Press Release
Global learning technology leader D2L is continuing to help make online learning more accessible for learners of all abilities. Promoting equity in learning is a major focus for D2L and their partner organizations as they look to empower students, educators, schools, and society.
Together, this learning technology can help set a higher standard for adaptability and accessibility.
“When we talk about changing the way the world learns, we see it as a challenge and mission to do this for all learners — especially people who need specific accessibility tools and features to fully engage in learning,” says John Baker, President, and CEO of D2L. “That’s why we’ve built up an incredibly strong accessibility team at D2L and have given them the mission of making Brightspace the most versatile and adaptable learning platform in the world. These partnerships show us that we’re moving in the right direction, and we couldn’t be prouder to support them in this important and life-changing work.”
D2L is a leader in accessibility because of three factors.
- People: To promote inclusion in education, D2L engages diverse users through the research phase, enables equity throughout design and embeds accessibility in products.
- Process: D2L practices inclusive design to achieve accessibility by working alongside people with disabilities including D2L employees, the disability community (in partnership with Fable), and customers that serve people with disabilities.
- Products: D2L supports the full stack of online learning, driven by technology, content and pedagogy. D2L offers technical and functional accessibility to help enable independent and effective learning. Instructors and students are supported in producing and consuming accessible content. Inclusive pedagogical practices are used to support Universal Design for Learning principles.
D2L is proud to work with many organizations that support and enable accessible learning. That includes:
International Disability Alliance (IDA)
IDA is an umbrella Organization of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), with 8 global members and 6 regional members, in turn representing over 1,100 OPDs around the world. Together they promote the inclusion of persons with disabilities across global efforts to advance human rights and sustainable development. They support organizations of persons with disabilities to hold their governments to account and advocate for change locally, nationally and internationally. IDA will use the Brightspace platform to help scale their training globally and make it more accessible.
Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB)
Founded in 1918, CNIB is a non-profit organization driven to change what it is to be blind today. They deliver innovative programs and powerful advocacy that empower people impacted by blindness to live their dreams and tear down barriers to inclusion. CNIB’s work as a blind foundation is powered by a network of volunteers, donors and partners from coast to coast to coast. They provide professional development using D2L’s Brightspace as the learning platform.
Vision Australia
Vision Australia is a leading national provider of blindness and low vision services in Australia. They needed a versatile and easy-to-access learning management system to support their 850 employees and 2,500 volunteers, about 15% of whom are blind or have low vision. They were impressed with Brightspace’s accessibility features, including its ability to interoperate with screen readers. D2L’s experienced team of accessibility experts and commitment to ongoing partnership also drew them to select the Brightspace platform.
To learn more about how D2L supports customers in serving the accessibility needs of their members, please visit their accessibility page.
About D2L’s Brightspace
D2L’s Brightspace is a cloud-based learning platform built for organizations that value continuous investment in people to drive their business success.
D2L’s Brightspace is powering smarter upskilling and reskilling of workforces around the world. It is the one place that supports all aspects of learning with better engagement and productivity through personalized learning. It gives your teams the tools they’re going to love and makes it easy to support exceptional experiences face-to-face or fully online.
D2L’s Brightspace is designed in close collaboration with clients around the world – building a rich set of features to improve engagement, retention and learning outcomes. And it makes it easier to give feedback. It’s worry-free with 99.9% reliability. It’s highly accessible and looks beautiful on any mobile device, making it easier for you to reach every learner.
Like many of our clients, D2L uses its award-winning Brightspace learning platform to support onboarding, compliance training, leadership development, and upskilling of its own employees. This has led to back-to-back #1 in North America awards for new hire and onboarding experiences. To learn more, visit D2L for Corporate Learning.
About D2L
D2L is transforming the way the world learns, helping learners of all ages achieve more than they dreamed possible. Working closely with clients all around the world, D2L is supporting millions of people learning online and in person. Our more than 950 global employees are dedicated to making the best learning products to leave the world better than where they found it. Learn more about D2L for K-12, higher education, and businesses www.D2L.com.