New Mexico Selects Brightspace as Its Statewide K-12 Learning Platform to Better Prepare Students for College and the Workplace

WATERLOO, ON--(Marketwired - June 01, 2016) - D2L, a global learning technology leader, is proud to announce that New Mexico has chosen its Brightspace platform for statewide deployment. Sixty-five school districts, charter schools, and state agencies across the state will use the Brightspace learning management system (LMS) for both online and traditional classroom learning. New Mexico will manage the LMS centrally, which will help the state reduce the academic gap, increase graduation rates, and better prepare students for college and the workplace at scale in hopes of fostering the thriving economy.

New Mexico initiated a competitive review of its LMS and selected Brightspace: the easy, flexible, and smart learning platform created by D2L. State leaders were particularly interested in the focus on personalized learning by Brightspace, which allows students at any skill level to progress at a rate that is tailored for them. The platform's powerful and flexible feature set, including support for third-party learning tools, robust administrative features, and the use of learning analytics to improve student outcomes, made Brightspace the ideal choice.

"In New Mexico there is an academic gap between rural and urban communities -- students in some areas have access to a wider menu of course options, while others leave school ill-equipped for college," explained Amy Jaramillo, executive director of IDEAL New Mexico, who served on the RFP evaluation committee during the selection process. "With Brightspace's personalized learning tools and analytics deployed and managed at a state level, we can support educators in preparing students for both higher education and a career. Even more promising, the reporting and analytics integrated into the platform let us uncover macro trends and identify areas that need improvement before students are impacted -- not after."

D2L's track record of innovation, which was a central element in New Mexico's selection of Brightspace, has been widely recognized. In March, Fast Company Ranked D2L #6 on the Most Innovative Companies of 2016 List in the Data Science Category, amongst Google, IBM, Spotify, Costco, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. eLearning Magazine also recently rated D2L as #1 in Adaptive Learning.

"It has been an honor to work with New Mexico's leaders through this selection process, and we are excited that Brightspace will support educators throughout the state in improving the educational outcomes and the lives of students," said John Baker, CEO of D2L. "We created Brightspace with the goal of making learning experiences better -- improving educational outcomes, increasing graduation rates and retention, and inspiring students to help them reach their full potential in life. We look forward to working with the great educators throughout the state of New Mexico to deliver on that goal for students."

Unlike a traditional LMS, Brightspace was created with the modern learner in mind. Highlights include:

• Mobile and Video Content that allows students to access learning from anywhere and on any device, while providing more authentic ways of delivering students feedback
• Game-Based Learning to engage students with new methods of teaching and learning by issuing trophies, encouraging competition with leaderboards, building game boards with various learning activities, and unlocking levels as learners demonstrate mastery of topics
• Learning Analytics to help keep students on track for success
• Personalized Learning which recognizes not all students start at the same level and that we need to adapt learning pathways, support individuals with different learning and assessment activities, and provide enrichment and remediation wherever needed

To learn more about Brightspace, visit http://www.d2l.com/products/learning-environment/.

ABOUT BRIGHTSPACE

D2L's Brightspace is an online learning platform that helps schools and institutions deliver personalized learning experiences to people anywhere in the world. Created for the digital learner, Brightspace is cloud-based, runs on mobile devices, and offers rich multimedia to increase engagement, productivity and knowledge retention. The platform makes it easy to design courses, create content, and grade assignments, giving instructors more time to focus on what's most important -- greater teaching and learning. At the same time, analytics reports track and deliver insights into the performance levels of departments, courses, or individuals.

Brightspace was recently named the #1 LMS in Higher Ed by Ovum Research, and #1 in Adaptive Learning by eLearning Magazine.

ABOUT D2L

D2L is the software leader that makes learning experiences better. The company's cloud-based platform, Brightspace, is easy to use, flexible, and smart. With Brightspace, organizations can personalize the experience for every learner to deliver real results. The company is a world leader in learning analytics: its platform predicts learner performance so that organizations can take action in real-time to keep learners on track. Brightspace is used by learners in higher education, K-12, and the enterprise sector, including the Fortune 1000. D2L has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, and Singapore. www.d2l.com

© 2016 D2L Corporation.

The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd, and D2L Brasil Soluções de Tecnologia para Educação Ltda.

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