five d2l tools to increase student engagement and instructor presence

Barry DahlSenior Community Manager, Desire2Learn

Five D2L Tools to Increase Student Engagement and Instructor Presence

D2L Binder

Five D2L Tools to Increase Student Engagement and Instructor Presence

D2L Video Note Custom Widgets

D2L WiggioReplacement Strings

What is Student Engagement?

Source: bit.ly/D2Lengage

•Stovall (2003) suggests that engagement is defined by a combination of students‟ time on task and their willingness to participate in activities.

•Krause and Coates (2008) say that engagement is the quality of effort students themselves devote to educationally purposeful activities that contribute directly to desired outcomes.

What is Instructor Presence?Based on Community of Inquiry Framework Theory, by Cleveland-Innes, Garrison & Vaughn (Athabasca U.)

Source:bit.ly/D2Lpresence

A Tool for Students• D2L Binder• Free app for iPads,

Android tablets, Windows 8 tablets, or in a web browser

Desire2Learn Binder• An extension of

Desire2Learn Learning Environment, Desire2Learn Binder provides learners with anytime, anywhere access to course content, personal learning objects and eTextbooks.

Personalized Mobile Content

Keep Learners CONNECTED with all course content in one place

• Course content through Send to Binder

• Personal content via Fetch: Dropbox and Microsoft SkyDrive

• eTextbooks and more!

Desire2Learn Binder

Gives learners an EDGE with annotation and organization tools

• Annotations (highlights, underline, text notes…)

• Prioritize• Tag• Archive• Email, print

Desire2Learn Binder

Help learners stay PRODUCTIVE

Binder for iPad

Binder for Android

Binder for Web beta

Web and Mobile apps

D2L Video Note• Integrated into the

Learning Environment• Use Insert Stuff or Video

Attachment menus

Promote social learning and increase engagement

Custom Home Page Widgets•Customize the information on your course home page

•Lots of info available at Widget Central in the Brightspace Community

•Short URL

Three Contest Entries

Three Embedded Polls

Replace strings

Countdown Widget using a Spreadsheet

Anything that you can build with an online spreadsheet could be made into a custom widget.

Step-by-step instructions at Widget Central in Brightspace Community

Some Problems with Widgets

• Mixed content blocking in most browsers– Check out the Firefox extension

• Lack of “https:” embed code for widgets• Widget-building sites come and go:

– Google Gadget– WidgetBox

Personalized Text with StringsNot Personalized Learning

That’s a big topic – a whole day by itself.

Let’s look at how you can make the learning space feel a bit more personal to the students

Adding Names in the LE• {FirstName}

– Each user’s first name• {LastName}

– Each user’s last name• {OrgName}

– College/District org name• {OrgUnitName}

– Course name

Tools where this works:• News: (Headline, content)

• Discussions: (subject and message)

• Content Topic: When you create a new file

• Dropbox: Folder instructions & feedback

• Quizzes: all custom boxes

• Checklist: Name and Description

• Groups: Description

News Item – with Replace String

News Item – with Replace String

In Quiz Introduction

In Quiz Introduction

In Quiz Introduction

In Quiz Footer

In Quiz Footer

In Quiz Footer

In Quiz Questions

In Quiz Questions

Group Collaboration with D2L WiggioWiggio is an easy-to-use web app that facilitates student collaboration and working together in groups.(WIG stands for Working In Groups!)

Wiggio Versions Wiggio LE Integration

Features• Single Sign On with LE

Credentials• Classlist pass through for

creating new groups• Custom branding and URL• Sits on a private web

domain

•Wiggio Free•Lightweight version of Wiggio•Open to anyone

•Wiggio Premium•Includes custom URL •Custom Branding •Administrative Analytics•Integrated with the D2L Learning Environment

Wiggio is different

Student Collaboration with Wiggio

Wiggio News Feed

Wiggio Shared Documents

Wiggio Event Scheduling

Wiggio Virtual Meetings

Wiggio Polling

community.brightspace.com

Introducing the Brightspace Community