Category Archives: For Instructors

D2L Starter Course Updated

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The D2L Starter Course includes a number of useful templates and other resources that you may copy and modify for use in your own course, and it is now in version 2.1 with new and improved content. In addition, many of the resources and templates now also help courses meet Quality Matters standards for online and blended courses.

Some of the new updates include:

  • Student resources provide useful information on Turnitin (anti-plagiarism detector), “clickers” (student response devices), D2L assistance, technology help, and university policies.
  • Time-saving templates present easy to edit electronic D2L rubrics, activities, assignments, topic overviews, discussion starters, and more.
  • Quizzes help students prepare to use LockDown Browser, to find out “Are You Ready for Online?”, and to learn helpful tips and success strategies.
  • A mid-course student evaluation survey gauges whether the course is meeting your (and your students’) expectations.
  • News announcements offer suggested wording to post in online, blended/hybrid, and web-enhanced courses.

Would you like to review these new items or add them to your own course? To access and register for the D2L Starter Course, please login to D2L and use the link “register here” provided in the “D2L Resources and Training Available” news announcement. When the registration form appears, simply click on the “Register” button at the bottom right of the screen, and then click “submit and finish.”  Once you are registered, the D2L Starter Course will be listed within your “Instructor tab” in the folder labeled “OTHER – Courses With No Semester.”

Please remember that these resources are used by instructors across campus. Do not edit any of the items found in the original D2L Starter course!

D2L eGrading

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Desire2Learn logoThe D2L eGrading process allows instructors to transfer final grades from their D2L Gradebook to their WINS Grade Roster in a few simple steps. This greatly streamlines the grade submission process at the end of the term for those instructors who use the D2L gradebook.

For complete instructions on the steps to getting your grades exported, please see the D2L WINS eGrading page on our Instructional Resources wiki. For more frequently asked questions on the process, please see our eGrading FAQ wiki page.

Desire2Learn Upgrade 1/11 – 1/12

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Desire2Learn, our learning management system, is scheduled for an upgrade to version 9.4.1. The upgrade outage will start on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 9:30 PM (CST) and end on Thursday, January 12th, 2012 at 10:30 AM (CST).

During this timeframe, D2L will not be available. Please plan your course work accordingly. Please plan your course work accordingly. It is also suggested that you end any dropboxes, quizzes, or other deadlines a half hour before the outage’s start time (i.e., 9:00 PM CST) if there are items due on that day.

Also, during this upgrade, the login process for D2L will also be changing, and this will affect how you log in to D2L. Please see this wiki page for more information: http://geturl.uww.edu/15w

We have a “What’s New” video that highlights some of the changes that are coming with the upgrade.

We also have a “What’s New” wiki page available that covers these changes in more detail, and you can visit that page here: http://geturl.uww.edu/15x

If you have any questions about the January D2L Upgrade or the new D2L login process, please Contact D2L Support.

Register Now for LTC Winterim Sessions on Active Learning

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This two-day Winterim series focuses on strategies for using technology to engage students through active learning. Attendance for both days is free of charge and includes lunch and refreshments. Sign up today using your UW-Whitewater Net ID at: https://signup.uww.edu. The workshops are listed under “iCIT-LTC Training.” You can register for either the January 11, 2012 Regional Faculty Conference on Active Learning or the January 12, 2012 Desire2Learn (D2L) Workshop, or you can register for both.

Using Technology to Promote Active Learning
Join us on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) for the 2012 UW-System Southeast Regional Conference!  The keynote and sessions on mobile learning and planning for the future of education will be given by Dr. Curtis Bonk, an expert on active learning. A myriad of technologies and pedagogical strategies used to promote active learning will be showcased. Instructors from UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, UW Colleges, and UW-Whitewater will share their best practices in the use of interactive activities and games, student-created video, ePortfolio, social media, and mobile technology for teaching and learning.  UW-Whitewater instructors currently have access to priority registration. Secure your spot today, seating is limited! For more information and the event schedule, visit: http://geturl.uww.edu/15a

Desire2Learn (D2L) Winterim Workshop
This workshop will be held on Thursday, January 12, 2012 (9:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.). The “What’s New” and “How-To” sessions will help you solve challenges with quizzing, discussions, managing content, plagiarism detection, and assessment using the new rubric tool. Participants can attend all day or register for individual sessions. Lunch and refreshments sponsored by the LEARN Center. To view the full-day schedule, visit: Winterim 2012 Workshop Schedule.

Explore How to Use Technology to Promote Active Learning

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Save the dates: January 11 and 12, 2012!

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to announce a two-day Winterim series focusing on a variety of technologies to promote active learning.

On January 11, 2012 join other UW-System faculty and instructional staff to attend the 2012 UW-System Southeast Regional Faculty Showcase demonstrating how a myriad of technologies and pedagogical strategies are used to promote active learning.  Instructors from UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, UW Colleges, and UW-Whitewater will share their best practices in the use of interactive activities and games, student-created video, ePortfolio, social media, and mobile technology for teaching and learning. The keynote speaker is Dr. Curtis Bonk, renowned expert on educational technology and active learning, will present “Stretching the Edges of Technology-Enhanced Teaching: From Tinkering to Tottering to Totally Extreme Learning.”  This opportunity to learn about teaching techniques is sponsored by the UW System Learning and Technology Development Council (LTDC).  The UW-Whitewater College of Letters and Sciences also generously supports our keynote speaker session.

On day two, January 12, 2012, the LTC will sponsor an all-day workshop for faculty and instructional staff on the basics of using Desire2Learn (D2L).  Watch for more details or sign up now at: signup.uww.edu.

Learn about Student Response Systems (Clickers)

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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 “Technology – One Byte at a Time.”  In the “Snackable Series” sessions, a specific learning technology is spotlighted.

The next sessions will be held November 16 and 17 and focus on the use of Student Response System (Clickers).  Ben Bestic, from Turning Technologies will lead the session and discuss classroom use of clicker keypads and the ResponseWare “clicker app.”

Please join your peers on the following days to learn about Student Response Systems:

Student Response System “Clickers”
Wednesday, 11/16: Noon to 1 pm
Thursday, 11/17: 11 am to Noon
iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

Use of a student response system can transform a standard PowerPoint lecture into a powerful, interactive presentation that engages students in interactive learning. Through the use of a clicker keypad, or the new clicker mobile app, student responses can be captured and immediately displayed from within your PowerPoint presentation.

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

To submit ideas for future topics for the “Snackable Series”, please e-mail the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center at ltc@uww.edu.

Faculty Best Practices: StudyMate

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An engaging way to reinforce key concepts in a course is to provide interactive learning activities and games, such flash cards, crossword puzzles, and challenge games. These types of activities encourage students to spend more time with course content because it doesn’t feel like “learning” to them. Developing these types of educational games and activities has been made easy to do using StudyMate Author. This software tool helps instructors create ten Flash-based activities and games using four simple templates.

  • Activities created using StudyMate can be used with D2L or posted on any website.
  • StudyMate Author will import items from MS Word files, publisher test banks, and directly from Respondus, making it easy to create interesting, interactive activities from existing content with no programming knowledge.
  • Educational Uses: Fact cards, flash cards, pick a letter, fill-in-the-blank, matching, crossword, challenge, and glossary.

More information is available here: StudyMate Wiki

Instructors’ Imaginations Ignited: Second Life at UW-W

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Learn about the innovative use of Second Life in higher education and learn about the work of a year-long, cross-disciplinary learning community of UW-Whitewater instructors focused on leveraging Second Life in their courses.

Day: Wednesday, Oct. 12
Time: Noon – 1 pm
Location: UC 275A

During this LEARN Center session, instructors involved in the Second Life Learning Community will discuss how they experimented with instructional strategies to leverage the use of Second Life in their coursework. Examples of actual course activities will be showcased and key success factors learned, ideas, strategies, and tools used by the learning community will also be shared. The learning community work was made possible through a UW System Curricular Redesign Grant administered through the Learning Technology Development Council.

Details at: http://www.uww.edu/learn/ws1112.php
Please register no later than October 11.

To reserve a place, please contact the LEARN Center:
262-472-5242 or learn@uww.edu (learn@uww.edu)
Register online at: http://signup.uww.edu using your Net-ID
The workshop is listed under “LEARN Center.”

Learn About D2L Rubrics

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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 “Technology – One Byte at a Time.”  In the “Snackable Series” sessions,  a specific learning technology is spotlighted.  The next sessions will be held October 19 and 20 and focus on the use of D2L Rubrics.  Please bring your lunch and join your peers on the following days to learn about D2L Rubrics:"Rubrics" Cube

Desire2Learn’s Rubric Tool
Wednesday, 10/19: Noon to 1 pm
Thursday, 10/20: 11 am to Noon
iCIT Training Center, McGraw 112

D2L Rubrics are a useful tool for Instructors to provide clear criteria to students regarding what is expected for an assignment as well as effectively communicate feedback on why a grade was given. Most often formatted as a grid, a rubric can be organized in a variety of ways and reflect an infinite number of grading schemes.

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

To submit ideas for future topics for the “Snackable Series”, please e-mail the UW-Whitewater Learning Technology Center at ltc@uww.edu.