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D2L 10.2 Tutorial Guide

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Working with the Content Tool

Note: This tutorial assumes that your lesson content material will consist of files such as Word

documents, Excel files, PowerPoint files or pdf files created from these files. The table of contents in

your D2L course consists of modules which are labels under which you put topics which are links to

the content files in your course. Topics may also be links to D2L quizzes or Discussion topics in your

course. A topic may also be a link to another site on the Internet.

Here’s a simple table of contents that we will construct in this tutorial. This is the way the students

will see it, except they won’t see the text boxes such as

-‘Course Information’ is a ‘module’

-‘Course Outline’ is a ‘topic’

-‘Lessons’ is a ‘module’

-‘Lesson 1’ is a ‘topic’

-‘Lesson 2’ is a ‘topic’

‘’CBC Website’ is a ‘topic’

gnment 1’ is a ‘topic’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’

‘Assignments’ is a ‘module’

s’

is a ‘module’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’

‘’Links’ is a ‘module’

’ is a ‘topic’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’

s’ is a ‘module’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’ ‘Assignment 2’ is a ‘topic’

s’ is a ‘module’

‘Assignment 1’ is a ‘topic’

-‘Course Information’ is a ‘module’

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Here is how you will see the same table of contents as an instructor when it’s done:

Here are the steps involved in creating a table of contents in D2L 10.2:

Step 1 – Upload your topic files to the ‘Manage Files’ area in your D2L course.

From the ‘Related Tools’ dropdown menu in Content, select ‘Manage Files’.

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In ‘Manage Files’, click on ‘Upload’:

On the next screen, click on ‘Upload’ (in Firefox) or ‘Browse’ (in Internet Explorer):

Browse to the folder with your course files, select them and click ‘Open’. Note: in Firefox you can

select all of them at once, but in Internet Explorer you must select them one at a time::

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Once the files are uploaded, click on ‘Save’:

You’ll now see the uploaded files in the ‘Manage Files’ area in your course:

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Step 2 – Create your table of contents in the ‘Content’ tool:

Click on ‘Content’ on the course toolbar, then on ‘Bulk Edit’, then on ‘Add a Module’:

Type in the name of your first module (‘Course Information’) and hit ‘Enter’:

You’ll then see:the ‘Course Information’ module. Click on ‘Add a Module’ again to add the ‘Lessons’

module. Repeat the process for the ‘Assignments’ and ‘Links’ modules:

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When you’ve finished creating all 4 modules, you should see the following:

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Step 3 – Add Topics to the 4 modules you’ve created

From the ‘New’ dropdown menu under the ‘Course Information’ module, select ‘Add from Manage

Files’:

From the ‘Add a File’ list, check the box beside ‘Course Outline.pdf’ and then click ‘Add’:

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You’ll now see the ‘Course Outline’ topic file link under the ‘Course Information’ module:

Repeat this process to add ‘Lesson 1.pdf’ and ‘Lesson 2.pdf’ to the ‘Lessons’ module and

‘Assignment 1.pdf’ and ‘Assignment 2.pdf’ to the ‘Assignments’ module.

Next, you’ll add an Internet topic link to the ‘CBC Website’ to the ‘Links’ module. From the ‘New’

dropdown menu under the ‘Links’ module, select ‘Create a Link’:

Type in a ‘Title’ (CBC Website), the ‘URL’ (http://cbc.ca) and click ‘Create’:

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You’ll now see the ‘CBC Website’ topic link under the ‘Links’ module:

Step 4 – An Alternative: Create HTML Topic Pages using the D2L Editor

There is another method for creating topics in addition to uploading Word or pdf files to your course.

You can also use the D2L HTML editor to create files directly in D2L. You can also paste your

content from Word into this editor screen.

Advantages to creating HTML topics:

When you wish to make minor changes to a topic such as a course outline, you can make

them directly without having to edit the original file on your computer and upload it to your

course.

Students can print a topic directly from D2L without having to download it into Adobe Reader

or Word.

Hyperlinks in an HTML topic are clickable, unlike those in pdf or Word documents in the

content viewer. For the links in pdf or Word topics to be clickable, students must download the

topic to Adobe Reader or Word.

Here are the steps to create an HTML topic in D2L. First select ‘Create a File’ from the ‘New’

dropdown menu:

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You’ll then be taken to the HTML editor. Enter a title for the topic (eg. ‘Monday Activities’ below).

You can type in the body content directly and also paste jpg images or content from Word (see the

circled icons below). When you’re through, click ‘Publish’ if you wish it to be visible to students or

‘Save as Draft’ if you wish it to be hidden from students.

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Some HOW-TO’s when working in the new Content tool

1. How do I delete a topic from a module?

From the dropdown menu under the topic, select ‘Delete Topic’:

2. How to I delete a module?

First, select the module you wish to delete (‘Links’ in this example) from the left-hand menu:

Then from the dropdown menu under ‘Links’, select ‘Delete Module’:

3. How do I delete all course modules in one step?

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First, click on ‘Table of Contents’ in the left-hand menu, then select ‘Delete all Modules’ from the

dropdown menu under ‘Table of Contents’:

4. How do I move a topic up or down in a module or move a topic from one module to another

module?

From the dropdown menu under the topic (‘Lesson 1’ in this example) select the ‘Move’ item you

wish:

5. How do I hide a module from students?

Select ‘Draft’ from the dropdown menu under ‘Published’:

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6. How do I hide a single topic from students?

Select ‘Edit Properties’ from the dropdown menu under the topic (‘Lesson 1’ in this example)::

Then choose ‘Draft’ from the dropdown menu:

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7. How to I set dates and restrictions on a module?

First, click on the module in the left-hand menu and then on ‘Add dates and restrictions…’:

8. How to I set dates and restrictions on a topic?

First, select ‘Edit Properties’ from the dropdown menu under the topic:

Then select ‘Add dates and restrictions…’:

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9. How do I embed a ‘Films on Demand’ video in my D2L Content

First, go to the Films on Demand link on the NLC library page:

Next, select the video you wish to embed in D2L. Under the video, click on ‘Embed this Video’. The

‘Embed Code (Full Title)’ window will open. Select this code and do CTRL-C to copy it as shown:

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Next, go to the D2L course in which you wish to embed the video. In the example below, I’ve created

a module called ‘Films on Demand’. To create a link to the ‘My Land’ video I’ve selected, I select

‘Create a File’ from the ‘New’ dropdown menu.

In the ‘Create a File in “Films on Demand” ‘ screen I enter the title ‘My Land’ and click on the ‘Insert

Stuff’ icon as shown:

In the ‘Insert Stuff’ screen, I click on ‘Enter Embed Code’ as shown:

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I then paste the Films on Demand embed code into the code box (using CTRL-V) and click ‘Next’ as

shown:

I then click ‘Insert’:

Next, click on ‘Publish’ or ‘Save as Draft’ as desired:

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Your video will then appear in the topic:

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10. How do I print or use clickable hyperlinks in pdf or Word documents in the new D2L?

To open the pdf or Word document in a manner that renders the Internet links clickable and allows

you or your students to print, you simply click the ‘download’ icon at the bottom of the Content viewer:

Firefox will then open a Window asking you to open or save the document in Word or Adobe Reader.

Select open and the document will be opened in Word or Adobe Connect allowing you to print and

follow the hyperlinks.