Tips for Working in D2L During Performance Issues

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Susan Degen

As of 1:00 pm on 9/6/12, the Learn@UW Utility is actively engaged with D2L and Microsoft experts for a solution to our D2L performance problems. All UW System campuses are experiencing slow D2L system performance. As we wait for a resolution to the D2L issues, we have the following recommendations for you:

Try to work during low usage periods, including early morning (i.e., before 9 a.m.) and in the late evening or at night (i.e., after 8 p.m.). Avoid the 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. time period whenever possible as this seems to be the highest peak of usage time.
Draft your discussion messages in Word and copy/paste to D2L when you want to post. This strategy will save you from losing a message you draft in D2L in the event that D2L times out when you are submitting.
Print Content items for the current week so you can still reference course materials if/when D2L is down.
Ask your professor if it is acceptable to send assignments via email if you are unable to access the Dropbox. You can find your professor’s email address in the UW-W Directory (http://wp.uww.edu). Make a note of the instructor’s email address (and phone number if provided) in case you are unable to login and need to send a message.
Save each answer when taking a quiz. This strategy will prevent you from losing your quiz answers, in the event that D2L times out at the moment you submit your quiz.
Don’t wait until the last minute! Plan ahead and give yourself extra time to meet deadlines. Do not submit a quiz or upload a file to the Dropbox right before a deadline in the event that the system times out or takes longer than anticipated to process your request.
View the Dropbox submission history to verify that your Dropbox submission was successful. In the Dropbox area, click the “View History” button.
Check the D2L login page for news. Any information or updates we receive about outages or problems with D2L will be posted on the D2L login page.

We will continue to share any updates regarding the performance issues with you as we receive them from Learn@UW in Madison. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience at this time.

If you have questions, please email UW-W D2L Support.

[UPDATED] Slowness Reported in D2L

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Susan Degen

UPDATE (11:15am 9/10/12): The Learn@UW/D2L service performance held steady throughout the weekend. D2L and the Learn@UW Utility continue to actively monitor the health of the service. A hot fix was applied at 5am this morning (9/10) to improve the performance of the nav bar and we will assess the impact of this change.

HOTFIX DEPLOYMENT: Monday (9/10/12) at 5am, D2L will be applying a hotfix to the system. During this time there may be a 10 to 15 minute period of slowness.

EMERGENCY OUTAGE: At 4:00pm today (9/7/12) D2L may be unavailable for roughly 15 minutes. During this time they will be performing additional maintenance.

EMERGENCY OUTAGE: At 9:45am today (9/7/12) D2L will be unavailable for roughly 15 minutes. During this time they will be taking some important steps to diagnosing the performance issues.

UPDATE (9/6/12 5:00 PM): As of 1:00 pm on 9/6/12, the Learn@UW Utility is actively engaged with D2L and Microsoft experts for a solution to our D2L performance problems. As we wait for a resolution, we have a blog post with some tips for working in D2L while there are performance issues. Again, thank you for your patience while this issue is being investigated.

Previous Message: Users have been reporting slowness working in D2L with anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes of load time. Tools that normally take a longer time to load, such as the Grades tool, may also take additional time to load.

Some slowness is expected during peak usage times, such as the start or end of a semester. Learn@UW Utility has been made aware of the issue, and they’re continuing to monitor for any problems or errors. We appreciate your patience during this time.

Upcoming Outages, 8/24 and 8/26

Posted on August 23, 2012 by Susan Degen

There will be two outages in the next few days that will affect your access D2L.

On Friday, August 24, 2012, starting at 6:00 PM, UW-W iCIT engineers will be upgrading software on network equipment across campus. Services that will be affected include VoIP, network and wi-fi access, campus email, WINS, D2L, and the UW-W home page. The outage is estimated to last ten hours, and campus services will be sporadically unavailable during this time.

Learn@UW utility is also performing network maintenance on Sunday, August 26, 2012 from 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM. During this time, D2L access and availability will be sporadic. It’s recommended that users avoid working in D2L during this time frame to prevent users from losing any work done in their courses.

If you have any questions about the outage on Friday (8/24), please contact the Technology Support Center (TSC) Helpdesk at 262-472-HELP (4357) or at helpdesk@uww.edu. If you have any questions or concerns about the outage on Sunday (8/26), please contact UW-W D2L Support.

[RESOLVED] Internal Errors, Slowness

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Susan Degen

UPDATE (4:05 PM): Learn@UW technicians have addressed the issue and are restoring service. The outage page has been removed, and the service should be completely restored at 4:30 PM. However, users may experience slowness while the service is being restored.

UPDATE (3:21 PM): Learn@UW has put up outage pages. This closes off access to D2L for the time being while they investigate. We apologize for the interruption, and we’ll let you know once we have more information.

Starting at approximately 2:14 PM today (8/17), Some users have reported seeing Internal Server 500 errors or unusual slowness while working in D2L. Learn@UW technicians are currently investigating the cause, and we’ll update this news item with more information as we receive it. Thank you for your patience.

D2L “Starter Course v2.2” Available

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Renee Pfeifer-Luckett

Streamline your D2L course development process by using templates and resources provided in the D2L “Starter Course.” Developed as a means to give instructors access to a number of useful templates and other resources, the Starter Course allows instructors to copy D2L components into their course and then modify for their own use. In addition, many of the resources and templates now also help courses meet Quality Matters standards for online and blended courses. Now in version 2.2, the course has been reformatted in the new D2L page design and content has been updated. Examples of “Starter Course” components include the following items:

Time-saving templates: easy to edit electronic D2L rubrics, activities, assignments, topic overviews, discussion starters, and more.
Student resources: useful information on Turnitin Suite (plagiarism and GradeMark), “clickers” (student response devices), D2L assistance, technology help, and standard university policies.
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: gauge whether the course is meeting your (and your students’) expectations.

To access and register for the D2L Starter Course, login to D2L and click on the Register for Starter Course button under the Instructor Resources widget. Then, click on the Register button to complete the process. Once you have registered, you will see the course appear within your “instructor tab” in the folder titled “OTHER-Courses With no Semester.”

Please remember that “Starter Course” resources are used by instructors across campus. Please only copy items (do not edit any of the items) found in the original D2L Starter course! Thank you!

[RESOLVED] D2L Slowness

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Aaron Axelsen

On Thursday, July 26th between 3:28 PM (CDT) and 3:40 PM (CDT) users may have experienced relatively short periods of slow response times while using Desire2Learn. This incident was similar to and likely another occurrence of the outstanding intermittent service issue that was experienced on July 19th and 20th.

We apologize for the intermittent issue and appreciate your patience as we work to resolve the situation.

[RESOLVED] Internal Errors and Slowness

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Susan Degen

Outage Report from Learn@UW:
Time frame: ~12:50 to ~12:59pm and ~12:50 to ~2:00pm
Impact: LUW/D2L experienced a service degradation from ~12:50 to ~12:59pm today that affect UWS (not UWM). Users would have experienced slowness or an outage during this window. In addition, some users would have received notifications from ~12:50 to ~2:00pm.
Cause: The disruption was an unanticipated effect of the deployment of a hotfix intended to address the ongoing online rooms issue. We regret the disruption.
Resolution: N/A
Next steps: N/A

Update 1:10 PM (CDT) – As of approximately 1:00 PM today (7/20), we’ve received reports that users may be experiencing slowness or errors while trying to log into D2L. Learn@UW has been notified and they are investigating the cause. We will be updating this post with more information as we receive it.

D2L Service Outage – 7/13

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Susan Degen

Learn@UW is planning a service outage on Friday, July 13th from 9:00 PM to 9:30 PM. D2L will NOT be unavailable during this time frame.

Learn@UW and Microsoft technicians will be investigating the cause behind the service interruptions and slowness for the past few days. For more information on the previous service outages, please see this blog post: D2L v10 Status Update

What is VoiceThread?

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Aaron Axelsen

Voicethread is a conversation-based website that allows groups communication to be collected in one location from anywhere in the world. A voicethread is a collaborative, multimedia slide show that allows you to upload pictures, documents, and videos.

People can navigate through the slides and add comments in 5 different ways, using voice with a mic or telephone, text, audio file, or video with a webcam. You can share a voice thread with friends, students, and colleagues for them to post comments to.

Recurring Slowness – Service Issue

Posted on July 3, 2012 by Susan Degen

Update 7/10, 11:30 AM (CDT) – From approximately 9:40 AM until 10:40 AM today (7/10/12), users might have experienced slow performance and might receive an error message. Learn@UW technicians are currently investigating the source.

Update 7/5, 9:30 AM (CDT) – The reported slowness is still ongoing, and technicians are still investigating the cause. If you’re experiencing slowness in D2L, please note that it may take a few minutes to clear up. We’ll update this news item with any information as we receive it.

We’ve received reports that users are experiencing periods of slow performance that typically clear up within a relatively short time (approximately 3 – 5 minutes).

Learn@UW technologists and D2L are investigating the matter. We will be updating this news item with any new information as we receive it. Thank you for your patience.