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Volume 10, Number 1: October 29, 2003

A UW Team Creates
Online Training Materials for Desire2Learn

 

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With the selection of Desire2Learn as the University of Wisconsin's systemwide e-Learning platform has come the ongoing need for training. Once the transition to D2L was underway, the UW System implementation team and campus learning technology centers began tutoring faculty, students, administrators, and staff on the use of the software. Now, some new tools have been made available to advance training efforts -- a set of learning objects developed to teach the essentials of D2L.

Inspired by the need for shareable materials, the appropriately named D2L Learning Objects group (also known as the "dello" group) came about to create learning objects that meet the diverse training needs of UW campuses and of other higher education institutions. They are examining the possibility of a flexible copyright that would grant anyone permission to download the learning objects for non-commercial purposes. So far, the group has released about a third of the proposed 150 objects on its website. Those currently accessible to the public include instructions for developing content, creating and managing discussions, and using the drop box feature.

Each object offers users two options: they can print a hard copy of the instructions or they can view a Flash-animated tutorial. And because the objects are both small and standards-compliant, faculty and staff can download as many of them as they see fit and even import them into their D2L courses.

Creating the objects has proven complicated and time-consuming, especially when D2L released a new version of its product this past summer. However, the dello group feels confident that, by avoiding duplication of effort on each campus, their project will save time and energy in the long run. They hope to make all 150 learning objects available this semester.

Visit the d2llo website at http://www.uww.edu/d2l/index.cfm.
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