January 31

Upcoming MOQI & SIG Free Webinars

If you have an hour to spare, some really awesome topics are being presented in Learning Spaces & Instructional Technology Special Interest Group (SIG) and Minnesota Online Quality Initiative (MOQI) webinars. It is very easy to register, so just try out one of the topics of your interest and I am sure you will be back for more. 🙂

Click here to browse the events and register.

Below you will see webinars happening this February. Plus, don’t forget, a one-day virtual conference STAR Symposium will be held on February 10,  2017 (Register here for STAR Symposium).

December 28

SIG Spring 2017 Free Webinars on D2L Brightspace & Teaching, Learning, and Technology

Just a reminder, the Special Interest Group: Learning Spaces and Instructional Technology (SIG) and Minnesota Online Quality Initiative (MOQI) webinars start in less than two weeks.  These are FREE and open to anyone.  Below you will find the scheduled webinars for spring semester. Tuesday’s webinars will focus in D2L Brightspace. Wednesday’s webinar will focus more on teaching, learning, and technology. Only Wednesday webinars will be recorded and can be found on the MOQI website three weeks after the session is held: https://minnesota.qualitymatters.org/video-resources/.

Click here to register for the sessions described below.

sig_spring2017

 

October 26

Setting The Tone In A Brightspace Course With QM Standard One

Photo credit: www.brightspace.com

Photo credit: www.brightspace.com

Yesterday at noon D2L hosted a webinar on using QM™ Standard One in your D2L Brightspace course to set the tone. Three instructional designers from University of Maryland College shared their experience and best practices.

The webinar team has provided a link for viewing the webcast at any time. Click here to access the recording!

October 24

The Write Place Resources

The Write Place at St. Cloud State has updated their resources website. Now it is easily found and easy to navigate.

I would recommend including the link to the Resources page on your D2L course website. Having your own “Helpful Resources” module in a D2L Brigthspace course or including helpful links in your “Start Here/Welcome/Course Information” module provides everything in one place for your students, which gives them more course time and reduces the number of questions/emails you would get as an instructor.

write-place-scsu

And don’t forget our Library Widgets!

September 22

D2L Brightspace eLearning Webinars

Mark your calendars! Every Tuesday, starting next week, D2L Brighspace experts and users will share their stories on various topics, ranging from accessibility, to gamifying your course, to Quality Matters.

Below is the list of upcoming webinars (click here to register):

  • Sep 27, 3:00 PM ET : York Technical College and Accessibility: The How and the Why of It
  • Oct 4, 3:00 PM ET : Jazzing Up Online Assessments
  • Oct 11, 3:00 PM ET : Maximizing Brightspace Tools to Create a Gamified Online Learning Environment
  • Oct 18, 3:00 PM ET : What’s Your Story(line)? Developing Engaging Learning Experiences by Extending the Content Tool
  • Oct 25, 1:00 PM ET : Setting The Tone In A Brightspace Course With QM Standard One

 

However, you can always explore past webinars as well, since there is pool of recorded webinars on D2L Brighspace Resources page.
d2l-resource-library
September 20

Inserting Media in D2L Brightspace’s HTML Editor

There are plenty of options when you work in your course to create a file and edit it in the HTML editor. When you go to a specific content module you have created in your course, for example Week 1 (under Materials > Content > “Week 1”) you get the Upload /Create button. By clicking on it you get several options, where the second option is commonly used to upload your syllabi or any other file, and then the third option is Create a File. Once you click on Create a file you get a window, as shown below,  that is the HTML editor with myriads of editing options that make it easy to work in right from D2l Brightspace. The first tool, called “Insert Stuff” (marked red on the picture below) is how you insert media to your new file. Further below is a list of inserting media options with descriptions.

html-editorInsert a media file from your computer

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Select a944_htmleditor_mycomputer My Computer to browse and select a file from your computer.
  3. After you select a file, click Choose Destination to select and create a storage location for the file.
  4. Click Upload.
  5. Click Insert.

Insert a media file from your course offering files

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Click a944_course_offering_file_icon.gif Course Offering Files to browse and select a file from your computer.
  3. Select your file from the file directory and click a946_upload Upload to upload a file to the directory. You can also select a file type from the Media Type drop-down list and click Apply to filter your directory search.
  4. After you choose a file, click Next.
  5. Type a Link Text and an Alternate Text.
  6. Click Insert.

Insert a media file from Learning Repository

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Click a946_lor_navbar_icon Learning Repository to browse available learning object repositories for objects and assets.
  3. Select your file from the repository and click Next.
  4. Enter a Link Text and an Alternate Text. If you text is decorative, you can select the This is decorative checkbox to avoid entering alternative text. Select Start playing automatically if you want your media file to play as soon as the content item opens.
  5. Click Insert.

Create and insert from My Media

Note: St. Cloud State D2L Brightspace has the My Media integration with Kaltura Mediaspace. Once you click on it, you are able to Add New Webcam Recording or Upload Media from your Mediaspace library.

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Click My Media. Click Add New > Webcam Recording.
  3. Click Allow if the Flash player prompts you to allow camera and microphone access.
  4. Click Record and record your video. Click Stop when you finish recording.
  5. You can click Play to preview your video notes.
  6. If you want to re-record, click Clear. If you are satisfied with your recording, click Next.
  7. Enter a Title and an Description of your videos.
  8. Click Next.
  9. You can preview the video notes before you insert it.
  10. Click Insert.

Insert a YouTube video

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Click a946_htmleditor_insertstuff_youtube YouTube to browse and select a video you want to insert.
  3. Click Next. You can preview the YouTube video from the YouTube Properties page.
  4. Click Insert.

Insert a URL link

  1. Click the a859_htmleditor_insert_stuff.jpg Insert Stuff icon.
  2. Click a946_htmleditor_insertstuff_insertlink Insert Link to insert the URL for an online media file.
  3. Enter the URL in the URL field and click Next.
  4. Click Insert.

Enter Embed Code

  1. Paste the embed code you have previously copied from your Mediaspace Kaltura.
  2. Click next then insert.

Films on Demand

  1. Click on Films on Demand and Search by Keyword
  2. Once you have found the movie you wanted, click Embed
  3. Finally, click Insert.
August 29

Smarthinking: Online Tutoring Service Renewed for Another Year at SCSU

Minnesota State System provides all the affiliated institutions with an online tutoring service called Smarthinking. It is readily available to all of our SCSU students and each student gets 15 hours free per semester. Once students log in to their D2L Brightspace home page, they can access Smarthinking in two ways. One, it is directly under Resources tab on the home page. The other way is to click on View and select a resource under Tutoring Services window, which lists all the on campus and online tutoring offerings.

To learn more about Smarthinking in general, click here.

Smarthinking on D2L

August 15

How to Import Final Grades from D2L to ISRS

Remember, faculty can easily import their D2L final grades into the IRSR (e-services) system. Click here to view the step-by-step explanation in the video/presentation.

Q: How can I set up my D2L Brightspace Grade Book to Enable Importing Final Grades from D2L into ISRS?

A: FAQ 1619 provides links to instructions for the proper set up in the D2L Brightspace Grade Book, and the steps for the import process in ISRS eServices Grade and LDA Entry.

FAQ 1619 link: https://d2l.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1619

Please address questions to d2l@stcloudstate.edu .

 

Screenshot credit: https://mnscu.webex.com/mnscu/lsr.php?RCID=b78ec2d464984cf1b0e700a8de61073c