Key Takeaways

1. Each sub-objective should have multiple opportunities for students to learn, practice, and demonstrate the skill.

2. Research recommends providing at least seven opportunities per knowledge component, with some learners or skills requiring more.

3. Torus activity coverage does not determine whether students have sufficient opportunities. It identifies sub-objectives that may warrant review.

4. The default thresholds of 3 formative and 3 summative activities are course-design guidance, not a mastery formula.

5. Authors can adjust the thresholds based on the skill, learner population, course design, and available learning data.

Learning Objectives in Torus Authoring

Why Activity Coverage Matters

In OLI Torus, sub-objectives describe the individual skills or knowledge components students need to demonstrate as they work toward a learning objective. Activities tagged to these sub-objectives give students opportunities to practice those skills and provide evidence of their learning.

Providing multiple opportunities is important for two reasons: students need sufficient practice to develop their skills, and the course needs sufficient evidence to meaningfully measure student performance.

OLI research across 74 course instances examined how many opportunities students may need to achieve predicted mastery of a knowledge component. The researchers found that students vary considerably in the amount of practice they need and recommend providing at least seven opportunities per knowledge component, with potentially more when students enter with varied prior knowledge. 

This does not mean every student will need all available opportunities. Instead, providing multiple well-aligned activities helps ensure that students who need additional practice have opportunities available to them.

OLI's Recommended Activity Coverage

Torus uses activity coverage to help authors identify sub-objectives that may warrant review. Activity coverage refers to the number of activities associated with a sub-objective. OLI research has separately examined the number of practice opportunities students may need to reach predicted mastery.

The default recommendation of 3 formative and 3 summative activities is not intended to directly implement the research finding of seven opportunities. Instead, the recommendation provides a practical threshold for identifying sub-objectives that may warrant review. 

By default, Torus recommends that each sub-objective be tagged to at least:

• 3 formative activities

• 3 summative activities

The default coverage thresholds are intended as course-design guidance, not requirements. Meeting the threshold does not guarantee that students have sufficient practice or that a sub-objective is well designed. 

OLI course-design guidance similarly recommends several questions per skill, while recognizing that the appropriate amount of practice varies depending on the skill, course, and learner population.

Understanding Formative and Summative Coverage

Formative activities on practice pages give students opportunities to apply new knowledge and receive feedback.This feedback can help students recognize misconceptions and refine their thinking before moving on.

Summative activities on scored pages give students opportunities to demonstrate their learning through assessments such as quizzes, checkpoints, or tests.

Including both types of activities helps maintain alignment between what students are expected to learn, what they have opportunities to practice, and how their learning is ultimately assessed.

Example: If a sub-objective asks students to calculate the mean of a dataset, students might encounter several formative activities that let them practice the calculation with feedback, followed by several aligned questions in scored assessments. The coverage indicator helps the author identify whether the sub-objective meets the configured activity thresholds or may warrant additional review.  

How Torus Identifies Coverage Issues

A sub-objective is identified as having a coverage issue when its number of formative activities or summative activities falls below the configured minimum. Select the Coverage Issues filter to see the sub-objectives that do not meet the minimum criteria. 

A coverage issue is intended to prompt review of your course design. It does not necessarily mean that a sub-objective is poorly designed. A sub-objective may appropriately need more or fewer activities depending on its complexity, your learners' prior knowledge, and the structure and goals of your course.

Customizing Coverage Recommendations

Authors can customize the thresholds Torus uses to identify coverage issues. The coverage filter should support your judgment as an author, not replace it.

From the Coverage Issues filter settings, adjust the minimum number of formative and summative activities using the plus and minus controls.

If you want to return to the default settings, select Restore recommended defaults to reset the thresholds to:

• 3 formative activities

• 3 summative activities

Consider a higher threshold when:

• the skill is complex or difficult

• students are likely to enter with substantially different prior knowledge

• students need repeated practice across different contexts

• existing student data suggests that learners struggle with the skill

Consider a lower threshold when:

• the sub-objective is narrow or relatively simple

• the skill is reinforced elsewhere in the course

• a single activity provides multiple meaningful opportunities to practice the skill

Research Reference

Bälter, O., Zimmaro, D., & Thille, C. (2018). Estimating the minimum number of opportunities needed for all students to achieve predicted mastery. Smart Learning Environments, 5, 15. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40561-018-0064-z