BASIC DESIRE2LEARN COURSETOOLS: CREATINGYOUR PAPERLESS CLASSROOM This job aid is a tutorial that will take you through the steps necessary to implement the basic level uses of Desire2Learn (D2L), BCIT s Learning Management System. This job aid is for: full-time and part-time studies instructors and course developers those who want to create paperless classrooms or enhance their existing face-to-face course with digital resources
Educational Technologies at BCIT Congratulations! You ve decided to do your part to support BCIT s greening initiative by working towards a paperless classroom. This job aid is your first step. It will help you with the basic web-based tools necessary to: eliminate paper handouts, readings and resources eliminate paper assignment distribution eliminate paper assignment submission enable digital feedback and grading enable digital/archived announcements, reminders and updates By following the simple steps in this guide, you will be well on your way to achieving the goal of a paperless classroom. Before you get started assumptions and prerequisites 1. This job aid assumes you ve made the decision to enhance your face-to-face delivery with some basic web-based resources, such as online handouts, announcements, calendar reminders, or an assignment dropbox. 2. This job aid covers the basic tools and features of Desire2Learn (D2L), BCIT s enterprise Learning Management System, from a designer point of view. Before starting to develop your web-based resources, please ensure you have logged in to D2L and completed the Guided Tour, so that you are familiar with the interface and navigation as your students will see it. You will find a link to the Guided Tour under your My Courses listing after logging in to D2L. To access D2L 1. Go to http://learn.bcit.ca. 2. Enter your mybcit ID and password. Need help or more information? If you have any problems, contact the Ed Tech User Helpdesk at 604-412-7444 (option 1), or by e-mail at techhelp@bcit.ca, or drop in to Distributed Learning Services in SE-12, Room 101. 2
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools Table of Contents Getting started access to your D2L shell...4 To request a course shell:...4 If you need administrative help:...4 Making decisions...4 Your course homepage...5 Editing links to course tools on the NavBar...5 Working with the News widget...5 Working with the Calendar and Events widgets...7 Course content handouts and resources...9 Setting up your modules...9 Loading content...10 Links...13 Adding URL Links...13 Dropbox...14 Setting up a Dropbox folder...14 Setting release conditions...16 Term start tasks...17 Step 1 Copy content to your new, empty course shell...17 Step 2 Set up access to your D2L instance through mybcit...18 Additional resources when you are ready to do more...19 3
Educational Technologies at BCIT Getting started access to your D2L shell Before you can do anything, you need to: 1. Get a Desire2Learn course shell set up for your course. 2. Ensure you have Instructor/Designer level access to your shell. To request a course shell: 1. Contact your Program Assistant and ask to have your Course and Course Reference Number (CRN) flagged as Desire2Learn delivery in Banner. 2. Your Program Assistant will also need to ensure you are attached to that CRN as the instructor. If you need administrative help: If your Program Assistant doesn t know how to do this for you, or you don t have one: Distributed Learning Services staff are available to assist Monday Friday 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 604-412-7444 (option 1) or by e-mail at techhelp@bcit.ca. Making decisions You may not want to use all the features of D2L outlined in this job aid. Feel free to pick and choose from the tools and functionality listed here, and to contact the Learning and Teaching Centre should you want to explore the many features and tools that are not covered. At the very least, you should focus on the following: Homepage information and instructions: Course News Calendar and Events Course navigation Content digital file distribution In addition, a logical next step for most instructors is: Dropbox digital assignment distribution, submission and grading This job aid covers the very basic uses of D2L outlined above. There are many other tools and features you can access as you become a more advanced user. Job aids, workshops and one-on-one training/support are available from the Learning and Teaching Centre (LTC) see page 19. 4
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools Your course homepage Your course homepage is the first thing your students will see each time they log in. Links to your course tools are located here, in the NavBar (Course Navigation Bar), as are other resources (called widgets) you can place on the homepage. Widgets provide additional functionality. Your new course shell will be set up with the following default links and widgets. Links in the course NavBar: Home Content Discussions Dropbox Quizzes Widgets on the homepage: News Calendar & Events Updates BCIT Copyright Design/Administration Editing links to course tools on the NavBar You may want to add additional tools to the course NavBar, or remove some of the default tools. 1. In the Design/Administration widget, select the Tools link. This is where you activate or deactivate the tools and functionality of Desire2Learn for your course. 2. In the following example, you can see that Classlist is enabled (green checkmark), but Competencies is disabled (red X). 3. To enable tools, first select the tools you want to enable by clicking in the box to the left of the tool name, like this... 4. Then enable them by clicking the green checkmark at the top of the page. 5. Click Save to save your changes. 6. The same process is used to deactivate a tool; use the red X instead. 7. The next time you load your course or refresh the page, the NavBar will be updated. Working with the News widget The News widget is referred to as the most valuable piece of real estate in the course, as it s located front and centre each time your students log in. This is a very powerful communication tool which allows you to leave messages, instructions, and reminders for your students. News postings can be programmed to appear and disappear on specific dates and can include attachments, graphics/media, and quicklinks to other elements of the course. 5
Educational Technologies at BCIT Add a News item 1. Your News widget will start empty, like this: 2. To add a News item, click the green + icon. The New Item screen appears. 3. You must enter something in the fields with the red asterisks, Headline and Content. 4. Click in the large message composition/edit window to compose your message. You will be familiar with the formatting features, as they are standard Windows conventions. 5. Hover your mouse over an icon if you want to see its purpose. There are two types of formatting features (tabs) to explore Basic and Advanced. 6. One feature unique to D2L that you might want to explore is Quicklinks: This tool allows you to insert a link to any other element of the course or an external URL. See page 12 for step-by-step instructions on adding quicklinks. 7. As a best-practice guideline, the first news your students see might look like this: 6
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools A well-constructed News item will be short and to the point, and provide instructions and directions. It will also answer the What do I do now/next type of questions students are always wondering about. Notice the Click here link. This is a quicklink to the Course Outline, which is a PDF document stored in the File Manager of the course. The use of quicklinks depends on having other elements to link to, so all the features may not be usable during your first attempt. 8. The Availability section of the New Item screen enables you to schedule when you want this News item to automatically appear and be removed. Automatic removal will only happen when the End Date checkbox is ticked. 9. You can also attach files to News items using the Attachments feature. This is handy for late additions to the course that you want to ensure your students see. 10. Click Save to save the News item, or Save and New to save it and open a new entry window to create another News item. Edit or delete News items As the course instructor/designer, you can edit or delete any of your News items by clicking the appropriate icons the pencil to edit and the trashcan to delete. These are D2L standards you will come across throughout the system. Working with the Calendar and Events widgets The Calendar and Events widgets work together. Any public postings you make to the Calendar will be brought forward to the Events under the headings of Today, Tomorrow, or Upcoming. These tools provide a quick and effective way of keeping your students on task and reminding them about due dates. You can attach files and quicklinks to the Calendar, just as you did with News items. Add a Calendar event 1. In the Calendar, click the date you want to make an entry for. 2. You will see a menu across the top that gives you access to the editing features. 3. Click the New Event icon. 4. This interface is quite intuitive and similar to other calendars you may have used. The one area that may differ is the Event Access section at the bottom. This calendar is public for those in your course, but postings can also be private. Event Access is how you control this function. 7
Educational Technologies at BCIT 5. First you need to select who sees this posting (Event Type). In this example: a. Sample Sandbox is the name of the course. By selecting this, everyone in your course will see your posting. This is the most common selection. b. BCIT If you have access at this level and select this, everyone at BCIT will see your posting in their D2L calendars. c. Personal means only you see the posting, unless you Share with other users and then specify who by clicking Add Users and selecting them from your class list. 6. Click Save to save this posting, or click Save and New to save it and open a new entry window to create another posting. 8
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools Course content handouts and resources Any digital file you want to distribute through D2L will be uploaded into your D2L course instance. The file will reside on the D2L server and be linked to from within the course Table of Contents. Clicking the Content link in the NavBar takes you to the Table of Contents (TOC) for your course. This is where: you attach links to digital files you attach links to other elements of the course (e.g., assignments) your students access the course content You can organize this area by creating a structure with headings and subheadings D2L calls these modules. Under these modules you place links to any form of digital content you like D2L calls these topics. Topics can include: HTML pages PDF files Images Videos Setting up your modules Multimedia objects Proprietary files such as Word, Excel, CAD, etc. Links to websites Links to other elements of the course, such as assignments 1. From the homepage, click the Content link in the NavBar. 2. The designer interface for managing content appears. 3. To add organizational structure, you want to add modules and submodules. 4. Modules are just headings and subheadings, but the names you choose should align with some type of course flow logic. For example: Week 1, Week 2 etc. Topic A, Topic B etc. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, etc. 5. Click the New Module icon. 6. Enter a title in the Title field. 7. Skip the Short Title field, as you don t need a short title. 9
Educational Technologies at BCIT 8. The following are optional elements: a. Parent module If you have already created a parent module, you can make this a subheading under the parent module. b. Restrictions tab You can add release restrictions to control when this module is available to your students. c. Comments tab You can add comments for your own reference, as the instructor or designer of the course. 9. Once you have entered the information you need, click Save, or 10. Save and New (to go back to the New Module screen to create an additional module). 11. While you can easily move files around at any point, it is recommended that you set up your modules before you start to load content. Loading content Before you add content it s recommended you create your structure. See Setting up your modules above, to create your structure. 1. To begin adding course content, click the Content link in the NavBar. 2. The same designer screen you used when setting up your modules appears, except that now you will see your structure. In the example below, we have already created the organizational structure for our content: two modules called Module 1 and Module 2. 10
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools 3. Anything you add to the Table of Contents is called a topic. Topics can be digital files, web links, or links to other elements of the course (e.g., assignment dropbox). 4. To add an item of digital content, click the New Topic icon. 5. You will be given four options: Create New File Course File Upload New File, and Quicklink The simplest method is Upload New File, which allows you to upload and add the file at the same time. This is the one covered in this job aid. Upload a new file 1. Click Upload New File. You are adding content, specifically a New Topic. You will see this screen: 2. Choose a Parent Module this is the module in your Table of Contents you want this file to appear under. 3. Enter a title this is the wording you want to appear as a link in your Table of Contents. 4. Click Browse to search for the file to be uploaded. You are able to search your own computer and network drives for your files. 5. You also can select Choose Destination to specify a folder in your course s File Manager (within D2L), but only if you have set these up already which you have not done in this tutorial. 6. You can also set automated release conditions using the Restrictions tab. This will control when each link appears and disappears from your Table of Contents. 7. Click Save, or Save and New (to repeat). The file then uploads to the specified folder and is added to the TOC. If you want to work with the File Manager (to upload, unzip, move, or rename files, etc.), click the Manage Files link in the menu to the left of the screen. 11
Educational Technologies at BCIT Add a quicklink (Give this a try once you have added a Dropbox assignment, so you have something to link to.) To add links to external websites or other elements of your Desire2Learn course: 1. Select the Content link in the NavBar, then click the New Topic icon and select Quicklink. Choose the Parent Module you want this file to be added to. 2. You must give your page a title. This title will appear as the link in the TOC. 3. You now have two options: i. Type in the URL to the external website you want to add to the TOC, or ii. Click the Quicklink icon to add a link to some other element of your course. (NOTE: You won t be able to do this until you have added other elements such as assignments, discussions, quizzes, etc.) 4. If you click the Quicklink icon: i. You will see the following screen that will expand according to the choices you make: ii. The Category dropdown menu will give you a list of all the tools in D2L that are available to link to: iii. After you pick the tool you want to link to, D2L will inventory your course and provide you with a list of the specific elements within your course that use that tool. This is why you would add these links after you create the other elements you need something to link to before you can link to it. iv. Click Insert to add this link. 5. Specify whether you want this web page to open in a new window (best practice recommends that you select this option). 12
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools Links The Links tool provides a series of references in the form of external URL links. Links can be organized by categories and annotated with descriptions (a best practice so your students know why you are suggesting these resources). When your students click the Links tool, they will see the following screen (as an example): Adding URL links 1. From the homepage, click the Links tool in the NavBar. 2. Click the New Link icon 3. Choose a category from the dropdown menu, or create a new category. You must have at least one category. 4. Enter a title for this link. 5. Enter the URL or click the Quicklink icon to add a link to another element of your course. See Add a quicklink on page 12 for the steps to add a quicklink. 6. Best practice recommends that all links appear in a new window. 7. Type a description of this resource. Best practice suggests you explain why this is an important site or what your students should be looking for. 8. Click Save or Save and New to add an additional link. 13
Educational Technologies at BCIT Dropbox The Dropbox is a tool that enables your students to submit digital files (such as assignments) for you to retrieve, but it does more if you wish: You can set up folders, one for each assignment or dropbox activity. Folders can be tied to the Gradebook so that the grades you enter through the Dropbox are automatically posted to the Gradebook. Folders can include file attachments and/or details of the assignment, so the folder can also be the assignment distribution method. Folders can have release criteria applied to them so that you can control when the folder is available to your students. Access and cut-off dates/times can be programmed ahead of time. Folders can be for individuals or for groups of students working on a group assignment. Folders can be grouped within categories if you wish. For example, a trades program that uses one D2L instance for the whole program might use Dropbox categories to define assignments for each level in the program. Folders can be quicklinked from your Table of Contents, News items, Calendar entries or anywhere else in the course. You can set submission options that include: single submission, overwrite, multiple files, or retained archives. You can use the dropbox simply to retrieve submitted assignments (or any digital file), or as a means for grading and providing feedback to students. All submissions, feedback, and grading activity are archived with the course. Setting up a Dropbox folder 1. Click the Dropbox tool in the NavBar and then the New Folder icon. The New Folder screen appears (see next page). 2. Enter the name of the folder (the name of the assignment, for example) in the Name field. 3. All folders default to Individual submission folder. If you have used the Groups tool to set up groups, you can assign a dropbox to a group. 4. Assign a Category for this folder, or create a new one. (Optional) 5. Assign a Grade item (a column in the Gradebook) or create a new one. (Optional) 6. Enter the maximum marks for this assignment in the Out Of field. (Optional) 7. Enter any assignment details or custom instructions you want to support the use of the folder. This is an HTML editor just like elsewhere in D2L, so all the formatting options exist here once you click in the field, including the use of multimedia, external links, file attachments, and quicklinks, etc. 8. Attach files if you wish. These could be assignment details or required resources. 9. Set any Submission Options you want to use to control how files are submitted by students. 14
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools 15
Educational Technologies at BCIT Setting release conditions 1. After you have set up your Dropbox folder (see page 14), use the Restrictions tab to set release conditions: a. These can be as simple as start and end dates, or as complex as conditional releases based on the students activities in the course or performance criteria. b. An example of a conditional release is you may only want to allow students to see an assignment after they have completed a certain module or achieved a certain grade on a quiz. Use Additional Release Conditions for this purpose. Contact Distributed Learning Services (see page 2) for assistance in the use of additional release conditions. 2. Click Save. The page remains open to allow you to create an additional Dropbox folder. 16
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools Term start tasks Step 1 Copy content to your new, empty course shell NOTE: You will not have to perform this task for your first term using Desire2Learn, as you ve just created your first instance. This task is necessary for all subsequent delivery instances. D2L offers you a way to simply copy components from one of your past delivery instances into the new term s empty shell. You can always edit this new instance, but this procedure saves you from having to upload all your previously used content again assuming you want to use it. Before your course start date each term: 1. Go to your new, empty D2L shell. 2. Click the Import/Export/Copy Components link in the Design/Administration widget. 3. Select Copy Components from Another Org Unit. 4. Click Next. The Copy Course Components screen appears. 5. In the Copy the selected course components from section, select the course you want to copy from the list in the dropdown box. The list contains all the past delivery instances you have access to in all your past courses. 6. A screen listing all the components from the course you selected is then displayed. To copy everything, click the box next to Select All Components, or just select the specific components you want to add to your new delivery instance. 17
Educational Technologies at BCIT 7. Click Next to see a confirmation page showing you what will be copied into your new course shell. 8. If everything looks OK, click Next. You will see the progress as files and configuration settings are copied over. 9. When everything s finished, you will see a summary screen. To complete the process, click Done. 10. You will be taken back to the start, in case you want to copy components from another of your past delivery instances. If not, you are finished and your new course will include all the elements copied over from your selected course. Step 2 Set up access to your D2L instance through mybcit NOTE: This is a term-start task. You will need to perform it once per term for each course so that your students will be able to access your D2L resources through their mybcit accounts. 1. Log in to your mybcit account. 2. Click the Courses I m Teaching tab: 3. Click the edit icon to the left of the course you want to enable. This screen will appear: 18
Basic Desire2Learn Course Tools 4. Select the D2L option, then click Save Changes. 5. Now the course name link will take you and your students directly into your D2L course. Additional resources when you are ready to do more When you want to do more with Desire2Learn, or any other of BCIT s many educational technologies, the Learning and Teaching Centre offers scheduled training sessions, one-on-one orientation and training, educational technology consultations and advisory services, as well as instructional design support and services. We ll even build your online course for you if you wish. The Learning and Teaching Centre is just a call away: Instructional design assistance call your LTC School Liaison, or 604-432-8406 Educational technology support or training contact Distributed Learning Services (a service of the LTC): techhelp@bcit.ca 604-412-7444 option 1 Drop in to SE12, Room 101 (right under the Campus Café) 19
Educational Technologies at BCIT 2010 BCIT Learning and Teaching Centre British Columbia Institute of Technology Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ 3700 Willingdon Avenue, Burnaby BC V5G 3H2 Tel (604) 432-8927 Fax (604) 431-7267 http://www.bcit.ca/ltc