Category: D2L Tips

This tutorial is for faculty who have previous experience using the Quizzes tool in D2L. For further information, please contact desupport@camosun.ca for assistance.

Scenario

This tutorial will cover the steps involved with making some of your quiz questions bonus questions (counting above the total grade for the quiz).

Steps

1. Go to the Quizzes tool in your course.
2. Click Question Library.
3. Select a Section to add your Text or Image information to, or create a new section (for the purposes of this tutorial, we want to create a Case Study text that accompanies a set of questions in the Week 1 Quiz, so we will click the Week 1 section to open it).
4. Click New and select Section.
5. Give your Section a Title and click Hide Section Title from students if you like (we will keep it unselected to show you want it looks like in a quiz). Add your text or image to the Section Text box. This is where your case study text would go, for example. If you would like all the questions in this section shuffled (so that each student sees the questions relating to the case study in a different order), click Shuffle questions in this section. Then click Save.
6. Click on the title of the Section you just created, and using the options under the New button, add your questions to it. Click Done Editing Questions when you have finished.
7. Now, you can add your Section (along with your questions) to a Quiz. Click on the title of the quiz you want to add your Section to (or create a new Quiz).
8. If you need to, give your Quiz a Name, then click Add/Edit Questions.
9. Click Import, and select Browse Question Library.
10. Find your Section – you may need to scroll down in the Browse Question Library window and click the down arrows next to Section titles to open them to find it. Click the select box next to your Section, and click Add.
11. Click Done Editing Questions.
12. Finish setting up your Quiz, then click Save and Close. Make sure to Preview your Quiz to check that your Section text or image appears above the questions you placed in it.

Things to Remember

NOTE: If you have old quizzes in your course site (for example, if you have copied them from Master or Dev or old course sites), you may have old versions of Text or Image information “question types” that have been converted into Sections called “Untitled [converted from a Text/Image Information Item]”. You will want to check your quizzes to make sure these sections work the way you want them to in the context of your quiz, and may even want to take the time to give them an appropriate title and move the questions the original “question type” was associated with so that they are inside the section.

Last May, I ran a workshop for faculty called Introducing D2L to Your Students which asked “Using D2L, but not sure how comfortable your students are with it? Come and find out what other faculty at Camosun are doing to introduce D2L to their students.” The workshop outcomes invited participants to:

• Decide how best to talk about D2L with your students
• Rethink the assumptions we make about what students do or don’t know about D2L and accessing online resources
• Integrate strategies for introducing D2L and referring to it throughout the term

During the workshop, participants discussed how they introduce, or might introduce, D2L to their students.  Expanding on their discussions, I shared what I have learned what faculty across the college are doing to introduce students to D2L, which ranges from nothing (typically assuming students will be able to figure it out for themselves), all the way to full scavenger hunts, and regular sessions in the lab using D2L.

So, here in this post, I now share with you the strategies which have been shared with me.  Faculty at Camosun who are introducing D2L to their students in some way are:

• Providing students with information about D2L prior to the first class, typically via email (and in some cases via a physical letter). I have seen this being done at a Program level, as well as by individual instructors.
• Creating handouts (or using the ones created by eLearning) to support students in their use of D2L.
• Giving students a tour of D2L and the D2L course site on day one, for example,
  • Showing them how to log in;
  • Showing them how to set email forwarding and/or notifications;
  • Showing them all the tools that will be used during the course (or introduce tools throughout the term when they need to be used);
  • Showing them what specifically will be in the tools (content pages, dropboxes, etc.);
  • Showing them how they will see things like quizzes, dropboxes, and grades (using Preview or View as Student options); and
  • Explaining how the various tools, and D2L in general, will be used (what can they expect – for example, how often will News items be posted, or Email checked, or how long it will take to grade a Dropbox assignment).

• Having students complete a D2L scavenger hunt either in a lab, using laptop carts in a classroom, or asking them to use mobile devices (for example, having them complete one activity (i.e., discussion or dropbox) or multiple activities in your D2L course site).
• Pulling up D2L for your students at different points throughout the term to remind them to access D2L, or refresh their memory of how a tool works (for example, show them where to find feedback for their assignments, quizzes, in grades, etc.)
• Giving students a quick survey asking “how’s D2L going” after 4 weeks or so.

After talking to faculty and surveying students, I was surprised that some faculty and students don’t know where they can get help with D2L. Because students don’t always know that there is help available, they often either ask other students or don’t ask anyone at all, which can lead to frustration, and to students giving up on using D2L. Here are some of the places students can (and do) get help with D2L – please make sure to let your students know them!

• The D2L Student Guide (screen cap) which is available as a link on the main D2L homepage
• eLearning Support (desupport@camosun.ca), available 8:30-4:30, Monday-Friday.

Finally at the end of the workshop, participants shared what they were going to try with their own courses, either to enhance what they already do, or as a first step. Consider trying some of these, or some of the strategies mentioned above, yourself and let me know how it goes!

• Including News items around where to get help, or tips on how to use different tools, how to login, using email, etc. (and creating ongoing News posts to help remind students that they need to go to the Dropbox to submit an assignment, or go to Content to view a video).
• Providing students with a Checklist in the Content area. A checklist can provide students with more clarity around what tools they are supposed to be accessing, what needs to be completed, and by when.
• Staggering the D2L intro so students don’t have to learn everything at once. This can help students learn how to use the various tools WHEN they need to, so they don’t forget everything after Day 1.

In the end, I can’t stress enough how important it is for instructors using D2L to take the time to show students D2L on a regular basis. If students are continually reminded (visually!) that they need to go to D2L to read content, complete quizzes, submit to the Dropbox etc., they will be assured that using D2L is an important component of their learning and of your teaching. It only takes a few minutes at the beginning of class to call up D2L and give a quick reminder/refresher, so please take the time!

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on what’s happening in our monthly D2L (now the version known as Daylight) upgrades – well, it’s been awhile since I posted at all!  Apologies for that.  But, without further ado, here are some of the changes coming this month and next in D2L.  Then, in August, I will get back to more regular posting.

Changes for June

Quizzes – Question Pools replace Random Sections

This is a name change, but one which could confuse.  In Quizzes, you were able to add folders (called “sections” in the Quizzes tool) called Random Sections, which you could use to randomize a selected number of questions so that each student received a different set of questions.  Now, “Random Section” is called “Question Pool”.  Here’s what it looks like:

• In the Edit Quiz area, click Add/Edit Questions.
  
• Click New, then select Question Pool.
  
• Give your Question Pool a title, add a number for the Number of Questions to Select (for example, if you put 100 questions in the Pool, you may want students to see 10 random questions from that Pool), add Points per Question (all questions in a Pool have to be worth the same number of points), and then click Browse Question Library.
  
• From the side panel that opens, select ALL the questions you want your Pool to draw from, and click Add.
  
• Click Save.
  
• Click Done Editing Questions, then finish editing your Quiz and click Save and Close.
  

Changes to Rubrics

Control rubric visibility for learners

There is a new setting in Rubrics (on the Properties tab) which allows you to decide how (or if) your students see your rubrics.  Here are the three options you will now see when you go to create your rubrics:

• Rubric is always visible to learners (so they can see the rubric before and after you have graded it)
• Rubric is hidden until feedback published (so they can only see the rubric after you have graded it)
• Rubric is never visible to learners (so they never see the rubric)

Improvements to rubric feedback for learners

This is an exciting because now rubrics will act the same way in all tools, and be presented to students in the same way in Discussions and Dropbox.  If you remember, students could not see the graded rubric in the Discussion area before, but now they will be able to!

Display graded rubric feedback in Gradebook

Finally, a really nice addition to how rubrics work in D2L.  Now when there are graded rubrics in a Dropbox or Discussion, those graded rubrics will also appear in the Gradebook when that Dropbox or Discussion Topic is associated with a Grade Item!  This means that students can see their graded rubrics in the Gradebook, whether they are attached to a Dropbox assignment, a Discussion posting, or a Grade item.  Exciting times!!

Changes coming in July

I can’t show you these changes yet, as they won’t be available until July.  But here is a preview of some improvements you will see very soon!

Dropbox – New Text Submission type and workflow

Instructors can now create Dropboxes that allow students to create assignment directly in the HTML editor in the Dropbox tool, without having to upload a file.  This will be great for students submitting short (i.e., one paragraph) assignments!

Course grouping tabs in the My Courses widget

Now you will be able to view your courses in the My Courses widget by term. This will make finding courses, when you have a LOT of them in your list, much easier.

Quizzes – Removal of image and text information items

This change is one I am not thrilled about on the surface.  I will know more when I have a chance to see and test this, so don’t get too worried yet.  Image and Text Information are two items available when creating a quiz.  Typically they are used to provide a piece of text (like a cast study) or an image that relates to a series of questions.  These “question types” will no longer be available as of July, but D2L says that you will be able to use Sections to provide the same functionality moving forward.  I hope they are right – we will see…

And those are the major changes coming this month and next in D2L.  I will be back in August to double-check the July changes and update you on anything I find.  Have a great summer!

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.

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.

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

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.

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

And in Daylight:

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

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.

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

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.  My last post gave you a glimpse of the new Daylight homepage design.

And now that you have seen what the new Daylight course homepage will look like, it’s time to take a brief look at some of the other tools in D2L and what they will look like in Daylight. Today we will look at the Content tool.

In general, the changes to the Content tool, as with most of the tools, are visual: the white background, the larger font size, all those things that lend themselves to the responsiveness of the design for mobile devices.

Here is what the Content tool looks like now. Note the placement of the content tool in the course page set against the green background.

And here is what it will look like in Daylight. Note that the Content tool takes up the whole page space, there is no colour background, and how you can see less of the content on the main page without scrolling than you can in the current version.

Now, let’s take a side-by-side look at the content in one of the modules.

Not too many changes here, but there are a couple of things to notice. First, in the Table of Contents box, note that the open module is much easier to see in the current version than in Daylight. You really need to look at the main page to see which module is open. Also, in Daylight, the icons have been redesigned, and there is text indicating whether the content is a PDF document, a Link, a Web Page, etc. Here’s a closer look at the Daylight icons here:

One final change is with the Upload File interface.

In the current version, if you click New and Upload File, the upload box gives you options of where to upload files from, AND the Upload interface:

However, in Daylight, the initial upload box you will see gives you the option of selecting files from My Computer, Course Offering Files, or Shared Files.

In this box, you need to select where the file will be uploaded from before you can select a file, so if you click on My Computer, you will then be able to upload a file from your computer.

Aside from these design changes, the Content tool looks and functions the same as it does in the current version, and rest assured that all your content will still be in your courses after the upgrade!

Next time we will have a look at the Grades tool!