Case Study: Portland Community College achieves greater accessibility and steady online enrollment growth with D2L Brightspace

Going beyond compliance to emphasize accessibility in the learning experience

Portland Community College (PCC), Oregon’s largest multi‑campus higher education institution serving roughly 94,000 students across multiple campuses and community locations, faced a surge in online enrollment and a mandate to make learning truly accessible—not just legally compliant. With limited funding, many courses, and frustration with their previous LMS, PCC needed a reliable platform that would support accessible content creation and flexible, equitable learning experiences for diverse learners.

PCC implemented D2L’s Brightspace, an accessibility‑focused LMS offering standardized HTML templates, built‑in authoring aids (alt‑text prompts, color contrast checks, MathML support), and flexible assessment tools. Since adoption, distance‑learning enrollment has continued to grow, instructors find it easier to create accessible content, LMS‑related support requests have declined, and the college is positioned to pursue higher accessibility benchmarks such as WCAG 2.0 AA.

Portland Community College

Andy Freed

Manager of Technology & Support