Attention: UWM Instructors
It's Time to Move to Desire2Learn;
Spring 2004 is FINAL Semester for Blackboard

Desire2Learn (D2L) is the name of UW-System’s new course management software that enables instructors to use the Web for displaying course materials and for communicating with students online. D2L is replacing the Blackboard course management system at UWM.

Spring 2004 is the last semester that faculty and students can use the Blackboard system at UWM; the Blackboard license expires at the close of the spring semester. Fortunately, UWM faculty and students are embracing D2L quickly and enthusiastically. For example, in fall 2003, UWM instructors offered Desire2Learn courses to approximately 14,500 students. Although this was the first semester that D2L was available, more UWM faculty selected D2L than Blackboard: UWM instructors offered 365 Desire2Learn courses and only 295 Blackboard courses in the fall 2003 semester.

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) projects that in spring 2004 UWM instructors will offer over 500 D2L courses and fewer than 200 Blackboard courses. Now is the time for instructors still using Blackboard to prepare for D2L!

What do I do to prepare for Desire2Learn?

Step 1. Enroll in a D2L Workshop at the LTC.
The LTC’s experienced D2L instructors offer a free three-hour overview of D2L that prepares faculty to use the new course management system. Go to the LTC homepage (www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/) and select a date and time to enroll in a D2L Workshop. Enroll online by clicking on the appropriate session in the Workshop calendar. The workshops are held in the Golda Meir Library East Wing E-177.

The LTC staff also design and schedule special D2L workshops for departments, schools and colleges that want to bring their faculty together to learn D2L. Contact the LTC (LTC@uwm.edu) or the Director Bob Kaleta (kaleta@uwm.edu) for more information or to arrange a group D2L workshop.

Step 2. Complete an online D2L Course Site Request.
Go to the LTC homepage (www.uwm.edu/Dept/LTC/) for the online course site request form. Locate and select “Click here to request a Desire2Learn (D2L) Course Site for Winterim or Spring 2004.” The online form walks you through all of the information needed for the LTC staff to create a D2L course site for you. Questions include asking if you’d like the LTC to copy course content from a previous Blackboard course to your new D2L course or to just create a new site in D2L.

The LTC staff creates the D2L site and coordinates with UWM Enrollment Services to load student enrollments into the course site. (Note: The automation of loading students into the D2L courses to work online with the UWM’s PeopleSoft Student Record system begins in spring 2004. This means that course enrollment information will be updated on a daily basis in D2L.)

Step 3. Develop your D2L Course Site(s).
While developing your course site, remember that the LTC staff is available to help you. The LTC provides D2L support and training for UWM faculty and academic teaching staff and answers instructors’ questions about D2L via email (LTC@uwm.edu), by telephone (229-4319), and in person (The LTC Lab is located in the Library E-175).

Don’t hesitate to contact Alan Aycock, Jay Caufield, and Amy Mangrich for expert, timely, and (usually) cheerful assistance!

Information & Media Technologies staff provide 24/7 assistance for students with D2L problems via the Campus Solution Center help desk (229-4040) and in person at the Bolton 225 Lab. Instructors should direct all students having difficulties with D2L, including with passwords and logging on, to the I&MT help desk.

The Learning Technology Center staff believe that you will like working in D2L:

• Unlike Blackboard, D2L has a Spellchecker!
• D2L also has a built-in HTML editor that makes it easy for faculty and students to custom develop Web pages in D2L.
• The D2L Quiz Builder is more flexible and makes managing quiz items and responses easier.
• There is a Likert scale option in the D2L Survey Tool.
• Instructors can import as well as export grades in the D2L Grade Book. They can order assessment items as they wish, instead of only alphabetically, as in Blackboard. And D2L’s Grade Book has the capability for true weighting of assessment items.
• Faculty can copy all or part of their own course content from an old D2L course site in which they were the instructor to a new one. This flexibility is not available in Blackboard (Bb) in which instructors must ask the LTC staff to copy course content from one Bb course to another or from Bb to D2L.
• And: Students clearly like and adapt easily to using D2L course sites.

The LTC is available to help UWM faculty and teaching staff in their efforts to enhance their teaching and student learning through the meaningful use of learning technologies. Their consultations, workshops, and support are designed to help faculty and teaching staff become independent developers of effective technology resources for teaching and learning. If you wish to explore how technology could be used in your classes or need advice and support for developing digital course materials, please get in touch with them at LTC@uwm.edu or 229-4319.

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