Desire 2 Learn (D2L) -vs- Canvas
Desire 2 Learn- Creating a Customized Course Homepage
The homepage is the first thing students will see when they enter the course and Desire 2 Learn makes creating a customized homepage an easy task. As with many tools, you need to click on Course Admin > Homepages.
Click Create Homepage > on the down arrow to the right of "Course Homepage" and click Copy. Select Edit Course > Homepages > and you should see the active page with the green check mark and the copy.
After a copy is made, click on the down arrow and select the homepage you created > Click Apply and you should see the "active" green check mark. Click on the blue hyperlink.
To change the Homepage properties, click on Edit Homepage > Give the Homepage a personalized title > Make sure the "Type" is widget-based > check "Include homepage header" > Choose your layout > Add Widgets > News > Add. Next, add another widget "Content Browser > Add > Save and Close.
D2L- Create "Start Here" Information in Content
Creating a "Start Here" Information module is just like creating the other modules. It is best to create a file in Word with all of the information the students will need to know when starting the course, and upload that file.
Creating a "Start Here" Information module is just like creating the other modules. It is best to create a file in Word with all of the information the students will need to know when starting the course, and upload that file.
D2L- Adding a "Getting Started" Link to News Widget
D2L allows you to create links instead of just embedding an existing link. To do this, click on Home > click on the arrow to the right of "News" and select "New News Item." Give the item a item a Headline, a short description, add the "Getting Started" link you made earlier. Click on "Insert Quicklink" > Course File > Add a file > Insert > Publish.
D2L allows you to create links instead of just embedding an existing link. To do this, click on Home > click on the arrow to the right of "News" and select "New News Item." Give the item a item a Headline, a short description, add the "Getting Started" link you made earlier. Click on "Insert Quicklink" > Course File > Add a file > Insert > Publish.
D2L- Creating a new Widget with Contact Info. & Photo
The homepage in D2L is made up of "Widgets" which allows for greater organization in my opinion. To create this widget, you click on Course Admin > Homepages > Widgets > Create Widget. Give it a name, click Save > Add a description in the description box > Click on Content tab and add your information and photo. This is a fairly easy process.
The homepage in D2L is made up of "Widgets" which allows for greater organization in my opinion. To create this widget, you click on Course Admin > Homepages > Widgets > Create Widget. Give it a name, click Save > Add a description in the description box > Click on Content tab and add your information and photo. This is a fairly easy process.
D2L- Adding Audio/Video Welcome Message in News Tool
Adding audio in D2L is relatively easy but it involves multiple steps. First, you need to make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Adobe Flash free driver to add an audio message. To add the audio, click on Home > click on the arrow to the right of "News" and select "New News Item." Give it a title, add a short description > at the bottom under attachments click "Record Audio." A dialog box will appear where you need to change the audio properties to enable Adobe Flash and make any changes and click "Record" to begin recording message. Once the message is to your satisfaction, click Add > Publish.
Adding audio in D2L is relatively easy but it involves multiple steps. First, you need to make sure you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Adobe Flash free driver to add an audio message. To add the audio, click on Home > click on the arrow to the right of "News" and select "New News Item." Give it a title, add a short description > at the bottom under attachments click "Record Audio." A dialog box will appear where you need to change the audio properties to enable Adobe Flash and make any changes and click "Record" to begin recording message. Once the message is to your satisfaction, click Add > Publish.
Canvas- Creating a Customized Course Homepage
Canvas makes creating a customized homepage a somewhat painless process when compared to the other tools. From the main page, look to the menu to the right and click "Choose Homepage."
Canvas makes creating a customized homepage a somewhat painless process when compared to the other tools. From the main page, look to the menu to the right and click "Choose Homepage."
Canvas will bring up a list of "Pages" and you can choose which page you want to be your homepage. Everything in Canvas revolves around "Pages" and does not offer "Widgets" like D2L. For a customized homepage you need to click on the link "Front page must be set first." Canvas will populate a list of existing "Pages" and you can choose one of these or create a "New Page." All the way to the right of each "Page" you will see a gear icon, click on that and select "Make Front Page." You should see the designation "Front Page" in dark gray next to the title.
Since Canvas does not offer the "Widgets," you can add everything you want to the homepage. To add a photo and instructor information just click on "Edit" from the homepage. Next, click on the "Embed Photo" button > choose your photo by inserting a link to the page it's located, choose from a file uploaded to Canvas, or find a photo on Flickr. Be sure to include "Alternative text" to improve the accessibility to the photo.
Canvas- Adding "Getting Started" Informaiton
I was unable to create a link that would take you to a "Getting Started" page, but I was able to create a separate page that will be listed under "Pages" in the menu accessible from the homepage. As with the other pages, you can embed a picture and copy/paste the information from your Word document and click Save.
I was unable to create a link that would take you to a "Getting Started" page, but I was able to create a separate page that will be listed under "Pages" in the menu accessible from the homepage. As with the other pages, you can embed a picture and copy/paste the information from your Word document and click Save.
Recommendation
This week required using tools that were for the most part available in both Desire 2 Learn and Canvas. The downside to Canvas is that it does not offer "widgets" for the news items, instructor information, and getting started information. I find that having "widgets" in D2L makes the page a bit more organized-looking and accessible to students. Both D2L and Canvas allows you to record or embed audio/video messages without much trouble. However, Canvas is a bit trickier when you create a customized homepage because you have to create a page, select it as the front page and publish it. Although it's not terribly difficult it will more than likely require some digging in the help guides. This brings up another issue with the availability of help between D2L and Canvas. D2L offers a telephone number you can call 24 X 7, in addition to the tutorials and email/chat option. Canvas offers the help guides and an option to email them but you will have to wait for a response. Overall, I recommend using D2L when it comes to using links, widgets, audio/video recordings, homepages, and help options.