Archive of ‘technology’ category

D2L Document Viewing Issue

Per MnSCU System Office:

A few schools have reported a spinning “Loading” status when trying to view some documents in Content and in the Dropbox.  A temporary workaround is to click “Download” and view the document that way, rather than trying to view it from within Content or Dropbox. 

 If you are experiencing similar issues, please contact us.  

Further questions and inquiries? Please address to:

d2L@stcloudstate.edu

Follow us on Twitter: @scsutechinstruc #d2l

Follow the IMS blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims

CMS (Course Management System/Software) alternatives

Desire2Learn (D2L) is the MnSCU purchased commercial product of CMS.

Prior to D2L, MnSCU paid license to WebCT. WebCT merged with Blackboard, which at the moment is the largest CMS.

in the first decade of the 21st century, dozens of commercial CMS products appeared on the market, but they were gradually absorbed mostly by Blackboard (BB). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_Management_System

The advent of Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs and wikis offered viable alternative to the commercial CMS. Further, open source products such as Drupal and Sakai posed additional competition to commercial CRS.

Last but not least, with the advent of cloud computing, a new generation of products are competing with BB and D2L

Alternatives to D2L:
Moodle, Drupal, Sakai
Edmodo, Sophia (http://www.sophia.org/), Piazza, Prulu
http://www.quora.com/Who-are-competitors-or-other-services-similar-to-Edmodo

http://www.quora.com/E-learning/What-companies-are-Piazzas-direct-competition-in-the-edTech-space

http://wazmac.com/discussion/edmodo-v-schoology-v-moodle/

Mukurtu CMS (http://mukurtu.org) is a free and open source community archive platform and content management system built on Drupal 7

Google Classroom

D2L Known Issues Reminder:

D2L Known Issues Reminder:

We are entering spring semester 2014 with D2L version 10.1 SP13.  This is a reminder of some of the known issues that we are still experiencing.

These are by no means the only known issues we are dealing with, but they are particularly troublesome at the beginning of the semester when instructors are copying courses forward and editing their quizzes.

1.  Attempting to delete questions in a quiz or question collection produces an error and/or does not delete all of the questions selected for deletion.

Workaround is to attempt to delete only a few questions at a time.

2.  Cannot change the number of questions to be drawn from a random question set.

No workaround.  Only option is to create a new random set and enter the correct number of questions to draw from the set.

3.  Some surveys and checklists that are copied forward into a new course become un-editable or cannot be deleted.  Typically this will happen when there are start or end dates for the surveys and checklists and those dates are set to display on the calendar.

Workaround/Fix:  This issue requires a manual database fix by our SSA team.

Submit a ticket, including Course OU#,  name of survey or checklist (and name of checklist items).  Also, go to the specific survey or checklist, copy the URL and include it in the ticket–this will provide the item ID so it can be located and fixed in the database.

Further questions and inquiries? Please address to:

d2L@stcloudstate.edu

Follow us on Twitter: @scsutechinstruc #d2l

How BYOD Programs Can Fuel Inquiry Learning | Four Smart Ways to Use Cell Phones in Class. Backchanneling.

How BYOD Programs Can Fuel Inquiry Learning. Backchanneling.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/01/how-byod-programs-can-fuel-inquiry-learning/

creating a learner profile, a set of criteria the school district wanted students to learn while in school. That profile includes: seek knowledge and understanding; think critically and solve problems; listen, communicate, and interact effectively; exhibit strong personal qualities; and engage and compete in a global environment. The profile helps guide all approaches to learning in the district.

Kids already know how to use their devices, but they don’t know how to learn with their devices,” Clark said in an edWeb webinar. It’s the teacher’s role to help them discover how to connect to content, one another and learning with a device that they may have only used for texting and Facebook previously. “It’s about the kids being empowered in the classroom to make decisions about the ways that they are learning,”

Four Smart Ways to Use Cell Phones in Class

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/11/four-smart-ways-to-use-cell-phones-in-class/

IN-CLASS POLLING/QUIZZING.

IN-CLASS BACK-CHANNELINGBackchanneling refers to the use of networks & social media to maintain an online, real-time conversation alongside spoken remarks.

IN-CLASS READINGS AND HANDOUTS. Smartphones can also be used productively in the classroom as eReaders for books and handouts. You can place all student handouts into DropBox folders (see “Dropbox A Multi-Tool for Educators”).

ORGANIZING RESEARCH. 

Using Google Docs for backchanneling with students:

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/04/this-is-how-to-use-google-docs-to.html

10 ways to employ backchanneling in  classroom instruction.

  1. Poll students on a particular classroom event or on a decision regarding their learning
  2. Crowdsource feedback on learning activities and use this input to inform your future instructional strategies.
  3. Backchanneling empowers students voice and make them feel they are real participants in the knowledge building taking place in the class.
  4. Conduct informat assessments .
  5. Assess students prior knowledge about a given topic.
  6. Brainstorm ideas for a writing project.
  7. Encourage students to ask questions about anything they did not understand.
  8. Hold synchronous discussions of video content shared in class
  9. Organize real time discussions in class.
  10. Backchanneling is a good way to engage introverts and shy students in classroom conversations.

10 Major Mobile Learning Trends to Watch For

  1. Location-based integration.
  2. The domination of ebooks.
  3. Cloud computing in schools.
  4. Bring-your-own-device classrooms.
  5. Online collaborative learning
  6. The rise of the tablet.
  7. Online class management
  8. Social media for education.
  9. Snack learning.
  10. Mobile learning in workplace training.

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/07/10-major-mobile-learning-trends-to-watch-for/

Spring Semester Start–D2L Performance

Spring Semester Start–D2L Performance 

Our number one priority during spring semester start is system performance, which we will be monitoring closely. As always, we advise that faculty perform course copying and exporting/importing prior to the first week of classes.  If any system wide performance issues occur, we may need to ask users to avoid certain activities during high usage periods.

If you or your users need to report slow performance issues, please gather all relevant information and include it in the ticket.  It may be helpful to send this list of pertinent details to your faculty in advance, so they are aware of the information we need to replicate and diagnose issues to determine the source of the problem.

Please include this information when reporting D2L performance issues.

Name of person experiencing issue:

Date and time of issue:

Role: (student, teacher, admin)

Course: course OU#

Tool: (Discussion, Grades, etc.)

Steps Taken: (details so we can replicate, i.e., open discussion topic #2, click Post, get error, etc.)

Problem that occurs: (30 second wait, error, etc.)

Device:  (Mac laptop, Windows desktop computer, iPad tablet, Android phone)

Operating system: (Windows 7, Mac OS 10.6, etc.)

Location:  (Home, Campus, Public)

Hardwired or wireless:

Browser and version:

How many browser sessions and tabs were open?

How many other applications were open? (Word, Excel, etc.)

Any attempt to use a different browser, and if so, were the results the same?

Any attempt to try from a different computer, different location and/or different connection type, and if so, were the results the same?

Any attempt to close extra browser tabs, sessions and/or other applications that were running, and if so, were the results the same?

 

Thank you in advance for your attention to detail when reporting D2L issues.

 

Further questions and inquiries? Please address to:

d2L@stcloudstate.edu

Follow us on Twitter: @scsutechinstruc #d2l

Follow the IMS blog: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims

1 80 81 82 83 84 100