Add Learning Outcomes to your course in D2L Brightspace

Summary

How could I add course learning outcomes to assess and track student learning in my courses? How do I add an institution or program outcome to a student learning activity in my course?

Body

Overview

Use the Learning Outcomes tool to help you assess students’ learning outcomes and determine if they have acquired the intended knowledge, skills, and abilities from a learning experience. Learning Outcomes help track information about the knowledge, skills and abilities students acquire as they participate in courses or other learning experiences. 

Overall, there are four main actions to using Learning Outcomes in D2L Brightspace: 

  1. In your course, add course outcomes and/or add program and institution outcomes from the Learning Outcomes tool page. 
  2. Align outcomes to learning activities in discussions, assignments, questions in a quiz, and rubrics.
  3. Assess using an outcome in an assignment, discussion, questions in a quiz attempt, and rubrics (in those learning activities). 
  4. Navigate to the Mastery View to review student overall outcome achievement and adjust the Mastery View settings

Course Outcomes

 

To add your course outcomes, you would enter them manually or import them from a formatted csv file. In some cases, your course may be pre-populated with your course outcomes. Check with your Brightspace Campus Site Admin to learn more!

 

Add course outcomes by manually entering them

  1. From the course navigation bar, select Course Tools > Course Admin.
  2. Select Learning Outcomes. (Note: If you do not have this option, learn more about why the Learning Outcomes tool is not available in the course.)
  3. Under the My Learning Outcomes section, select Add Outcome
    In Learning Outcomes, outcomes added from a program or institution, and course outcomes are now grouped in separate sections. ​
  4. In the Short Code, enter a unique code for the outcome. For example, enter Match 101 01 for the first outcome (01) in your course, Math 101. 
  5. Enter the outcome in the Outcome field, and select Save
  6. Note: The outcome will be listed under the 'My Learning Outcomes' section. 
  7. Repeat steps 3 to 5 for the other course outcomes. 

Import course outcomes from the csv file

  1. From the course navigation bar, select Course Tools > Course Admin.
  2. Select Learning Outcomes. (Note: If you do not have this option, learn more about why the Learning Outcomes tool is not available in the course.)
  3. From the Import menu, select Import from File.
    From the Import menu, select Import from File.
  4. Select Select a CSV file to import and upload the formatted file. 
    The 'Select a CSV file to import' link
  5. After it’s uploaded, select Import.
    Upload complete message

Add program or institution outcomes

To add outcomes from your program or institution, use the Import from Outcome Set option. In some cases, your course may be pre-populated with your program and institution outcomes. Check with your Brightspace Campus Site Admin to learn more!

  1. From the course navigation bar, select Course Tools > Course Admin.
  2. Select Learning Outcomes. (Note: If you do not have this option, learn more about why the Learning Outcomes tool is not available in the course.)
  3. Do one of the following:
    • If you have already added outcomes to your course, select Import from Outcome Set
      The Import from Outcome Set button.
    • If you have not added any outcomes to your course, select Import from Outcome Set from the Import menu. 
      The Import from Outcome Set option from the Import menu.
  4. Select the program from the Outcome Set menu.
  5. Select the check box next to the outcomes you want to add to your course.
  6. Select Import Select Outcomes.
    Click Import Select Outcomes after selecting the checkbox next to each outcomes you want to add to your course.
  7. Now, you can align outcomes to learning activities in your course discussions, assignments, quizzes, and rubrics.

Details

Details

Article ID: 151
Created
Fri 4/11/25 3:34 PM
Modified
Wed 8/26/26 12:48 PM
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How To

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