Request D2L Sum09-Fa09 opens Apr 1st

Currently the Faculty Request Interface, FRI, for D2L classes only lists links for Spring 2009 and Fall 2008 classes. Oh, and development classes. You can request a development class anytime for any semester course, just remember that development courses will never have students.

The FRI should have links for both Summer and Fall 2009 semesters beginning April 1st (no joke). Request your “official” course so that your student roster will be automatically linked to your D2L course. Remember, this faculty-self-service is a big change from how Bb courses were created and enrolled. With D2L, faculty are at the center of the process.

From the SCC home page quicklinks you can access the request page, or follow this link:
https://ps.losrios.edu/psp/emp/LRSELFSERV/?cmd=login

Email from D2L

Use the Classlist to send email to students by marking the checkbox and click the Email icon in the toolbar above the list of names. Email is always addressed like w0000000@imail.com so you want hide the email addresses by cutting the email addresses from the TO box and move them to the BCC box. That way, students would only get one message addressed to them without all the other email addresses showing. If students use the Classlist to send email to other students they will see the iMail addresses.

D2L only shows the default iMail address – not the forwarding email address. So if you want to know what students have activated iMail or have set a forwarding address, you will need to look at the Online Grading System (http://inside.losrios.edu/scc) under the Contact Students tab.

If you see students who have not activated their iMail accounts, you can send a message from the OGS Contact tab. Here is what you might say:

How to set up iMail forwarding
The email address for all student users is their iMail address, which is their username @ imail.losrios.edu. Students who prefer to use another address can set up their iMail account to forward automatically to any email address. Greg Beyrer has outlined the steps to share with your students:

1. Log in to iMail
Note: iMail must first be "activated," but all that is needed is a student ID number and a birth date.
2. Click on the Preferences link on the left side of the page
3. The first choice on the preferences page is Forwarding your iMail
4. Pick a forwarding option and then click the button to Update Forwarding Preference

Showing students their quiz (submission views)

There have been some questions lately about how to release quiz questions (and the right and/or wrong answers) along with the score when students complete a quiz. The answer lies in two places: Quiz "properties" and "submission views." The SCC Digital Learning team has made a short video explaining the ins and outs of this process. You can find it at http://media.scc.losrios.edu/d2l/index.html - make sure you click on "D2L Training Library" then "Quizzes" followed by "Quiz Submission Views."

There are also some printed instructions at this site you can copy and paste for your students, telling them how to go back in and review their earlier quiz submissions.

Urgent: Time Change May Affect D2L

We've been told by D2L that time sensitive tasks (such as quizzes, dropbox assignments, etc.) could potentially be disrupted this weekend, depending on the deadlines you have set in D2L. Below is the text of their message--please keep this in mind and check your deadlines accordingly!
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Applies to: all versions of the Desire2Learn LE

Daylight Savings Time (DST) begins this weekend. In preparation for the change in time, we would like to make you aware of potential issues with quizzes during the change in time.

Please be aware you should monitor quizzes as there could potentially be problems with retrieving or accessing data that is date/time stamp dependent.

This affects:
· Quizzes with due dates set between , 8:00pm Saturday, March 7th ET and , 2:00 am Sunday, March 8th YOUR LOCAL TIME ZONE and/or
· Quizzes with time restrictions started prior to , 8:00 pm Saturday, March 7th ET and , 2:00 am Sunday, March 8th YOUR LOCAL TIME ZONE

Please ensure you adjust any scheduled tasks so that the no jobs will be missed due to the time shift.

Displaying Quiz Results to Students

Below is some information for students on how to access their quiz results (aka "Submission View" in D2L lingo).

I’ve also added a short video for faculty on how to release submission views, located at the D2L training site at http://media.scc.losrios.edu/d2l/index.html (go to D2L Training Library > Quizzes).

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Student Instructions for Seeing Quiz Submissions
(Make sure you have followed the instructions to RELEASE the submission view to students before providing them with these instructions.)


When Initially Taking the Quiz:
Take the quiz and click "Submit Quiz"

Once you have successfully submitted the quiz, the "submission view" is automatically displayed. This may include a customized message from your instructor, of simply the time and date of your quiz attempt, with a statement that reads "Your quiz has been submitted successfully."

If the instructor has set up your quiz to display the quiz questions (which could include correct/incorrect answers and scores) you will see this information as you scroll down through this window. If your overall score has been released, it will be located at the bottom of this window. Also, you may not have scores released for essay-type questions until they are manually graded by your instructor.


To See Quiz Information Later:
Click "Quizzes" in the D2L course navigation bar.

Click on the name of the quiz for which you want to see your results. You will see a summary page which shows basic information about the quiz, such as when it was available, and how much time was allowed.

Click on the "Submissions" link toward the top of the screen. This will display a link to your quiz attempt (such as "Attempt 1"). When you click on the quiz attempt, you will see the feedback for your quiz.

PDF content and D2L

Wendy Slobodnik (Work Experience) is reformatting her Blackboard course content as Microsoft Word files and then publishing them as Adobe Acrobat documents in the New Media Lab. The individual PDF files are merged into one document and embellished with hyperlinks to pages or websites. She is also saving the PDF in a Reader Enhanced version so students can use the free Adobe Reader to add comments (highlighting, sticky notes and arrows) to the pages. I've volunteered to prepare the Title V forms that Wendy will be adding to her course.