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Help for D2L is available in a variety of
forms. There are descriptions of each D2L tool along with
online help documents (available via web, PDF, or Word).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). and brief Instructional
Videos. Then there is also Additional Information that is
useful to instructors beyond help materials for D2L Tools.
Browser
Check
Test your system settings to see if it is
compatible with D2L requirements.
Chat
Chat tools allow you and your students to communicate via text
while online at the same time. Using the D2L
Chat tool, students can hold private chats
with other students in the course or communicate on group
projects. You can also use the Chat to hold
online office hours.
Checklist
The
Checklist tool allows you to spell out the
steps of a specific process. Your students can then 'check
off' each step of the process as it is completed.
Classlist/Groups
The
Classlist provides you and your students with
a list of students currently enrolled in your course.
Groups can be created to arrange students in
your class and have different access to course tools.
Components
Using this tool you can copy
course content, course files, news, links, dropboxes, grade
books, quiz questions, quizzes, and surveys from one course to
the next.
Conditional Release
By setting release
conditions, you can direct students to complete certain
requirements before they can view specified tools and content.
Content
The Content
tool is the main delivery point of course content. Divided
into Modules and Topics, you may include content you have
created in D2L or instructional web pages. Access to documents
such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint; movie or audio files; and
links to the other tools within D2L can be placed here.
Course Home
Course Home is the entry page
for your specific course. It is the first page that your
students see when they enter the course. This page contains
the News tool and provides you and your
students with access to D2L's Schedule tool.
You may also change a variety of preferences or use the
Role Switch tool.
D2L
Email
D2L creates D2L email accounts for all
users. This account is different from an OWC email account.
Instructors of large classes may be interested in using
their D2L email account so that the large volume of mail
generated by a large class does not swamp their personal …@
nwfstatecollege.edu account.
D2L allows users to send and receive messages to/from
external, non-D2L email addresses. But to read messages sent
to a D2L email address, one must login to D2L and click on the
“D2L Email” link. It is not possible to automatically forward
D2L mail.
Discussions
The
Discussions tool can be used for online
discussions between you and your students or between groups of
students. After setting up a discussion Forum (major
categories), you can create individual topics within the forum
for discussion. Students can post messages in a 'threaded'
discussion. Students can also attach documents to their
messages making the Discussions tool is an
excellent place for students to work on group projects.
Dropbox
The
Dropbox tool is an electronic storage space
for documents submitted by your students. You can create
multiple folders for assignments that can be opened and/or
closed for submission based on specific dates and times. For
example, you have assigned the students to write a report on
their lab findings. The reports are due on Friday at 5:00 PM
and you will accept reports until midnight on Friday. You can
set the dropbox so, starting at 5:00 PM, students can submit
their assignment by 'uploading' the document to the dropbox.
The student's submission is date and time stamped. They are
not allowed to submit after the midnight deadline (unless you
specify that they can submit the document late). Dropboxes can
also be created that remain open for the entire semester for
regularly scheduled submissions.
After the midnight
deadline, you can review the documents, grade, and submit
comments to the student on their work. D2L informs the student
when you have looked at the document.
Edit Course
The Edit Course tool allows you
to change certain basic parameters of your course and to
modify the NavBar, Files,
and Content. You should consult with a D2L
consultant before changing the course Info, Tools, or
Components.
Generally, it is easier to use the  edit button
in the upper left-hand corner of the NavBar to modify the
NavBar and the Manage Files and Manage Content sections of the
Content tool to make changes to your course.
FAQs FAQs stands for
Frequently Asked Questions. The FAQ tool
allows you to collect and answer common questions that
students may have about the course or an individual topic.
FAQs can be clustered in categories or simply listed for the
student to read through.
Glossary
The
Glossary tool allows you to provide students
with terms or acronyms and their definitions. Students are
provided with an alphabetized listing of the terms that they
can access anywhere within D2L.
Grades
The
Grades tool allows you to establish an online
grade book. Items in the grade book can be tied to other D2L
tools such as the Dropbox and
Quizzes tools so that a grade entered in one
of these tools is automatically updated in the grade book.
Question items from the Quizzes tool such as
multiple-choice, true/false, matching, ordering, etc. can be
set to grade the items automatically and then update the grade
book.
Students can use the Grades
tool to check their grade at anytime during the course.
HTML Editor
The HTML
Editor allows you to change the information in a
course file using HTML tags or a word processing like editor.
Journal
The Journal tool
allows you and your students to create and save personal
journals.
Locker
The
Locker is an electronic storage area for you
and your students. You can 'upload' and 'download' files from
your home or office computer and use them in D2L or transfer
them from one computer to another. Your students can use this
space in a similar manner however, only the owner of the
locker can view its contents.
Manage Files
D2L saves a
variety of different Content pages as html
files within the D2L system. Manage Files
allows you to view, upload, or delete these files. In some
cases, you can even edit the files within the Manage
Files tool.
My Home
My Home is the main entry page
for D2L. It is the first page you and your students see after
signing in to D2L. Like the Course Home page,
this page contains a News section. However,
this News section is controlled by the D2L Support Staff and
is used for system announcements.
Also, like
Course Home, My Home
provides you and your students with access to D2L's
Schedule tool. You may also change a variety
of preferences or use the Role Switch tool.
NavBar
The
NavBar contains links to the various D2L
tools that you have defined. It is made up of the red and blue
lines at the top of the D2L page. Editing the
NavBar allows you to change the tools that
are accessible to your students.
News
Found
on the Course Home page,
News allows you to post messages to your
students so that they will see it when they first enter your
course page. These messages can be released or removed based
on a date and time.
Pager
The
Pager allows you and your students to 'page'
each other by sending a short text message. The next time that
the person being paged enters the course, the pager will flash
and beep that a message is waiting.
Preferences
The
Preferences tool allows you to change your
font settings, paging preferences, discussion room layout,
email preferences, and password.
Quizzes
The Quizzes
tool allows you to create a variety of assessments for your
students. While labeled 'Quizzes', this tool can be used for
exams, surveys, and/or homework assignments. The
Quizzes tool can be used to create the
following types of questions: multiple-choice, true/false,
arithmetic (including specifying ranges of numbers with
significant figures), fill-in-the-blank, multi-select,
matching, ordering, and long and short answers. Many of these
questions can be graded automatically and then automatically
entered into the Grades tool.
Quizzes can be released conditionally based
on date and time.
Role Switch
The Role Switch tool, found on
Course Home, allows you to view your course
from another role such as a student or TA. There is a
limitation to this tool. When in student mode, you will NOT be
able to view what a student would see in the
Quizzes and Grades tools.
Schedule
You and your
students have access to an online calendar through the
Schedule> tool. Available on the My
Home and My Course pages, the
Schedule tool allows you to set reminders of
important dates and activities. As an instructor, you can
create an event for yourself, or one that is added to every
student's schedule.
Self-Assessment
Similar
to the Quizzes tool, the
Self-Assessment tool allows you to create
assessment items such as multiple-choice, true/false,
arithmetic, fill-in-the-blank, multi-select, matching,
ordering, and long and short answers. The
Self-Assessment tool does not keep a record
of the student's response.
Survey
Similar to the
Quizzes tool, but you cannot connect a
Survey to the Grades tool
and it has less question response tracking capabilities than
Quizzes. If you need that kind of information
you must use the Quiz tool. Simply name the
Quiz as a Survey. The
Survey tool allows you to create assessment
items such as multiple-choice, true/false, arithmetic,
fill-in-the-blank, multi-select, matching, ordering, and long
and short answers. The Survey tool allows you
to keep a record of the student's response or makes the survey
anonymous.
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