November 15

Some Highlights of the November 28th MR3 Update

Just a few highlights from the update. Some are new features, others are fixes to issues experienced by on-campus users.

– HTML Accessibility Checker. (new feature)

  • An accessibility checker is now available within the HTML Editor for use within Content, Widgets, Quizzes, Assignments, Calendar, and any other tools where an instructor or student can access the HTML Editor.
  • The accessibility checker is available on the HTML Editor bar. After you add content to the HTML Editor, you can click the checker to ensure that the HTML page conforms to WCAG and Section 508 accessibility standards.
    • location of the new accessibility checker in the D2L WYSIWYG editor

– Assignment folders available as release conditions again! (fix)

  • This is a fix. Since the last update it has not been possible to use any of the Assignment folder conditions as a release condition. With this release this bug has been squashed!

– Long Answer (LA) question renamed Written Response (WR) (change)

  • The Long Answer (LA) question type (Quizzes, Surveys) has a new name: Written Response (WR). Nothing about the functionality of the question type has changed.

– THE ICONS ARE BACK!!! (update)

  • Previously, icons displayed in Content to help users distinguish between content file types (for example, an icon for a video topic or an icon for a discussion topic). Now, icons reflecting the Daylight look and feel are re-introduced in Content. These icons are visible in the main Table of Contents view, the Module Content view, and the Table of Contents fly-out menu when viewing a topic or activity.
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– Quizzes – shuffle question order at quiz level (new feature)

  • To discourage cheating in quizzes, instructors can now shuffle the order of all questions in quizzes or specific groups of questions (sections) in quizzes. For example, an instructor could shuffle questions 1-10 in a quiz, or shuffle questions 3-10 (grouping those questions into a section) and retain the order of questions 1-2 at the start of the quiz.
  • When editing a quiz in the Quizzes tool, a new option to Shuffle order of questions at the quiz level displays in the Quiz Questions section. When creating a new section to group specific questions in a quiz, a new option to Shuffle order of questions in this section is visible in the Display Options section.
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  • Once the shuffle option is selected, a shuffle icon appears next to each affected question in the quiz.
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– Hide Assignment folders (new feature)

  • Instructors can now set the visibility state for draft content within assignment submission folders in Content and Assignments. When content is in a draft state, it is not visible to learners in Brightspace Learning Environment.
  • When instructors have set the visibility to draft, the hidden icon appears in the instructor view of the assignment.

 

The full release notes: MR3 Release Notes and Fixed Issues (PDF)

Category: Product Watch, Professional Development, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 5

Recap of MOQI Webinar Learning Objectives: What, Why, Where & How

What was updated in the post: Added Webinar Summary and Bloom’s Taxonomy Action Verbs handout (click Webinar Summary for document).

MOQI Webinar Logo

Awesome webinar provided yesterday through MOQI. Beth McMahon and Robin O’Callaghan presented on Learning Objectives over the lunch hour. Effective use of action-based facilitation, Beth designed the session to include a substantial amount of interaction which increased engagement and reduced the temptation to multi-task. It was great to see other SCSU representation at the event, Dr. Kate Mooney and Dr. Kristin Portz were also in attendance.

Webinar Summary:

What: Learning Objectives form the foundation of the course and provide students with your expectations of what needs to be done to meet the objectives. They also create a bridge to align course materials, instructional activities, and assessments.

Why: Learning objectives help both the student and instructor.

How: Use ABCDs of writing learning objectives when creating learning objectives.

Where: Put your learning objectives in a number of places throughout your course to help connect the dots for your students.

“Using learning objectives helps guide and direct students creating a state of expectations and avoiding leaving them in a state of wonder,” (Beth McMahon, 2017).

If you missed this webinar, don’t worry it will be offered again next semester.

Category: Course Design, Professional Development, Uncategorized | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 3

Reminder MOQI Webinar Tomorrow – Learning Objectives: What, Why, Where & How

MOQI Webinar Logo       Wednesday, October 4, 2017

MOQI Webinar: Learning Objectives: What, Why, Where & How

Well-written learning objectives establish the foundation upon which courses are designed and delivered.  They form the basis for the instructional materials and assessments that are included in the course. They serve as an implied contract between the instructor and student by defining what is to be taught and what is to be learned, so communicating these objectives clearly is a crucial step in assuring an effective learning experience.
This session will review best practices for creating and sharing measurable learning objectives in your online or blended course.
To Register: https://mnquality.eventbrite.com
When
 Wed Oct 4, 2017 12pm – 1pm Central Time
Where
 Online Webinar

 

Category: Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 5

Web Writing for Online Courses – Upcoming Webinar

Image credit: https://cceevents.umn.edu/minnesota-elearning-summit

This Thursday at 2 pm there will be another Best of the Summit Webinar Series webinar, Web Writing for Online Courses featuring Ann Fandrey, University of Minnesota Academic Technologist.

Have you heard the term write for scannability? What about, student’s don’t read online content, they skim it? While that may be true, how does that impact your online courses? What should you do when you are creating online content? If you have these questions, attend the webinar for information on writing for the web plus receive other handy instructional strategies.

Webinar Details

Thursday, September 7, 2017 2:00 pm CT

Session number: 281 467 896

Session password: MNLC@2017

Category: Course Design, Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 22

D2L for Students: Pulse App

Pulse App looks on a phone The basics: It keeps students on schedule.

Instructors: Use dates in D2L.

Both for Android and IOS platforms, ready for free download. It is built into the system so the students see courses they are enrolled in (that were requested by the instructor  to appear in D2L Brightspace Learning Environment).

Ease of use, student centered: Shows calendar, courses, notifications.

The app is color coded and students can filter through courses.

Notifications: updates e.g. new announcement, new content, new grade (students need to subscribe in the Learning Environment before they get notified in the app). Pulse app draws from courses but students can add their own notes.

Faculty can help by setting the dates in announcements, content, assignment folders (dropbox) and quizzes and displaying it in calendar. You go to restrictions to manage dates and whenever you specify a due (or end) date it will automatically feed into Pulse.

Category: D2L Tip of the Month, How Does It Work?, Online Teaching Pedagogy, Product Watch, Spotlight on Ed Tech | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 15

Technology for Teaching & Learning (T4TL) Showcase Today!

Faculty members, library staff, and our Academic Technologies Team staff will be presenting on specific educational technologies today from 1 pm until 3 pm in Voyageurs rooms in Atwood, as part of the Fall 2017 Convocation.

There will also be instructor workstations and help available.

Come and learn about Virtual Reality in the classroom, Syllabus Re-Design and Development, Open Educational Resources, Library D2L Widgets , D2L Awards Tool and Intelligent Agents, Adobe Connect and Media Space, among other topics.

We will continue to promote T4TL at other campus events in the future!

 

Category: Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 14

Intelligent Agents Tool in D2L Brightspace

A list of all tools under Course Admin i nD2L with Intelligent Agents circled

 

Intelligent Agents is a tool in D2L Brightspace that can increase instructor presence by sending pre-set, automated emails triggered by pre-set criteria.  I like to call it the Virtual Teaching Assistant as it helps with some administrative tasks, acting on your behalf.  You can see on the picture above where it is located under Course Admin. Below are the details about the tool, as well as how to set them up in D2L.

  • Automated Messaging System: Sends emails once pre-set criteria is evaluated for students.
  • Most common: log-in criteria or release conditions (e.g. no submission to a folder).
  • Notifies the course instructor about a potentially troubled student (providing additional background information, such as an unattempted quiz, a quiz grade or a task (in)completion).
  • Only the instructor sees this tool. When users are evaluated as true on the condition you have set, an email you have previously wrote is automatically sent. A personalized message with the ability to link to resources (remedial or reinforcing) leads to increased instructor presence and student satisfaction.

To set them up in D2L:

  1. Go to Course Admin, find the tool by name or in Communications category. Go to settings and Set custom values for this course (name that emails come from (your name) and put your preferred reply-to email). Save.
  2. Click on New.
  3. Name it, check it as enabled, set criteria (Course Activity log-in or Create and Attach a Release Condition (determine the Condition Type and Details from the dropdown menus)).
  4. Determine whether the Agent will act only once or set a schedule for running dates.
  5. Choose HTML as the Email Format. Copy-Paste the replace strings (To*: {InitiatingUser}; Email Subject: e.g. Reminder for {OrgUnitName}; start the email with, for example: Hello, {InitiatingUserFirstName}). Save and Close. Do a Practice Run, if you wish, to see identified users.

Category: D2L Tip of the Month, How Does It Work?, Online and Distance Education, Online Teaching Pedagogy | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 8

Short and Reusable Recordings

Our colleagues from the U of M presented at the Minnesota E-Learning Summit on using videos in your courses. The handout below summarizes their main points about creating engaging, relevant, sustainable videos. One interesting point they made is that students will rather watch several videos that make up 20 minutes total, than just one 20 minute long video. I guess the “binge watching” culture prevails. 🙂 The Reusable Relevant Recording Creating Engaging and Evergreen Course Content handout: granualr, modular, reusable, quality, aligned, engaging, short (video), sustainable

Category: How Does It Work?, Online and Distance Education, Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT
August 4

MN eLearning Summit Resources

Image credit: https://cceevents.umn.edu/minnesota-elearning-summit

 

After an excellent gathering at Normandale college, many presenters have shared their handouts or presentations (new tab).

One of my personal favorites was the presentation on accessibility or specifically how to accessify your digital instructional materials (opens in new tab) , by Sara Shoen and Ann Fandrey from the U of M. In addition to their presentation they also provide a handout with core skills to be addressed on the path to accessible documents, presentations, emails, website, and videos.

 

Category: Accessibility in Online Learning, Professional Development | LEAVE A COMMENT