D2L: Essentials
In the following tutorials you will learn to conduct basic day-to-day course management tasks. Feel free to work through the content in order of topic or jump around. The online format allows you to take control of the content found here. You are encouraged to have your D2L site open in another window, so you can experiment, as you learn.
Log into D2L Brightspace
To log into D2L, visit http://learn.mru.ca and enter your MRU username and password.
Import Content From Blackboard to D2L Import Blackboard
In this video, you will learn how to export your course from Blackboard and import it into D2L Brightspace. For more information on the importing process, visit: https://courses.mtroyal.ca/d2l/importing-your-course/
Navigate Brightspace Learning Environment: Navigation
This video is a tour of the D2L learning environment, with a specific focus on navigation.
Navigate Brightspace Learning Environment: Account Settings
In this video, you will learn how to edit your account settings.
Getting Started - Create a Profile
In this video, you will learn how to create your personal profile.
Getting Started - Manage Notifications
In this video, you will learn how to contol how you receive information about course activity by editing your notification preferences.
Learning Environment - Navigate Homepage and My Courses
In this video, you will learn how to navigate the homepage and My Courses widget.
Note: For MRU's version on D2L Brightspace, the ability to customize the homepage has been turned off.
Make a course active
In this video, you will learn how to change the availability dates for your course.
Pin favourite courses
In this video, you will learn how to pin courses to the top of your course list to make them easier to access.
Learning Environment - Switch Roles
In this video, you will learn how to switch roles in order to view your course as a student.
Content - Add a Module
In this video, you will learn to structure and organize your content by adding modules and sub-modules to your course.
Content - Create a File and Insert Stuff
In this video, you will learn to:
- create new topics in your course
- add images, videos, or other objects into a topic
Content - Upload a Topic
In this video, you will learn to upload files from your computer or device to include as a topic in your course.
Content - Add an Existing Activity
In this video, you will learn to add an activity (assignment, discussion, quiz, etc.) to a content area in your course.
Content - Rearrange Topics, Submodules, and Modules
In this video, you will learn to rearrange content items to build and structure your course.
Create a Link to an Online Document or Website
In this video, you will learn to add link into your course content that goes to a Google file or another website.
Content - Attach a Release Condition
In this video, learn how to attach a release condition to a content item in your course.
Content - Delete a Module
In this video, you will learn to delete an entire module at once.
Content - Content Topic Completion Tracking
This video will give you an overview of completion tracking for content topics.
Manage Files - Upload a File and Add it as a Content Topic
In this video, you will learn how to:
- upload a file using Manage Files
- add a file to your course from Manage Files
Remove "Materials" or other extraneous item titles in D2L
In this video, you will learn how to remove the extra titles that appear in the content area.
Discussion boards in D2L vs Blackboard
In this video, you will learn the difference between discussion boards in D2L and Blackboard.
Narrate PowerPoint, save as video in Google Drive, link in D2L
In this video, you will learn how to:
- create a narrated PowerPoint
- save the PowerPoint as a video
- upload a video to Google Drive
- link a video in D2L from Google Drive
Assignments – Create an Assignment
In this video, you will learn to create an assignment.
Assignments - Grade Submissions in Assignments
In this video, you will learn to grade a student's submission from within Assignments.
Assignments - Grade Assignment Submissions Offline
In this video, you will learn to download and grade student submissions offline before providing online feedback.
Grades - Understanding Grades
This video outlines key aspects of creating and using your grade book.
Grades - Create a Grade Item
In this video, you will learn to create a new grade item in your grade book.
Grades - Enter Grades
In this video, you will learn how to enter grades in your grade book in the following ways:
- spreadsheet view
- by learner
- by grade item
- by category
Assignments - Associate an Assignment with a Grade Item
In this video, you will learn to associate an assignment with a grade item in your grade book.
Setup weighted grades in D2L from imported Blackboard grade center
In this video, you will learn to:
- use the Setup Wizard in grades to include weights
- edit grade items to adjust weights
- clean up the grade book to remove unneeded items
Setup weighted grades in D2L from scratch
In this video, you will learn to:
- create a grade item and assign both a point value and weight
- edit a grade item
- assign an assessment to a grade item
Track Attendance (recommended method)
In this video, you will learn to download a copy of your class list as a spreadsheet so you can track attendance.
Set up iClicker with D2L
In this video, you will learn to:
- register for an iClicker account as an instructor
- create a new course on the iClicker website
- integrate iClicker with your D2L course
Class Progress - Understand and Modify Class Progress
In this video, you will learn to customize Class Progress to display indicators relevant to your course.
Announcements are a quick and easy way to broadcast messages to your students in a timely fashion. The announcement tool can enhance student accountability because they will always know what is expected of them for upcoming classes through an announcement.
Announcements - Create an Announcement
In this video, you will learn how to create an announcement.
Announcements - Delete and Restore Announcements
In this video, you will learn to:
- delete an announcement
- restore a deleted announcement
Teaching Tips - Make Regular Announcements
This video provides suggestions for making regular announcements to increase communication with your students.
Take note
You do not have to make your entire course unavailable to build in it. You can hide specific content areas or make specific content folders unavailable to users while developing your course content.
Make a course active
In this video, you will learn how to change the availability dates for your course.
Import Content From Blackboard to D2L
In this video, you will learn how to import a course from Blackboard into D2L.
Import/Export/Copy Components - Import Components
In this video, you will learn how to import a course package into your course.
Import/Export/Copy Components - Copy Components
In this video, you will learn to copy your content from one course to another.
Import/Export/Copy Components - Export Components
In this video, you will learn to export components from a course to a file.
Print classlist
In this video, you will learn how to print a list of all enrolled users in your course.
Enroll Teaching Assistant
In this video, you will learn to add a teaching assistant to your D2L course.
D2L course reset
In this video, you will learn to remove existing content in your course by resetting it.