Frequently Asked Questions - Instructors

From the LTS Learn@UW-Stout homepage, click on course request form (http://www3.uwstout.edu/lit/lts/learn/request.cfm). This will bring you to the Learn@UW-Stout Course Request Form. Please enter your email address in the space provided. 

Note: If you are a new user, you will be directed through a registration process. Then, you will be prompted for your course request. If you are a returning user, you will be directed immediately to the course request form.

Once your course has been set up, please don't submit another course request when changes are required.  Email learn@uwstout.edu with the course name and the changes you wish to make. 

If you want to change your Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) password, you will first need to request to have your email password changed (as both systems use the same password). Once your email password has been changed, it will automatically be updated in Learn@UW-Stout (D2L). 

Compatible browsers for Learn@UW-Stout include only those browsers which are claimed as supported by the current production version of the Learn@UW-Stout Course Management Software (D2L), as determined by the software vendor. Alternative browsers may or may not work properly with Learn@UW-Stout in certain cases, but there should be no expectation that they do.

Desire2Learn is no longer supporting Netscape or Mozilla.

Note: These are the minimum browser requirements needed for using Learn@UW-Stout.

There is a limit of 20MB when downloading files from the Locker and Dropbox. Attempts to download files larger than 20MB will result in either a message reading that the file has no data or an Internal Error (Error 500). For the Dropbox, D2L suggests avoiding zipping files if the resulting zipped file is larger than 20MB. It is better to download individual files instead. If the file is larger than 20 MB, at this time there aren't any other options within D2L to download the file. 

Some special characters, besides letters and digits (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), are allowed in file and folder names. This applies to all tools in the Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) application where files and folders may be uploaded or created: for example, the Dropbox and Locker tools.

The following special characters are allowed in file and folder names:

    !     #     $     %     &     '     (     )     +     ,     -     .
    ;     =     @     [     ]     ^     _     `     {     }     ~

These special characters are NOT allowed in file and folder names:

    "     *     /     :     <     >     ?     \     |

Problems will likely arise if file or folder names contain any of these characters.

If you attempt to upload a file containing any of these characters, you will receive an appropriate message. You will then have to rename the file before you can successfully upload it.

Notes::

• All file names must have a valid extension. It is good practice to only use periods in a file name between the root name and the extension. In particular, avoid using two consecutive periods ( .. ) in a file name. The occurrence of two consecutive periods may cause problems.
• If a file name that contains semicolons ( ; ) is uploaded into a Locker or Dropbox folder, the semicolons will be stripped out of the name.
• Pound signs ( # ), ampersands ( & ), braces ( { } ), and apostrophes ( ' ) are now allowed in file and folder names and no longer cause problems. They have caused problems in the past.
• Spaces in file and folder names are allowed, however, they have been known to cause problems in the past. You may wish to use underscores ( _ ) instead..
  

Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) course start dates are the same as listed in Access Stout. Therefore, the students won't have access to the course until the official start date unless an instructor requests otherwise. To request a change for the student access dates, please email your course title, semester being taught and preferred dates to learn@uwstout.edu. 

Students are automatically enrolled into courses and the rosters are scheduled to be updated nightly.Therefore,your Classlist should be populated within a day or two after your course has been set up.  

Students are automatically enrolled and dropped from semester-based courses through an integration system. However, you may want to enroll another instructor or a program assistant in your course or add students to an ongoing course or workshop which is not semester-based. To add a participant:

1. Access the Classlist on the course navigation bar, then click the Add Participants icon at the top of the screen; the Add Participants screen will appear.
2. Click the Add an existing user link.
3. In the Search for text box, type the last name or email prefix of the person you want to add, then click Search. An expanded Add Existing Participant screen will list the participants matching your search.
4. If you want an enrollment email sent to the participant(s) you enroll, check the Enrollment email under Enrollment Options.
5. Check the Enroll checkbox to the left of the person you want to enroll.
6. In the --Select a Role-- drop-down to the right of the person's name, select the correct role, e.g., Guest Instructor, Student, etc.
7. Click the Enroll Selected Users button to complete the task.

Each role has a different set of "permissions" or functions they are authorized to perform. To see what permissions have been assigned to a role, click on the associated link: Instructor, Student, Program Assistant, Teaching Assistant, Guest Instructor, Guest, or Role Comparison Matrix.

No, you only have one profile and it’s global, so it will show up in all of your courses. 

Yes, Learn@UW-Stout course Classlists are scheduled to be updated on a nightly basis. You can see those students who withdrew by going to Classlist > Report. You'll see the withdrawals at bottom of screen. 

No. Please request that your publisher send you a BlackBoard archive zip file instead of a BlackBoard course cartridge. Learn@UW-Stout cannot import BlackBoard course cartridges directly. 

1. Start Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools -> Internet Options and select the Privacy tab.
3. In the "Pop-up Blocker" section, click Settings.
4. In the "Address of Web site to allow:" field, enter the URL https://uwstout.courses.wisconsin.edu and click Add.

1. Open Internet Explorer to any web page.
2. From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options...
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab and then click the CUSTOM button.
4. Scroll down the list of custom security options to the Downloads section.
5. Under "Automatic prompting for file downloads", choose Enable. Also, make sure the adjacent "File download" is set to Enable.
6. Click OK on the custom settings box and then OK again on Internet Options to close the dialog box.
7. Exit and restart Internet Explorer.

There is a problem viewing some non-HTML files on computers with Windows XP, Service Pack 2 using Internet Explorer (IE), but there is a way to resolve it:

1. Open Internet Explorer to any web page.
2. From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options...
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Security tab and then click the CUSTOM button.
4. Scroll down the list of custom security options to the Downloads section.
5. Under "Automatic prompting for file downloads", choose Enable. Also, make sure the adjacent "File download" is set to Enable.
6. Click OK on the custom settings box and then OK again on Internet Options to close the dialog box.
7. Exit and restart Internet Explorer.
   

Now you should be able to log into Learn@UW-Stout, go to your course and try to view a Word document, PowerPoint, or PDF file. You should get a pop-up box asking if you want to open or save the file. Open it and your PowerPoint should appear.

Note: It is recommended that you always have IE ask before opening a file for security reasons. 

Is the file extension correct (should be .htm or .html)? You can check this in Content > Manage Files. Also, make sure you are not using any of the following illegal characters within your filenames: " * / : < > ? \ | 

Check the HTML code for missing closing tags (like missing </TITLE> or </BODY> tags). To view HTML code, go into Content > Manage Content and click Edit Topic (pencil icon in right column) next to the page you can't see.  Click the Edit HTML Source icon in the lower left corner of the rich text editor just above the Cancel button.  Edit the code in the pop-up window and click the Update button.  Finally, click the Save button. 

Personal chats appear in all courses because they are associated with your username instead of a specific course. General chats are course specific. 

Safari has a pop-up blocker that's either on or off; it can't be set per site like other browsers. Turn off the pop-up blocker in the Safari menu to compose a discussion message. Firefox 3 is the recommended browser on a Mac.  

There has been an issue in some classes with discussion messages reverting to an "unread" state after leaving the discussion. Students and instructors can't tell which messages are new and which they've already reviewed. While D2L is trying to locate the cause of this issue, it has been noted it appears to be occurring with the Internet Explorer7 (IE7) browser, but not with Firefox.

If you're having this problem, you can refer to our Word document on this subject, which includes Firefox download and set up issues.  

No, the Feedback is stored in the Dropbox online, so the students need to go into the Dropbox in order to see the Feedback. 

Both students and instructors have been experiencing sporadic delays when sending emails to the "entire" class through Learn@UW-Stout (D2L) which sometimes results in mail not being delivered.  Until the issue has been resolved, the workaround is to use Stout mail to send emails to the "entire" class.   Here's how:

• Go to your course Classlist, click on the Student tab and click on the Email everyone on this tab (at the top of the page)
• Once you have the student email addresses in the To: field, right-click and Select All from the shortcut menu (Mac users:  Ctrl-click and Select All).
• Next, right-click and select Copy from the shortcut menu (Mac users:  Ctrl-click and select Copy).
• Open your Stout email, right-click in the To: field and select Paste from the shortcut menu (Mac users:  Ctrl-click and select Paste).
• Continue with completing the email and send it.

There is a 10MB limit for email attachments sent from Learn@ UW-Stout. Also, the following file types cannot be sent as attachments: .asa, .asax, .ascx, .ashx, .asmx, .aspx, .axd, .bat, .cdx, .cer, .com, .config, .cs, .dll, .exe, .idc, .ini, .java, .jsl, .licx, .rem, .resources, .resx, .shtm, .shtml, .soap, .stm, .vb, .vbproj, .vjsproj, .vsdisco, and .webinfo.

Yes, there is a 4100-character limit in each of the D2L email form's "to:", "cc:", and "bcc:" fields. This means you can email approximately 250 recipients at once, depending upon the lengths of the email addresses. If your class is larger than this, you may need to email groups rather than the whole Classlist at once. 

To change to the Weighted System, go into Grades then either select Grades Settings > Calculation Options or use the Setup Wizard. 

Yes. Simply, go into Grades, select "Groups" in the View By box and select the "section number" in the Groups box. 

For detailed instructions, please review our related document. 

• In D2L (Learn@ UW-Stout), click on Grades.
• Click on Export Grades.
• Scroll down to Export Options.
• Under Export Options, select the fields you want exported.
• Under Choose Grades to Export, check the first checkbox. This will check all of the grade items.
  
• Click on the Export to CSV button on the upper or lower right hand corner of the screen- a dialogue box will open with a link to the file.
• Click on the link and choose Save, choose a folder where you want it to be saved and rename the file with a meaningful name (psych 101 SP2006 GRADES).

Keep a hard copy on files with your department for three years. 

There is a relationship between the number of grade items displayed and the number of users per page.  If you have a lot of grade items, you will be able to display fewer users.

If you have categories of items in which you don't need to see the individual items for a time, you can collapse the category to a single column by clicking the minus (-) in front of the category name.  This may allow you to view more users per page since you are viewing fewer grade items.  

D2L has identified this as a “usability issue” and they are currently working on a solution. In the meantime, here is a workaround:

1. Open the .csv file in Excel
2. In Excel 2007…
1. On the Home tab click Sort & Filter and select Custom Sort... from the drop-down menu.
2. Make sure the My data has headers checkbox is checked then select the column you wish to sort on from the Sort by drop-down list, e.g., Last Name.
3. Click OK then Save the spreadsheet.
3. In Excel 2003…
   
1. Click on Data in the top menu and select Sort... from the dropdown list.
2. Make sure the Header row checkbox is checked then select the column you wish to sort on from the Sort by drop-down list, e.g., Last Name.
3. Click OK then Save the spreadsheet. 

1. Log into your course and click on Quizzes.
   
2. Locate the quiz and click on the checkmark and ruler icon (Grade Quiz) to the right of the quiz.
   
3. Toward the top of the screen, click on the Display Options link.
   
4. In the pop up window, check the box next to Allow Reset and click Save. A trash can icon will appear above and below the attempts and each name will have a checkbox to the left.
5. Locate the student whose test attempt needs to be deleted, check the box next to the attempt, and click on the trash can icon. When the Reset Attempt pop up message comes up, click OK. 

1. Click on Quizzes
2. Click on the quiz name (which takes you to the Properties tab of the quiz).
3. Select Auto Export to Grades (to allow automatic export to grades) and click the Save Quiz button (upper right hand corner of the screen).
4. Then, go to back to Quizzes.
5. Locate the quiz and click on the checkmark and ruler icon (Grade Quiz) to the right of the quiz.
6. Select the checkbox to the right of each student's attempt.
7. Click the Update button (upper right hand corner of the screen).

All students' grades will now appear in the gradebook. 

The problem occurs because certain features of D2L are incompatible with Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). However, it is possible to get around this problem. The student having difficulty should follow these steps:

1. In IE7, pull down the Tools menu, and click Internet Options
2. Change to the Security tab, then click the zone icon that D2L is under – by default, Internet*
3. Click the 'Custom Level' button.
4. Scroll down to 'Allow Programmatic clipboard access' and select Disable.
5. Click 'Ok', then 'Ok' again.

*You can also add D2L to your Trusted Sites zone and then change this setting for Trusted Sites. 

For detailed instructions, review our Directions... PDF document. 

You may have a null score on a quiz attempt.  

1. Click on Quizzes
2. Click on the Grade Quiz icon to the right of the quiz name.
3. In the Score column, you should either see a dash or a score like 23/25.  Look for a score  with a blank space in front of the slash like  /25. 
   
4. Click on the related attempt and you'll see that the Final Score box is blank.
5. If the quiz has been graded, click the Re-Calculate button to fill in the Final Score.
6. If the quiz has not been graded, click on the Auto-Grade and then Re-Calculate.
   

Yes, you can grade by question. View the steps in a written tutorial [PDF] 

Yes you can. However, once you make a change to a survey, D2L will create another version of the survey. Therefore, you will then have two versions of the survey and the data in your report will not be aggregate. We recommend that you don't make changes to your survey once you make it available. 

If you change a question in a survey in a course, all response data for that question are erased. However, response data for unchanged questions remain intact. 

Note: Adding new or reordering existing survey questions does not cause any existing data to be erased.