D2L Inline Document Viewer Issue with Flash Modules

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Aaron Axelsen

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:

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

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

D2L Version 10.1 Known Issues

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Aaron Axelsen

Known Issues Welcome back to the Spring 2014 semester! As many of you are aware, Learn@UW recently deployed the 10.1 update to our Desire2Learn environment. There are a number of issues that have been reported and that we are working to get resolved with D2L. Below, we just wanted to touch on a few of the major issues that we have been seeing:

Inline Document Viewer
There were two major issues reported with the new inline document viewer:

Files not previously rendered for display by the 10.1 Document Viewer could load very slowly until rendering completed.
Some documents load quickly but display an error icon.

At this time, configuration changes have been made by Desire2Learn which appear to address these issues.

Popup Windows will not load in Chrome
In Chrome 32.0.1700.76 and earlier, some popup windows will not load correct (Insert Stuff, File Uploads, etc). This issue is reported to be fixed in Chrome 32.0.1700.77. This issue does not impact alternate browsers.

Content Editor Causes Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) to Crash
When you are working with content in IE9, using various tools from the “NEW” HTML editor cause the browser to crash. This issue has been reported to D2L and the current workaround is to enable compatibility mode in IE9 or use an alternate browser.

Quicklinks as Content Topics to Course Files No Longer Supported
In previous versions of D2L, a Quicklink Content item could be made to link to an internal course file. This option is no longer available in D2L, and any Content items made this way previously will not be accessible for download within Content. You can tell if your Content item was made as a Quicklink by looking at the source underneath that item’s title. The workaround is to delete Quicklink Content item and create a new content item using “New” and selecting “Add From Manage Files”.

System.IO.PathTooLongException Error when Copying Courses
In recent versions of D2L they have imposed a file character limited with copying course content forward to new courses. The System.IO.PathTooLongException error will be triggered if you have a file or directory name that is too long. If you do get this error when copying content, the only workaround we currently have is to rename files/directories that have long names. We are hoping there is a better solution for this in the future.

If you have any questions about the above issues, or any other D2L related items please fill out the D2L support form.

[RESOLVED] D2L Slowness Reported

Posted on January 24, 2014 by Aaron Axelsen

Update: The service interruption has now been resolved. Users may have experienced unusual slowness or received errors between approximately 12:11 PM and 1:08 PM this afternoon (January 24th, 2014). If you are still having issues logging into D2L, please contact UW-W D2L Support.

Users have reported intermittent access interruptions, slowness, and some are receiving “Internal Errors”. Users have also reported the inability to log into D2L, either the process times out or an error is displayed. This has been reported to Learn@UW, and their technicians are looking into the issue.

We will update this news item with any new information as we receive it.

Last Call for LTDC Virtual Conference Proposals

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Renee Pfeifer-Luckett

LTDC Logo

Last Call for Proposals!

Date: April 10-11, 2014
Location: Virtual Conference, no travel required

The UW System Learning Technology Development Council (LTDC) Showcase 2014 will be held virtually April 10-11, 2014. Faculty, teaching staff and learning technology support staff – please join us and submit a proposal to present or facilitate by January 24, 2014! Proposals may be submitted at the following website: http://goo.gl/NaWyWY

This virtual conference offers an opportunity for sharing your successes and challenges in teaching with technology – in your face-to-face, online, blended/hybrid, flex, flipped or MOOC. This conference will provide you with the opportunity to virtually connect with other practitioners and requires neither travel expense nor a significant time commitment.

All presentations will be conducted virtually with technology training and orientation available prior to the conference. The presentations will be approximately 30 minutes in length with 15 min Q&A following. Proposals are sought in the following six general categories:

Innovative Approaches (Hot Topics) – Tell us about how you’re working and teaching. Are mobile applications a part of your learning and knowledge portfolio? How have you taken traditional teaching and enhanced it through an innovative approach? Can you share a successful case study?
Engagement of Students – How are your students connecting with each other and you? What works now or what do you expect might be a future method of engaging students? Can you share a successful case study?
Faculty Development – How are you supporting your faculty? Are you facilitating learning communities? How are you engaging faculty to try new approaches to teaching and learning? Do you have a successful case study to share?
“How To” and Resources – Do you have a skill to share? Have you created a wonderful set of resources for faculty and students? We’re interested in successful case studies; what can you share?
Best Practices – Are you using a particular learning technology (or set of technologies) and know through evaluation that it definitively engages students and promotes learning?
Emerging Topics – Do you have a proposal that doesn’t quite fit into the other topics?

We look forward to learning more about your teaching and learning experiences!

Hello and Welcome Back to the Good old U-Dub Dub!

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Elaina Barr

I hope you all had a good break filled with nothing but catching up on your reading and appreciating being back at home! …no? Me neither.

Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Elaina and I work at the LTC and today I am here to talk to you about the new D2L changes. At this moment I can already sense your distress at the word, ‘changes’. Cue the B-movie horror screams.

I can assure you that they are both new and scary to professors and students alike, but not to fear because we at the LTC have taken the time to make super cheesy videos for your entertainment and higher learning.

Here is a link to the first video in a playlist of different videos we have made, try not to be distracted by our overly excited introductions:

You might note than many of these changes that take the time to painstakingly list in the videos are neither scary nor all that surprising.

“We got a due date column now? Okay.” That’s generally the reaction were expecting from the students. I might mention just for comparison’s sake that professors tend have a more emotional reaction.”Due date column?! YOU MONSTERS!! Why must you change everything I love?!”

That is all I have for you guys right now. Remember that if you have any questions or concerns, do not be afraid to contact UW-W D2L Support.

Thank you for your time!

Server Maintenance Outage (1/18)

Posted on January 17, 2014 by Susan Degen

Learn@UW will be performing monthly server maintenance on January 18th between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM (CT). During this window, users may experience slowness or errors and may be unable to login. It’s recommended that users do not complete any coursework-related activities, including Quiz or Dropbox submissions, during this outage to avoid losing any work.

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

[COMPLETED] D2L Upgrade Window Extended

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Susan Degen

UPDATE (11:30 AM): D2L should now be accessible to all users. If you have any issues or receive any errors while logging in, please contact UW-W D2L Support. Just a reminder that, as previously stated, Learn@UW will be performing maintenance that will cause slowness while working in D2L.

Known Issues

UPDATE (11:02 AM): We’ve been informed by Learn@UW that service will be restored at 11:15 AM (CT) this morning (1/18). Just a reminder that, as previously stated, performance will be affected after the service is restored, and users may notice slowness while working in D2L.

UPDATE (10:49 AM): Learn@UW has again notified us that the upgrade window needs to be extended and that the upgrade is expected to finish at 12:00 PM (CT) this morning (1/16), which is an additional hour and a half to the original end time.

ORIGINAL MESSAGE: Learn@UW has notified us that the upgrade window will need to be extended an extra half hour to complete the necessary acceptance testing. The upgrade is expected to finish at 11:00 AM (CT) this morning (1/16).

We’ve also been informed that after the upgrade, Learn@UW will be performing maintenance that will cause slowness, which may affect users accessing and using D2L.

We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. We will update with additional news items as we receive more information.

LTC Winterim Workshop, D2L Training: January 17

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Elizabeth Simpson

The Learning Technology Center is pleased to D2L Winterim Workshop D2L Training invite faculty and instructional staff to “D2L Day,” a series of hands-on sessions held on Friday, January 17, 2014 from 9:00 AM to 4:45 PM in Hyland 3101.

This D2L Winterim Workshop includes breakout sessions featuring a special session on the latest D2L upgrade to version 10.1 (the upgrade is to take place on January 8 – 9, 2014) and focuses on specific D2L tools such as quizzes and discussions. Sessions will include a variety of hands-on “How To” activities, tips, best practices, and new strategies to effectively use D2L in your classroom.

View the D2L training schedule here: D2L Traing Schedule, January 17

Participants may now register for the all-day workshop or for individual sessions using the UW-W Signup tool. The workshops are listed under “iCIT-LTC Training”. If you have any questions about this workshop, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

LTC Student Engagement Workshop: January 13 and 14

Posted on January 10, 2014 by Elizabeth Simpson

IMAG0364 The Learning Technology Center is pleased to invite faculty and instructional staff to a workshop series “Student Engagement: Motivating Students through Interactivity” to be held on Monday, January 13 and Tuesday, January 14, 2014. The workshops will take place from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM in Hyland 3101 and McGraw 115.

The workshops include sessions on topics such as the Turnitin suite, eTextbooks, e-Service Learning, collaborative tools, and effective presentations. The workshops will include a variety of hands-on “How To” sessions, tips, best practices, and new strategies to leverage educational technology in your classroom.

View the January 13 schedule here: Student Engagement Jan 13 Schedule

View the January 14 schedule here: Student Engagement Jan 14 Schedule

Participants may now register for the all-day workshops or for individual sessions using the UW-W Signup tool. The workshops are listed under “iCIT-LTC Training”. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Learning Technology Center.

New Clicker (SRS) Receivers

Posted on January 9, 2014 by Susan Degen

In preparation for the upcoming upgrade to TurningPoint 5 during the Summer 2014 semester, the Learning Technology Center has received replacement kits from Turning Technologies that include an updated receiver and a clicker keypad.

Instructors and staff who have been using the TurningPoint Student Response System (SRS) in past years will need to exchange their current hardware (receivers, clicker keypads, etc.) for the new kits. The updated hardware in the kit is compatible with the current versions of TurningPoint and TurningPoint Anywhere that we are using on campus, so there shouldn’t be any issues after switching.

For reference, here is a comparison of the old clicker receiver versus the new receiver:

Please drop by the Learning Technology Center (McGraw, room 120) to swap out your old clicker hardware for a new kit as soon as possible. We have plenty of kits for the current user group and for several new users if there is interest. Any questions or concerns can be directed to the Learning Technology Center via email.