D2L Discussions

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Today we’re going to discuss how to navigate through the discussion tab in D2L. Most teachers utilize discussions in their class so it’s more than likely that you will have to compose your own thread and respond to others in the Discussion tab in D2L.

First to get to the Discussions page click on the link in the course navigation bar.

Discussions

This will take you to your Discussions List Page.disussion list

Here you have the ability to collapse everything, then you have the ability to look at just one discussion forum at a time and collapse past discussion forms.

capture #1

To view a discussion topic click on the discussion post you would like to view or add content too.

On the right side of the page there are announcements on who last posted to the discussion and when. You can also organize the posts by; ‘Unread’, ‘Flagged’, and ‘Drafts’. Posts can be sorted a number of different ways, such as “Most Recent Activity” and “Least Recent Activity”. If you would like an update about these as soon as they happen, there is a ‘Subscribe’ button with a star next to the post.

subscribe

To compose your own thread click on the ‘Start a New Thread‘ button. Here you can create your post and may subscribe to the thread from here if you so choose. You can also upload files under ‘Add attachments‘. If you aren’t ready to post you can save it as a draft or cancel your post.

new thread

To reply to someone else’s post simply click on their post, click ‘Reply to Thread‘, write your response and click ‘Post‘.

If you want more information about Discussions check out our YouTube videos!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Thanks for your time!

 

Registration Open: 2016 Summer Institute for Online/Blended Teaching

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DSC_3940The Learning Technology Center is pleased to announce that registration is open for the 2016 Summer session of the Institute for Online/Blended Teaching.

If you need to design a new (or refresh an older) online or blended course, please consider participating in this unique opportunity to collaborate with other UW-Whitewater instructors and explore proven course design strategies and best practices. This intensive and highly interactive workshop demonstrates teaching best practices using a variety of teaching methods and technology tools. The structure of this course not only allows you to explore new teaching and course design methods, but it also enables you to participate in activities that provide you with experience in being an online “student.”

The session will consist of online components, face-to-face meetings on the Whitewater campus, and web conferencing sessions.

Dates and Requirements:

The focus of the institute is to learn and practice online teaching skills, and will only briefly address D2L mechanics.  Applicants must have familiarity with basic D2L features, such as creating content, discussions, and drop-box assignments.

There are 5 mandatory meetings for the Institute; three “in-person” face-to-face sessions on the UW-Whitewater campus, and two web-conferencing meetings. The institute begins with a one-half day orientation session on April 29,  a full day meeting on May 27, and a concluding half-day meeting on July 29. In addition, there are two WebEx meetings scheduled for June 3 and July 1.

All faculty and academic staff who will be teaching at UW-Whitewater during the 2016-2017 academic year are eligible to apply. However, the workshop will be limited to 20 participants. Applications are due Friday, April 1, 2016.

Before applying, please review the syllabus: 2016 Summer Institute Syllabus

Apply Here:  2016 Summer Institute Application

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

Customize Your D2L Notifications

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Did you know you can get D2L notifications sent to your phone? You can easily edit what notifications you want sent to your phone, e-mail, or no notifications at all! Easily know when classes are cancelled, grades are updated, quizzes are due, and more!

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If you don’t like checking your e-mail, or checking D2L, then D2L mobile notification’s is your new best friend! To edit your D2L notifications, click on your name and picture at the top right corner of D2L, and click on Notifications.

Click on “Register your mobile”. Choose your Country, Mobile Carrier and lastly enter in your mobile number. When you enter in your number do not add a 1 at the beginning (ex. (262-123-4567). Click Save when your are done entering in your information. Next a pop up will appear, sending a confirmation code to your phone. Enter the code, then hit Confirm.

Now that your mobile device is connected you can choose which notifications are sent to your e-mail, mobile device, or not at all under Instant Notifications.

You can also exclude classes and groups you do not to receive notification’s from. First, click on “Manage my course exclusions“. Click on the X to the right of the group or class you do not want to receive notification for, and click Close when you are done.

When you are done changing your settings make sure to click Save at the bottom of the page.

Now you can get real time updates about class cancellation’s, grades, new content and more!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Thanks for your time!

Embedded mp3 files autoplay in Desire2Learn

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In the latest version of Chrome and Firefox, mp3 files embedded via D2L will auto play even when they are set to not autoplay.  This is a known issue with newer browsers.

The best work around is to use an HTML5 player to embed your mp3 files.

1. Upload your mp3 files to D2L. We suggest putting them in a directory to help keep your files organized. In this example that directory will be “audiofolder”.

2. Create or edit a content page in D2L.

3. Inside the content page click HTML source editor. The icon is in the lower left of the content editing window:
HTML Source Editor icon

4. After the <body> tag cut-and-paste the following code:

<audio controls>
<source src=”audiofolder/audiofile.mp3″ type=”audio/mpeg”>
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

Replace “audiofolder/audiofile.mp3” with the location and name of your mp3 file. Your HTML editor will look something like this:
HTML Source Editor with HTML5 mp3 player code inserted

5. Click Save.

6. Click Update.

7. Your Content page with the HTML5 mp3 player should look something like this:
D2L Content page with HTML5 mp3 player embedded in it

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

Quizzes and LockDown Browser

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Hey everyone!

With midterms approaching it’s important to know how online quizzes and LockDown browser work.

First let’s talk about LockDown Browser. Some teachers may require you to use LockDown browser to take a quiz. If you log into D2L and click on the quiz you need to take and no start button appears, this means that you need to take the quiz in LockDown browser. The following message will also appear.lockdown

This is a separate browser that does not allow you to open any tabs or other programs until you close the browser. This browser is downloaded to all the computers in the campus computer labs.

For more information about LockDown browser and how to download it to your own computer please visit our wiki page about it.

To access the quizzes page click on the “Quizzes” in the course navigation bar.

quizzesThis will take you to the quiz page where you can see past, current and future quizzes.

quiz list

Some professors may leave their quizzes open to take whenever, but most have a specific date and time set for when you need to take the quiz. These dates are located underneath the quiz title.

To the far right of the row you can see how many “Attempts” you have to take the quiz. Some professors will allow you to take multiple or unlimited attempts, but most will only give you one attempt.

To begin taking a quiz, click on the blue link of the quiz you need like to take. You will then be taken to a new window that contains all of your questions.

save all1**Always make sure to save your answers after each question. There is a “Save” button after each question. In case their is some sort of computer problem (internet crashes, computer freezes, ect.) all of your questions that you have saved will remain intact!

You can check if you have saved your answers by looking at the left side bar. All completed questions will have a blue floppy disk. If the symbol does not have any color that means your answer is unsaved.

save all1

When you are are finished with your quiz, I would recommend clicking the “Save All Responses” button at the bottom of the page, just in case an answer didn’t get saved along the way. Then click “Go to Submit Quiz“.

save all

Next, a Quiz Submission Confirmation will pop up. Click “Submit Quiz“.

Another confirmation box will appear. If you need to make any last minute changes you have the chance to do so by clicking on the “No, don’t submit quiz“. If you are completely done and satisfied with your answers click “Yes, submit quiz“.

yes submit

If would like more information about quizzes feel free to check out our YouTube videos!

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Summer 2016 Course Requests Available

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Summer 2016 D2L course requests are available in the D2L Course Request Application.

As a reminder, course requests for a semester become available on the first day of priority registration for students, and course shells for D2L need to be requested for every semester you plan on using D2L.

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

D2L Content

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Hey everyone!

Hope you’re all staying warm in this chilly February weather! Today I’m going to talk about the Content tab in D2L.

The first thing that I want to point out is the measurement bar at the top of the screen. You will notice that this has a percentage on it.

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This percentage will fill as you look at the content that has been posted to D2L by your professor. This way you can keep track of how much you have looked at and what you have yet to get through.

Another way to keep track of this would be to look at the side bar.

table of contents
It displays how many unread content items that there are within the sections on the side bar. It allows you to quickly click through and see what you may or may not have missed.

Each section could contain links to outside sources such as PDFs, word documents, or notes that your professor has provided such as homework or project assignments. The ‘Table of Contents’ Section, when clicked (which means that it is highlighted blue); shows every document and link that is contained in all of the sections.

start here
The best part about this sidebar, is the shiny green check-mark that appears when you have clicked through every element contained in the section!

green check sidebarAnother important thing to note on the sidebar is the Upcoming Events Calender.

upcoming events
It keeps you up to date on things that are due Today, Tomorrow, and within the Next 7 Days. If you are like me, you hope that those sections stay pretty empty…

calender
You can select the Course Schedule at the top of this section and see main events within the course and their due dates. This could include Dropbox items and Quizzes.

upcoming events courses
The last thing that I want to talk about today is that Bookmarks section.

bookmarks
This section is customizable for you, the student, because it is literally whatever you find important within your content. Say you have not yet gotten the chance to finish reading for your class.

bookmark
Just click the little bookmark icon in the upper right corner of the content you are viewing and this document is added to your Bookmarks list. This allows you to keep everything that you want to revisit together in one, easy-to-find, location.

For more information or if you have any questions, contact UW-W Desire2Learn Support.

Thanks for you time!