Tag: Discussions

What’s New in D2L?

July 26, 2023 /

D2L is a cloud-based learning management system that updates each month with new features and improvements.  This page summarizes these monthly improvements to keep instructors up-to-date and provide information to improve course content.

November, 2023

Announcements

D2L implemented the ability to copy announcements to other courses.

Copy Announcements in D2L to other courses.

September, 2023

Synchronous Quiz

Instructors can facilitate quizzes where learners take their attempts simultaneously, which is convenient for in-class sessions.

When setting up the D2L Quiz, under Timing and Display, select Time Limits, then Synchronous.

Students will take their quizzes in-class, either in a computer lab or using their laptops. When students begin taking the quiz, they will all receive a pop up message telling them when the quiz will begin.

Synchronous Pop Up Quiz

Virtual Assistant Introduced

A contextual help tool is now integrated into D2L. Students and instructors can ask help questions anywhere in D2L.

D2L Virtual Assistant

August, 2023

Announcements

When an instructor creates an announcement in their D2L course, that they want to stay at the top of their announcement list, there is now an option to “in it to the top”.

D2L announcement and pinning it to the top.

July, 2023

Quizzes

  • Students:
    • Students can elect to Hide the Timer when taking a quiz. This may reduce anxiety during quiz taking.
    • Warning are displayed at certain times to support awareness of time left.
      • 1 minute remaining on quiz.
      • 5 minutes remaining on quiz (only on quizzes with 10 minutes or longer time limit)
      • Half of the elapsed time (only on quizzes with 20 minutes or longer quiz time limit)
    • Submission View has been changed to Quiz Results Page. After students submits a quiz, they will see the Quiz Results Page.
The Quiz Results page shows learners the status of their quiz and their score.
The Quiz Results page shows learners the status of their quiz and their score.
  • Students can now see information about the quiz, while they are taking the quiz.
Quiz Information option on the quiz page to view instructions and other information. This does not leave the quiz.
Quiz Information option on the quiz page to view instructions and other information. This does not leave the quiz.

April, 2023

Discussions

  • Discussions have been improved to look similar to Assignments and Quizzes.
Example of New Discussion Look and Feel
Example of New Discussion Look and Feel

Quizzes

  • Previously, when a student accidentally exited a quiz, there was not a dialog or warning.
  • Students are now shown a context-based confirmation dialog message.
  • Students now see one of the following:
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with no time limit, no end date, or a time limit that expires before the end date.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with no time limit, no end date, or a time limit that expires before the end date.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with a time limit and no end date.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes with an end date, no time limit, or an end date that will arrive before the time limit expires.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past.
The Exit Quiz confirmation dialog for quizzes that have an end date in the past.

February, 2023

Quizzes

  • Instructors can now add quiz availability dates to the Calendar tool in the Availability Dates & Conditions menu in the new quiz creation experience.
  • Instructors can select the Add availability dates to Calendar checkbox when creating a quiz to add quiz availability dates to their Calendar.
  • Previously, only the Due Date was automatically added to the D2L Calendar.
  • Instructor have more options now on how many questions are presented to students; all questions displayed together, 1 question per page, 5 questions per page, 10 questions per page, or add page break after each section of questions.

January, 2023

Equation Editor

  • The Equation Editor has been improved with better rendering features.
  • When creating assignments, discussions and quiz questions, within any textbox, instructors can insert equations.
Example of inserting an equation into D2L
Example of inserting an equation into D2L
Example of inserting an equation into D2L
Example of inserting an equation into D2L

December, 2022

Assignments

  • Under Available Dates and Restrictions, Instructors can choose what students see of the assignment before submission using the visible with access restriction feature. See it in Action

November, 2022

Media Library Update

  • The new Media Library (assess is wheel icon next to profile name in D2L) now has a record video/audio option.
  • Videos uploaded to the Media Library or video/audio recorded by instructors can be used in multiple courses.
  • An example would be a welcome video recorded by an instructor and easily placed in various courses.

October, 2022

Pulse Mobile App

  • To help improve the flexibility of push notification, users will be able to choose which push notifications they receive. Previously, it was not possible to limit or control push notifications.

ReadSpeaker Text to Speech Technology

  • This option is now available in Discussions.

September, 2022

Assignments

  • Instructors who teach multiple courses can now copy assignments to other courses. To copy assignments, select the down arrow next to the assignment name and select “Copy to Other Courses”.

Quizzes

  • “No Time Limit” is now a quiz timing option and has become the default time setting (previously default was 120 minutes). If a time limit is desired, instructors must manually select the desired time.

August, 2022

Display Personal Pronouns

Grading

  • When evaluating student assignments using D2L’s annotation feature, instructor can now use the new undo/redo button. Previously, the only way to remove the annotation was to use the eraser tool.

Media Library Updates

  • Early updates shown below provide information on the new streaming Media Library.
  • Under Insert Stuff, the Media Library is now an option. This allows instructors to upload video in multiple places in D2L.

Quizzes

  • Instructors now have the ability to restore a quiz they may have deleted in error.
  • Under Quizzes > More Actions > There is now a restore option.

May, 2022

Video/Audio and the New Media Library

  • Under the advanced editing option on any video uploaded to D2L, there is now an optimize for streaming button.
D2L Streaming Media

Pulse Mobile App

  • Brightspace Pulse users can now use @mention push notifications. Originally, @mentions came through the LMS but were only visible if the user opened Pulse and viewed their Subscriptions tab under Notifications. Now, the new functionality sends a push notification to the user when they are @mentioned.
  • Updates and subscriptions in the Pulse App are now aligned to show the same items as the Alert Bell in D2L.

April, 2022

Intelligent Agents

  • The Create Agent page has a new modernized user interface.
  • Subject line of intelligent agent emails now supports 128 characters.

March, 2022

Announcements

  • Course announcements now have a copy feature.

New Media Library

  • A streaming media library is now available for D2L courses. New videos posted to a D2L course will be placed in this streaming media library. Videos previous uploaded to D2L will not be automatically transferred to this new media library, so instructors will have to manually transfer.

Workflow improvements for Media

  • When creating new video and audio, instructors no longer must wait for the uploaded media file to process. While the media file remains unavailable during processing, instructors can navigate away to work on other tasks. When processing is complete, instructor will be notified.

February, 2022

Content – Print and Download Buttons

  • The Print and Download buttons are now better positioned when viewing content within a module.
Print and Download
Print and Download

January, 2022

Video/Audio and New Media Library

What improved?

  • Table of Contents: Instructors can apply meaningful segments to larger videos.
  • Audio Generated Closed Caption: Instructors can select language, with the ability to edit.
  • Video Editing: Minor video editing is available – Seek, Mark and Cut.

How to implement?

  • Within a module in your course, select Upload/Create, then Video and Audio.
  • Video will take a few minutes to process after uploading.
  • Select Advance Settings after the video uploads to gain access to these new features.
  • See Full Directions (SSC uses Classic Content).

Dual Delivery Student Engagement – Strategies and Examples

October 21, 2021 /

Welcome to the Dual Delivery Student Engagement Strategy and Examples blog.  The Teaching and Learning staff at South Suburban College will provide strategies and examples to assist faculty in teaching in a dual delivery format. Check back often for updates as we plan to add creative and innovative strategies throughout the term.

What is Dual Delivery at South Suburban College?

A dual delivery class provides for both limited in-person seating and virtual students attending via D2L virtual classroom. Students must choose their preferred delivery mode section when registering. Virtual students are expected to be available at the scheduled class and lab times.

What do the Virtual Students Experience?

Remember, the virtual student can only see a small portion of the physical classroom, usually the instructor and white board.  The instructor can also share their screen as they showcase a PowerPoint presentation, website, or a variety of course content.  But if in-class students are talking and participating in the class discussion, the virtual students may only be able to hear audio (unless the instructor moves the camera).  These are considerations to keep in mind when designing your course in D2L or guiding in-class discussions.

Strategy and Example #1 – Incorporate Weekly Online Discussion Forums

The Set-up

  • To encourage student engagement with your virtual students, create an online discussion forum with a topic you plan to discuss in-class.  This allows your virtual students to feel like they have another option to participate and be heard.
  • To encourage building community with both in-class and virtual students, make it a requirement that both sets of students respond to the weekly online discussion forum.
  • Name each weekly discussion forum Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, etc., so that the discussion forums can be easily identified.
  • To encourage participation, provide feedback and grading by giving the weekly online discussion forum a point value, i.e., make it worth their time.
  • Let students know that their online discussion forum post may be brought up during class time.
  • See: How to Create Discussions Forums in D2L

How to Implement

  • Prior to your in-class time, read the online discussion forums and take note of interesting comments by both in-class and virtual students.
  • During your class time, call on two students who had interesting comments in the online discussion forums or that you would like to clarify specifics of their posts.
  • When students respond during class time, have them mentioned their name first.  This allows the virtual students to make a connection to the in-class student.  The virtual student may not see those in-class students, but they may have read their online discussion forum posts.

See it In Action – Examples

“ I use the out-of-class posts to guide in-class discussions”.
Dr. Jay Howard, reprint from the Teaching Professor Newsletter
(December 2016)

  • Dr. Jay Howard is a professor of sociology and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University and author of the book Discussion in the College Classroom – Getting your Students Engaged and Participating in Person and Online.
  • Dr. Howard uses this strategy for his traditional face-to-face courses.
  • According to a Reprint from the Teaching Professor Newsletter, Dr. Howard has found advantages to this strategy:
    • Encourages class-wide participation.
    • Students who might experience anxiety of being called upon in-class, may feel better organizing their thoughts in an online discussion forum first, then clarifying their thoughts in-class.
    • Since students know their online discussion forum posts may be brought up in-class, this encourages them to provide reflective posts.
    • Motivates students to complete readings required that week.  Students can be assigned to provide a quote from a reading in the online discussion forum or post something that raises a question.
    • Since Dr. Howard is reading the online discussion forums prior to class, he can determine where students may be struggling and if more in-class discussion is required.
    • On that same note, he can also determine if students are on track and he can now focus on other areas of discussion.

Resources:


Contributions?

  • Are you teaching a dual delivery course and would like to provide a helpful strategy?  Email:  ssonline@ssc.edu.

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