Desire2Learn Service Update (4/25/13)

Posted on by

This morning, Thursday, April 25th, Desire2Learn Inc. deployed Service Pack 9 to our D2L learning environment.

Along with some tool fixes (as outlined below), D2L has made a much-requested change to the interface. The course navigation bar no longer disappears when users are viewing full-screen pages, such as the “Enter Grades” tool. Issues with downloading files in the Dropbox and Content tools’ file attachments through Internet Explorer 8 have also been resolved.

In addition, these are some tool specific fixes from the Service Pack:

  • Discussions:
    1. On the Group Restrictions page for a discussion topic, returned results now work properly when you select All Forums in the Forum drop-down list when previously no results were returned.
    2. After users perform a Role Switch and then access Discussions, they can now perform actions only allowed by the switched role permissions, and no longer possess the original role permissions.
  • Grades:
    1. Lengthy grade category descriptions now wrap correctly; this eliminates the need for horizontal scrolling.
    2. Formulas for Calculated Final Grade and Adjusted Final Grade now copy correctly when Grades are copied in Copy Course Components.
    3. In Grades’ Enter Grades page, each grade item’s Properties information no longer displays “Weight” properties if the grading system is not a Weighted system.
  • Dropbox:
    1. The Dropbox Folders page and Folder Submissions page now correctly indicate the number of submissions that are “Unread” and “read” after file submissions are viewed online or downloaded.
    2. In Dropbox folders with Turnitin OriginalityCheck enabled, an error no longer occurs when a GradeMark Available to Students date is set in the past. This error occurred most frequently in OrginialityCheck-enabled Dropbox folders that were copied from another org unit.
  • Chat: Previously, chat messages had a maximum limit of 400 characters. This limit has been removed.
  • Content:
    1. The Content Browser widget did not update release conditions when conditions were met. Release conditions are now computed when the widget loads so students can see content that becomes available.
    2. Inserting a quicklink no longer updates the topic title if it is not empty.
  • User Progress: User visits to Content topics and modules and navigation through them with the Next or Previous buttons are now correctly tracked.
  • HTML Editor: Image resizing is now supported in Firefox for both instances.
  • Homepages: Duplicated instances of a custom widget can now be styled independently without affecting all instance of that widget.

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

Problematic PDFs in Firefox 19.0 and Newer

Posted on by

The latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, beginning with version 19.0 contain a new built-in PDF viewer.  If you run into issues viewing PDF content from Desire2Learn in Firefox there are a few workarounds listed below:

  1. Use a different web browser
  2. Download the PDF and open it with a program on your computer
  3. Disable the Firefox PDF viewer

Please view this webpage for more details and information on the workarounds.

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

2013 Online/Blended Summer Workshop Registration Open

Posted on by

The Learning Technology Center is pleased to announce the fourth annual summer faculty development opportunity on “Online/Blended Course Design and Best Practices.”  If you need to design a new (or refresh an older) online or blended/hybrid 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 highly-interactive summer workshop demonstrates teaching best practices using a variety of teaching methods and technology tools, and topics are presented in an experiential learning model format. 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 workshop consists of an online component conducted via Desire2Learn (D2L), face-to-face meetings, and webinars. The online portion begins on May 24 and ends July 30. There are also five, “in-person” face-to-face sessions scheduled for May 30, June 24-25, and July 29-30 as well as webinar-style meetings throughout the course. For more details, to register, and to listen to what participants have to say about what they learned from participating in last year’s workshop, please visit the Online/Blended Workshop Blog.

This workshop is sponsored by the by the UW-Whitewater College of Letters and Sciences, the LEARN Center, and the Learning Technology Center.  If you have questions or would like more information, please contact the Learning Technology Center (LTC) at ltc@uww.edu or call 262-472-1004.

Did you know? – D2L Mobile

Posted on by

If you have a smartphone or tablet you can learn on the go and interact with your courses wherever and whenever you’d like! Desire2Learn (D2L) mobile supports multiple tools like content, grades, discussions, drop box, and many others.

In order to access the mobile version, grab your smartphone or tablet and navigate to the D2L login page.  D2L will detect that you are using a mobile device and will display a mobile friendly version of your course material.

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

Fall 2013 D2L Course Requests Now Open

Posted on by

Fall 2013 D2L course requests are now 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.

Do MOOCs really work?

Posted on by

Does teaching 10,000 students or more online really work? There has been a lot of hype about the effectiveness of massive open online classes (also know as “MOOCs”). The Chronicle of Higher Education conducted the largest survey of professors who have taught MOOCs and shows that the process is time-consuming but, according to the instructors, often successful!

Check out the full article “The Minds Behind the MOOCs” by Steven Kolowich that contains the survey results.

Instructional Technology Showcase – April 12!

Posted on by

UW-Extension, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Whitewater, UW-Colleges and UW-Parkside are pleased to announce the UW System Virtual Showcase 2013, sponsored by the LTDC.  This webinar-style event will be held on Friday, April 12th from 8:45 am to 2:15 pm.  Keynote speakers, Patricia McGee and Scott Hamm will discuss active and mobile learning.  UW-Whitewater Faculty member Jeannine Rowe will share her ResponseWare Best Practices and John Reilly will provide his insight on “Flipping the Classroom.”

Session details, registration, and information on how to connect are available at: http://blogs.ces.uwex.edu/showcase

Desire2Learn Service Update (4/4/2013)

Posted on by

Desire2Learn logoThis morning, Thursday, April 4th, Desire2Learn Inc. deployed Service Pack 8 and a few hotfixes to our D2L learning environment.

A bug that made instructors unable to copy gradebook items and/or categories from any previous offering of the course using the Copy Components tool has been fixed. Also, a fix has been applied that corrects an issue with the “New Survey” function not working in some courses under the Surveys tool. Issues with downloading files through Internet Explorer 8 are now resolved. News and other tools’ file attachments are now downloadable from IE8.

In addition, these are some tool specific fixes from the Service Pack:

  • ePortfolio: Invitation messages that are longer than 150 characters when entered, but are less than 150 characters after formatting, no longer results in an error when viewed.
  • Grades: When copying a course with an attached grade scheme using the Import / Export / Copy Course Components tool, the default grade scheme selection is now retained. Several database performance issues were corrected to improve or reduce load issues.
  • Dropbox: If a dropbox folder has a date availability restrictions, its folder instructions no longer appear in the calendar to users without proper permissions until the available start date. Also, when users evaluate the last dropbox folder submissions on the Evaluate Submission page, the “Finish” button is now replaced with a “Done” button and no longer publishes the last submission listed. “Done” instead redirects back to the Folder Submissions page.
  • Widgets: The links widget did not allow users to add links within it even if users have proper permissions. This has been corrected.

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