D2L: Desire 2 Learn An overview of the course management system used at the University - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

D2L: Desire 2 Learn

An overview of the course management system used at the University of Arizona as well as other universities across the country

Page by Adrienne KaiserSlide2

What is D2L anyway?

Desire2Learn is an instructional, course management system allowing students and instructors to work with materials via the internetHow can I access D2L?

All you need is a computer, an Internet connection, and an Internet browser such as Mozilla or

SeaMonkeyIs my information safe?Yes! D2L is a system that keeps your information between you and your instructor. Confidentiality is no hurdle hereWhat can I access on D2L?

Instructors

can enable all sorts of applications on D2L from dropboxes and profiles to syllabi and discussions. D2L is often used for quizzes, workshops, and assessmentsWho uses D2L?Instructors and their students use D2L to connect within a virtual classroom environment or to support a traditional classroom environment

Page by Adrienne Kaiser & Dana Pagnan

http://www.mnstate.edu/instrtech/D2L/StudentHelp/D2LStudentGuide.pdfSlide3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OSN2wJJF3o

Here is a link to an example walk-through on how to use D2L. This is just a sample and may not look exactly like the D2L page for your specific university or classroom.

Page by Adrienne KaiserSlide4

D2L as a New LiteracyD2L has become a staple at many universities, with over 5 million members from higher education institutions. The following link provides a list:

List of Higher InstitutionsD2L is an asset to instructors, providing automatically graded quizzes as well as one common location for papers to be turned in to.D2L also benefits students as it provides one website that is able to deliver all of the information necessary to their classes.

Prior to the D2L system, more paper as well as confusion occurred in school systems as it could cause chaos and disorder as too many assignments began in a class.D2L provides a much more organized way for students and instructors to communicate and remain up to date with all activities happening in the classroom.

Page by Dana PagnanSlide5

D2L Perceptions

PositivesD2L provides students with the opportunity to take classes from the comfort of their own house, apartment or dorm room

It provides the opportunity for students to receive immediate feedback from their peers in discussions, as well as from instructors on assigned quizzes over the internet

Drawbacks For some D2L quizzes the professor only puts in one answer to a question An example of this is when a question asked for the author and the instructor had listed “Livy” as the answer and students put “Titus Livy” this was marked incorrect and the students had to go to the teacher to personally get his grade changed D2L makes you rely on internet servers that are subject to malfunction at any time

Michael S. SchlossbergSlide6

Students Overall D2L Feelings

CommentNumber of People

Keep it the way it is37Make some minor changes ^

33Make Major Changes*16Switch to Blackboard~12

Switch

to Pen and Paper2Michael S. Schlossberg

^ A minor change can be defined as changing around the layout of the homepage*A major change can be defined as changing the way the information is presented as in creating more animation is the information that is presented~ Blackboard is a software company that licenses software applications, specifically found in academics

Students were polled at a random throughout

Northepoint

Student Apartments, as well as a Math 302 B class on January 26

th

, 2009Slide7

Faculty vs. Student Perspective(the second study)

Chemistry undergraduate students and faculty at the University of Arizona were surveyed67% of faculty and 12% of the students responded within 48 hours (only those responses were used in this study)

Robin Rarick

Response in %

Overall satisfaction with aspects of D2LSlide8

Summary of Findings

Faculty

Convenient,

Customizablesaves $$ on printing great for large classes

can

easily track student activityquick dissemination of materials to class

Not intuitive

Limited ability to

transfer grades to

Webroster

(UA’s grade reporting interface)

Difficult to output class

lists into

Excel

Uneasy about t

he

accuracy of

grades loaded directly

into

D2L

feeling

of forced conformity to using this

technology

Students

Convenient

Intuitive

good for grade tracking

good

for seeing who is in the class and contacting other students

Too much room for professor error when sites are not set up properlyhomework submission not always goodcontent is put into too many different file types

Robin Rarick

Overall, both groups give D2L a thumbs up!