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Support for Desire2Learn
Basics: Getting Started
All courses that exist in Banner each semester are automatically provisioned or created in D2L, so if you login you can find your course offering online. Students, however, do not see a course in their view of D2L until the instructor activates it. You can use D2L to send announcements to your students, to upload or post course content, and for student discussions. To assist faculty in getting going, we have created the following very brief orientation of step-by-step instructions for the basics of setting up the online presence of your face-to-face course. For more information including indepth hands-on training on the various aspect of Desire2Learn, check out the free faculty workshops.
A. Find your course offering on Desire2Learn
1. Go to http://ecat.montana.edu
2. Log in with your NetID and password.
Courses for which you are the instructor of record will be listed under the current semester. What if my courses aren't listed?
B. Make your course active
All course offerings are autoprovisioned from Banner, but will not be visible to the student until the instructor makes the course active.
1. After logging in to Desire2Learn, find your course offering in the My Courses widget.
2.
Click on the pencil to the right of the course title.
2. Click the checkbox next to Course is Active.
3. Click Save.
4. Click on the MyHome link on the nav bar to return to the MyHome page.
Complete information on course activation.
C. Post information in the News area
You can post announcements to the students in the news area of the course. They will see the news items on the course home page when they enter your course.
1. From your MyHome page on Desire2Learn, click on the course title to enter the course.
2. Click on the green "+" symbol in the news area.
3. Enter a heading for the news item and your announcement in the content section. Use the formatting option to change the appearance of your news item.
4. Click Save to save the News Item.
5. Click on Course Home on the navigation bar to return to the course home.
Lather, rinse, repeat for each additional announcement. You can use the availability options to set when the news item will be visible to the students. More information in the News User Guide.
D. Post course materials under Content
You can post course materials for the students to view/download in the Content area of the course.
1. From your MyHome page on Desire2Learn, click on the course title to enter the course.
2. Click on the Content link in the nav bar.
3. Click Add Module to create a heading under which your files will be linked.
4. Enter a title and click Save.
5. Click Add Topic to post a file.
6. Choose the module under which it will appear and enter a title for your file.
7.
Select Upload file to upload the file from your computer. Browse for the file, select it and click Upload.
8. Click Save.
9. Click Manage Content to return to the manage content screen. Your file will appear linked in the content area.
Lather, rinse, repeat for each additional course file.
NOTE: While you can post any file available electronically, keep in mind file sizes and appropriate formats. Recommended: HTML, PDF, images, MP3, and similar. Use with caution: Word, Excel, PowerPoint in their native formats. When in doubt - PDF it and post the PDF version.
You can use the restrictions to set availabiilty for the modules and topics. More information in the Content User Guide.
E. Setup a class Discussion area
If you wish to create an area for class discussion to take place online, you can use the Discussion area. You can create as many topics for as many discussions as you wish to take place.
1. From your MyHome page on Desire2Learn, click on the course title to enter the course.
2. Click on the Discussions link in the nav bar.
3. Click New Forum to create a heading for the topics.
4. Enter a title (e.g. Class Discussions) and click Save.
4. Click New Topic.
5. Choose the forum under which it will appear and enter a title for your topic.
6.
In the description, enter text explaining to the students what the discussion area will be used for or post your starting question that will begin the discussion.
7. Click Save.
8. Click Forums & Topics List to return to the main discussions screen. To read the postings, click on the Topic title to enter that topic.
9. Use Settings to adjust how your discussions posting view appears for you.
You can set restrictions on when discussion forums and topics will be visible and available to the students. More information in the Discussions User Guide.
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