The document provides tips for faculty at the beginning and end of the semester for using Desire2Learn (D2L). At the beginning of the semester, faculty are advised to contact students via D2L 25 days before classes start, check class lists, and open courses early. They are also reminded how to use content, discussions, quizzes, and other tools. At the end of the semester, faculty should extend course end dates if needed, transfer grades, export grades and courses, and review instructions for copying courses to the next semester.

1. Beginning and End of Semester Tips
Beginning of Semester Tips
Remember these tips as you get ready for next semester.
*Students will be populated into D2L for summer courses 25 days before the semester starts. Once you
can see them on your classlist, you can contact them in preparation for the next semester. Remember
there is a generic letter you can email them with info on what to do before the class starts. This letter is
in the MnWest Faculty and Staff Learning and Resource Center. Modify it as you need for your purposes.
*** For Summer 2012, students will be populated into D2L 55 days before the semester starts due to
Mayterm classes.***
* Students no longer need to update their email addresses - the MnWest ones are automatically
populated into D2L now. If you see an issue with a student email address, let registration know so the
email can be fixed in ISRS (which then populates D2L).
* Check your classlists if you have an ITV course - be sure you have requested that all sections be tied
into an ITV course. If missing a group of students, let Kayla know. We don’t have all the right section
numbers tied into the course shell.
* To open the course before the first day of the semester (so students can see administrative
information and be ready to go), remember to go to Edit Course, reset the dates, click Save.
*If you are modifying a Word or PPT document (something you can't edit on the screen), remember that
you have to reload that file in Manage Files. Put it in the same folder as the one you want to replace,
and remember to keep the file name the same, or your content link won't be right (it will go to the old
file).
* If you want to use online conferencing tools, we have Adobe Connect (for info only -
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatconnectpro/?promoid=BPDEA ) as an option. Contact Kayla
about Adobe Connect accounts.
* Teaching with D2L class - don't forget to review the instructions for Copying Course Components
before moving things. Remember if you copy clutter, you will have clutter in the next class. DO NOT
CLICK THE COPY BUTTON TWICE. Click it once, or you will copy your entire course twice, then have to do
cleanup. There's no easy way to fix this - there is no undo button. It is easier to read the instructions first
than try to fix it later (will take you longer to read the instructions/suggestions than it will to copy your
course).
*If you still need a course shell for a summer semester course, let me know the course ID and I'll get that
set up for you. Remember that if it is an ITV course, I need ALL of the course IDs (one for each site). Do
not wait until right before the semester to request a course shell.

2. Beginning of Semester Checklist – For Classes Copied Over
from a Previous Semester
Course Cleanup
There is a minimal amount of cleanup, most of which involves resetting dates and other parameters.
Below is a suggested "sweep" of your course to make sure everything is set the way you want it for the
upcoming semester. What I do is work my way across the page, updating information for each link.
Course Home page
 Announcements. Add a "welcome" announcement at a minimum, and tell students how to get
started (such as "Click Content to get started", course start date, etc.).
Content
 Update release dates for modules (tip: do not allow students to see all of the content at once.
This is overwhelming. Time-released content and a specific schedule for completion is more
effective.).
 Update syllabus information.
 Update project/paper/assignment due dates.
 Add/delete content as needed. Be sure to go to Manage Files and clean out anything not being
used (in general, anything not being used does not have a red T next to it).
Discussion
 Set release dates for discussions.
 Revise/add/delete discussions as needed.
Email
 Nothing to check under this section.
Dropbox
 Verify that the folders you have there are the ones you will need in the upcoming semester.
 Verify that the folders are still tied to a gradebook item (should not have changed).
 If you have a large number of dropbox folders, make sure they are named clearly and
categorized for student ease of use. The clearer the naming conventions, the more likely
students will put things in the right place.
 Check dates, if you use restrictions.

3. Quizzes
 Reset the dates for your quizzes (if you don't, students will see all of them and they will appear
with the old dates). One tip is to make them all inactive - then you can reset the dates later. Do
not forget to make them active again once you are ready to use the quizzes.
 On the Properties tab, reset the Optional Advanced Properties (if these settings did not carry
over). Click on the link, and set the no printing/no paging options.
 Also on the Properties tab, be sure it is still tied to a grade item.
 If you had a submission view turned on to allow students to see answers, be sure you turn this
off / reset it to the way you want it.
 Go through all of the parameters as a quick review. Walk your way across the tabs and check
that the settings are the way you want them.
 Update any questions that need modification. If you update a question, be sure to click the
"Update in Question Library" box when saving so the changes are noted in both places.
Grades
 You should do your grade setup FIRST before you can make any changes to the gradebook. See
the section in the Gradebook training for more information.
 Recommendation: It is overwhelming for students to see all grade items when they first enter
the class. You can "hide" items by clicking on Edit All Grade Items. Change the Status to Not
Visible. NOTE: You will have to allow students to see the grade item later in the course, which is
a manual change in each grade item (or by using the Edit All Grade Items feature and changing
the Status back to Visible.) When you go back to the Grades List, items that are not visible to
students are shown as gray links. Items that are visible are shown as blue links.
 Update/modify grade items as needed.
Edit Course
 Set course dates under Course Information.
 Set up groups/revise groups.
Update Other Tools
You may be using additional tools – update these as needed in a similar fashion, by reviewing dates and
parameters.
End of Semester Tips
***Adjunct faculty – be sure you follow the “posted letter grade” tip below to get a letter grade into
your exported file for Angie.***
* Remember if you want students to access the course longer than the course end date (end of
semester, 12:01 a.m., not midnight, of the last day of the semester), you must go to Edit Course and set
the date manually.
To extend the date, you must do the following.

4. 1. Go into your course.
2. Click Edit Course.
3. Click Course Offering Information.
4. Change the course end date.
5. Click Save.
The course will "close" at 12:00 a.m. (midnight) on the last day of the semester. Be sure to set this to go
longer if your test should close at 11:59 p.m. and not 12:01 a.m. I recommend setting the end course
date at least a week longer than the course end date – students want to check grades.
* Remember that you have to transfer the calculated grade to the adjusted grade in the gradebook to
get a "true" score. Do this by clicking the pencil icon next to Final.
* If your final grade is not showing up in the gradebook, click on the pencil next to Final. Click on
Properties. Click the "display final adjusted grade in grade book" box. Be sure to choose the ADJUSTed
grade.
* Adding a Posted Letter Grade item:
1. Add a New Item ("Text", not "numeric") in the grade book.
2. Title it Final Posted Letter Grade (short name of Posted).
3. Go to Order and move it to the top of the list (then students will see it at the top of their list).
4. Click on the pencil icon for that item and put in the letter grade (if you use text, you can then do
+ and -; that's why you shouldn't use numeric here).
5. Save and students will be able to see the letter grade. You can also add final comments if you'd
like.
* Don't forget to export your grade book. You don't have to do anything with the file (it can be pulled
into excel and modified, but you just want to save a copy - instructions for modifying in excel are in
Teaching with D2L class, if you want them). Just save it in your class records somewhere so you have a
copy. Probably want to do this occasionally throughout the semester. And if you delete grade items, you
ALWAYS want to export it out first, so you can resurrect things if needed. Adjuncts are required to send
a copy to Angela Hoffman (angela.hoffman@mnwest.edu).
* Don’t forget to export your COURSE. You don’t have to do anything with the file, but all of your
course info is there, just in case. Go to Edit Course, Import/Export/Copy, and follow instructions to
export the course. No student data is saved in this export.
* Review the Teaching with D2L class - don't forget to review the instructions for Copying Course
Components before moving things to next semester. Remember if you copy clutter, you will have clutter
in the next class. Do not double-click and copy your course twice - there is no "undo" button.