Desire2Learn

LMS Comparison—Desire2Learn

Market Solutions

Desire2Learn has solution systems for five different markets: K-12 schools, higher education, corporate, healthcare, and government. This LMS provides flexibility and diversity to meet the needs of these varying sectors and currently has many clients in each market. This system can be used by an organization with a couple hundred users or thousands of individuals.

Platforms

Desire2Learn organizes their system into five different platforms giving both administrators and learners a multitude of both asynchronous and synchronous tools that go far beyond just a communication platform. Additionally, the interface is easy to use for both administrators and learners. It consists of mostly "point and click" and "drop and drag" tools in both creating, managing, and assessing content.

Mobile—Desire2Learn 2 Go

With Desire2Learn's mobile platform, Desire2Learn 2 Go, the learner has access to the grade book, calendar, course content, and course news through their smart phone. This is one of my favorite features as I see the opportunity for learners to access course readings and video tutorials in situations where a computer would not be either practical or feasible. You can even bookmark your readings and see a list of readings you have not accessed.

Learning Environment

The learning environment capabilities are rich, diverse, and centered around instructional design. Courses are structured using a modular format with both synchronous and asynchronous features. For example, there is the Desire2Learn Live Room that allows for synchronous instruction to occur with features such as integrated chat, whiteboard capability, break-out rooms, and uploading of Microsoft files. One of the features I also like is the ability to instant message to either a single user or group.
One of the features that I like the best is the Instructional Design Wizard. This is an instructional design tool that allows the administrator/instructor to define objectives, create outcome-based assessments, identify opportunities for instructional methods, recommend tools, and align content with Blooms Taxonomy with an additional feature for reviewing instructional design strategies.
Another great feature of Design2Learn is the quiz maker. The instructor can create and use a Question Library, import visual prompts, and import questions and quizzes from other systems. In addition, quizzes can be formatted as synchronous or asynchronous allowing for retakes, time settings, and the ability to provide clues based on learner response.

ePortfolio

Design2Learn features an ePortfolio component that allows for creation, organization, presentation and housing of student artifacts. The instructor can create templates for import, and the student can create or upload an artifact, receive feedback and assessment, reflect, and create a portfolio that grows with the learner creating a story of the learner's growth. An added feature is the ability for the student to take the portfolio with them when they leave the organization.

Analytics

The analytics creates color-coded charts with filtering capability. This feature allows an instructor or administrator to see patterns in assessment, course content access, and tool usage for all students. This is just one more way that Design2Learn follows an instructional design model allowing for continual evaluation.
Learning Repository
The Learning Repository is a tool that allows administrators, instructors, and even learners to effectively manage, share, and access learning objects. In addition to creating your own repository, users can also access Merlot, and import SCORM, ISS Content, and Common Cartridge objects.

Final Analysis

As someone new to Learning Management Systems (having only used Moodle as an instructor through this course and as a learner in some of our COMET courses) I only found attributes that I liked from both perspectives. The additional features, compared to Moodle, and the flexibility to both sector and size make this an outstanding LMS.