One of the advantages of moving to SF LTI is the greater ability to customize, and enjoy the LTI benefits of consortium collaboration. Of course, this combining the benefits is only successful if you develop strategically. If you do TOO much customization, you may regret losing connections to all of the ongoing updates and improvements to resources.
Not good reasons to customize a reading / lesson / question:
- A video is missing. Post to the discussion forum (include a good replacement if possible). This way, everyone benefits from the catch and you maintain update connections.
- You found a typo or mistake. Much better to post the fix for the benefit of everyone and not lose other updates.
- You have a better idea for an example explanation. Much better to post idea in the Discussion Forum. Best case is that it get's fixed in master and you maintain your link to the updates. Worst case is that it's starts a good discussion where you understand the rationale behind the choices made.
Good reasons to customize a reading / lesson / question:
- You wish to supplement a First Peoples section with some locally-focused information.
- You wish to add to a topic, due to a recent local event or personality.
- You wish to experiment with your students before you "bring it to the group."
How to Edit (click question to jump to details):
Q1: How to Edit a Reading
Settings:
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- Roles = Pre-Activation Learner
- Release conditions =
- Repetition = Only the first time.
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Q2: How to Edit a Lesson
D2L super-admins: duplicate the "Learner" role, and name it "Pre-Activation Learner." This role will be necessary for remaining steps.
The SMS will (by default) enroll each new student as a "Pre-Activation Learner" and will update when it sees them switched to "Learner" within D2L.
The next step is how we cause the account switch within D2L.
Q3: How to Edit a Question
A D2L Intelligent Agent (IA) within each course can be used to switch your students from "Pre-Activation Learner" to "Learner."
In some districts, teachers will set-up their own IA's, while in others, this is done by admin.
Within a course, the IA from scratch, or you can import a sample. Here's how to import a sample IA:
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- Download file to comp: https://wcln.ca/IA_from_PH11.zip
- Course Admin > Import/Export… > Import Components (from a course package)
How to adjust an Intelligent Agent:
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- Go into Course > Course Admin > Communication > Intelligent Agents
- Click on the respective IA, “Student Activation”
- Check and adjust settings, focusing on the highlighted areas in the example below:
- Note: If unable (as a teacher) to set "change user enrollment," you may need to ask your local D2L Super-Admin to set this for you (or enabling you to adjust: "Roles and Permissions > Teachers > Intelligent Agents > Use Agent Enrollment Actions").
Q4: How to Edit a Quiz
Part of being a "Pre-Activation Student" is not having too much access to the course, as you want students to focus their first efforts on the early assignments.
Thus, you'll want to block access to the majority of your course UNTIL the activation is complete.
HINT: Once you're done this step, a new student ONLY sees a small part of the course (ie. within D2L, there's no indication to them that they are only seeing a small part of the whole course). It may seem obvious, but you'll likely receive complaints from confused kids/parents when only seeing a small part. Thus, you may wish to use another IA to create a welcome letter and include something like, ".... Please note that you'll initially only have access to the first Unit in the course. After having your Unit 1 work submitted and graded, you'll gain access to the rest of the course."
The steps below show how to block Unit 2 in your course until activation happens. You would do these same steps for EACH of the units that you wish to block. For example, if activation happens in Unit 1, then you might leave Unit 1 open and block Units 2-8.
Repeat this process for each remaining Unit.