Desire 2 Learn (D2L) - A Learning Curve

The last few weeks, I have spent hours redesigning the four courses I am teaching this semester for use with D2L.  The University System of Georgia switched from the legacy Blackboard WebCT Vista as of January.  The timing is challenging for all faculty, not just me.  The students are a part of the learning curve, too.  I had a student phone me last evening, because he could not submit a quiz.  Fortunately, the IT help desk was able to help him.  He left a text message that all was working after he did some additional software updates.. 

I have been using learning management systems for 16 years.  It is not that D2L is not a good platform, it is more about figuring out which buttons to click to make lessons appear (yes, quicklink is my favorite) and how to get quizzes & discussions appear in the electronic grade book.  I am empathetic for other teachers new to learning management systems with the tight timeline that we have had.  The students have been terrific as they struggle to figure out how to navigate the courses. 

Desire 2 Learn Course Management System - Lessons Learned

The University System of Georgia will be using Desire 2 Learn (D2L) beginning spring 2013.  We have been using the Blackboard WebCT/Vista system.  What that means is very little school break because all of our courses have to be imported & finalized OR created with D2L prior to January 7.  We are fortunate is the USG system to have some very talented IT folks who paved the way to make the transition as painless as possible.  One of two courses imported correctly and required only minor editing. The third and fourth courses had to be created from scratch. However, the transition is still challenging because of the time crunch!

Things learned today:

1. Creating a quiz using the Diploma Quiz maker that comes with the textbook works!  I zipped the quiz for D2L and used the import feature in D2L.  D2L recognized it as a quiz and filed it correctly. The quiz imported as "inactive" - so I had to make it active and customize the display settings.
2. Respondus works!  I am able to upload and download quizzes and surveys from D2L.
3. StudyMate Author will NOT import into D2L.  I had to save the interactive learning as a Flash object (3 files) and then import them into the D2L file manager.The "look" is the same - as a matter of fact, it is a nice way to edit the look. 
4. SoftChalk files work
5. The New Topic > QuickLink is the magic tool in D2L!

The "good" news is that there is so much repetition involved with building a course that allows for practicing learning.   

Using Web Folders (WebDav)

I remember the first time that I heard the term WebDav, I thought that it was a Geek term and something that I would never need or want to do.  Was I wrong or what!  I am a huge fan of WebDav!  WebDav is a term that indicates that it is possible to have a shortcut to a folder on a remote computer.  The shortcut, located in My Network Places, allows you to synchronize files from your personal computer and the remote computer with using drag and drop. 

When might it be useful?  It depends....  Do you have a wiki, a personal web site, or are you an instructor using a learning management system?  If you have a web site where you must log in and need to upload and download files, check to see if the site supports WebDav. 

As an instructor, WebDav has saved me hours of tedious labor!  That is the good news. 

The caveat (there is always one) is that if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating system the setup may be problematic. 

I use the Blackboard learning management system, Windows XP, and Internet Explorer 7.  I was able to "map" to the WebDav folder using my home office computer with Vista OS.  My colleague, who has Windows 7 on her personal computer has been unsuccessful.  I created screenshots for creating a WebDav folder with one of my courses.  You are welcome to download it from
http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/WebDav.docx

If you are using Windows 7, you might want to look at the following post http://www.techiechips.com/web-folders-web-disk-webdav-problems-on-windows-7/ to see if it is helpful.  If you have a solution to the problem, please post! 

The old adage, "you can't miss what you never had", is true for the WebDav function.  I never want to return to the time consuming, tedious way of building and editing online courses.

SCORM Modules to Support the Thede & Sewell Nursing Informatics Textbook

The SCORM  modules (sharable content object reference model - see page 397-398 for more information) are now available for download and use to support the learning content for chapters the Thede & Sewell textbook. SCORM modules are designed for faculty who use the Thede & Sewell textbook and a learning management system to provide learning content. For more information, see my web site for the textbook at http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook.htm

You can download the SCORM modules from the links below. Save each file to your desktop computer and then import it into your learning management system using the SCORM import feature.

Chapter 9 - Spreadsheets http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt9TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 10 - Databases http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt10TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 14 - Consumer Health Records http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt14TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 22 - Telehealth http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt22TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 23 - e-Learning http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt23TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 24 - Administration http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapter24TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 25 - Research http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapter25TermsScorm.zip
Chapter 26 - Legal/Ethical Issues http://hercules.gcsu.edu/jsewell/textbook/Chapt26TermsScorm.zip