ePortfolio Made Easy

Here are instructions to help you get started with ePotfolio.

Basics

Understanding My Items

Creating artifacts

Creating reflections

Creating collections

Creating presentations

                                                                            

Sharing

Create new sharing group

Add or change permissions

Sharing items with internal users

Sharing items with external users

Sharing via social media

Reviewing content shared with you 

Import/Export

Importing ePortfolio package  

Exporting specific items

Export single portfolio item

Export your portfolio to HTML

Artifacts
Upload a file
Create HTML file
Record audio 

Collections
Add an item to a collection from the "Edit Collection" page
Add items to one or more collections from the "My Items" page 
Add an item to a collection using an item's context menu (drop-down) 

Presentations
Add items to a presentation
Edit display options for artifacts in a presentation
Edit display options for reflections in a presentation

Modify layout of presentation page

Setting presentation banner

Selecting and modifying a theme

Copying presentations 

Reflections
Associate a reflection with an artifact, collection or presentation

Dropbox
Submit ePortfolio item to a dropbox folder 

Resizing the D2L HTML editor window

It is possible to change the size of the window where I type in D2L!


1.  Click on the lower right-hand corner of the HTML editor window, then 
2.  drag it to make the window larger or smaller, as you wish. 


Here's a quick (silent) video that illustrates how to do it: http://screencast.com/t/CyFAublxZALC

D2L Made Easy

Here are step-by-step instructions to help you get started with D2L. 

Getting Started:

Find your UWM D2L course sites

First steps for a new D2L course site

Copy course content from an older D2L site

Make your D2L course site visible to students

Add a participant to your D2L course site

Send D2L email

Welcome and News: 

General overview

Create a news item

Edit, dismiss, and restore a news item

Subscribe to news
Save draft vs. post 

Content:

Upload files

Add quicklink

Hide content

Edit content

Rearrange content

Student view of content

Link to eReserve

Discussions:

Create discussions

Post / Reply to discussions

Sort discussion postings

Search discussions

Print discussions

Delete discussion posting

Undelete discussion posting

Dropbox:

Create dropbox

Download dropbox files

Leave dropbox feedback

Quizzes:

Create basic D2L quiz

Set quiz time restrictions

Set quiz attempt restrictions

Create multiple-choice question

Create true-false question

Create fill-in-the-blanks question

Create long-answer question

Preview your D2L quiz

Set quiz availability

Set special access restrictions

Grade your D2L quiz

Show quiz results

Grades:

Choose gradebook settings

Create a weighted gradebook

Create a points-based gradebook

Record grades

Student view of gradebook

Export grades to Excel

Transfer grades to PAWS (eGrading)
Troubleshooting eGrading


D2L 9.4.1 - January 2012 

Adding someone to your D2L course site

Question: How do I add an instructor or TA to my course site?

Important: Students who add or drop a course through PAWS are also automatically added or dropped from the corresponding D2L Classlist overnight (excluding holidays). Manually adding or deleting a student via the D2L Classlist will conflict with the overnight update process, yielding unintended consequences.

To add individuals to a D2L course site:

· Click [Classlist] on your navigation bar

· Click on [Add Participants]

· Click on [Add an existing user]

· In the search box, type only the ePanther username (NOTE: if the person doesn't have an ePantherID or you are not sure what it is, search for them by last name)

· Click on [Search]

· In the search results, click to check the box beside the correct person’s name

· Use the dropdown menu to select the desired Role

· Click on [Enroll Selected Users]

Note: You can do a lot more than just enroll people from your Classlist. You can: 

• remove people from your Classlist
• change their role
• view people’s profile pages
• see what items they have accessed in your course site
• send email to individuals or groups

Check it out!

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Content: Student View

Student view of D2L Content page

1. From the Course Home page, click on [Content] in the main navigation bar
2. Click on [View Content] under “Content Areas” on the left

Note: “View Content” is what the students see when they click on the [Content] link in their main navigation bar.

* In order to see the student view of all of D2L: http://d2ltipsandtricks.blogspot.com/2009/03/student-view.html

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Rearranging Content in D2L

Option A: To change the order of modules and/or topics

• Click on [Content] in the main navigation bar
• Click on [Re‐Order]

To re‐order modules

1. Click the drop‐down menu under “Sort Order”
2. Choose the desired position number
3. Click [Save]

To re‐order topics within a module

1. Click the + plus sign to the left of the module name to reveal topics
2. Choose the desired position number under “Sort Order”
3. Click [Save]

Option B. To move items from one module to another, or to “nest” one module within another

1. Click on [Content] in the main navigation bar
2. Choose the items to be moved
3. Click the third icon above the gray bar at the top of the list of modules and topics. (The icon looks like three blue squares with a green up‐arrow. When you mouse over the icon, it says “Move selected items – opens in new window.”)
4. In the popup window that appears, use the dropdown menu to select the desired New Parent Module, or click [add module] to create a new one.
5. Click [Move] 

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Edit Content

Editing a module and/or topic

• From the D2L Course Home page, click on [Content] on the main navigation bar.
• Identify the Module or Topic you wish to edit. Click [Edit...] (yellow “pencil” icon) located to the right of the title.
• From the [Properties] tab, you may (a) edit the Title, or (b) move the Module or Topic beneath a different Parent Module.
• From the [Restrictions] tab, you may choose to (a) hide the module / topic, or (b) set the item’s availability by date and time.  

Note: hidden topics will *remain* hidden, regardless of availability date/time, until you “unhide” them.

• When you have finished editing, click on [Save].

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – October 2011

Content: Hiding a module or topic

1. From the D2L Course Home page, click on [Content] on the main navigation bar.
2. Identify the Module or Topic you wish to hide.  Click [Edit...] (yellow “pencil” icon) located to the right of the title.
3. Click on the [Restrictions] tab.
4. Click to check the box beside “Hide this topic.”
5. Click on [Save].

Note: If you hide a Module, everything beneath that module (topics and sub‐modules) will also be hidden.


D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Add a QuickLink as a Content "Topic"

1. In a separate browser window or tab, navigate to the web page that you wish to link to, from your D2L course site.
2. Highlight the entire web address (URL) and select [Copy] from the browser’s [Edit] menu.
3. Go to your D2L course site. From the Course Home page, click on [Content] in the main navigation bar.
4. Click on [New Topic].
5. Click on [QuickLink].
6. Pull down the menu for [Parent Module] and select the module in which you would like to put your link ‐or‐ select [add module] to create a new module for your link.
7. In the [Title:] box, type the name of the link. This title will be the hotlink that the students will click on to go to the webpage.
8. In the [URL:] text box, paste the web address you copied in Step 1 by selecting [Paste] from the browser’s [Edit] menu.
9. Click the box in front of [Preview/view the content topic in a new window or tab].
10. Click on [Save].

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Upload files to D2L Content page

Add a syllabus or other file to your D2L site

1. On your Course Home page, click the [Content] link in the main navigation bar.
2. In the Manage Content area, click [New Module]. A “module” will act as a heading on your Content page.
3. Fill in the title and hit the [Save] button.
4. Again, click on [Content] on the main navigation bar. You will see a module, but we still need to add a “topic,” which will be the clickable link your students use to navigate to your file.
5. To create a topic, click on the first icon to the right of your module title. If you mouse over the icon, it says “Add topic to Course Information.”
6. To “Create a new topic using a file from your computer,” click on [Upload New File].
7. Type a title, which your students will see as a clickable link on your Content page.
8. Click on the [Browse] button to find the file on your local computer workstation. A popup window will appear.
9. Find your file in the popup window. Click on the filename, then click on [Open]. The popup window will disappear.
10. Notice the pathname next to your “Browse” button. This means D2L has identified the file to be uploaded. Click on [Save] to upload the file. You will get a confirmation that the file was uploaded and saved.
11. Click on [View Content] to see the Content page from a student’s point of view. Notice the link which allows students to download and open your file for viewing or printing.

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Sending email from the D2L Classlist

1. Click on [Classlist] in the main navigation bar
2. Click on “ Email everyone on this tab” above the box that contains the user
   names.* The icon looks like an envelope with a blue star in the corner. 
3. In the popup “Compose New Message” window, type the subject of the email in the [Subject:] text box
4. Type the body of your email in the [Message:] text box
5. OPTIONAL: Click [Browse] to include a file as an attachment. (a. A second popup window will appear. b. Find the desired file and select by clicking on it. c. The second popup window will disappear.)
6. Click on [send]

Important: D2L does NOT have a “sent mail” folder, so we recommend you also send yourself a copy!


*Potential Problem Sending Email to Many Recipients 
Large-enrollment classes may exceed the 4100-character limit in the address fields. 

Problem: If you attempt to send an email message to a large number of recipients from within the D2L, the message may not be sent to all of the recipients. There is a limit of 4100 characters for the string of email addresses (strung together with a semicolon separator) in each of the "To:", "Cc:", and "Bcc:" fields in the email composer interface. This typically imposes a limit of 100 to 200 recipients per message sent, depending upon the lengths of the email addresses.

Workaround: Send the email message from the Classlist to only one page of students at a time by checking "Select all rows" and then selecting the "E-mail selected users in a new window on this page" icon.

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Instructor FAQ: When does my course become INactive?

Once the instructor makes a D2L course site "Active," it will remain active until the instructor makes it inactive.

Here is how to make a D2L course site "Inactive" -- that is, invisible to students:

- Click on [Edit Course] on the main navigation bar
- click on [Course Offering Information]
- UNcheck "Is Active?"
- Click [Save]

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

How do I copy contents from an older D2L site to a newer one?

• Log into D2L and go to your new course site

• Click on [Edit Course]

• Click on [Import/Export/Copy Components]

• Choose [Copy Components from another Org Unit] and click the [Next] button

• Using the dropdown box, find the old course site you want to copy from. Note: do NOT use "search for offering" -- you will get an error when you try to "add selected."

• Wait a few seconds, and your screen will change.

• Either choose to copy everything, or select specific items to copy.

• Keep clicking on the [Next] button at the lower right, to proceed through the rest of the process.

• Remember that to copy your course Content, you must copy both “Content” and “Course Files”!

After you've copied components into your new course site, we recommend making the following adjustments:

• Quizzes: adjust availability dates for both the quiz -and- for any "submission views" that include answer keys.

• Gradebook: delete "overall comments" for any copied grade items. Also make adjustments (1) if you dropped one or more items in a category at the end of the previous iteration; (2) if you had grade calculations treating a "null" grade as a zero at the end of the previous iteration.

• News, Discussions, Dropboxes, Surveys, Content, Quizzes: adjust or remove date restrictions and release conditions.

• News and Discussions: if you embedded a link to a course file --even if you replaced the file in Manage Files with another of the same name --the original file will remain linked! To ensure students will have access to the linked file, delete the link and rebuild it using the file in the current course site.

• Groups: existing group parameters and categories are replicated in the new site. This could be good or bad, depending on how the current course varies from the former offering.

D2L 9.4.1 – January 2012

How to Find Your UWM D2L Course Sites

Courses are listed in the My Courses area by semester, with the newest semester at the top.

Want to see fewer courses in your My Courses list?

• To show or hide all your courses for a particular semester, click the "double arrow" icon to the right of the semester name.

• To save, click on any course title.

NOTES: 

1. Users with more than one Role in D2L (e.g., "Instructor"-and- "Enrolled Student"), must first choose the appropriate Role tab.  
2. Cross-listed courses will appear as a listing under each department; please compare the last 6 digits of the URL (the "OU number") -- it is a single course site if the OU number is the same for each listing.
3. FOR INSTRUCTORS: step-by-step instructions for seeing fewer course sites within a particular semester.

*Still* can't find your D2L course sites?  Or perhaps your D2L site doesn't combine your classes in they way you'd like?  Please let us know! Sometimes the humans at the Learning Technology Center just don't guess correctly (based on the online schedule) which classes and sections should be combined into single D2L course sites.


If this is the case, please gather all the essential information (including the exact section number/s -- please don't guess, or you could end up with the wrong students!) and fill out the web-based UWM D2L Course Site Request form you'll find at: http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/d2lrequest.html

Your D2L course site will usually be available within 24 hours, and student enrollments will normally happen overnight.

Instructions courtesy of UW-Milwaukee Learning Technology Center and author, Alan Aycock

 D2L 9.2.1 SP3 - September 2011

Making the course "Active"

At UW-Milwaukee, prior to each semester, we create D2L sites for all the courses we believe *might* use D2L ... but the instructor is the ultimate decision-maker about whether to actually make D2L part of the class.

By default, then, a new UWM D2L site is "Inactive" so it will not be visible to students unless the instructor chooses to use it.

Many instructors leave their sites "inactive" until they have their content, discussions, quizzes, etc. ready for students to see.

When you are ready to make your site visible to students, here's what you do:

• Click on [Edit Course] on the main navigation bar, then
  
• click on [Course Offering Information]
  
• check the box beside "Is Active?"
  
• [Save]

Reminder: At UWM, the "Start" and "End" dates have no effect on whether students can see your course site.

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011