Introduction to Daylight, Post 6: New Question Creation Interfaces

As we move closer to our upgrade of D2L to what is called The Daylight Experience, I have been publishing a series of posts showing you what the various tools will look like come May.  So far, we have looked at the changes to the Content, Grades, Dropbox, and Quizzes tools.   Today we will finish our look at Daylight with a tour of some of the new Question creation interfaces in the Question Library.

As I noted last time, the changes in the Quizzes are primarily visual, rather than functional. That is, except for some of the question creation interfaces. We’ve now looked at the visual changes in the Quizzes tool itself, and in this post, I will give you a tour of the changes in the question creation interfaces for True/False, Multiple Choice, Short Answer, and Written Response questions.

Note that this will be my last “peek of Daylight” post as we will be making final preparations for our upgrade next week. Stay tuned for posts covering some cool feature changes that have been appearing in D2L (current and Daylight) over the past few months.

Before we start looking at the question creation interfaces, here is the Question Library area in the current version of D2L.

Pre-Daylight Question Library

And here it is in Daylight.

Daylight Question Library

Now, let’s create a True/False question. Remember, to create a question, click the New button and select the question you wish to create.

Here is the True/False question creation interface in the current version of D2L. I have reduced the browser view size by 30% so you can see more of the interface.

Pre-Daylight True False question creation interface

Now, here is the True/False question creation interface in Daylight. Notice that the interface has been simplified so that everything you need to create a True/False question is on one page (no scrolling needed). Just add your Question Text, select the correct answer (True or False), change the Default Points, if needed, and click Save.

Daylight True False question creation interface

If your monitor is large enough, you can see the Preview pane on the right side of the creation interface.

Daylight True False Preview pane

Otherwise, you can click Preview to see the question preview, and click Done when you have finished viewing the Preview.

Daylight True Falce Preview button

Daylight True False Done Preview

Now let’s take a quick look at the Multiple Choice question creation interface. Here it is in the current version. I’ve shown it in two screen shot, as it is a very long interface!

Pre-Daylight Multiple Choice question creation interface 1 Pre-Daylight Multiple Choice question creation interface 2

Now, here is the Multiple Choice creation interface in Daylight. Note the Preview pane on the right.

Daylight Multiple Choice question creation interface

And now, here is the Written Response question interface in the current version (note that Written Response used to be called Long Answer).

Pre-Daylight Written Response question creation interface

And here is the Written Response interface in Daylight.

Daylight Written Response question creation interface 1

Note that you can click Options and select Add Custom Response Box Size to choose what size of text box your students will have to answer the question.

Finally, here is the Short Answer creation interface in the current version of D2L.

Pre-Daylight Short Answer question creation interface

And here it is in Daylight. You can have multiple possible answers in blanks, add Blanks, assign how many points each blank has, and decide if the answers need to be case-sensitive. To find out more, register for one of our quiz workshops this spring (https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/DLMPPR5)!

Daylight Short Answer question creation interface

Note that eventually all the question creation interfaces will have the same design. These will change as we continue our monthly updates after the major upgrade on April 30th.

Thanks very much for reading my Daylight upgrade posts over the past few months. Next month I will be resuming regular posts about our monthly feature changes, tips for how to use some of the tools, and other exciting things happening in eLearning.

Introduction to Daylight, Post 5: The Quizzes Tool

As we move closer to our upgrade of D2L to what is called The Daylight Experience, I have begun to publish a series of posts showing you what the various tools will look like come May.  So far, we have looked at the changes to the Content, Grades, and Dropbox tools.   Today we will begin our look at the Quizzes tool.

Similarly to other changes I have shown you in previous posts, the changes in the Quizzes are primarily visual, rather than functional, except for some of the question creation interfaces. This post, however, will look at the visual changes in the Quizzes tool itself, while my next post will give you a tour of some of those question creation changes, which are both visual and functional!

Here is what the main Quizzes area looks like now.

Pre-Daylight Quizzes tool

And here is what it will look like in Daylight. Notice that the table is much bigger, although it contains all the same rows and columns.

Daylight Quizzes tool

Now let’s take a look at the Edit Quiz area. Here is what it looks like in the current version.

Pre-Daylight Edit Quiz area

And now, see that in Daylight, as with other tools, the editing area takes up much more room due to default font size and cell padding, so even though this Daylight quiz has the same number of questions in the Pre-Daylight quiz shown above, you would have to scroll down to see all the questions.

Daylight Edit Quiz area

Now let’s look at the quiz grading area.  In the current version, here is what we see on the initial Grade Quiz area.

Pre-Daylight initial Grading area

And in Daylight:

Daylight initial grading area

Now, to grade a quiz, here is what you see in the current version

Pre-Daylight individual attempt grading area

And now, in Daylight. Note that for this screen capture, I zoomed out in the browser to 80% of the default size so you would be able to see a bit more of the grading area here.

Daylight individual attempt grading area

In my next post, I will show you the Question Library, specifically the changes in the question creation interface for several question types.

Introduction to Daylight, Post 4: The Dropbox Tool

As we move closer to our upgrade of D2L to what is called The Daylight Experience, I have begun to publish a series of posts showing you what the various tools will look like come May.  So far, we have looked at the changes to the Content and the Grades tools.   Today we will look at the Dropbox tool.

Similarly to the changes in the Content and Grades tools, the changes in Dropbox are visual, rather than functional.

Here is what the main Dropbox area looks like now.

Pre-Daylight Dropbox

And here is what it will look like in Daylight. Notice that the table is much bigger, although it contains all the same rows and columns.

Daylight Dropbox

As with all the tools in D2L, the icons denoting specific functions have changed. You will still recognize the pencil (for edit), the trash can (for delete), and the people (for Groups). The icon noting the connection of a Dropbox to a Grade item has, however, changed from a ruler (see left image below) to a ribbon (see right image below).

Pre-Daylight Dropbox icons Daylight Dropbox icons

Now, let’s take a look at the Folder Submissions area.

Here it is in the current version:

Pre-Daylight Folder Submissions area

And here is what the Folder Submissions area will look like in Daylight – I’m dividing it into 2 screen shots so you get a better example of the size difference.

Daylight Folder Submissions area part 1

Daylight Submissions area part 2

And finally, here is the individual student Evaluate Submission area, first in the current version:

Pre-Daylight individual submissions area

And now, in Daylight

Daylight Dropbox individual submissions area

And there you have it – the Dropbox in Daylight.  In my next post, we will start looking at the Quizzes tool and Question Library.