New in the Desire2Learn Community

We'd like to thank all Community members for contributing to a great year. We can all look forward to more Community collaboration, resources and online courses in 2007.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our usability study and provided feedback on the new Community design prototype. We have made revisions based on your comments and are pleased to invite you to login to view the new design.

Click here for an overview of the new main areas of your Community.

Created by Desire2Learn users for Desire2Learn users, The Spoke is a Podcast area where the latest information on Desire2Learn technology will be shared. Log in to the Community to meet our first host of The Spoke, Barry Dahl. Barry is the V.P. of Technology & the Virtual Campus at Lake Superior College, a Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Institution. In a series of Podcasts, Barry chats with both Desire2Learn specialists and users. Hear Barry talk to Lead Product Manager, Kenneth Chapman on topics such as the new email tool and the benefits of using Desire2Learn's Learning Object Repository as an efficient method of file storage. Barry also talks with users on web accessibility, pedagogical methods and other key issues of interest to Desire2Learn users.

Desire2Learn Community members can also participate by submitting topic requests or questions to be answered in upcoming Podcasts.

Do you have a Podcast you'd like to share with the Community? Contact us at Community@Desire2Learn.com to let us know.

In Discussions:

"There have been design changes made since I last viewed the Content designs. The sidebar has been built into a collapsible tree so users are able to expand or collapse modules and topics without any access to settings. This feature is no longer permissions based."

You Asked:

"But does it remember how the individual set it from the last time they went in or is it always set to a system level default each time the user logs in? Sort of like My Courses Widget or the Tree structure for Org Files?"

The answer is "yes". To see the full response from Marie Astl, Desire2Learn Business Analyst:

1. Login to the Community.
2. Click the "Discuss" link on the Navigation Bar.
3. Click the "Main Discussions List" quicklink in "Related Links."
4. In the Product Management Feedback Forum, click the General Information Requests topic.
5. In the Search bar type "Collapsible content" and click Search.
6. Click on the first message in the thread. Click "next" to continue to view the next message.

Community members have contributed a vast array of resources in the Community. We are currently building a new area where you will be able to quickly browse through all of the tutorials members have shared. Watch for this area to open soon.

This will be the last edition of the Community Newsletter. Next spring, as a testimony to our commitment to collaborate on eLearning with each other, your Community Newsletter will be published as "2gether." We will learn more together!

Don’t miss this article in the next edition of "2gether."

Three Clicks to SCORM

Many instructors have been introduced to Microsoft Learning Essentials as a great addition to the Office Suite, helping them to create lesson plans, tutorials and other instructional material. The question remains: How can we get our content into our online course? The best way is to package your content in a standard way such as SCORM. Normally this can be a daunting task for most instructors but what if you could do this in only a few simple steps? In the next edition of the Community Newsletter, Mike Pietrantonio shares how this is possible in "Three Clicks to SCORM."

If you would like to contribute an article to an upcoming issue of 2gether, we'd like to hear from you. We are also always happy to listen to your ideas for the Community or 2gether. Drop the Community Coordinator a line at Community@Desire2Learn.com