Document Viewer in Dropbox

In the D2L Dropbox "Leave Feedback" area, instructors can view student submissions online in D2L (rather than downloading), and can provide feedback in the same screen, if students submit any of the following file types:

• .doc
• .docx
• .ppt
• .pptx
• .txt
• .pdf
• .gif
• .jpg,
• .png.

1. From your D2L Course Home page, click on [Dropbox] in the main navigation bar

2. Click on the appropriate dropbox folder.

3. Click on [Leave Feedback] beside the name of the appropriate student.


4. Click on the student's submitted file to view it in D2L. (NOTE: You can still download the student-submitted files by clicking [Download All Files].  The download will be a .zip file format.)

5. You have several options for leaving feedback on the "Evaluation" screen.

(from top-to-bottom):




5a. You can select or create a rubric by clicking on [Associate Rubric] or [Create Rubric]




5b. If the dropbox is linked to the D2L gradebook, you can enter the points the student earned for this assignment.




5c. You can type or paste in the [General Feedback] text box. 




5d. You can upload a file to leave as feedback. To include an attachment (e.g., a Word document containing your comments), click on [add a file]. 




5e. You can record an audio file to leave as feedback. To record audio, click on [Record Audio]. (NOTE: including a text transcript of your audio recording will make your feedback accessible to all audiences.)

6. Click on [Save] to submit your feedback.




7. You may leave feedback for the next student by clicking [Next Student] near the top of the right column, or you may return to the list of student submissions by clicking on [Back to Folder Submissions] on the top right column.

D2L 9.4.1 SP3 – January 2012

Subscribe to Dropbox Deadline Reminders (Email, SMS)

The Notifications feature allows you to subscribe to receive email or SMS (text) notifications about approaching Dropbox folder deadlines.

Email and/or SMS subscribers will be notified about end dates that are two days away. Even if you have already submitted files to the Dropbox, you will be notified in case there are files you would like to add or would like to make final modifications before the end date.

In addition to receiving immediate notifications, you can also add Dropbox folders with end dates in the next 7 days to the daily course update.

Audio Capture

The Audio Capture tool allows both students and instructors to record and post audio files within D2L.


Audio Capture is available in the News, Discussions, and Dropbox areas of D2L.  

PLEASE NOTE: 

• Maximum length of recording using the Audio Capture tool is one minute.
• The recorded audio is posted in D2L as file attachments in .wav format.
• The recorded audio file is not saved to the Manage Files area of the D2L course site.
• Audio Capture works best with Firefox and Safari browsers; other browsers are problematic.
• Please see the posting for Document Viewer in Dropbox for more information on providing audio feedback in Dropbox.

1a. To record audio for a News item, from "Course Home," click on the green plus sign to open a screen for you to create a new "News" post. 

1b. To record audio for a Discussions post, click on [Discussions] in the Navigation Bar, then select forum and topic, then compose a new message.

2. Under "Attachments," click on [Record Audio] 

3. A screen will pop up displaying the D2L capture audio feature. The first time you open the capture audio feature, you will notice a second smaller pop up window for "Adobe Flash Player Settings."

4. To use the audio capture feature, click "Allow."  (The default choice is "Deny.") You can also choose to check the box that says "Remember" under "Allow" if you do not want to be prompted with the Adobe Flash pop-up window each time you go to use this feature.

5. After you have allowed the Adobe Flash Player Settings, you will be able to use the capture audio feature. The red record button allows you to record up to 1 minute of audio. When you are finished recording, click [Add].

D2L 9.4.1 – January 2012

Submit an ePortfolio item to a dropbox folder

Submit an ePortfolio item to a dropbox folder

1. Go to the Dropbox tool in the appropriate course.
2. Open the folder you want to submit an ePortfolio item to.
3. Click Add a File.
   1. Select ePortfolio from the left tool menu.
   2. Select the item you want to add.
   3. Click Select Item.
4. Enter any comments you want to include with your submission.
5. Click Upload.

Submitting a file to Dropbox

• There are multiple steps to the process of submitting a file to a D2L dropbox.  If all the steps are not completed, the file will not be submitted successfully. Here is the sequence of steps:

·       Click [Add a File]

·       In the popup window, click [Browse]

·       Navigate to the desired file and double-click

·       Click [Upload]

·       Click [Submit] 

(Students will receive a confirmation email when file has uploaded)

• Students should use a file format (e.g., Word) that you have specifically prescribed, so that you will be able to read their submissions when you download them.

• Both instructors and students should use file names that contain only the normal letters of the English alphabet, in addition to spaces, dashes, or underscores.  Including even a single odd character – e.g., ampersand, apostrophe, pound sign, exclamation mark – in the filename can make it impossible to download. Finally, there must be only ONE period (.) in the filename – located between the descriptive text and the file type (e.g., file1.doc).

Assigning & Adjusting Group Dropbox Grades

If you set up a dropbox folder when you created the group and have that dropbox item tied into a gradebook item, the grade that you give will be automatically applied to each member in the gradebook.

If you need to adjust an individual member's grade, you can do so in the gradebook. Just click on [Grade Item] for the grade item that you wish to change and then adjust the grade (pictured below) as if you were changing or adding any other grade manually.

D2L 9.4.1 – January 2012

Giving students feedback in theD2L Dropbox

1. From your D2L Course Home page, click on [Dropbox] in the main navigation bar

2. Click on the appropriate drop box folder

3. Click on [Leave Feedback] beside the name of the appropriate student  

4. Type or paste your message in the [Feedback] text box. This may include a rubric.

OPTIONAL: To include an attachment (e.g., a Word document containing your

comments), click on [add a file].   
OPTIONAL: To include audio, click on [record audio]

OPTIONAL: If dropbox is linked to D2L gradebook, enter the points the student

earned for this assignment.

5. Click on [Save]  

D2L 9.4.1 – January 2012

Creating a Dropbox in D2L

1. From your Course Home page, click on [Dropbox] on the main navigation bar.
2. Click on [New Folder].
3. Type a name for the folder in the [Name] text box.
4. Choose “Individual submission folder” if students will submit files only to the
instructor.  Choose “Group submission folder” if students need to see each other’s
submissions for group work. (This selection cannot be changed later.)

OPTIONAL: Link the Dropbox to the D2L Grades area, if desired, by choosing a grade
item from the dropdown menu, or create a new one.
OPTIONAL: Enter the total number of points a student can earn for the assignment
in the [Out Of] text box
OPTIONAL: Enter submission guidelines or other information in the [Custom
Instructions] text box, if desired.

5. Click on [Save]

MORE OPTIONS:
• To set date and time restrictions for student submissions, click the [Restrictions] tab
• For a “student view” of the folder, click on [Folder List], then [Preview]

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – October 2011

Using Rubrics to score Dropbox submissions

To grade students' submissions to a Dropbox that has a Rubric:

1. Click on the name of the Dropbox

2. Click on "Leave Feedback" for a student's submission

3. Click on the appropriate radio buttons when scoring the submission. Use the pencil icon to the right of the criteria or level field to add text feedback.

4. Click [Transfer Score] to move the total score of the rubric to the Assessment of the Dropbox

5. Click [Save]

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – September 2011

Adding Rubrics to a Dropbox

To add a Rubric to a Dropbox:

1. Click "Dropbox" in a D2L course site and click either "New Dropbox" or edit an existing Dropbox by clicking on the pencil icon to the right

2. Click [Add Rubric] in the Rubrics field

3. Choose the Rubric you wish to use in the pop-up window (Note: only Rubrics that are 'published' will appear). Click [Add Selected].

Submitting ePortfolio Items to a D2L Dropbox

To turn in an ePortfolio item to a Dropbox:
1. Enter the appropriate Dropbox in your ePortfolio class
2. Click [Add a file]
3. Click "ePortfolio" in the left-hand side of the pop-up window and make a mark by the item to be submitted
4. Click [Select Item] and, once the pop-up window disappears, click [Submit]
NOTE: When submitting a Presentation, you need only submit the Presentation itself and NOT all the Artifacts or Reflections that you've placed into the Presentation.


D2L 9.2.1 SP6 – November 2011

D2L Dropbox "Confirmation Email" - is it real?

It can be tricky when a student claims to have submitted a file to the Dropbox, and even produces a "confirmation email" to prove it -- yet User Progress shows no submissions.

Here are a few thoughts on troubleshooting:

Dropbox History

The LTC can check the student's view of the Dropbox, to see whether the student-view history shows any submissions for the Dropboxes in question. Even if the file was submitted and accidentally deleted, the History would show that it was deleted.

Confirmation Email

When a file is successfully submitted to the Dropbox in D2L, an email confirmation is generated and sent to the student's UWM email address.

One quick check to make is whether the submission date/time the email was sent is roughly the same time quoted for the successful submission of the file to the Dropbox, in the body of the email.

A second quick check would be to see whether the student's D2L login record (User Progress) shows the student was logged into D2L anytime close to the submission date/time.

The trickiest part of figuring out whether a confirmation email is genuine is this: the student would need to forward (to the instructor or to the LTC) the complete email, WITH original headers (which tell the real story of when and where it originated).

Procedure for the STUDENT to follow, in order to forward useful information to the LTC:

1. In PantherLink, click "Preferences"

2. Choose [Mail], then [Composing]

3. Under "Settings" choose [Reply/forward using format of the original message]

4. On the same screen, under "Forwarding" choose [include original message as an attachment]

5. [Save] the changes to the Preferences area

6. From the PantherLink "Inbox," right-click on the confirmation email

7. Choose the option to "forward"

8. In the "to" field, type LTC@uwm.edu

9. Include a message referencing the instructor's conversation with the LTC regarding the Dropbox

10. Hit "Send"

Once we get the forwarded confirmation email, the instructor or the LTC can right-click to see the information about where the message was sent from and where it was delivered to.

Send Dropbox grade and feedback to Gradebook

1. From the Course Home page, click Dropbox on the main navigation bar

2. Click [pencil icon] to edit the folder's properties

3. Choose the existing [Grade Item] to link the dropbox to or create a New Grade Item

4. Set the [Out Of] value

5. Click [Save]

Downloading Dropbox Files

Downloading files from the D2L Dropbox

When downloading or saving student submissions, it is imperative to maintain the privacy of student records, which should be saved on campus-housed, password-protected network storage rather than on local hard drives or portable storage devices.

Questions about how long student records may be retained should be discussed with the UWM Records Officer.

1. From your Course Home page, click on [Dropbox] in the main navigation bar


2. Click on the name of the appropriate drop box folder.


3. To select all files in the folder, click the box at the top of the list of students –or– click the box beside the names of the student(s) whose files you wish to download.


4. Click on the [green circle] icon to initiate the download.


5. In the popup window, click on the blue hotlink; the link name will include:

• your folder name
• the word “Download”
• current date and time
• the file extension “.zip”

6. In the new popup window, click on [Save File].


7. Choose a location on your computer (e.g., desktop) where you will save the .zip file that contains your drop box files.


8. Click on [Save].


IMPORTANT NOTE: Additional benefit when following the above procedure!

• When any or all files in a D2L Dropbox are selected for download, they come out as a zip file. When the individual file (or files) are extracted, the filenames will begin with students' last, then first name.

• On the other hand, if you click on the file in the Dropbox, then just open it and save it to your desktop, the file retains the name given by the student. If many students have uploaded files called "Assignment 1" it will be impossible to determine which belongs to which student ... so we don't recommend doing this!

D2L 9.2.1 SP3 – October 2011

Duplicate names in list displays

In any D2L tool that displays a list of names, it is possible that one name will be omitted from certain list views, and another with the same name will appear twice.

Whenever the names at the break point in the display have the same name in the primary sort field, the problem can occur.

For example,

• if two individuals with the same last name are at positions 20 and 21 in a list that is sorted by last name, and
• the page is viewed 10 or 20 users at a time, then
• the 20th user may be excluded from the list, and
• the 21st will appear at the bottom of one page and the top of the next.

Changing the number of names displayed per page (in this case: to 50, 100, or 200) solves the problem.

The same problem can occur when sorting by first name if users at the page break have the same first name.

This behavior is a bug that D2L is aware of and working to correct.

Workaround: Choose to display the list with a different number of users per page, or sort on a different field.

Source: [Learn@UW Utility] Service Announcements (02/19/2009)

File Size Limitations in D2L

While there is no actual "limit" to the file size that can be uploaded to the dropbox or locker in D2L, there are several practical limitations to consider, including the kind of internet connection being used (wireless/hardwire, dialup/dsl/cable/campus) and the possibility that a large file might upload fine but be too large to subsequently download.

For this reason, we recommend keeping files smaller than about 10-15 MB, to avoid running into problems.

There is also a new known issue (click on the link to read the details) related to cumulative size of all dropbox submissions -https://atjira.doit.wisc.edu/KnownIssuesList/RequestController?issueId=21649&stylesheet=knownissues.css

Sort Dropbox submissions

Click Dropbox
Click the Name of the folder you want to view submissions for
Click the Files tab to view and search submissions by file name
Click the Files to Submit header to sort files alphabetically
or
Click the Submission Date header to sort files by date
or
Click the First Name, Last Name header to sort files by user

Limits on Path Length Affect Many Tools

Limits on Path Length Affect Many Tools

NOTE: Regardless of the local user's platform (Mac or PC) or operating system, Desire2Learn runs on a Microsoft Windows platform at the server level. Therefore, the following information applies to all users.

There is a new character limit for path names, due to a change imposed by Microsoft Windows at the server level. Folder names are now limited to 50 characters and file names are limited to 128 characters.

As a result of this limitation, actions that would lead to a path length longer than about 200 characters will either fail with no error message (file creation) or result in a 500 error (subfolder creation).

These failures may be seen when character limits are exceeded in the following situations:

• creating course content,
• copying course components,
• importing a course,
• saving dropbox files or feedback,
• saving locker files, or
• creating ePortfolio content.

For this reason, users are encouraged to use shorter file and folder names, particularly when nesting folders.

When troubleshooting 500 errors and failures related to file creation or copying, please consider whether path length restrictions might be the cause.

Note: The vendor has created a feature request to display an informative message when an operation fails because of path length. However, there is no estimate for when this warning message might be deployed in D2L.

Sorting Dropbox Submissions by Submission Date

quoting our friends at the Learn@UW hosting utility:

Sorting Dropbox Submissions by Submission Date

In the Dropbox tool, on the 'Users' tabbed page on the 'Folder Submissions' page, attempts to sort by Submission Date (either up or down) do not have the desired effect. In fact, the submissions are sorted by the user's First Name instead. However, on the 'Files' tabbed page, sorting by Submission Date works.

D2L has informed us that the sort functions on the 2 tabs (Users and Files) work slightly differently from one another. On the Users tab, the sort is set up based on user, then the files they have submitted. The date sort function would be used if a student had uploaded 2 files on 2 different dates, but the list will still be sorted by student. For the *Users* tabbed page, the Date Submitted is a SECONDARY key whereas the PRIMARY key is always the user name. The Files tab, as it suggests, is by the individual file and not by who submitted it.

FAQ: Why can't I link my drop box to a pass fail item?

Drop box items can only be linked to numeric items.