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Help Desk: 866-813-1177
Pre-Term Checklist
Tasks to Complete 4-5 Weeks Before the Course Starts
1. Login to D2L:
Verify you have access to your courses for this term. If you are a new hire, once HR has processed your contract and you are listed as theofficialinstructor for the course in Banner, your courses will appear in D2L. If your courses are not listed in D2L, please check with your school's administrator to see if you have been added to the course in Banner.D2L Login Video Tutorial
2. Attend a D2L Workshop:
Attend any of our D2L training sessions or open lab workshops for assistance in building a course, or using student assessment and communication tools. In addition, have your D2L questions answered in a workshop style open lab session. Review our schedule of D2L training sessions here:Faculty D2L Workshop Calendar
3. Develop your Course, Copy a past Term Course, or Request a Course Template:
Some instructors will copy over a past term course into their new course shell, while other instructors will need to build their own course content. Check with your department administrator, assistant, or chairperson to find out if there is a course template available for you to use. Copy a Course Video Tutorial
4. Request Crosslisting:
If you teach multiple sections of a course and wish to have them cross listed, you must request the crosslist prior to building the course, and as soon as possible prior to the start of the term. Your course must be cross listed in Banner before it can be cross listed in D2L.Crosslisting removes all course content and student data from your shell so it's important to cross list before students have accessed and worked in your course. Also, be sure you have no content at all in your course; it will be deleted. Please contact your department Chair or Administrator to request crosslistin as soon as possible before the term.
Tasks to Complete 3 Weeks Before the Course Starts
5. Develop or Update your D2L Gradebook:
While most instructors will copy over a past term course into their new course shell, some instructorswill need to build their own Gradebook. If that's you, be sure to attend one of our Gradebook sessions, or review our Gradebook Tutorials on the LMS Faculty D2L Tutorials page to get started.Basic Gradebook Training Tutorial
6. Create or Update your D2L Dropboxes:
While most instructors will copy over a past term course into their new course shell, some instructorswill need to build their own Dropboxes. If that's you, be sure to attend one of our D2L training sessions, or review our Dropbox Tutorials on the LMS Faculty D2L Tutorials page to get started.Create a Dropbox Video Tutorial. How to Update Dropbox Due Dates Tutorial.
7. Update & Upload your Syllabus:
Updateyour syllabus for the current term. You can download the NLU Syllabus Template at:http://www.nl.edu/t4/forms/. Once your syllabus is updated, we recommend saving it in .doc or .pdf format and uploading it to your D2L course content page. Add Your Syllabus to a Course Video Tutorial
8. Review: Manage Dates, Calendar Dates, and view course in Student Role
Review all datesensitiveitems in your course and update them so the appropriate dates/times match the new term. The Manage dates tool is an excellent resource for updating due dates; we will be reviewing this tool in this module.It's also a good idea to review your course using the student view. Manage Course Dates Video Tutorial
Tasks to Complete 2 Weeks Before the Course Starts
9. Make Your Course Active (for Student Viewing)
We will be reviewing how to make your course Active in this module. When your course first appears it will be Inactive. In order for students to see your course, you must make it active. NLU asks that all instructors make their courses active two weeks prior to the start of the term.Tip: You can hide content that is not ready for student viewing if the whole course is not ready, or if you don't want to release all the content at once. The only content that must be visible to students two weeks prior to the term start is your course syllabus.Make Your Course Active Video Tutorial
Tasks to Complete 1 Week Before the Course Starts
10. Welcome Your Students
Before the first day of class, communicate with students about the course syllabus,how they can prepare for class, andprovide students your contact information and office hours.One way to do this is by using the course announcements tool. Posting Announcements Video Tutorial
OIT - National Louis University
Revised 9/23/2014 2