USING D2L TO ASSESS
STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
Bruce DeRuntz & Mohamad Ali
Department of Technology, Southern Illinois University
Competencies - Overview
Competencies are the measurable or observable knowledge,
skills, abilities, and behaviors.
Competencies validate information about the knowledge, skills
and abilities of students through the assessment of learning
objectives.
D2L Competencies Tool enables us to assess:
 Program Competencies

Course Learning Objectives

Evaluation Activities
Why?
•
•
•
Continuous improvement – curriculum,
pedagogy
Student success and retention
Program Accreditation (Compulsory)
Why?
Evaluation
Analyze
Retention
Growth
Implementation
Student
Retention
Analyze
Evaluation
Implementation
Analyze
Evaluation
Implementation
Retention
Growth
Develop
Retention
Growth
Design
Develop
Design
Course Repetition
Develop
Design
D2L Competencies Structure
A competency structure is a hierarchy composed of
three basic elements:



“Program” Competencies
“Course” Learning Objectives
“Assessment” Activities
D2L Terminology: Parent-child relationships
between competency structure elements
Element
Parents
Children
“Program” Competency
Other higher-order
competencies
Learning objectives.
Other lower-order
competencies
“Course” Learning Objective
Competencies
Activities
“Assessment” Activity
Learning objectives
How it looks like in D2L
“Program” Competency
“Course” Learning
Objective
“Assessment” Activities
Work flow of Competencies Mapping
5 Step Process
Program Outcomes/Competencies:
IT001
AKA “a”
Knowledge of Fundamentals: An understanding of the fundamentals of management,
quality, production, and automation.
IT002
Interpreting Data: An ability to interpret graphical, numerical, and textual data.
IT003
Problem Solving: An ability to apply relevant scientific and technology principles to solve real
world, open-ended industrial problems.
IT004
Design: An ability to design an industrial process to meet customer needs.
IT004
Communication: An ability to communicate effectively in oral, written and visual forms.
IT005
Teamwork: An ability to work in teams and understand the effective team dynamics and
characteristics.
IT006
Contemporary issues, non-technical issues, global awareness: An awareness of contemporary and
non-technical issues in technology profession and the role of professionals in an interdependent
global society.
IT007
Professional Ethics: An awareness and understanding of professional ethics.
Step #1

D2L administrator (JP Dunn) enters department level
“program” competencies in D2L database
Step #2


Instructor enters course learning objectives in D2L
database
From D2L menu - (Track/Competencies/New/Competencies or Learning
Objectives)
Step #3

Mapping process – Instructor links course learning
objectives to “program” competencies
After the linking
“Program” Competency
“Course” Learning
Objectives
Step #4

Link Activities – Instructor select the method to assess
the course learning objectives with identified activities
(quiz items, rubrics, assignments, discussions)
Step #5

Set assessment criteria – Instructor sets the threshold
to assess the learning objectives (e.g ≥ 60% of
overall quiz score)
Competencies Reports
Reports – by learning objectives
Individual student report by objective
Overall Individual report for one competency
“Define Key Terms”
D2L Insights Reports – JP generates course
and department reports


https://documentation.desire2learn.com/en/Standard
%20reports
Other D2L Insights reports include:
Standard Report
 Accreditation report
 Competencies report
 Grade report
 Enrollment report

IT-208 – Fundamental of Manufacturing Process, Fall 2014
Important considerations


Use standard conventions in D2L to avoid confusions,
including university-wide common assessment
terminology.
Use measurable verbs in learning objectives, so that
they can be assessed using learning activities.
http://www.marshall.edu/assessment/Resources/BloomsTaxonomyVerbs.pdf

A learning objective can be assessed with more
than one activities, and vice versa.
D2L demonstration
Thank You