Desire 2 Learn (D2L) -vs- Canvas
Course Development & Instructional Design
Desire 2 Learn- Creating a Dropbox with Plagiarism Detection
Creating a dropbox is really easy in D2L. Dropbox folders are located under the Assessment tab and to create a new folder all you have to do is click on New Folder > Enter folder properties > Check the Originality Check option > Enter the number of points in Out Of > Save and Close or Save and New to create another dropbox folder.
Creating a dropbox is really easy in D2L. Dropbox folders are located under the Assessment tab and to create a new folder all you have to do is click on New Folder > Enter folder properties > Check the Originality Check option > Enter the number of points in Out Of > Save and Close or Save and New to create another dropbox folder.
Canvas- Creating a Dropbox
Creating a dropbox in Canvas is called Creating an Assignment. Overall, I find that D2L was more straightforward when creating the dropboxes. Although creating the assignments in Canvas wasn't terribly difficult, it did seem a bit more labor intensive. To create an assignment you need to click Assignments > + Assignment > Give assignment a name > Enter the point value and other preferences > Click "Not Published" to change it and publish the assignment.
Creating a dropbox in Canvas is called Creating an Assignment. Overall, I find that D2L was more straightforward when creating the dropboxes. Although creating the assignments in Canvas wasn't terribly difficult, it did seem a bit more labor intensive. To create an assignment you need to click Assignments > + Assignment > Give assignment a name > Enter the point value and other preferences > Click "Not Published" to change it and publish the assignment.
When you click on Assignments again, you will see the assignments listed, dates available, and if the cloud is green with a white check mark it means the assignment has been published and is available for the students to view. This is the one benefit with Canvas when it comes to seeing what is able to be viewed by the students.
Desire 2 Learn- Creating a Rubric
Creating a rubric in D2L was very easy. To create a new rubric you click on Assessments > Rubrics > New Rubric > Change the rubric status to published > Pick the type of rubric you want (Analytic) > Enter the number of levels and criteria you want to rubric to have. Levels are where the point value is located. Don't forget to click save.
Creating a rubric in D2L was very easy. To create a new rubric you click on Assessments > Rubrics > New Rubric > Change the rubric status to published > Pick the type of rubric you want (Analytic) > Enter the number of levels and criteria you want to rubric to have. Levels are where the point value is located. Don't forget to click save.
To edit the levels and the criteria, click on that tab > provide the specifics for the levels, criteria, and descriptions for each level > Close. The down arrow next to the criteria and levels is where you can edit the information.
To assign the rubric to one of the dropboxes, click on Assessment > Dropbox > click on the down arrow to the right of dropbox assignment > click edit folder. Under the Properties tab click Add Rubric > select one of the rubrics you created > click Add Selected > Save and Close. Again, Desire 2 Learn offers easy to follow steps that are located under specific tabs. As with the other tools, D2L provides tutorials on how to use each tool.
Canvas- Creating a Rubric
Creating a rubric in Canvas was quite difficult. To create a new rubric you have two different steps to complete. Click Rubrics on the menu to the left of the screen > Give the rubric a title > Edit the information for the different levels by clicking on the pencil > Click on Create Rubric. Change the rubric status to published > Pick the type of rubric you want (Analytic) > Enter the number of levels and criteria you want to rubric to have. Levels are where the point value is located. Don't forget to click save.
Creating a rubric in Canvas was quite difficult. To create a new rubric you have two different steps to complete. Click Rubrics on the menu to the left of the screen > Give the rubric a title > Edit the information for the different levels by clicking on the pencil > Click on Create Rubric. Change the rubric status to published > Pick the type of rubric you want (Analytic) > Enter the number of levels and criteria you want to rubric to have. Levels are where the point value is located. Don't forget to click save.
To add criteria in Canvas, you need to create Outcomes which can be found on the menu to left of the screen. Click on Outcomes > New Outcome > Enter the name > Enter the details for the criteria and the number of points needed to master the criteria. You can also edit the levels for the step. This is the most tedious step when creating the rubric.
In order to assign the outcomes to the rubric, you need to import them. To import outcomes, click Find Outcomes > Selection the outcome you want to include > Check "Use this criterion for scoring" > Click Import > and Click OK. The Outcomes should be associated with the rubric you chose. Again, this is more difficult if you are looking for just "rubrics" like you would have in D2L.
Desire 2 Learn- Creating a Quiz
Creating a quiz in D2L is a fairly easy process. To create a new quiz you click on Assessments > Quizzes and Exams > Manage Quizzes > New Quiz. To set up the quiz you will need to complete the information for each tab as it applies to your quiz. Click save.
Creating a quiz in D2L is a fairly easy process. To create a new quiz you click on Assessments > Quizzes and Exams > Manage Quizzes > New Quiz. To set up the quiz you will need to complete the information for each tab as it applies to your quiz. Click save.
The next step is to create quiz questions and add them to the question library. To do this in D2L, click on question library and you can choose to create new or import questions. You can also decide the type of question, value, etc. As always make sure you save everything after creating each question and when you are done click Done Editing Questions.
Grading the quizzes is just as easy and you can link the quiz to the electronic grade book. Again, click Assessment > Quizzes and Exams > click down arrow on the right of quiz > Edit > Assessment tab > Grade Item > pull down arrow and select Grade Item in Electronic Grade Book. To export grades, click Auto Export Grades > Allow Automatic Export to Grades. To automatically grade quiz, click on Auto Grade > select Allow Attempt to Be Graded Immediately Upon Completion > Save & Close. Desire 2 Learn is relatively straight forward and easy to navigate when it comes to quizzes.
Canvas- Creating a Quiz
The Canvas interface is about the same in terms of difficulty although it did seem more labor intensive, in my opinion. To create a quiz you need to click Quizzes on the menu to the left of the screen > + Quiz. Set up the quiz by completing the information under the settings tab.
The Canvas interface is about the same in terms of difficulty although it did seem more labor intensive, in my opinion. To create a quiz you need to click Quizzes on the menu to the left of the screen > + Quiz. Set up the quiz by completing the information under the settings tab.
To create quiz questions, click on questions tab > choose the type of question you want > number of points the question is worth > complete the question information > click Update Question > click New Question and continue under you have added all of the questions > click Save.
You will need to publish the quiz in order for the students to have access. Click on Quizzes and choose your quiz and it should show you a summary page with the properties of the quiz. You can publish, preview, and edit the quiz from this screen. Click Publish to publish the quiz and the cloud should turn green with a white check mark.
Recommendation
The process of creating drop boxes, rubrics, and quizzes will be very time consuming and labor intensive regardless if you use Desire 2 Learn or Canvas. Overall, I found D2L to be more user friendly when creating the drop boxes, quizzes, and especially the rubrics. Canvas was confusing when it came to rubrics because the criteria is called "outcomes" and there are a few extra steps in the process. D2L made auto-grading and exporting the grades to the grade book a painless process, whereas I had problems finding those options in Canvas. I am sure it automatically grades the quiz and such but you don't have the control over properties like you do in D2L. Overall, I would recommend D2L when it comes to creating your drop boxes, rubrics, and quizzes.