Edit the Course Homepage and Create a Custom Widget

The default homepage for course offerings can be edited. Widgets can be removed and added, and custom widgets can be created.

Grades and Feedback

Enter Grades

Entering grades can be done a couple of different ways depending on whether the item has an "association" or not. Associated items are those that are connected to a quiz, discussion topic, or dropbox folder. For these items, the grade and feedback should come from the associated tool itself. If a grade item does not have an association, the grade and feedback must be entered manually on the Grade Item page.

In this example, there are three grade items titled "Document Analysis," and each is associated with a dropbox folder. When the students' submissions are evaluated in the associated dropbox folder, the score is automatically pushed to the appropriate grade item. If the score is changed in the dropbox folder, the score on the Grades page is also changed. The data does not flow the other way. If the score is changed on the Grades page, the score for the associated dropbox folder is not changed.

The same example has a couple of items that do not have an association. Both are titled "Midterm Exam." When grades are ready to be posted for these items, the action menu for each includes a link to the Enter Grades page for that item.

Individual Activity for Associated Items

For associated grade items, there is also a way to view an individual student's submissions (for a dropbox folder), attempts (for a quiz), or posts (for a discussion topic) from the grades page and without having to go to that tool. A link to the individual student's activity is on the Enter Grades page, whether that is the page for an individual item (accessed via the action menu and the Enter Grades link on the Manage Grades page) or the Enter Grades page, which shows all students and grade items in a grid.

Edit the Navbar

The navbar for a course offering is how the instructor shows which tools will be used in a course offering. The default set of course tools may not be the same tools in use, and instructors are encouraged to make changes as appropriate. Links can be added to course tools, course resources, and external web sites.

Create Custom Link Groups

The default course offering navbar includes a link group called "Student Resources." It is possible for instructors to create their own custom link groups.

Quiz Converter without Respondus

Rich Path at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has created a tool to convert test banks that are in any word processing program (Word, iWork, etc.) into a Desire2Learn question import file. The file can be imported directly into a quiz or the question library. This basically does what Respondus does for free.

https://kb.wisc.edu/luwmad/page.php?id=41417

It is Windows and Macintosh compatible. Here is some sample syntax for four different question types (true/false, multiple choice, long answer, and ordering). Notice that the questions are numbered sequentially and there is a blank line between each question.

1. I am a college student.
TRUE

2. What color is the sun?
A. Red
B. Blue
C. Green
*D. Yellow

3. Describe the process you used to select a college major.

order 4. From shortest to longest, order by length:
centimeter
inch
yard
meter
furlong
kilometer
mile
league

For a more detailed reference view the D2L Question Tool Documentation.