The OFDC (Online Faculty Development Course) offered by COLI is for full-time and part-time faculty, whether new to D2L, or experienced with technology for teaching. This five-week mini-course prepares instructors to teach online and hybrid courses. The OFDC provides many practical tips for teaching online but more importantly, helps faculty explore new pedagogies for active learning, social presence, and community in courses on the internet.

Additionally, the updated OFDC offers insights on what Regular and Substantive Interactions (RSI) are and how to incorporate RSI into your courses. It also includes information on Panopto, Canisius’s new video content management system, how it works, and how to best fit Panopto into your courses.

The OFDC can help professors craft engaging, interactive online experiences for students, either for all-online courses, or hybrid courses that feature limited use of the classroom.

Over the summer, we will be offering two courses:

OFDC A: Monday, May 20th-Friday, June 21st

OFDC B: Monday, July 8th-Friday, August 9th

To RSVP, please check out the Faculty Development Opportunities Wiki Page.

Stay tuned to the COLI Blog and the Dome for more sessions!

Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI

Final exams are fast approaching! It may be useful to review these features of D2L Quizzes and Dropboxes.

D2L Quizzes provides a robust tool to grade quizzes easier and quicker. Some features can help prevent cheating to a degree, like basic question randomization and advanced question randomization. If you want to use questions from a previous exam or quiz, the Question Library lets you copy questions to the mid-term. Additionally, for faster grading, you can connect the Quiz to the gradebook. You can also have your students sign an Academic Integrity Pledge before continuing to the Midterm. Customize the Quiz Result display to show students what questions they got and see where they need to brush up on their studying.

Please note that if you allow automatic grading of your exam, D2L will not automatically grade written responses. Those need to be graded manually. Inform your students that the grade they have immediately after completing the exam is not reflective of their overall grade. If you want to see all of the tutorials on the D2L Quiz tool that COLI has compiled, check the Online Quizzes and Exams in the Quizzes Tool Section.

D2L Dropboxes are a great way to receive student work in various formats but more notably PDFs, Microsoft Office files, JPGs or PNGs. You can also restrict the types of files the dropbox will accept. Attach the dropbox to the grade book or use a D2L Rubric and attach it to the dropbox for faster grading.

For more information on D2L Dropboxes, check out the Collecting Assignments in Dropboxes Section. For tutorials on D2L Rubrics, check out the Using Rubrics Section. If you would prefer, you can also sign up for COLI workshops or sign up for a Consultation with one of COLI’s staff members.

COLI has compiled other resources on the various tool sets in D2L. Check the D2L Self-paced Training for Faculty and Staff Wiki page.

Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI