D2L v.10 New Feature Guide for Instructors
D2L v.10 New Feature Guide for Instructors
UW System D2L Site
This document is targeted for instructors and highlights the changes in appearance, as well as step-bystep documentation for new features as a result of the upgrade to D2L version 10.0.
Contents
User Interface Changes ................................................................................................................................. 1
Notifications for Instructors .......................................................................................................................... 3
Enable Notifications .................................................................................................................................. 3
Subscribe to Discussions ........................................................................................................................... 3
Chatter Alerts ............................................................................................................................................ 5
“Must Post First” Option in Discussions ....................................................................................................... 5
Withhold Dropbox Feedback ........................................................................................................................ 6
Entering Feedback and Scores .................................................................................................................. 6
Publishing Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 8
Grades Tool Updates..................................................................................................................................... 8
Updates for Students .................................................................................................................................. 11
Some of the contents in this document were adapted from the “Learning Suite 10 Features Guide”
published by Desire2Learn in April 2012.
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User Interface Changes
•
•
A two-column layout on the My Home and Course Home pages instead of three columns.
A new top minibar that follows the users wherever they go in the system providing access to the
following from every screen:
• a list of courses so users can switch between courses without having to return to My
Home.
• discussion, dropbox, or quiz alerts (if the user elects to subscribe to receive these
alerts).
• account settings and profile information (formerly located within the My Settings
widget on the course home page).
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Notifications for Instructors
Instructors can now elect to have alerts sent to them via email indicating when a new discussion post
has been made. Instructors can select which discussion topics they subscribe to, how often to receive
email notifications (i.e., daily or instantly), and the email address to which the notifications are sent.
Enable Notifications
Before a user can subscribe to discussions, email notifications must be enabled for the user’s account.
1. Select Notifications from the Minibar dropdown menu.
2. Under the Contact Methods section, click the Enable email notifications link.
3. You can either select the Use system email option, which is your campus email address, or you
can select Use custom email and enter a different email address.
4. Click Save.
NOTE: You can return to this page at any time and change your email notification preferences.
Subscribe to Discussions
For each discussion topic in each of a user’s courses, users can elect to receive email notification alerts.
For example, an instructor may want to receive an instant email alert whenever a student posts to the
“Raise your hand” discussion topic. Instructors may also decide to subscribe to a discussion topic for a
specific period of time; for example, an instructor who is traveling may want to receive email alerts
when students post in that week’s discussion assignment since s/he will have limited D2L access. In any
case, it is not recommended to subscribe to all discussions for an entire course due to the excessive
email volume that will follow.
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1. Go to Discussions and click on the gray star icon to the left of the topic(s) you wish to subscribe
to.
2. In the Customize Notifications window, specify whether you want to receive an email
immediately after a post is made (select Send me an instant notification) or whether you want
to receive an email once per day with a list of all posts that were made for the day (select
Include in my summary of activity).
3. Click the Subscribe button.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 to subscribe to other discussions.
NOTE: You can manage all discussion subscriptions by clicking the Subscriptions tab from the
main Discussions page.
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Chatter Alerts
Users will also see a real-time notification within D2L whenever a discussion post has been made via the
Chatter Alerts tool on the Minibar. When a new post has been made in a discussion that has been set up
to receive notifications, the user will see a red dot in the Chatter Alerts area.
The user can then click on the alert to see who made the post, in what course, and in what discussion
topic. The user can click on the individual alert to go directly to the discussion.
“Must Post First” Option in Discussions
A new option in Discussions now enables instructors to enforce students to post their opinion first
before reading others’ posts. This encourages original thought without influence from other existing
messages. Users can now have access to a topic but they must post a new message prior to having
access to other classmates’ posts. With this option students can access a topic, but on first access will
only be able to post a new message. Only after they have posted will they be able to read and reply to
other messages posted to the topic by other students. To enable this feature on a discussion topic, you
can either create a new discussion topic or edit an existing topic. From the Edit Topic screen, follow
these steps:
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1. On the Properties tab and under the Options heading, check the A user must compose a
message before participating in the topic checkbox.
2. Click the Save button.
Withhold Dropbox Feedback
In previous versions of D2L, as soon as feedback was entered and saved into the Dropbox it was
immediately released for students to view. In this version, instructors can now enter feedback in the
Dropbox but withhold it from students until they are ready to publish it for all students simultaneously.
Entering Feedback and Scores
1. Go to Dropbox and click on the folder you wish to begin grading.
2. Click the Grade and Leave Feedback link to the right of the student you wish to grade.
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3. Provide student grade and feedback information by typing in the Feedback area, adding a file,
and/or recording audio. You can also enter a Score in the appropriate field if the Dropbox is
associated with a grade item.
4. Click the Save Draft button when you are done.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each student when you are ready to enter their score and
feedback.
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Publishing Feedback
1. When you are ready to publish the feedback for all students to view, go to Dropbox and click on
the folder you wish to release.
2. Select the checkbox to the left of the students who have feedback you wish to publish.
NOTE: If a student has feedback, the Grade and Leave Feedback link will now read Draft Saved.
HINT: If you want to select all students, select the checkbox above the list of students to the left
of the Download link.
3. Scroll to the top or bottom of the page and click the Publish Feedback link.
4. Select Yes when you are prompted with the Confirmation message.
5. Once the feedback is published, the Grade and Leave Feedback link will read Grade and
Feedback Published.
NOTE: If your list of dropbox submissions extends to multiple pages, you’ll need to repeat these
steps on the other pages.
Grades Tool Updates
There are a number of changes to the Grades tool, both in aesthetics and functionality.
1. The main course navigation bar is no longer available at the top of the page when the instructor
is in the Grades tool. The tool was removed to create more real estate on the page for managing
large gradebooks. Instructors can’t move to other tools in the course but can return to the
Course Home page by clicking on the course from the course dropdown menu on the Minibar.
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2. Instructors can now view Grade and Feedback details in both the Grades tool and in the tool
where the item was originally graded (i.e., Dropbox, Quizzes, or Discussions). When a Grade
Item is linked to an assessment in D2L, an icon appears in the Grades list that the instructor can
click on to view the assessment details.
i.
Go to Grades
ii.
Click the View Student Submission icon in the Grades List.
iii.
A new window will open with assessment details for that student linking back to either
the Dropbox, Discussion, or Quiz.
Example of a Quiz Submission
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3. Instructors can now export to an .xlsx file instead of just a .csv file. Files must still be imported to
the Grades tool as .csv.
4. In previous versions of D2L, the Grade All button allowed an instructor to assign the same grade
to all students. In D2L version 10, the Grade All button now opens up a Grade item so an
instructor can grade individuals. To assign the same grade to all or a group of students, the
instructor can follow these steps:
i.
Dropdown the menu on the Grade Item you wish to open.
ii.
Select Grade All
iii.
In the Grade Item, select the checkbox to the left of the students you wish to assign the
same grade to (or you can check the box at the top of the list to select all).
Adams, John
Brady, Greg
Chaplin, Charlie
Driver, Donald
Frost, Robert
iv.
v.
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Click the Grade link.
A new Grade Selected box will open. Assign the grade you want to give everyone. Click
the Save button.
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Updates for Students
We have documentation on the upgrade available specifically for students but wanted to make you
aware of some of the updates that will encounter:
1. Students can dismiss News items by clicking the “x” in the right corner of the News item. Once a
News item has been dismissed, a student will not see any updates that are made to the News
item.
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2. Students can subscribe to notifications for discussions in the same manner that instructors do.
They also can receive notifications when a new News item is posted, an existing News item is
updated, a Grade Item is released, a Grade Item is updated, and also a two-day reminder for
upcoming Dropbox and Quiz deadlines.
3. Students will also see real-time notifications via the Chatter Alerts tool, if enabled. Students
cannot, however, access alerts if they are in the middle of a Quiz attempt and the alerts are
disabled as part of the Quiz settings. In addition, students who subscribe to other alerts will see
those appear in the Update Alerts tool, also on the Minibar.
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