By Meaghan Malone
Staff Writer
Over winter break, the student online learning tool, Desire 2 Learn, received a face-lift. According to Scott Vann, the coordinator of Instructional Technologies at APSU, the Tennessee Board of Regents contracts D2L and chose to update the system.
“There are training courses available for both students and faculty to use to help with the adjustment to the new layout,” Vann said. “The faculty is automatically enrolled in the program.”
The upgrade for D2L brought many changes, primarily for faculty. Previously, students accessed their courses from the home screen of D2L. Now, students can choose a course from a drop-down menu at the top of the screen.
The front page of D2L shows the calendar, news, courses, class climate, virtual academic support center and help features. Items previously listed on the menu bar are now grouped together into drop-down menus titled content, tasks, communication and resources.
The discussions are now threaded. There is a new drag-and-drop feature for the dropbox for students to upload files. The new upgrade makes it easier, according to Vann, for faculty to manage D2L and rearrange their content.
For some students though, adjusting to the new D2L has been difficult. “There have been more issues,” said senior English major Brandie Myers, “The new layout is more of a hassle and is unnecessary.”
Myers said that printing PowerPoints is more difficult on the new version of D2L.
“I hate it,” said Christopher Malone, a sophomore psychology major. “I got behind in class my first week of school this semester because I didn’t know how to use it. Even after learning how to use it, I don’t think it’s very functional.”
Vann recommends students enroll in the training courses to help with the adjustment to the new layout.
“The old layout was fine,” said freshman criminal justice major Tommy Duncan. “The new one is good, but it’s different. The old one was handier. Now we have to adjust to a new layout, which is inconvenient for college students who are already busy.”
Vann said that despite the major changes in layout to D2L, many of the features remain the same.
For students who are having a difficult time adjusting and need help with D2L, the help desk can be called at 931-221-HELP any time.
Vann said he would like to remind students that information about D2L and updates are listed in the GovSays campus announcements.TAS
