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eLearning Support

eLearning Support Center
Memorial 12

Office Hours
Monday-Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm After-Hours D2L Help (MnSCU)

Phone Numbers
Local: (218) 755-2007
Toll-Free: (888) 240-4759

How To

Classlist

View (Student) Progress

The View Progress tool on the Classlist page gives you access to a student's progress in the class. The View Progress tool is located in the right-most column (under "Actions") and looks like a circle made of small black and blue balls. To view a student's progress, click on the View Progress tool on the same row as the student's name. On the View Progress page for the student, you can use the dropdown to select the D2L tool (for example, Content, Discussions, Dropbox, Grades, etc.). If you change the tool, you will need to click the Apply button before the information for the new tool appears.

NOTE: The information under the Login Summary is for logins to the D2L system and not specifically for the selected course.

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Content

CONTENT: Saving Word and PowerPoint documents in the PDF format

We recommend that all Word documents not needed as a template for resubmission by students should be saved in the PDF format. This is also the recommendation for PowerPoints. [NOTE: This is a change from our previous recommendation to save in the web format.]

If your computer has Office 2007, you can download a Microsoft add-on that will allow you to save Word documents (and other Microsoft documents) as a PDF file.

Use the link below to access the add-on file:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=F1FC413C-6D89-4F15-991B-63B07BA5F2E5&displaylang=en

Once the program file has been downloaded to your computer, you can do a Save As for your completed Word or PowerPoint document. PDF should be one of the save options.

If you have any questions, you can contact Theresa Perreault at Computer Services.

NOTE: If you do not have Office 2007, you can obtain a copy of Adobe Acrobat Professional for this. The program can be purchased through Computer Services for around $57.

CONTENT: Students can't open Word or PowerPoint documents

PROBLEM
When students say that they cannot open Word or PowerPoint (PPT) documents, the cause of the problem is usually the pop-up blocker. Students who have this problem have a PC and are using Internet Explorer as their browser. Because you are using the true Word or PPT document (rather than the web version), when the students click on the topic name in Content, it activates the pop-up blocker. If they do not know that there is a cream-colored band at the top of their D2L page asking them to "Click here for options," they will not be able to access the document.

SOLUTION
The students need to click on the cream-colored band and then select "Download this File." This will take them back to the class homepage where they need to click on Content again and then on the name of the document. This will open up a box with the options "Open," "Save," or "Cancel." They can select "Open" to open the document on their computer or "Save" to save it to their computer. To get past the pop-up blocker problem, you can suggest that they use Firefox as their browser (it's a free program that they can download).

NOTE: We recommend that all Word documents not needed as a template for resubmission by students should be saved in the PDF format. This is also the recommendation for PowerPoints. Read "CONTENT: Saving Word and PowerPoint documents in the PDF format" above for more information on how to do this.

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Discussions

DISCUSSIONS: Using the STATISTICS feature to view students' activity in discussions

D2L provides a chart showing how many messages a student has read and how many he/she has posted. To access this feature:

  1. In Discussions, click the Statistics link. The chart will appear with information for all students.
  2. To view more detailed statistics for each user, click the desired name.

DISCUSSIONS: Viewing multiple student posts for a topic

To see more than one discussion post at a time, you can use the Print tool.

  1. Click the desired topic name.
  2. Select the posts you want to view by checking the checkboxes to the left of each post.
  3. Click the View Selected Messages as Printable icon. The selected posts will appear in the Printable View pop-up box.
  4. If you want to print the posts, click the Print button in the lower right corner.

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Dropbox

DROPBOX: You can't open a student's assignment in Word

Most likely this problem is caused by the file name. If the file name includes any of the following characters, there may be problems for you when you try to open the document: "&," "#," "@," "." (a period), and "," (a comma). If this is the case, you can tell the student to save the document with a new file name.

NOTE 1: The new file name should be short and simple. I recommend one or two key words, e.g., "research-paper". A space between words is OK, but I suggest using a hyphen or an underscore (_).

NOTE 2: Do not use characters such as "&," "#," "@," "." (a period), and "," (a comma) in the file name.

NOTE 3: You will want to make sure that the name you give the folder does not include any of the "problem" characters because students have a tendency to use that name for the file name of their assignment document.

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Grades

GRADEBOOK: Alphabetizing the gradebook list by the students' last name

The default order of students' names in the gradebook is alphabetical by each student's first name. To alphabetize the list by students' last name, click on the words Last Name at the top of the names column. This will change the order.

GRADEBOOK: Release final grades in D2L class (at end of each semester)

To release final grades at the conclusion of a semester:

  1. In Grades, find the Final Grades column (far right) and click the Enter Grades icon.
  2. Verify that all grades are correct.
  3. Do one of the following: Click Release All (at the top-middle of the Final Grades page). Or, select the Release Calculated Final Grade or Release Adjusted Final Grade checkbox for each user whose grades you want to release.
  4. Click Save.

Link to D2L Tutorial: GRADES: Releasing the Final Grade

GRADEBOOK: External copy of the gradebook (at end of each semester)

At the end of each semester, you will want to create an external copy of the D2L gradebook for each of your classes. This is particularly important with the upcoming purge of D2L classes. NOTE: The purge will cover all D2L semester-related classes from Spring 2006 back to Summer 2004.

Here are two basic ways to keep an external record of the D2L gradebook:

(1) PRINT: If the gradebook has relatively few grade items, you can print a copy. NOTE: You may want to use the "landscape" orientation to include more information.

(2) EXPORT: You can export the gradebook as a csv file (comma delimited). The csv file can be opened using Excel and saved as an Excel file, if you want.

Link to D2L Tutorial: GRADES: Exporting grades

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Quizzes

QUIZ RESULTS: Give students access to quiz questions and answers

  1. Click on the name of the quiz.
  2. Click on the Submission Views tab.
  3. Click on the words "Default View" to open up the options.
  4. Under "Show Questions," the default is set to "No." Change the setting to "Yes" and select any of the options available. This includes one of the radio buttons under the "Yes" and either or both of the options with a box in front of them.
  5. Click on the "Save View" button.

QUIZ RETAKE: Allow student to retake quiz by resetting (deleting) original attempt

  1. In Quizzes, locate the quiz and click on the Ruler icon to the right of the quiz name.
  2. Click on the underlined words "Display Options" (toward the top left of the page) to reveal the options.
  3. In the "Display Options" pop-up, select "Allow Reset" and click on Save.
  4. Find the student?s name. NOTE: If the quiz is "In Progress," you will need to change the "Restrict to:" search option to "All Users."
  5. Click in the box to the left of "attempt 1."
  6. Click on the trashcan icon at the top or bottom of the page.
  7. Click "Yes" in the Confirmation box. This will reset (delete) the original attempt and allow the student to retake the quiz.

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Role Switch

About the Role Switch Tool

The Role Switch tool, found on home page of each D2L course, allows you to view your course from another role such as a student. 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.

Using the Role Switch Tool
To do a Role Switch from your course homepage, locate the Role Switch box (left side of the homepage). Click the dropdown box that says My Default Role and select Student. Then click the Change Role button. Your D2L course will now reload and show you what the student sees when he/she is accessing your site. To return to the instructor view, click the dropdown box once again and select the My Default Role. Then click the Change Role button.

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Change start/end date

You have the ability to change the start and end dates of your classes in D2L. You can make these changes by doing the following:

  1. Go to the class.
  2. Click on Edit Course (top right corner, next to the Logout link).
  3. Click on the link to Course Offering Information.
  4. Use the dropdown tool to change any of the elements of the Start Date and/or the End Date.
  5. Click on the Save button.

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