Author Archives: Aaron Axelsen

D2L Course Request Enhancements Now Available

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The LTC has overhauled the D2L Course Request Application and the new version is now available!  There are a number of changes and enhancements in the new release:

    • New title format for courses! Courses by default will now be named using the following convention: Introduction to Programming (Spring 2013)
      Instructors can also rename their course in D2L if desired
    • We reduced the number of screens and clicks needed to request a course
    • The application now directly pulls cross listed and combined sections from WINS, to eliminate confusion
    • The site design is optimized for mobile devices, allowing you to request your courses when you’re “on the go”
    • Authentication upgraded to use Single Sign On (Shibboleth).  Remember, to logout of the application you will need to close your web browser.

The application can be accessed from the “Instructors” page on the D2L login page, from the “Quick Tools” listed on the sidebar in D2L, or by the direct link D2L Course Request.

We have also created a short video that will walk you through a WINS timetable course request, and explain some of the new features.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please contact UW-W D2L Support.

D2L Course Request Outage – Upcoming Changes

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The D2L course request application will be unavailable between 6am and 7am on Thursday, November 8th while we deploy the new version of the application.  We will open course requests for the Spring 2013 semester starting Monday, November 12th.

A few of the key changes in the process are:

    • New title format for courses! Courses by default will now be named using the following convention: Introduction to Programming (Spring 2013)
      Instructors can also rename their course in D2L if desired
    • We reduced the number of screens and clicks needed to request a course
    • The application now directly pulls cross listed and combined sections from WINS, to eliminate confusion
    • The site design is optimized for mobile devices, allowing you to request your courses when you’re “on the go”
    • Authentication upgraded to use Single Sign On (Shibboleth)

We are excited about these changes and we hope that this makes your course request process easier.  If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please contact UW-W D2L Support.

ePortfolio Tutorial Videos – Now Available!

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The Learning Technology Center (LTC) has created a new video tutorial series for Desire2Learn ePortfolio to help guide students through the basics of the ePortfolio tools.

ePortfolio is a user-centered application for students to store, organize, reflect on, and share items that represent what they have learned. Students can present a professional webpage of their personal learning journey by including documents, graphics, video files, audio files, and presentations that they have created during their collegiate career. This user friendly program will allow students to share their work, achievements, knowledge, and reflections to advisers, potential employers, and their peers.  The videos are available below and can be found on our YouTube channel.

If you have any additional questions regarding this, please contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Snackable Series: “Promoting In-Class Interactivity: Part 1”

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The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to attend the next free session in the Snackable Series “Solving Teaching Challenges One Byte at a Time.” In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted.  The next session will be held November 7 and 8, 2012 and focus on promoting in-class interactivity.

In this series learn how WebEx and social media tools can be used to increase the interaction between the instructor and students in your classes. Using social media tools to promote collaboration, such as Voicethread, wallwisher, and Twitter will be discussed. This session focuses on strategies for leveraging these technologies to personalize your class and increase engagement!

The dates, times, and location for this Snackable are as follows:

Wednesday, November 7, 2012:  Noon – 1 p.m.
Thursday, November 8, 2012:  11 a.m. to Noon
Location: iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

Register online today for this “Snackable Series” session – seating is limited: http://signup.uww.edu

Scheduling WebEx Meetings for Students

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As many of you know, UW-Whitewater has WebEx setup for all faculty and staff.  We have been getting a number of requests for student use of WebEx in conjunction with various classroom activities.  Students cannot directly schedule meetings in the WebEx system.  However, instructors can schedule the meetings for the students in a way that the instructor will not need to be present to start up the meeting.

The document below will walk through the steps of how to use the “Advanced Scheduler” to schedule a meeting where students can join, and present to their groups without the need for the instructor to be present.

It is important to remember that students should be using the VoIP audio option only. The option to connect to audio over the phone should not be used. If the phone option is used by students, any costs incurred will be billed back to the department.

The tutorial is available at: WebEx: Scheduling Meetings for Students

If you have any additional questions regarding this, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

PowerPoint Audio Narration Workarounds

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We have recently discovered that there is a known issue impacting PowerPoint audio narration on Mac computers. When recording audio narrations in PowerPoint, the audio can get randomly cut off. There are reported issues of this happening in Office 2004, 2008 and 2011. Currently, we have a few workarounds for those mac users who are looking to record audio narrated PowerPoint’s.

The best solution for the problem is to record your PowerPoint audio narrations on a PC.  This is by far the easiest solution, and you can continue using the same audio narrations function in PowerPoint to handle the recording.  UW-Whitewater Faculty and Staff are welcome to contact the Learning Technology Center for assistance.

  1. Do not save the slide timings when recording.  After you are done recording your narration, PowerPoint will prompt you if you would like to save the slide timings.  Click “No” to this box.  The down side is that the user will need to manually click through the PowerPoint.
  2. Record one slide at a time. Some users have had luck inserting the audio slide by slide, instead of using the built in audio narration functionality.  To do this, click on the “Insert” menu, choose “Audio” and select “Record”.
  3. Use a 3rd party application. Audio can be recorded in applications like Audacity or GarageBand and exported as a MP3 file.  Each slide would need to be recorded and added into the PowerPoint separately.

If you have any additional questions regarding this, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

What is VoiceThread?

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Voicethread is a conversation-based website that allows groups communication to be collected in one location from anywhere in the world. A voicethread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that allows you to upload pictures, documents, and videos.

People can navigate through the slides and add comments in 5 different ways, using voice with a mic or telephone, text, audio file, or video with a webcam. You can share a voice thread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to post comments to.