SCC LMS Blog

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2010-04-05T10:27:00.001-07:00

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Multi classes - viewing the gradebook by class section

2010-01-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are teaching Multi classes (more than one section combined into one D2L class site), you should be know that you can view the "Enter Grades" screen by class section if you don't want to see a list of all your students mixed together. This is extremely helpful, particularly when you are going to enter final grades at the end of the semester.

To view the Enter Grades screen by section:
1-Click on Grades in the Navbar
2-Make sure you are on the Enter Grades screen where it says "User List" at the top (you can choose it from the upper left "Grades Area" tab if you are on the Manage Grades "Grades List" screen instead)
3-Near the top of the page, you will see where it says "View By" and "User" will be selected. Change it to "Sections" and click apply.
4-A new selection box will appear, and you can choose the section there that you want to display, then click "Apply".

Presto -- your grades screen will now show only those students in that particular section. You can change this selection at any time.

Content Display Issue Resolved

2010-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

The content display issue that some users experienced on Monday, 1/18 was isolated to one particular server in the D2L server array and has been resolved.

Issue with D2L Content not displaying - 1/18

2010-01-18T16:04:00.001-08:00

We are experiencing an issue with the D2L "content server" not pulling up images, files, or document links that are internal to D2L. The result is that some areas of your course may produce a message saying "An unexpected error occurred" and you'll notice that the college logo does not appear in the navigation bar, among other errors. The error appears to be isolated to one of the 13 web servers that is used to connect to D2L, and the problem is being corrected. In the meantime, if you find you are experiencing the error, we recommend that you log out of D2L, clear your browser cache, close your browser, then re-open it and log in.

Are you up-to-date? At 2010 vs 2009?

2010-01-12T14:31:00.001-08:00

If you have copied a course from last year that uses Restrictions to set visibility dates, be sure to check your spring course for 2010 dates. Especially quizzes, dropbox folders and discussions.

Enrollment 2010 Spring

2010-01-12T14:27:00.000-08:00

You will notice that your D2L class enrollment has happened for Spring 2010.

Remember to manage enrollment (drop students) from the Online Grading System, not in D2L. Go to http://inside.losrios.edu

D2L Trouble Reported

2009-12-20T21:36:00.000-08:00

Monday, Dec 21 pre-dawn - Problems solved.

Sunday, Dec. 20th 11 am: Content server is not responding properly, downloading grades is not working and at 9 pm upload files is not working. Creating a new module or a folder in Manage Files is also not working.

Problems have been reported to DO-IT and D2L.

Respondus LockDown Browser - Problem 12/15

2009-12-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

FYI - ARC instructors reported students were having problems opening quizzes/exams requiring the Respondus LockDown Browser on Tuesday late afternoon to evening. As of Wednesday, the problem is no longer an issue. We finally got confirmation from Respondus that the problem was on their end. According to their email, the problems were from approximately 6:15pm Tuesday night until shortly after 1:00am Wednesday morning.

PeopleSoft Maintenance 12/18-12/21 - OGS & D2L

2009-12-15T09:32:00.000-08:00

Notice from DO-Information Technology:

The PeopleSoft HR/Student system will be down for Scheduled Maintenance from Friday, December 18, 11:30 PM through Monday, December 21, 7:00 am. In addition, all systems that draw data from PeopleSoft will not be updated during the down time. They will be up-to-date on Monday morning. This includes the Online Grading System (OGS), Desire2Learn, Remote Data Mart (RDM), Library, Access Card, and Sticker databases.

If you have any questions about this scheduled down time please contact the help desk @ 3012.

@ONE Training Opportunities

2009-11-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

Earn Flex Credit the @ONE Way: @ONE professional development is a State Chancellor's Office initiative focused on enhancing faculty effectiveness and inspiring students.

They offer many opportunities for online learning and participation in professional development - especially for faculty interested in using an online environment like Desire2Learn. Many of the SCC training activities are available throughout the semester but faculty get "turned on" to technology at various times. Please let your faculty know about the resources of @ONE.

January 2010 winter institute at Cosumnes River College http://onefortraining.org/institutes

Desktop seminars and other information
http://onefortraining.org/

Currently @ONE does not offer specific D2L training, but does offer training and resources covering familiar features: discussion boards, quizzes, grades and course planning.

Mac Snow Leapord - D2L Issues

2009-11-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

We've had a report that Apple's new operating system, Snow Leopard, is crashing the Respondus Lockdown Browser for D2L quizzes.

If you are using D2L Quizzes, requiring the Respondus Lockdown Browser, and know students are using the Macintosh OS, suggest they plan on taking quizzes from another computer (on campus) or delay their upgrade until the semester is over.

Spring 2010 Course Requests

2009-10-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Faculty Request Interface, FRI, has been updated with a link to your Spring 2010 courses. This means you can NOW make your course requests for the spring semester and the new course shells will be created overnight. Go to http://losrios.edu/ess (Employee Self Service).

The official course request is completed when you click the Submit Request button and see the confirmation that the course/s will be created overnight. Student enrollment will not happen until 5 days before the start of classes, or about January 12, 2010.

If you want to see or email enrolled or waitlisted students for spring, use the Online Grading System - http://inside.losrios.edu/.

Students in Safari 4 can't see linked content set to open in a new window

2009-10-16T13:37:00.000-07:00

Students attempting to view links that are set to open in a new page may experience problems viewing the linked content if they are using the Safari 4 browser with the default security settings. Below is an explanation of the problem and proposed solutions:

When clicking on a content link that is set to open the page in a new window (not inside the D2L frame) the default installation of Safari is set to block pop-up windows. This prevents the links from opening in a new window. The result is that the D2L screen appears to "blink" (as the page refreshes) but there is nothing in the D2L content frame and there is no new window displaying the linked web page.

At this point, we know of two solutions to this problem:

1) Access the Safari preferences, and on the Security tab, un-check the option to "block pop-up windows."

2) If the student does not want to un-check the option to block pop-up windows, they can force D2L to display the external link in a new window by clicking the "un-dock this page" icon located near the top of the empty (blank) D2L content frame after they initially clicked on the content link.

Internet Explorer 7 and the latest versions of Firefox do not appear to have this problem with the default security settings.

FERPA - Student Confidentiality

2009-10-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

There have been several instances this semester where student record information was inappropriately released to third parties by email or phone. We have developed the attached FERPA Guidelines for Faculty and Staff that provide specific information regarding the rules that apply to the release of student information. Copies will be distributed to all employees.

I would like to point out three important guidelines.

All requests for the release of student information (enrollment status, transcripts, etc.) should be channeled to my office for processing. This is the central location that houses all student requests to withhold the release of information.
In most cases, information should never be shared by phone – we have no way of identifying who we are speaking with. If you have a business need to release information to a student that is specific to their personal record, please contact me so that we can discuss ways in which we can ensure the security of their records in terms of establishing proper identification before releasing such information (student’s no longer live in the area).
Parents do not automatically have a right to their child’s educational records. Please defer all of these requests to my office for processing. Students must provide their parents with a written release, authorizing them access to their student records. These requests are also centrally located in my office.

Thank you for your cooperation!!

Catherine Fites
Dean, Enrollment and Student Services
Sacramento City College

Enrolling TAs

2009-10-06T14:53:00.001-07:00

Instructors can enroll Teaching Assistants (interns, IAs or student help) for Discussions or for Grading. There are two "roles" with different permissions. The TA Discuss is allowed to read and post to the discussion areas, the TA Grader can see the gradebook and not post in other areas of the course.

Enroll a TA using the Course Home Instructor Links Widget > Add Students by IDs which is a short cut to the Edit Course > Self Registration > Add Participant path.

Search for the TA by name, email or employee id number, click the checkbox to the left of the name, (ignore the section list presented) and click the Enroll button.

If your course has several SECTIONS combined into one D2L course, the TA roles will see what they have permission to see. The TA Grader can use the Grades link, then choose View by Sections > click Apply.

Sometimes I have enrolled someone in the class and in haste, enrolled them as "Student" instead of "TA Grader." From the Classlist link, find the name, click the checkbox to the left of the name and roll your mouse over the icons to find the Role Switch icon (looks like a tiny id card). Click and choose another role for this user. Do NOT switch roles for students who are taking your class for a grade!

Update on Turnitin & D2L Issues

2009-10-01T10:47:00.001-07:00

The TurnItIn hotfix from D2L installed successfully this morning. The update to D2L should prevent new submissions from getting stuck “In-Progress”. There are however, still some existing submissions stuck “In-Progress”. We are waiting for TurnItIn to make an update to their internal system that will resolve these. D2L is helping to coordinate this and they are pushing for this to happen today.

Dropbox - Reading assignments online

2009-09-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Many instructors have asked how to just view student assignments in the dropbox without collecting them and downloading. Dagne Tedla (Political Science) would not take my first answer as "the law of the land." So we experimented, and uploaded versions including a Word document, an RTF, PDF and a Text file. Seems that all these files really download although the TXT and PDF sometimes are viewable in the browser. We also tried using the Dropbox Comment field where students can leave a "note" with their submission. D2L requires a file to be added before the Comment is submitted. We did not test the word count limits for the comment box, but this was our preferred method for online viewing without downloading. Think of a creative way for students to have a small image file to always upload so they can add their assignment just as comments. Maybe a Google Image Search for a cartoon character that gives them confidence. Each time they submit a paper as comment, they will also upload the cartoon image. It will be important that student keep copies of their work as an MS Word document until the end of the semester.

We also tested the idea of using a Moderated Discussion Forum to collect assignments In this tool they will have the WYSIWYG editor for formatted text. But, students do not see their submission after the initial post to a moderated forum. So there is no confirmation of submitting the assignment as there is with the Dropbox. This technique will create more questions from students.

Breaking News from Folsom Lake College Web 2.0 workshop: Paula Haug (Communication, FLC) uses the Long Answer question type in Quizzes for students to submit assignments. They can type and format responses using the WYSIWYG editor or copy text from Word document to the answer box. Student work is always available online without downloading and instructor comments are left for individual students with a grade.

Hotfix to resolve some Turnitin issues as of 10/1

2009-09-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

D2L has notified Los Rios IT staff that they have a "hotfix" ready that should resolve a number of the bugs users have been experiencing with Turnitin plagiarism detection in D2L. This hotfix code will be loaded into the D2L server at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow, 10/1/09. This will not require system downtime. Users who continue to experience problems with Turnitin after this hotfix is implemented should contact the Los Rios District Help Desk at (916)568-3012 or lrohelp@losrios.edu.

Disaster Preparedness

2009-09-25T14:23:00.000-07:00

Profhacker's blog offered tips for "What to Do When Your Course Management System Goes Down" -- No, don't panic, I'm not predicting anything here. But the tips are worth considering for any problem ranging from local laptop issue to complete system failure. Other blog posts here are organized into categories marked in the Tag Cloud: collaboration, learning goals, mindfulness, paperless, pedagogy, time ... and more. Thanks to Jeff Karlsen (Library) for this URL.

"No College" list on My Home Page

2009-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Faculty are reporting some of their classes are listed under No College - Fall 2009 instead of Sacramento City College - Fall 2009.

We were told this is a glitch in the nightly enrollment update process that causes a class to be temporarily listed under No College. This will not affect your students ability to access your ACTIVE course, even while it is listed under No College. The problem should resolve itself within 24-48 hours.

NavBars - How to add links to Classlist or Dropbox

2009-08-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

This post is a tip on how to add links or how to remove links to resources you are not using in your D2L courses. The SCC template was adjusted to provide links to major areas. Many faculty are building course content with links to specific discussion boards, quizzes or dropbox folders. However, in developing a course, faculty need access to these links to create forums, folders and quizzes.

Goto Edit Course > NavBars > SCC brand NavShell link opens the Edit Navigation Bar page. The tabs and graphic reflect the 4 areas of the top of the screen. Your course NavBar is the BOTTOM LEFT and BOTTOM RIGHT.

Click the Bottom Left tab label to see the list of Inactive Links and the list of Current Active Links. Inbetween these boxes are two move buttons, move from inactive to active or move from active to inactive. The list of active links can be modified with the UP and DOWN buttons.

There is a Preview button to confirm your changes. Use the SAVE button once you are happy with the order of links.

If you are NOT using D2L tools, remove the links from your course NavBars to minimize student confusion.

Flex Workshops - Fall 2009

2009-08-11T16:12:00.001-07:00

Distance Education and Instructional Development will be presenting the following workshops:
Wednesday, August 19th

Desire2Learn Early Adopters Drop-In
10:30 am to 12 noon - LR 141
Adobe Acrobat
1:00 pm to 2:30 pm - LR 141
Get Ready, Get Set, Get D2L! Newbies Welcome!
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm - LR 105

Thursday, August 20th

Desire2Learn Roundtable — Learn from the Pros!
10:30 am - 12 noon - RS 269

D2L System Offline

2009-08-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

Planned system maintenance is scheduled for Wednesday, August 12th, from 7:30 am to 11 am. Minor updates with details to follow.

Textbook Rep Is Your Friend

2009-08-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

Recently we've been troubleshooting a textbook testbank problem for one of our instructors. Lo and behold, calling textbook Faculty Tech Support line was incredibly helpful. When all else fails or the struggle drones on and on ...

Suggestion #1) Call your textbook rep and ask for the tests to be converted to D2L format. They will process and give you the .ZIP files for uploading into D2L.

Suggestion #2) Go online to the pubisher site with the ISBN number for your textbook and download the Bb course file with the tests included. This file would be like the Bb Archive files imported into D2L, and you can choose to just use the test items.

Suggestion #3) Use the online site to create tests and download as Bb v6 or WebCT. These >ZIP files might import into D2L or import into Respondus. (Except that our publisher's export is currently broken and the package is not including all the required files so importing to D2L or Respondus will fail. This tidbit is only available if you call the tech support team, no notice was posted on the website.)

Keep the textbook Tech Support number handy – and call them ASAP when you have problems with their content and materials or web site. They have resources, staff and time to do the conversions for you.

Add Email Link, Subject and Body

2009-07-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

This is an HTML code snipet that you can copy and paste into any D2L content item or news item. You will need to be in the CODE view to paste and then edit to personalize for your course and use. Change the email address to be your email (campus or other account), then edit the text for the subjectline and body. Students need to be using their home/work computer where an email client (Outlook, Mail, Eudora) will open automatically filling in these fields. If students are using campus computers, give them details on how to address the message to you - they will use copy and paste into the appropriate fields.

<a title="" href="mailto:YOUREMAIL@scc.losrios.edu?subject=Email is --so 1990's&body=Grandma still does email :-)">Send me message now</a>
Send email to YOUREMAIL@scc.losrios.edu
Subject: Email is --so 1990's
Message begins: Grandma still does email :-)