CETL Blog

A Brief Introduction to ePortfolio in D2L

Looking for options for your students to collect and share documents, assessments, presentations, etc. with other students and faculty across their Program? You might want to come see us to find out how ePortfolio in D2L might support you and your students!

D2L’s ePortfolio is a personal portfolio tool for storing, organizing, reflecting on, and sharing items that represent their learning. Students can include items such as documents, graphics, audio files, videos, presentations, and course work to demonstrate their improvement or mastery in certain areas.

ePortfolio is a system-wide tool which can be accessed by students in any course, and because it is a D2L tool, students can use ePortfolio to save course-related materials so that they can access them for as long as they are registered at Camosun, and they can export some of their ePortfolio items when they leave.

Students can control what items they want to include in their portfolios, how portfolios are organized, and who they are shared with. When items are shared items with peers, mentors, or potential employers, students can control permission to view items, edit items, see or add comments, and see or add assessments to receive feedback.

ePortfolio items and collections can be shared with other students and with instructors, added to the Assignment tool, and used to create presentations. In addition, comments can be enabled on artifacts, collections, reflections, presentations (which can be shared externally to D2L as well), etc., and others in the course can provide evaluation and feedback through the Assignments tool or using Rubrics.

Items that can be saved to ePortfolio include:

  • Reflections (to which you could embed a video or audio file, for example from Kaltura)
  • Links to external websites
  • Files uploaded from a device (documents, images, audio files, etc.)
  • D2L News items
  • D2L Grade items (but ONLY if the instructor has enabled that feature)
  • D2L Quiz Submissions (but ONLY if the instructor has enabled that feature)
  • D2L Assignment submissions (but ONLY if the instructor has enabled that feature)

If you would like to find out more about ePortfolio and how it could be used to support you and your students, contact desupport@camosun.ca to arrange for a consult with one of our instructional designers. To find out more about the benefits of keeping an ePortfolio, check out the following websites:

Uploading Media to Kaltura’s My Media in D2L

This tutorial will cover the steps involved when you wish to upload a video (or other media file, such as an image or an audio file) from your device into your My Media space (Kaltura) in D2L so that you can then embed it into a D2L page, or add it to a playlist in your Course Media area. Note that there are a few ways to access My Media in D2L – see the tutorial Setting up My Media (Kaltura) in D2L for more information.   For further information, please contact desupport@camosun.ca for assistance.

Steps

  1. Go to your D2L course.
  2. Go to My Media (it may be a link on your NavBar or in your My Tools drop-down menu, or it may be added as a link using Insert Stuff within a Draft Topic in the Content tool) to open your personal Kaltura space. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will have the My Media link on the NavBar.Go to My Media
  3. Click Add New, and select Media Upload.

    Click Add New and select Media Upload

  4. Click Choose a file to upload, find the video file you want to upload from your device, and click Open. All common video, audio and images format are accepted. Only one file can be uploaded at a time.

    Click Choose file to upload
    Select video and click Open

  5. It may take a bit of time for the video file to upload – the bar at the top of the screen will track the upload, and let you know when the upload is complete (as shown in the second image).

    Status bar for video upload
    Completed upload status bar

  6. Fill in the details as listed. You will be required to give your media file a Name, and we highly recommend adding information to the Description, Tags, and the additional fields to help you filter/sort your media files as you build your collection, and to help your students search for specific media files.Tags are words that can be used to search for specific media files, so think of terms that would most likely be used by your students to search for your video.

    Note that you do NOT need to Publish your video for it to be available for use in your course. Click Save when you have filled in all the details (you can edit this information later if needed). Your media file has now been saved to My Media, meaning that it is available for you to use in any of your D2L courses.

    Complete the details as much as you can, then click Save.

Things to Remember

There are additional features you will want to set up before using your video in a course. See the tutorial Adding Features to Your Kaltura Media to learn more.

This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.Icons by the Noun Project.

Setting Up My Media (Kaltura) in D2L

Now that Kaltura is available in Camosun’s D2L, and we have run the first round of workshops for faculty, it’s time to start sharing our tutorials on using Kaltura in D2L.  Remember, Kaltura is our new streaming media service which you (and your students) can use to house your media files, create videos/audio, and integrate your media into your D2L course.

This first tutorial is designed for faculty who have previous experience using D2L, including adding items to a course Navbar and My Tools drop-down menu, and will cover the steps involved when you wish to add Kaltura’s My Media space to your D2L course.  There are three scenarios covered – choose the one that works best for your purpose.  For further information, please contact desupport@camosun.ca for assistance.

My Media is your own personal media storage space in D2L.  The My Media link gives you access to only YOUR media space, and if a student can see the My Media link, it will give her access to HER media space.  In addition, any media added to My Media will be available across D2L.  This means you can add videos stored in your My Media to any of your D2L courses.

Scenario 1: Adding My Media to your NavBar

If My Media is linked on your NavBar or My Tools drop-down menu, students will also have access to their own media space in Kaltura (this will NOT have an impact on your My Media space.)  Use this option if you would like students to be able to create or upload their own media for sharing in your D2L course (for example, if you would like them to add video/audio as an Assignment, or embed video as part of a Discussion).

Steps

  1. Go to your course in D2L.
  2. Click Edit Course.Click Edit Course
  3. Click Navigation and Themes.Click Navigation and Themes
  4. Click the title of your course’s NavBar. (If you have not yet created your own NavBar, click the down arrow next to Course default 10.3 and click Copy – then click on the title of the Copy.)Click the title of your course navbar
  5. In the Links area, click Add Links.Click Add Links
  6. Scroll down until you find My Media, click the select box next to it, and click Add.Select My Media and click Add.
  7. Click Save and Close.Click Save and Close
  8. Make sure your NavBar is selected as Active in the Active Navbar drop-down menu. You will then see the My Media link appear in your NavBar.My Media appears in the NavBar

Scenario 2: Adding My Media to your My Tools drop-down menu

This tutorial will cover the steps involved when you wish to add the link to My Media to the My Tools drop-down menu on the NavBar in your D2L course. Note that if My Media is linked on your NavBar or My Tools drop-down menu, students will also have access to their own media space in Kaltura.

Steps

  1. Go to your course in D2L.
  2. Click Edit Course.
  3. Click Navigation and Themes.
  4. Make sure you have already created custom NavBar for your course (see Customizing your Navigation Bar for more information). Then click Custom Links.Click Custom Links
  5. Click My Tools.Click My Tools
  6. Scroll down to the Links area and click Add Existing Link.Click Add Existing Link
  7. Scroll down until you find My Media, click the select box next to it, and click Add.Select My Media and click Add.
  8. Click Save.Click Save
  9. Click Navbars and make sure your NavBar is selected as Active in the Active Navbar drop-down menu. You will then see the My Media link appear in your My Tools drop-down menu.My Media appears in the My Tools menu

Scenario 3: Adding My Media in a draft Topic in Content

This tutorial will cover the steps involved when you wish to add the link to My Media to a draft Content Topic – this will mean that students will not have access to their own My Media space through your course site.

Steps

  1. Go to your course in D2L.
  2. Click My Tools and select Content.Click My Tools and select Content

     

  3. Click the title of the Module you would like to add your draft Topic to. For the purposes of this tutorial, we have added a Module called Kaltura Videos, and set it to Draft.Click the module you want to add your topic to
  4. Click New and select Create a File.Click New and select Create a File
  5. Give your Topic a Title. Then, in the HTML editor box, click Insert Quicklink.Add a title and click Insert Quicklink
  6. Scroll down, and click External Learning Tools.Click External Learning tools
  7. Click My Media launch.Click My Media launch
  8. Click Save as Draft.Click Save as Draft
  9. Click Cancel.Click Cancel
  10. Click the My Media launch link, and the My Media space will open in the Topic window.Click the My Media launch link

    My Media in the Topic window

Things to Remember

If you are not sure how to create a new NavBar or My Tools drop-down menu, see the tutorials Customizing your Navigation Bar and Customizing your My Tools Menu in the On-Demand Training course for more information.

If you need more help creating Topics in the Content tool, see the tutorial Creating Modules and Topics in the Content Tool for more information.

CC-BY This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.Icons by the Noun Project.

Flipping Out over the Flipped Classroom workshop summary

Our Flipping Out over the Flipped Classroom workshop is co-facilitated by members of eLearning and Faculty Development (both units in our Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning unit). It’s one of my favourite workshops to facilitate, partly because it’s a workshop about flipping, which is itself flipped!

One thing faculty quickly realize when they get our reminder email about the workshop (one week in advance of the face-to-face component), and the instructions for how to access the online component of the workshop (which they MUST complete before the face-to-face component
and yes, I have turned people away if they don’t complete it!), is how challenging it is to be self-directed enough to complete activities before coming to the face to face class. And this is what I love most about this workshop – it puts the faculty in the shoes of their students, making them think about why they would flip their classes, and how to encourage students to engage outside of the classroom.

While this time we didn’t have to turn anyone away, several of the attendees noted that they had put off completing the activities until the last minute. It was a good first discussion as we did our initial check-in around the online component. It was great that  everyone ‘fessed up!

After checking in around the online experience, we engaged the participants around the readings they were to have completed, compiling a list of pros/benefits and cons/challenges of flipping the classroom, as well as some ideas for mitigating some of the challenges. This time around, here is what participants came up with:

Pros/Benefits of Flipping the Classroom

  • Active learning
  • Less boredom
  • Controlled pacing
  • Relevance: learning comes to life
  • Addresses multiple learning styles
  • Moving up Bloom’s, can get multiple perspectives to unpack in safe environment
  • Encourages critical thinking
  • Students are more likely to come prepared
  • More engagement with content – “it sticks”

Cons/Challenges of Flipping the Classroom

  • The time it takes an instructor to distill content to the basics, and develop material
  • Need to create small marking rewards (clerical)
  • Accountability (for students)
  • Students resist – they have ideas about the roles of the student and the instructor
  • Students have busy lives, and may lack a good study environment and access (to technology)
  • Interest in topic – how to “hook” the students in

Ideas for Mitigating the Cons/Challenges

  • Collaboration (between instructors)
  • Institutional support
  • Sharing resources between/among faculty to mitigate workload
  • Scaffolding to mitigate student accountability and resistance (e.g., teaching them how to watch videos)
  • Transparency (re: expectations) – why are we doing this?
  • Check-in with students re: their resources, (safe) space, etc.
  • Create more learning commons on campus
  • Find out what’s available to students and let them know
  • Advocate for more resource and support access (evenings, weekends) – writing and learning skills, etc.
  • Scalability – do one thing
  • Create guides for new/term/sessional faculty – shared resources
  • Use flipped activities as formative feedback

We integrate a bit of a lecture into the workshop, discussing how flipping can maximize effectiveness of teaching using Bloom’s taxonomy as a guide. But the real fun in the workshop comes with the Troika Consulting (one of my favourite Liberating Structures activities) where participants work in small groups to get advice on ideas for flipping components of their classes, or for challenges they have faces when flipping. We always mix the groups so they are working with people NOT in their School or discipline, so they can have the joy of discovering new ideas and suggestions.

Main takeaways

  • Networking and sharing and collaborating as a flipped activity and to create flipped activities
  • Don’t need to flip a whole class – can flip a topic or an activity
  • I am not alone – can pull on resources around the college (colleagues, etc.)
  • Need more opportunities for multi-disciplinary things – hear different kinds of creativity when not too silo’ed
  • Don’t always have to be f2f – web lunch meetings – Community of Practice and sharing what they’ve tried and make suggestions – ongoing opportunities?
  • Finding help when you need it is a challenge sometimes – when trying something – need ongoing connection and conversation
  • Is there research that shows flipping works better with certain audiences, topics, etc.?
  • Doesn’t have to be everything, and it’s not just about technology
  • You need to be prepared!
  • It takes courage and preparation
  • Flipping as a Program approach – built into all courses with support for all faculty, collaboratively created activities/resources, build it in gradually so students understand its value

What I was happy to see this time was an emphasis on the collaborative and programmatic approach to flipping, so it is not just one instructor in isolation. When all instructors in a program are flipping, students get used to it, they potentially will engage more, and see the benefits. Something to think about in the grand scheme of things at our institution!

If you are interested, I am including links to the resources participants were required to read/view during the online component of the workshop. If you have questions or comments, please post them here!

BCcampus Open Education

Open Education is a going concern here in B.C. and around the world. If you don’t know a lot about Open Education and Open Educational Resources (OER), a good place to start is the BCcampus Open Education website (https://open.bccampus.ca/)

What I really want to do today, however, is encourage you to explore the many projects and grants available through and supported by BCcampus. I am reblogging their Call for Proposals webpage below, where you can find out more about reviewing open textbooks, or nominating someone for an Award for Excellence in Open Education, as well as about past calls, and current and past Open projects.

If you have any questions about Open Education, contact BCcampus, or email eLearning support to arrange a meeting with one of our instructional designers (desupport@camosun.ca).

Calls, Expressions of Interest, Reviews

 

Setting up Special Access in a D2L Quiz

Wondering how to provide specific students with extra time to write a quiz?  Wanting to open a quiz again for one student?  This tutorial will cover the steps involved with setting up Special Access options in a quiz for a student requiring accommodations. Included are considerations to keep in mind when setting up the quiz, depending on the kind of accommodation required by the student. For further information, please contact desupport@camosun.ca for assistance.

Steps

  1. Go to the Quizzes tool in your course.
  2. Open and existing quiz, or click on the New Quiz button to create a new quiz.
  3. Click the Restrictions tab.

    Click Restrictions

  4. Set any general restrictions required for the quiz (due date, start and end dates, timing, etc.). Make sure to click Save before the next step (adding users to Special Access) otherwise your other restrictions will NOT be saved. Then, to set up Special Access restrictions for a student or group of students, scroll down to Advanced Availability.

    Select the appropriate Type of Access: Allow selected users with special access to this quiz, allows you to add specific settings for specific students, while leaving the quiz open with its “normal” settings for the rest of your class. Allow only users with special access to see this quiz, means that the quiz is closed to all your students EXCEPT for those you add to the Special Access.

    Once you have selected the Type of Access, Click Add Users to Special Access to begin.

    Under Advanced Availability, select Type of Access, click Add Users to Special Access.

  5. On the Special Access Properties page, you can:

    – Give selected students a different due, start, and/or end date for the quiz.
    – Assign special time limits, grace periods, etc. NOTE: to enforce a time limit on an exam, click Enforced Time limit, and make sure Auto-Submit Attempt is selected.

    Select the students who need this special access, then click Add Special Access.

    Select due date, adjust Timing, select students, click Add Special Access.

  6. You will now see the student’s name and their special access settings at the bottom of the Restrictions page. Now you can finish editing your quiz, and click Save and Close.

    Click Save and Close

Things to Remember

Specific accommodation considerations Special Access WON’T help with:

  • Students requiring spellcheck to be on (you will likely need to set up a separate quiz to accommodate for exams with long answer questions if you want to keep spellcheck off for other students).
  • Student requiring larger font for their questions as well as for question textboxes (i.e., for answering Long Answer questions).

 

eLearning Workshops Week of May 27th

And now, here is a list of the workshops we are offering next week.  You can register for these, and all our workshops, at https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/B7KYD8P  If you have any questions, email me, Emily, at schudele@camosun.ca.

Lansdowne Workshops

Getting Started with Readspeaker/TextAid in D2L: Thursday, May 30, 2:00-4:00pm, Lansdowne, Ewing 100

  • ReadSpeaker offers text-to-speech solutions for websites, online course materials, e-books and digital documents. In this session, we will introduce you to the collection of ReadSpeaker tools we now have available within D2L courses and show you how you and your students can use and access these tools.

Getting Started with ePortfolio in D2L: Friday, May 31, 10:00am-12:00pm, Lansdowne, Ewing 110

  • Looking for options for your students to collect and share documents, assessments, presentations, etc. with other students and faculty across their Program? Come find out how ePortfolio in D2L might support you!

Interurban Workshops

Exploring Different Ways to Use Rubrics: Thursday, May 30, 10:00-11:30am, LACC235

  • Come learn how you can streamline your assessment strategy, communicate expectations and feedback for your learners while also building in quality assurance measures and cutting down on manual marking. Various examples, lessons learned and planning tips will be shared. Participants will have the opportunity to build or refine a rubric.

 

Creating a Checklist in D2L

The Checklist is a neat little tool in D2L which you can use to create a list of tasks (for a Module, for a Week, for a Course) that students can check off as they complete them.  This tutorial will cover the steps involved in creating a Checklist for your students, and for integration into the Content tool.

Steps

  1. Go to your course homepage, and click Edit Course.Click Edit Course
  2. Click Checklist.

    Click Checklist

  3. Click New Checklist.

    Click New Checklist

  4. Give your Checklist a Name, add a Description if you like. Select Open this checklist in a new window when viewed – this will allow students to have the Checklist open as they complete tasks in the course. Click Save.

    Give your checklist a name, select Open this checklist in a new window when viewed, and click Save

  5. Now you can add tasks (items) to your Checklist. Scroll down, and click New Item to get started.

    Click New Item to create items for your checklist

  6. Select a Category for your item using the Category drop-down, or create a New Category for it by clicking on New Category. Items MUST be in a category!

    Select or Create a category for your Item

  7. Give your item a Name, and a Due Date if you like. Then click on Save. Click on Save and New if you would like to create another New item.

    Give your item a name and due date (if needed) and click Save

  8. Continue adding Items until your Checklist is completed. Click Save and Close.

    Click Save and Close

  9. Preview your Checklist by clicking on the drop-down menu (down arrow) next to the Checklist’s title and selecting Preview in a new window.

    Preview your Checklist

Things to Remember

Once you have created your Checklists, you can either add the Checklist tool link to your Navbar or My Tools drop-down menu, or link to it in Content using Add Existing Activities (see the Adding Links to Activities in Content tutorial for more information).

You can also Reorder your Checklists or Delete them by clicking on the More Actions button in the Checklists tool.

Top 10 Things for Faculty to Know about Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

What is Blackboard Collaborate Ultra?

Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (BBCU) is a synchronous classroom tool, which means that faculty now have an online tool with audio, video, chat, and whiteboard/desktop sharing capabilities to support their teaching in real-time. BBCU integrates with D2L, which means you can link students to your BBCU room and sessions from inside your D2L course. You can, however, also use BBCU without D2L by creating sessions and emailing session links to participants. To use BBCU outside of D2L, you will need to arrange to have an account created by contacting Bob Preston at prestonb@camosun.ca.

Talk to eLearning before Starting!

Because Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is a complex tool, we recommend you either attend a BBCU workshop or make an appointment with an instructional designer in eLearning prior to setting up and using BBCU in or outside of your D2L course site. Tutorials will be available in the On-Demand Training site, but they have been designed as reminders rather than as first-step learning tools. You will find contact phone numbers and emails on page 2!

Top 10 questions about Blackboard Collaborate Ultra

Where do I find BBCU in D2L?

BBCU is an External Learning Tool in D2L, meaning that you can add a link to it in the Content tool (using Add Existing Activity) or in any tool which has access to the HTML editor (using the Quicklink option).

Can my students use BBCU in D2L?

If you create a BBCU room with active sessions, your students can enter those sessions while they are open. You do not need to be in the session with your students, but you will need to consider if your students need Moderator, Presenter, or Participant access to the sessions by selecting the appropriate Guest Access for them. We have developed tutorials to support you with this.

Can I use BBCU without having to use D2L?

Yes. You need to contact Bob Preston (see above) to arrange for an account.

What do my students and I need to use BBCU?

You will need a computer with an internet connection and a browser, or a mobile device with an internet connection and either a browser or the Blackboard Collaborate app. In addition, you will need speakers and a microphone (preferably a headset if you are using your own personal device), as well as a camera/webcam, although a camera is not mandatory. BBCU has an audio/video setup wizard you can run when you enter a session, and you should advise your students to come into the session early to check their audio (and video if they are using it) to ensure they are ready when the session begins.

The more participants in the session, the more we recommend considering either disabling the ability for participants to use their cameras, or advising them to turn them off when they enter the session.

What if someone doesn’t have a camera or a microphone?

Participants can also utilize the text chat in the BBCU session, which means you or a co-facilitator should be moderating the chat to ensure you don’t miss any questions.

How many people can be in a BBCU session at once?

In theory, up to 500, but we would advise considering how much engagement you will be requiring of the students, and if you have a co-facilitator on hand to support you with a large group of virtual students, and less if you want a lot of engagement (although you can use breakout rooms to accommodate small group work). If you do not need your students to be visible, we recommend you consider either asking them to disable their cameras (and to mute their microphones when not speaking) or disabling their cameras (and microphones if necessary) when setting up the session.

If your students access a session set up in D2L, you will be able to see their names within the session. If you are creating a session outside of D2L, students will have to add their names as they enter, so you may want to remind them to do this so you know who all is there!

Can I have multiple sessions in BBCU?

Yes. You have one BBCU Room in a D2L course, but you can create multiple Sessions within that room.

Can students show presentations in BBCU?

Yes. You can change the role of a Participant to a Presenter (or even to a Moderator) at any point during a session. As a Presenter, a student can share files in the main BBCU area.

Can I create a recording of my BBCU sessions?

Yes. You can create a video recording of your BBCU sessions which you can watch from a link, or download (if you have enabled recording download when creating the session) and edit, and then upload to Kaltura for embedding in your D2L course site.

Where can my students and I get help with BBCU?

You and your students can get help with BBCU from eLearning. Contact desupport@camosun.ca to arrange for a consult with an instructional designer to get you started, or for technical support when you are in a BBCU session

Resetting Quiz Attempts – D2L Tutorial

Has one of your students accidentally started and/or submitted a quiz?  Are they unable to check their email because an unsubmitted quiz has blocked the email tool for them?  You can help by deleting their quiz attempt so they can start over, and this post will show you how.

For further information, please contact desupport@camosun.ca for assistance.

Steps

  1. Go to the Quizzes tool in your course.
  2. Click the arrow next to the title of the quiz you wish to grade, and select Grade.Select Grade
  3. Click the select box for the attempt you want to delete, and click the trashcan.Select the quiz and click the trashcan
  4. Click Yes in the Confirmation pop-up box.Click Yes
  5. Click Save and Close (this is VERY important when you need to update a published grade in the gradebook if the student has made MULTIPLE attempts).Click Save and Close

Things to Remember

If you delete an attempt (and have clicked on the Save and Close button in the Grade Quiz area) AFTER the quiz grade has been published to the gradebook, the grade in the gradebook should automatically update.

NOTE that the student’s grade will NOT be updated in the gradebook if you deleted the only attempt a student had made. In this case, you will need to go to the Grades tool and reset the student’s grade manually. When the student re-submits the quiz, that grade will automatically populate the gradebook.