Category Archives: Documentation & Tutorials

Documentation, tutorials, and any help sources

Turnitin Net-ID Authentication Available!

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tii-logoInstructors and students can now login to Turnitin services using their UW-W Net-ID.  If you have an existing account with the service, the first time you login in you will need to enter your turnitin.com password to link your accounts together.  If you have forgotten your password, you can use the forgot password option to reset it.  Previously, instructor accounts were created as needed by the Learning Technology Center.

Google Chrome Users: There is currently an issue preventing you from accepting the terms of service box (this only happens during your first login).  Until the issue is fixed, you will need to login initially from an alternate browser.

To access Turnitin, initiate the login by going to http://go.uww.edu/turnitin.

Wait, I thought Turnitin was integrated into D2L?
Turnitin has three core services: OriginalityCheck, GradeMark and PeerMark.  Currently, only the OriginalityCheck and GradeMark are integrated into the Desire2Learn Dropbox.  Additional information is available here: Configuring Originality Check in the D2L Dropbox.

When do I need to login directly to turnitin.com?
There are two main reasons why you would need to login to turnitin.com

  1. If you are looking to utilize PeerMark in your course, then you will need to login directly to the Turnitin website.
  2. If you have a single paper from a student that you would like to submit to the originality check, this currently cannot be done via Desire2Learn.  This can be accomplished from the Turnitin website.

If you have any questions about Turnitin, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

D2L Inline Document Viewer Issue with Flash Modules

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With the overhaul of the Content area of Desire2Learn (D2L), we discovered that the new inline document viewer has an issue that impacts some Flash modules/activities that may be embedded in your content.  We know that Flash versions of iSpring and legacy eTEACH presentations trigger an issue with the inline document viewer.  It appears to only impact Flash modules that are designed to scale to fit the size of the window they are in.

The easiest workaround to view these presentations is to use the “View content in new window” link.  This however will not stop the module from running in the parent window which may be confusing to students.

Unfortunately, there is currently not a clean workaround to update the links in D2L.  Follow the steps below to correct the issue:

  1. In the content area, click “New” and choose “Create a File”
  2. In the course file, use the html editor to “Insert a Quicklink”
  3. From the “Insert a Quicklink” screen, select “Course File”, click “Add File” and choose the file from the “Course Offering Files”.
  4. Enter text into the “Link Caption” field.
  5. Under “Open In” be sure to choose “New Window”
  6. Click “Insert” and then “Publish” to save and post the new course file
  7. Remove or change the status to “Draft” for the old link.

If you have any questions concerning this, please contact UW-W D2L Support.

Snackable Series: E-Service Learning

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snackable-logo-fall2013The 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 October 16th and 17th and focuses on E-service learning.

Service learning is a powerful tool to foster critical thinking, engage your students, and promote civic engagement. E-service learning is a service learning program or project conducted online. This format allows students limited by work obligations and geography to participate. This session will introduce some formats for online service learning, some common partnerships, and the practices of other faculty.

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

Wednesday, October 16, 2013: Noon to 1 p.m.
Thursday, October 17, 2013: 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

If you have any questions regarding the Snackable Series and its sessions, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

TurningPoint (“Clickers”) Software Upgrade

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We recently discovered that the new clickers receivers provided from Turning Technologies will not work with the currently installed version of TurningPoint 2008 (4.3.2).  To mitigate this problem, we are going to install the latest point release of TurningPoint 2008 (4.5.1) on all windows based classroom computers beginning at 5pm on Thursday, September 19th, 2013.

If you are currently using TurningPoint 2008 on an office computer to create presentations for classroom use, you will also need to upgrade those installations to version 4.5.1.  This can be done using the steps below:

  1. Make sure that you have PowerPoint completely closed on your computer.
  2. Click on the “Start” icon and locate the “ZENworks Application Window”
  3. Find the application named “TurningPoint 2008 (4.5.1)” and double click it.
  4. Once the installation finishes, you will now have the 4.5.1 version of TurningPoint installed on your machine.

If you are currently using TurningPoint 2008 on a personal computer to create presentations for classroom use, you can download the latest version by going to: http://www.turningtechnologies.com/software/downloadForm.aspx?AssetId=400

The first time you open your existing clicker presentations, you may receive a notification that they need to be updated to the latest version.

Click “Yes” to allow the conversion process, and the rest will be done automatically for you.  Be sure to save the presentation after it has been converted.

We are also planning a migration to TurningPoint 5, along with some additional levels of D2L integration.  Additional information will be made available at a future date.  The upgrade to TurningPoint 5 will NOT take place in the middle of the semester.

If you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this, please contact the UW-W Learning Technology Center.

Manage Dates Tool in D2L

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The Learning Technology Center (LTC) has added a new D2L Mini Session featuring the Manage Dates tool in Desire2Learn (D2L) .

The Manage Dates tool enables instructors to view a list of objects in your course and edit their date availability values all on one page. This includes content, discussions, dropbox, grades, news, and quizzes.

The video can be viewed below and can also be viewed on our YouTube channel.

If you have any questions about the Manage Dates Tool, please Contact UW-W D2L Support.

Changes to D2L Copy Components Tool

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With the latest service packs applied to the D2L Learning Environment, there were a few changes made to the copy function in the Import/Export/Copy Components tool.

Instead of using a drop-down menu to select the “source” course for the copy function, an new Search for offering function has taken it’s place. This allows you to easily select or search for a particular course that you would like to copy from.

For more detailed directions on how to copy components from a D2L course, please see the Copy Components wiki page. In addition to those written instructions, a video tutorial is also available below:

If you have any questions about the changes or using this tool, please contact UW-W D2L Support.

D2L Video Mini Sessions for Instructors

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Desire2Learn logoThe Learning Technology Center (LTC) has created a new video tutorial series for Desire2Learn (D2L) tools such as content, dropbox, discussions, quizzing and gradebook.  These videos are designed to help guide instructors through the basics of the D2L.

The video playlist is available below and can be found on our YouTube channel.

If you have any questions about D2L, please contact D2L Support.

TurningPoint Hyperlinks Workaround (Clickers)

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In Office 2007 and Office 2010, there is a known issue with hyperlinks in PowerPoint. Any time a hyperlink to an outside program is used in a presentation as a certain type of custom animation, this will cause PowerPoint to crash. Since TurningPoint uses these types of animations as their base for functionality, this issue is common among its users. While Turning Technologies is actively investigating this issue at this time, there are some useful and easy workarounds available.

Please view the TurningPoint Hyperlink Workaround PDF for more details about the hyperlink workarounds.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please Contact D2L Support.

Utilizing D2L Groups for Class Projects

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Are you thinking about setting up groups for your class this semester, but you’re not sure how it works? Check out this new, short video that explains how you can utilize groups in D2L to create group dropboxes, discussion forums, and lockers for your class projects.

If you would like to start using the groups tool in D2L, visit our Instructional Wiki pages on:

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

Copying Grade Items in D2L

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Currently we are aware of an issue where instructors cannot copy gradebook items and/or categories from any previous course offering using Copy Components.  The workaround is to use Export and Import Components functions instead. Learn@UW is pushing for a fix to have the Copy functionality restored for Gradebook items.

  1. Navigate into the old course that you would like to Export grades from
  2. Click on “Edit Course” and in the course administration page click on “Import/Export/Copy Components“
  3. Check mark “Export Components” then click on “Start“
  4. Check mark “Grades” and you can can either export all of the items or select individual items to export. Then click on “Continue“
  5. Confirm the components to export and then click on “Continue“
  6. Once you see the green check marks then click on “Finish“
  7. Under the Export Summary, click on the blue link that says “Click here to download the export Zip package” and save it to your computer. Click on “Done“
  8. Next, navigate to the new course that you would like to import the Zip package to
  9. Click on “Edit Course” and in the course administration page click on “Import/Export/Copy Components“
  10. Check mark Import Components and “Browse” for the Zip package file. Next Click on “Start”
  11. Once you see the green check marks then click on “Continue“
  12. Select the components from the file you would like to import and then click on “Continue“
  13. Once you see the green check marks then click on “Finish“. Then click on “Done“

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