Online courses are available via the Desire2Learn (D2L) course management system, which offers a variety of tools, such as content area, course discussion boards, assignment dropboxes, chats, grades, etc.
Video Demonstration
You may watch a Video Demonstration that provides a short presentation of a D2L course (requires Macromedia Flash player).
Visit a Live Course
Visit a live course and try all the features by yourself. This demonstration course is available for you 24/7, so you can get familiar with
online learning at Minnesota State Mankato. It is recommended that you visit it prior to
taking any online/web-enhanced classes. Feel free to navigate and print content, post discussions, or take a quiz.
- Username: student
- Password: student
Short Overview of D2L Tools
This short overview describes specific D2L tools, their purpose and characteristics. For information on how to use those tools, please refer to the
D2L tutorials, designed to give you a thorough
introduction to the various areas of D2L.
Content
- Content provides you with course materials: syllabus, schedule,
lectures, assignment descriptions, PowerPoint presentations, articles, links,
etc.
- Course materials are usually broke down into Units, Modules or Weeks. They
may be subject to selective release based on dates, group membership, or
passing a quiz or survey.
- Some instructors will post all materials for the course right away; others
will make the units available on a weekly basis.
- You may search Content, compile only necessary items for printing, provide
feedback on topics, etc.
- Learn how to navigate the Content area.
Discussions
- Discussions contain asynchronous public forums for your class, which
allows you to communicate with your instructor and peers without having to be
online at the same time.
- If your course has group work; some forums can be limited only to the
members of the group.
- Forums can allow anonymous postings. In that case you will have an option
to check "
Author Anonymously" box while posting a message.
- Learn how to use Discussions.
Dropbox
- You can submit your assignments electronically to your instructor by using
the Dropbox. Make sure to back-up your files before submitting.
- In this area you may also see assignment descriptions, view history of
submitted work, review grades for the assignments and read feedback from the
instructor. Note that some instructors may choose to post
assignment descriptions in the Content area and provide grades and feedback in
the Grades only.
- Learn how to use Dropbox.
Quizzes
- Quizzes allow you to take quizzes and exams for your course online. Some instructors may require you to be in the proctored area while taking a quiz. Quiz can contain true/false, multiple choice, essay, matching, or arithmetic questions.
-
In the Quiz area you will see list of quizzes for the course, number of allowed attempts, date/time restrictions, and feedback. Depending on the settings you might be able to view correct results and summary quiz statistics for yourself and the class.
- Learn how to use Quizzes.
Grades
- You can check your progress in the Grades area, where you will see your name, list of assignments, grades for the assignments and comments from your instructor.
Some instructors will also allow you to view average statistics for the class, so you can check how you are doing in comparison to your classmates.
- Learn how to use Grades
