest repository of K-12, higher education, and professional/workplace standards and enables educators to automatically tag content and align curriculum to specific industry standards like Common Core.
  
  
• D2L has also signed an agreement with five of the major US textbook publishers - Cengage Learning, Macmillan Education, McGraw-Hill, Nelson Education and Wiley - to enable students to purchase and rent textbooks on the web and through D2L Binder. These agreements enable students to purchase and rent textbooks on the web and through Binder, potentially saving up to 75 percent of the cost of buying textbooks.
  
  

FULLY INTEGRATED ADAPTIVE LEARNING SOLUTION

The Brightspace platform offers D2L LeaP, which helps improve student performance by using language processing and analytics to determine gaps in a learner's skill set. The solution then provides the right tools, content and techniques to address those areas of weakness.

Designed for K-12, higher education, and corporate learning markets, D2L LeaP helps reduce the time and cost of implementing adaptive learning by automating the content-mapping process. Its semantic engine automatically creates unique learning paths for each student. Each pathway has been adjusted to the learner's interactions and performance level, anticipating the content and resources they will need to make progress.

D2L LeaP presents learners with exercises to strengthen their areas of weakness and delivers "just-in-time" learning activities by blending elements of individual instruction, peer tutoring, interactive simulations, and academic advising and content suggestions. The integration with ASN automatically tags content and aligns that content and curriculum to the correct industry standard, freeing up educator time to focus on individual student attention.

D2L LeaP joins an existing portfolio of incredibly robust analytics tools that are unparalleled in the industry, pioneering technology in the areas of predictive analytics and insights to help drive greater retention and student achievement.

GAME-BASED LEARNING - EARLY ACCESS TO A BETA VERSION

Incorporating game-based mechanics, aesthetics, and game thinking helps engage students, motivate action, and promote better learning. D2L now offers a comprehensive array of game-based learning services, including game design, development and integration within the Brightspace platform.

"One of the greatest challenges for any educator is to get students engaged with the content they need to advance their education," said Rick Overeem, Associate Dean, Learning Innovation Centre at Lambton College. "D2L has enabled Lambton College to take advantage of forward-looking approaches to learning like mobile gamification, ensuring that we're doing everything we can to help our students learn and succeed."

The service offering includes a content publishing component and a gamification framework for instructors to use when creating courses. The system uses D2L's open APIs to publish all of the relevant content to the institution's learning platform seamlessly, without the need for an instructor to create content topics or unzip files into a course.

PERSONALIZATION IN THE CLOUD

Brightspace is a cloud-based platform with the most advanced innovations that help personalize the student experience and engage learners at scale. Through a newly-launched continuous delivery model, D2L is able to offer solutions to its customers faster and with less disruption than market competitors.

For more information about the Brightspace platform, visit www.brightspace.com.

ABOUT D2L

A global leader in EdTech, D2L is the creator of Brightspace, the world's first integrated learning platform. The company partners with thought-leading organizations to improve learning through data-driven technology that helps deliver a personalized experience to every learner, regardless of geography or ability. D2L's open and extensible platform is used by more than 1,100 clients and 15 million individual learners in higher education, K-12, healthcare, government, and the enterprise sector - including Fortune 1000 companies. The company has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Singapore. www.brightspace.com, www.D2L.com.

The D2L Family of Companies includes Desire2Learn Incorporated, D2L Ltd., Desire2Learn Australia Pty Ltd, Desire2Learn UK Ltd., Desire2Learn Singapore Pte Ltd and D2L Brazil Soluções de Tecnologia para Educação Ltda.

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