Google Voice in D2L. Login to Google Voice

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1 Google Voice in D2L Voice is a free tool from Google that gives you one phone number capable or ringing any number of other phones. For example, you could setup Voice to automatically ring your office and mobile phones during the day and send callers straight to voice mail in the evening. We will be looking at a couple of my favorite features of the service in this tutorial - visual voice mail and the web widget - but there are plenty of other tutorials on the web that discuss some of Voice s other useful features. Here are a few posts that you may want to check out: An Introduction to Google Voice (ProfHacker) Google Teacher Academy Resources Let Google Voice Rock the Classroom In this tutorial I ll show you how to use Google Voice to add interactivity to your Desire2Learn quizzes. We will setup a question in a quiz where students would be able to provide an audio response to questions using their phone. We will also take a look at a quick way to include your own audio recordings in course content and quizzes by embedding messages from your Voice inbox. Login to Google Voice Head over to and sign in with your Google account. If you don't already have a Google account, click on the Create an Account button below the login form. Google Voice in D2L - 1

2 Choose your phone number Google Voice will give you a new phone number that you will use with the service. You can view available numbers by typing in your zip code or searching for a phrase. Select your number and click Continue. Chose your PIN You'll use a secret PIN to access your voice mail and place calls from telephones. Go ahead and choose your PIN now, agree to the terms of service, and click Continue. If you take the time to read the terms of service, we'll see you back here sometime tomorrow :-) Google Voice in D2L - 2

3 Provide a forwarding number Google Voice will forward incoming calls to a home, office, or mobile number. Go ahead and provide that number here. Click Continue. Verify your phone number You'll need to verify the phone that you listed in the last step. When you're ready, click on the Call me now button and provide the verification code when prompted. After verifying your phone, you'll be given the option to setup your voic . Feel free to do that if you'd like, however, we are going to skip that Google Voice in D2L - 3

4 step in this tutorial. Access your account settings Congratulations - you now have a Google Voice number! Now let's take a look at how you to embed a call widget in D2L so that students can post audio responses to assignments or quiz questions. Let's start by visiting your Voice settings - Settings > Voice settings Click on the Call Widgets tab Google Voice in D2L - 4

5 Create a new widget for the assignment Start off by clicking the Add a new Call Widget link at the bottom of the page. Provide a name for the new widget, then choose the option to send the received calls straight to voic . Next, click the Record New button to record a new greeting for this widget. Voice will call your phone and prompt you to record and save a new voic greeting for this widget. Make sure to include any necessary assignment instructions in the greeting. You'll probably want to emphasize that students clearly state their name, the section that they're enrolled in, and the assignment they are submitting along with any special instructions of your own. Google Voice in D2L - 5

6 Click Save when your are finished. Copy the embed code of the widget you just created Look for the Embed text box for the widget that you just created. You will need to select the entire block of text, then copy it to your clipboard by using the keyboard shortcut Control + C. Login to D2L and access the course in which you want to add the audio assignment You can embed the Voice widget anywhere in D2L where you have access to the HTML editor. This includes the news area, course content, quiz questions, discussion topics, etc. For this example let's create a topic in course content. Navigate to the course content area, then click the button to create a new topic. Next, choose the option to Create a New File. Google Voice in D2L - 6

7 Enter the title and parent module for the topic Once you've created the title, click on the HTML icon in the bottom left corner of the editor. Google Voice in D2L - 7

8 Paste your embed code in the HTML editor Use the keyboard shortcut Control + V to paste the embed code in the HTML editor. Make sure to place the code between the <body>... </body> tags if you see them in your editor. Click Save when finished. Google Voice in D2L - 8

9 Wrapping up Students will now see the Voice widget when they access the topic. Once they provide a phone number for the widget, they will receive a call from Voice to the number they specify. They will then be redirected to your voic where they can leave their response to the assignment. Their responses will appear in your inbox where you have the option to listen to them, download an MP3 of the recording, or view a text transcript of the message! Bonus - Use Google Voice to embed your own audio files into a course You have the option to embed any voic in your inbox the same way that you embed the call widget. You can use this to provide messages to your students, demonstrate correct pronunciation, and more. Simply call your Google Voice number and leave a message for yourself. Then, access the GV website and look for your message in the inbox. Clicking on the More link gives you access to the embed code for each piece of voic . Just copy that code and paste it in the D2L HTML editor as described in the steps above! Google Voice in D2L - 9