Category: D2L Tips

Here’s a topic from the Getting the Most out of the Content Tool in D2L workshop:  Did you know that you can set a Module in Content so that any file you upload to it automatically is saved in the same folder in the Manage Files area?

Yes.  You can set a Module so that all files uploaded to that Module are automatically saved in a specific folder in Manage Files.  Why is this important? Well, managing your files in D2L is important to ensuring that you can find files that you upload and link in Content.  So, in this post we will look at the steps involved when you wish to set a Default Path to a specific Manage Files folder for a Module in the Content tool.

Steps

1. Go to the Content tool in your course.
2. In the Table of Contents box, click on the title of the Module you want to work with.

   

3. Click on the down arrow next to the title of the Module and select Set Default Path.

   

4. In the pop-up box, click on Change Path. You will then see a list of the folders you have available in the Manage Files area.

   

5. Select the title of the folder you want to connect to your Module. If you don’t see the folder you want, either use the + signs to open the folders to check for sub-folders, or click on New Folder at the tops to create a new folder.

   

6. Once you have selected a folder, click Select Path.

   

7. Then click Save. All files you upload to the Module will now be automatically saved in the folder you selected.

   

Things to Remember

Remember to set up your Default Paths at the same time as you create your Modules. This will save you from having to reorganize your files in Manage Files later.

Want to know more? Contact desupport@camosun.ca to book an appointment with an instructional designer!

Here’s a topic from the Working with Groups in D2L workshop:  Did you know that you can have students self-select into groups?

Why might you want to do this?

Well, imagine a scenario where you had a variety of possible topics for group discussion and/or group presentation or assignment submission, but you wanted to give students the option of choosing which topic they wanted to contribute to and work with. Use one of the self-enrolment options to create a set of groups, one for each topic, and let students choose which one to enrol in!

The group self-enrolment options you have in D2L are:

• Groups of # – Self Enrolment
• # of Groups – Self Enrolment
• # of Groups, Capacity of # – Self Enrolment

Note that after they self-enrol in a groups, students will have the option of leaving one group and enrolling in another if they change their mind about which group they want to work with.

Also note that in each case, you can set a self-enrolment expiry date and ask D2L to enrol any student who has not self-enrolled into a group into a group automatically (select Set Self Enrollment Expiry Date, and Allocate unenrolled users after Self Enrollment Expiry Date). In addition, once this date has passed, students can no longer leave one group and enrol in another.

Let’s look at each of these in turn.

Groups of # – Self Enrolment

With this option, you would be telling D2L how many students should be in each group. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want, and when it is full it will no longer be open for enrolment. The number of groups initially created will be the number of students in the course divided by the maximum number of students each group can contain (you can add additional groups later if you like) This is a good option for when you want to control the maximum number of students in each group.

*Note: If students are not enrolled in your course site yet, then only one group is initially created. You can use the Edit Category page to add additional groups. You might want to add additional groups even if students are already enrolled to ensure all students have options when forming groups.

# of Groups – Self Enrolment

With this option, you would be telling D2L how many group you want in this category. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want. Remember that this option is based on an established number of groups, so you may end up in a situation where more students enrol in one group than in the others.

# of Groups, Capacity of # – Self Enrolment

With this option, you would be telling D2L both how many groups there should be AND how many students should be in each group. How this works is that students will enrol themselves in the group they want, and when it is full it will no longer be open for enrolment. You will need to make sure that you have the right number of groups for the number of students in your class (given the group number limit you have assigned).

Here is what these self-enrolment options look like to students:

Want to know more? Contact desupport@camosun.ca to book an appointment with an instructional designer!

Here’s a topic from the Customizing Your Homepages and Widgets workshop: did you know that you can create a widget on your homepage with your contact information in it?

Need a place to let students know when, how, and where they can contact you with questions? Afraid that they may have lost the information you handed out to them in class? Why not create a Contact Information Widget on the homepage of your D2L course site!

A widget is a box that appears on the Homepage of your D2L course site. It can be a box for a tool, like the News or the Calendar widgets, or a box containing information, like a Contact Information widget.

Creating a Contact Information widget is easy – so let me walk you through the steps here! Note that this is not a complete tutorial, and it presumes you have some familiarity with D2L. If you have any questions about this process, or get lost at any point, contact eLearning (desupport@camosun.ca) to arrange to meet with one of our instructional designers.

The first thing you need to do is click on the Edit Course link on your D2L course Homepage.

Then click on Widgets.

Click Create Widget.

You will need to give your new Widget a name, perhaps something like “Contact Information”? Then click on the Content tab. Note that information added to the Description box on this Properties tab will NOT be seen in the Widget. It is the Content tab that contains the information you wish students to see.

Once you are on the Content tab, you can enter the information you wish students to see in your Contact Information widget. Since you are entering informaiton in the HTML editor, you also have the option of adding a picture, as well as links to another website. When you are finished entering your information, click Save and Close.

You will then need to add your widget to your D2L course Homepage so students can see it. To do this, click Homepages.

Click on the title of your active Homepage. If you can’t click on the title, you will need to copy the default, activate it, and then edit the copy. You can find out how, but reading this blog post: D2L Tool Tip of the Week: Customizing your Homepages and Widgets.

Once you are on the editing page for your active Homepage, you can add your widget to one of the widget areas (see below) click Save and Close.

When you go back to your Course Homepage, you will see your Contact Information widget.

To edit it, click on the down arrow and select Edit this Widget.

To move it to another location on your Homepage, go back to Edit Course –> Homepages and edit your active Homepage.

An there you have it – a Contact Information widget that you can copy to any course you have access to, and change as you need!

More questions about D2L and customizing your homepages and widgets? Contact eLearning (desupport@camosun.ca) to arrange a meeting with an instructional designer at Interurban or Lansdowne!

This term I thought I would begin writing a series of posts based on our eLearning workshops – both for those of you who can’t attend, as well as to remind those who did of some of the amazing things you learned at the workshops!

Today, from the workshop Getting Started with D2L, I am answering the question: “Do you know when you and your students have access to D2L courses at Camosun?”

D2L at Camosun is connected to our registration system (Colleague). That means that faculty and students are automatically added to live D2L course sites through that connection.

What this means for faculty, is that if your course is “flagged” for D2L in the registration system, you will see a blank shell for that course appear in your D2L course listing approximately 30 days before the course start date. Then, 7 days before the course start date, you will see your students appear in the D2L course Classlist. This is also the point at which your students will have access to D2L in general – but NOT to your course site.  Your student will not have access to your course site until the day it starts (the official start date in Colleague). Note that this is all controlled through Colleague – we in eLearning cannot give your students access to your D2L course materials earlier than the official start date.

You may also be wondering how long students have access to your D2L course site after the course ends. Well, they will have access to the course site for 20 days past the end date as it appears in Colleague.

Sometimes faculty want to work on a course D2L site before their live course appears in their course list (for example, when planning/developing a September course in May/June for Scheduled Development). If this is the case, you can ask eLearning to create a DEV site for your course. This is a static D2L course site (meaning that it is not dependent on start and end dates) containing NO students (meaning you can use it to create, experiment, etc. without worrying that students may see what you’re doing). If you would like a DEV site for a course (and I recommend having one), contact desupport@camosun.ca.

More questions about D2L and getting started? Contact eLearning (desupport@camosun.ca) to arrange a meeting with an instructional designer at Interurban or Lansdowne!