Enhancing Student Experiences with D2L Brightspace's Calendar, Checklists, and Quicklinks

ENHANCING STUDENT EXPERIENCES WITH D2L BRIGHTSPACE'S CALENDAR,

CHECKLISTS, AND QUICKLINKSDr. Deb McManimon

Riverland Community College

Introduction• Dr. Deb McManimon

• Business Faculty

• Riverland Community College

• Email: [email protected]

• Sections • Part I: Explanation/Information

• Quality Matters Connection

• Part II: Hands-on

PART I

Explanation/Information

Explanation/Information

• Embed links to internal and external items within courseQuicklinks

• Add when creating activities in D2LCalendar

• One stop spot for students in tracking assignmentsChecklists

Why Use Quicklinks?

•Ease of use for students

•Multiple ways to get to activities

•Efficient and consistent

•Student feedback

Quicklinks

Can be used in multiple areas

•News Items

•Course Material

•Dropbox

•Discussion

•Checklist

Quicklinks- News Items

•Connect to News Items •Quizzes

•Dropbox

•Discussion

•Content

Quicklinks-Course Material

•Connect course material within activities•Dropbox

Quicklinks-Course Material

•Connect course material within activities•Discussion

Quicklinks- Checklist• Connect assignments/activities within Checklist

Why Use Calendar?

• Alerts to items due

• Ease of use in setup of activities

• Help students track across multiple classes

• Allows quick visual for instructor

Calendar

Calendar – Single

Calendar –Multiple

Calendar –Creates Link

• Dropbox

• Quiz

• Discussion

• Surveys

Why Use Checklist?

• Organize by sections or units

• Easy to see list of items for unit

• Students track completed items

• Helps to visually see - TTD list

Checklist Tool

Checklist example•List of items for each Unit/Section

QUALITY MATTERS CONNECTION

Rubric items 1.1 & 1.2 – Ease of navigation

Rubric item 1.1

Instructions make clear how to get started and where to find various course components.

•Quicklinks

•Course calendar

•Checklist

Rubrics item 1.2

Students are introduced to the purpose and structure of the course

•Course calendar

•Checklist

Ease of Navigation for Students

Students can easily find and navigate to needed items

Homepage give alerts to upcoming due dates

Helps keep track of things to do

PART II

Hands On

Overview – Hands on Step-by-Step

Calendar Checklist

Quicklinks Questions

Calendar –Dropbox Item

• Assessment• Dropbox

• New Folder

• Restrictions

• Automatic to calendar

Calendar –Quiz Item• Assessments

• Quiz• Sample Quiz

• Restrictions tab

• Active

• Choose end date

• Display in Calendar

Calendar –Discussion Item• Communication

• Discussion• New Forum –

Discussion

• New Topic-Sample Discussion

• Scroll down

• Availability

• Locking options

• Display in Calendar

Checklists: Step 1 –Access Checklist Menu

• Checklist• Materials menu

• Checklist

Checklist – Step 2- Create Checklist

• Click on New Checklist

Step 2-Create New Checklist (cont)

•Name your checklist•Example-Opening,

closing, Unit names

• Include description

•Click to open in new window

•Save

Checklist- Step 3 Create Category

• Create Categories• Choose New Category• Include name

• (I choose same name as checklist)

• Optional description• (I leave blank)

• Save

Checklist- Step 4 Create New Items

New item from Edit Checklist

Step 4 cont- New Item Quicklink or Insert Stuff

• Choose from list

• Dropbox

• Arrow

Step 4 (cont)

Choose item, open in new window

Step 4 (cont)Choose Due date

Calendar option

• Use this option if not calendared item (xx.- responding to email)

Save

• One item

Save and New

• Multiple items

Checklist- Instructor view

• List of Unit One activity items

• Can reorder, edit, or bulk edit

Checklist- Student view

• (a)-checklist view- click on checklist link

• (b)- Opening activities list student view

• Students can link from list

• Items can be checked when completed

(a)

(b)

Add Quicklink News Item

Add Quicklink News Item (cont)

News item with link completed

Follow same steps for other Quicklinks

QUICKLINKS, CALENDAR, & CHECKLISTS- QUESTIONS