D2L Faculty Resources

Not just online, but all courses utilize a D2L course shell that is required, at a minimum, to include a course syllabus and maintain an active gradebook. The gradebook is required for record-keeping and data mining purposes for retention.

• Posting a Course Syllabus (PDF) - Watch a video demonstration
• Points Gradebook (PDF) - Watch a video demonstration
• Weighted Gradebook (PDF) - Watch a video demonstration

This section introduces the most commonly used D2L tools. Each tool link is a downloadable/printable PDF guide with a clickable table of contents menu and links to videos.

• Accommodations (PDF): Use this tool to add course-level quiz accommodations for students via the Classlist tool.
• Assignments (PDF): Students use the Assignments tool to upload and submit assignments, eliminating the need to mail, fax, or email their work. Instructors can view/download submissions, check for plagiarism (via Turnitin), associate rubrics, and return submissions with grades and feedback. Instructors can also restrict access to assignment submission folders by date and time, group membership, or special access permissions.
• Classlist (PDF): The Classlist tool lists all the enrolled students in a course. Apart from being able to see the last date and time a user accessed the course, the instructor can also check user progress, see who is online, and send a quick class or individual email.
• Content (PDF): This is the main area of the course where content is organized by modules and topics. Students can access all course materials, activities, and assessments from this one location. After creating a module, topics are added. A topic can simply be a file that you upload, a link to a web resource, or course assignments. You can even create later editable files using a friendly HTML editor right within a module.
• Copy Course Components (PDF): Accessible from the Course Admin link on navbar, the Import/Export/Copy Components tool is valuable for copying a whole course (or selected course components) from a previous semester shell.
• Course Merge Requests (PDF):  Merging courses is a way to combine two or more similar sections of a course. When courses are merged, all class lists are combined and there will only be one grade book. Course merges cannot be designed to create large sections out of multiple
  smaller sections of an online course. Nor should an instructor merge multiple sections of
  a face-to-face course that meets at different times. If a merge is not appropriate, courses with sections may be an option. Check out our CWS Flowchart.
• Course News (PDF): The course news section is available on the course homepage of every shell. The primary use of this tool is to post course-related announcements for students. Since this is located on the first page when students log in to the course, announcements draw attention and have a high impact. Creating a news item is very simple. You can customize the news item to appear and disappear on set dates and times, add attachments, or even add release conditions.

• Courses with Sections (CWS) (PDF): CWS combines two or more sections of courses delivered in the same modality into one D2L course shell that maintains student privacy by restricting the D2L classlist so students see only the users enrolled in their section. Check out our CWS Flowchart and CWS Benefits and Considerations to see if this option suits your courses.
• Discussions (PDF): Online discussions provide one of the best ways to promote engagement and collaboration in an online class. Forums are used to organize discussion topics into categories. At least one forum must be created before creating topics (the real discussion board).

• Grades (PDF): As an instructor, you can determine how to set up your grade book to best reflect your approach to evaluation, including the grading system and grade scheme that is most appropriate for your course.
• Question Library (PDF): The Question Library is a place where you can create and store all of the questions you want to use for quizzes, self-assessments, and surveys. As a best practice for storage, organization, and easy access, we recommend that you create all of your quiz questions using the Question Library.

• Quizzes (PDF): The Quizzes tool provides an easy and efficient way to administer online quizzes and tests. While many question types can be set for automatic grading, short and long-answer type questions can also be set and graded manually. Overall, the tool helps reduce grading time, enforces time-restricted quizzing, and can be set up with a multitude of options.  

This section lists other available tools used for evaluation, tracking, and communication.

• Awards (PDF): Awards can be created in your course to give students an indicator of when they have accomplished something in your course. 
• Attendance (PDF):  The Attendance tool can be used to create sessions and track the attendance of users using preset or custom schemes.
• Brightspace Template (PDF): Use this guide to find out how you may use the Brightspace Template to create engaging content and self-checks for learners.
• Checklist (PDF): Checklists can be set up to list tasks and due dates. Students can individually check off items on the list.
• Class Progress (PDF): The Class Progress helps monitor detailed progress for any or all users in the course.
• Dates and Calendar (PDF): Use this guide to understand the differences between due dates and availability dates, as well as how assessments and events may be added to the Calendar.
• Discover (PDF): This tool allows you to self-register for available training/resource courses.
• Groups (PDF): The Groups tool helps organize students into groups for a specific project or activity.
• Intelligent Agents (PDF): Intelligent agents (IAs) automatically scan the Learning Environment for user-defined criteria.
• Profile Personalization (PDF): This guide will help you personalize your D2L setting. This guide covers your Personal Profile, Course Notifications, and Account Settings.
• Release Conditions (PDF): Release conditions allow you to create a custom learning path through the materials in your course.
• Replace Strings (PDF): Replace Strings are used to look up a value and insert it in the email editor.
• Respondus Lockdown Browser (PDF): Respondus Lockdown Browser can be used to close down all communication outlets and internet browsers on a device during quizzes on D2L.
• Respondus Monitor (PDF): Respondus Monitor is a webcam feature for LockDown Browser that records students during online, non-proctored exams.
• Rubrics (PDF): Rubrics help promote student expectations by outlining grading criteria for major assignments.
• Self Assessments (PDF): Create formative assessments providing learners with questions and immediate feedback on their responses.
• Surveys (PDF): Create surveys to monitor current course trends, seek opinions, and assess user satisfaction.
• TurnItIn Peermark (PDF): PeerMark is a peer review assignment tool. Instructors can create and manage PeerMark assignments that allow students to read, review, and evaluate one or many papers submitted by their classmates.
• Video Note, Audio Note & Media Library (PDF): Video Note and Audio Note are quick tools to create brief (up to 30-minute) video and audio recordings directly in D2L. This guide includes directions for Media Library.

This section shares some cool tips and tricks as they relate to your use of D2L. Most of these are questions received by the Office of Distance Education enough times to make a resource and share with all.

• How do I self-register for a D2L training course?

• How can I most accurately view my course as a student?

• How do I provide another instructor with access to my course?

• How do I save my HTML syllabus to a PDF?

• How do I adopt course materials with the bookstore?
• How do I add VitalSource direct digital materials to my course shell?
  
  

• How do students view assignment feedback when using Turnitin's Feedback Studio?

• How do I create an introduction and post a video in Course News?

• How do I release final grades in D2L? (YouTube Video) - Please note: Due to a minor interface update, you will click the Enter Grades option instead of Grade All.

• Does D2L have a mobile app?