Hey guys! This week I thought that I would go back and address the Discussions Page on D2L. I thought that we could, you know, sit down and talk about it…we could even discuss it.

It had to be said folks.

Anyways, I am sure you noticed a slight change to the Discussions page over the last couple of months. I have heard a wide range of reviews, good and bad.  However most of them all come down to appearance, not whether or not it is more user friendly. So I thought that this break down will be very helpful to you guys.

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

This will take you to your Discussions List Page.

This is something that many people find overwhelming initially but you don’t have to fret, most of what has been changed about this page is to help you stay organized. If you collapse everything then you have the ability to look at just one discussion forum at a time.

Now from there you can open one of the collapsed tabs and look at all the information within a single forum at a time.

They have also made it easier for you to keep up with the updates that your classmates make to the post.  Along with the description of each discussion, they now have three little display categories; ‘Unread’, ‘Posts’, and ‘Views’.

If that is not enough by itself, on the right side of the page there are announcements on who last posted to the discussion and when.  If you would like an update about these as soon as they happen, there is a little ‘Subscribe’ button with a star right above that.

To check on all of your subscriptions, click on the ‘Subscriptions’ tab at the top of your screen

When you would like to post to a discussion thread, click on it and you will be taken to the topic page.  This is what you traditionally think of when you think of discussions.

Here you can make your post and give your opinions and be on your merry way. You click on compose, you make your post and may subscribe to the thread from here if you so choose.  If you aren’t ready to post you can save it as a draft. You can maybe even just scrap the whole thing and try again later if you are having an off day.

You can add a file, but you don’t have to. This could be useful in class if you are having a spirited discussion and you suddenly feel the need to post an article to prove your point. It could also be useful for posting appropriate reaction images to something that someone else said.

When you are all done carefully reading all of the posts, (or you have just clicked ‘Mark All Read’ because you want to get those dang notifications off of your D2L) click on the ‘Done’ button in the top right corner.

That is all I have for you today! If you want more information about the Discussions page, watch our YouTube video.

Thanks for your time,

Elaina

Hey guys! Today I am going to talk about the Quizzes page of D2L. Many of you may be thinking, “Elaina, what are you doing, so far you have just been going down the line and talking about the tabs in the order of appearance on the course navigation bar!” and to that I say: “I am a rebel that doesn’t follow anyone’s rules!”

Just kidding! I thought it would be the perfect time to cover this since so many of us are currently suffering with the weight of midterm quizzes looming ominously over our heads.

The first thing need to know is that you get to the quizzes page by clicking on “Quizzes” in the course navigation bar!

This will take you to the quiz page where your professor may or may not have posted future quizzes that you will have to take.

Though some professors may leave their quizzes open to take whenever, most professors only allow their quizzes to be taken during a set few days.  These dates are located underneath the quiz title.

The far right side of the row, you will notice that there are a set amount of attempts that you have for each quiz. Some professors will allow you to have multiple attempts at a quiz, but most will only give you one attempt.

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

One tip for taking a quiz is that you save as often as possible. There is a save button after every question. Utilize this and click it as often as possible.  This is a good idea because in the event of a common computer tragedy (computer freezes, friend turns it off, dog eats it, etc.) all of the questions that you have completed and saved will remain intact.

The easiest way to tell if you have answered and saved a question yet is by looking at the side bar on the left side of the screen. Another way to tell is by looking in the same row to the right of your question and there is a little floppy disk symbol (or save symbol, for those kids that don’t know what a floppy disk is).  All completed questions will have a blue floppy disk.  If the symbol is still without color, then it is unsaved and therefore unfinished.

If you think that you will have trouble remembering that, then never fear, there is a key to remind you what symbol means what, located in the sidebar.

When you are all finished with your quiz, I would recommend clicking “Save All Responses” (just to be safe), and then clicking on the “Go to Submit Quiz” button.

This will take you to a last window where you can decide to make any last minute changes than you want. You can still click on the questions in the left sidebar and it will take you to those questions.  When you are truly and completely finished, click on the “Submit Quiz” button.

Something else that I should bring up is LockDown Browser.

This is a protected browser that you are required to use for some quizzes. You will have to download it first if you have never used it before. When LockDown is running, you are unable to open other windows or access other parts of the internet. It allows you to take your quiz in a controlled environment as designated in D2L. LockDown should not be used in other areas of D2L.

If you would like more information on how to download LockDown Browser, visit our wiki page about it.

That is all I have on Quizzes for the moment. If you would like to learn more, check out our YouTube videos.

Thanks for your time,

Elaina

Hey guys, today I am going to talk to you about Dropbox and all of its aesthetic changes.

With that said, I know you guys are rolling your eyes at my title; but coming up with  a clever title is hard some days, guys! I did originally want to title this “Boxing with Dropbox”, but I didn’t want you guys to think that Dropbox had any kind of fight left in it. In reality Dropbox is just there to help.

The first thing that might have caused you to panic is the little icon next to Dropbox in your course navigation bar.  It has a slightly different little picture now; which is terrifying; don’t get me wrong. The rest of Dropbox is far less scary.

The first column that you will notice upon clicking the link in the course navigation bar is the Folder column. This holds all of the assignments that need to be turned in. There are different types of symbols that can be found next to the assignment folders.

This particular symbol means that this assignment is “Originality Check Enabled” so that professors can check and verify that the student’s submitted work is 100% there own.

The second symbol means that the folder contains a group assignment. In a group Dropbox assignment, any one person could submit something to it, but the score and the feedback for that submission will be given to everyone within the group.

The Score column is pretty self explanatory but I will cover it anyways. This is where the professor enters in your grade in the form of a numeric fraction. If nothing has yet been submitted, or if the professor has yet to enter in your grade, then it will show a dash instead of a number. In the case displayed above; a perfect score would be 10/10.

Now submitting something to D2L can be tricky from time to time; so I will go through it step by step.

First you click on the Folder column that you would like to make a submission to. Then click on the “Add a File” button and then upload if you would like to grab a file from your computer or flash drive. that you would like to Submit.

If you would like to add something that you have saved to your locker or ePortfolio; you may do that as well.  When you are finished choosing, click the blue “Done” button.

You are free to write additional details about the submission or the assignment in the white box below. When you click on it, basic writing and editing tools appear.  After you are finished with your message, or if you do not want to write one, click the blue “Submit” button below.

Back on the main Dropbox page there are two more columns that I haven’t covered yet. One you are probably familiar with but the other one, Due Date is the new addition to the Dropbox family.

Feedback  is what your professors give you in response to what you have submitted. This might be just your grade or a rubric sheet of the professor’s own creation. It could even be a response to your work; explaining in detail why you got the grade that you did.

Finally, last but certainly not least, is the Due Date column.  It is what you all have been waiting for! You just didn’t know it yet!  Instead of laying awake in bed those lonely nights and wondering whether or not the Dropbox will still be open tomorrow; you will sleep soundly with the knowledge that it will not close until 11:59 PM the next day.

If you want to hear me rant more about the Dropbox, check out the video we recorded!

Now that you know a little more, I hope you aren’t Boxing with your Dropbox and instead decide to drop in to D2L and stay a while.  Thanks for your time!

Elaina

Hey guys!

Now I don’t know about you, but this semester with all the class cancellations and bone chilling weather; I have had one heck of a time getting back to work. I have thirteen hours of work on three days of the week, which I am sure most of you can relate to. I know that I barely have time to eat, let alone time to figure out how this new D2L update works.

If you are one of the few people out there saying “Updates? What?” then not only are you behind but you probably already have the wrong impression. You may have heard the professors talking about it.

So I have decided that I am gonna put your fears to rest and start to individually address each change. This week I wanna talk about one of those most obvious visual changes; the content section of 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.

This percentage will fill as you look at the content that has been posted to D2L by your professor. In 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.

Now this is the fabulously new and improved side bar.  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 or PDFs that the professor has provided, word documents, or notes that they have 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.

The best part about this new sidebar, aside from its aesthetically pleasing visage; is the shiny new green check-mark that appears when you have clicked through every element contained in the section.

Another important thing to note on the sidebar is the Upcoming Events Calender.

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…

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.

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

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.

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.

You can also watch a video overview of the content area below:

That is all I have for you today and that is all you need to know about the Content on D2L!  Thanks for your time!

Elaina