Online Getting Started

Getting Started for Online Learning

Welcome to your online D2L course. Please take a minute and familiarize yourself with the following areas and features of this course. Each bolded area can be found on the menu bar located just below the course banner.

Course home – news area

   Your instructor will be posting important announcements and reminders in the news section.
   Your instructor’s contact information and a link to the virtual office.  During office hours, I’m available in the virtual office as well as my office on campus. 
   Below my contact information is a “How do I” section. Take a few minutes to review each item before moving forward.
   

Course content

   Course Syllabus: The syllabus provides the course description, gives instructor contact information, defines required course materials and describes grading procedure.
   Course Calendar: The calendar lists dates when written and online assignments are due. The course calendar may be your most referenced course document. Due dates are important in this online course.
   Modules This course is divided into eight modules. Material is grouped into each module and you will frequently find several major topics in each module.

 Discussions

   The discussion area is used for student-to-student, as well as student-to-instructor communication. The first discussion forum in this area is for course questions. Any question regarding the course content can be posted in this area as well as comments and answers from fellow students. To submit a question, select “compose” from the discussion menu. Next, type in the question or response and select “post” in the lower right hand corner. This will post your discussion. Note that a spell check icon is available. You may edit your own postings once they are submitted.
   Assignments in the discussion area are listed in the course calendar. When you would like to respond to a fellow student’s posting, select “Reply” then “Post”.

Dropbox

   Assignments can be uploaded to the dropbox.
   There is an area where you can leave a note for the instructor regarding the assignment. The instructor can also leave a note for you.
   Be sure to check your dropbox area to assure your document properly uploaded.

Class list

   Selecting this link will display all members of the 690 course.
   This area is especially convenient if you would like to email one or more members of the course.

Check list

   All assignments are listed in the check list.
   Once you complete an assignment, check the box to indicate the assignment is complete.
   The check list helps you to manage your course work.

Grades

   All course activities are listed in the grade area.
   As each assignment is graded, scores are posted in this area.
   At the end of the course, a letter grade and a point/percentage are posted.
   Instructor notes on individual assignments are also visible in the grade area.

Rubrics

   A grading rubric is listed for each assignment.

Finding help

The following resources should help you if you run into technical problems with this course.

   If you need help resolving a login, hardware, or software issue, call 507-457-5240 (Option 1) or emailed to AskTech@winona.edu

Requesting accessibility

   If you would like the course material presented in an alternative format, or would like to request an accommodation for a disability, please email ds@winona.edu or call at 507-457-5878.

Ready to Start