D2L Faculty: Content

The Content and Course Builder tools both allow you to organize materials in D2L. Content lets you and your students access files including Office files, PDFs, eReserve documents, and HTML documents for the course. The Course Builder lets you plan and organize those content items and insert placeholders for items that are not yet created in Content or elsewhere in the D2L course. For more information, go to the Course Builder page.

This page explains how to use Content for:

• Creating and Editing Modules
• • Creating a New Module
  • Editing a Module
• Creating Topics
• • Uploading a New File
  • Using an Existing Course File
  • Creating a New File
  • Editing a Topic
  • Quicklinks
  • Adding Topics in Bulk 
• More Actions
  
  

Creating and Editing Modules

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All content items are created within a module. You could have different modules for each unit, week, chapter, or use another system. Modules organize your Content section.

Creating a New Module

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1. Click the Add Content dropdown arrow and select New Module.

2. From the Parent Module pull-down menu, select the desired parent module.
   

   Note: If you do not want the module to be part of another module, select None.

3. In the Title text box, type the module's title.

4. Optional: Select the Restrictions tab to hide the module or set start and end dates. 
   

   • To conceal your module from students until you choose to reveal it, select Hide this module.
     Note: The module, and everything within it, will not be visible to students until you manually unhide it.
   • To set a date when students can first view the module and its contents,
   • • Select Has Start Date.
     • Use the pull-down menus to select a date and time.
   • To set a date when the module will no longer be available to students,
   • • Select Has End Date.
     • Use the pull-down menus to select a date and time.
       
5. Press Save or Save and New to create a new module.

Editing a Module

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Each module has a context menu with which you can complete a number of tasks, including editing and reordering a module.

1. To view the context menu of an existing module, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the module you wish to display.
   
   
   
   
2. From this menu, press  to change the properties, title, or restrictions on the module.
   
3. From this menu, press  to change the order of the topics within the modules or the order of the modules themselves.
   To change an item's order, use the dropdown menu on the right side of the screen.
   Note: To expand a module and view the topics inside, click the plus sign to the left of the module title. This will then change into a minus sign, which you can click to collapse the module if desired.
   
   
   

 

Creating and Editing Topics

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Topics are components of modules and sub-modules. They can be links to course files, web pages, or tools in D2L.
Note: Topics can have start and end dates individually, but it is also possible to set dates for the module which will apply to all topics within that module.

Uploading a New File

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Topics often consist of uploaded documents, such as PDF or Word files. To simplify the process, you can upload the file and create a topic at the same time.

1. On the Navigation bar click Content.

2. Click the Add Content dropdown arrow.

3. Click Upload File.

4. From the Parent Module pull-down menu, select the module in which this topic will appear.

5. In the Title text box, type the desired title. The title becomes the link users click on to access the document.
   

   Optional: You may create an abbreviated title in the Short Title text box. Students see this abbreviated title in the left sidebar when viewing Content topics.

6. To select the file that will be uploaded,
7. 1. In the Content section, click Browse.
   2. Using the Look in pull-down menu, locate and select the file.

   3. Click Open.

6. To select the location for the uploaded file among your other D2L course files (for instance, within a folder),
7. 1. Click Choose Destination.
   2. Select the appropriate location for the new file.
   3. Click Select a Path.
      

      Note: You are returned to the New Topic pane. The location you have selected appears in the Path.

7. Click Save to finish or Save and New to create another topic.

 

Using an Existing Course File

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If you have already uploaded a file to this D2L course, you can make it link it to a Content topic:

1. On the Navigation bar click Content.

2. Click the Add Content dropdown arrow. 

3. Click New Course File.

4. From the Parent Module pull-down menu, select the module this topic will appear under.

5. In the Title text box, type the desired title.
   

   Optional: Add an abbreviated title in the Short Title text box.

6. To select the file,
7. 1. Click Browse.
   2. Locate and select the file.
   3. Click Select file.
      
      

8. Click Save to finish or Save and New to create another topic.

Creating a New File

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When you create a new file under Content, this file is created using the HTML editor in D2L and is not saved to another location on your computer; this file exists only in your D2L course.

1. On the Navigation bar click Content.

2. Click the Add Content dropdown arrow.

3. Click New File.

4. From the Parent Module pull-down menu, select the module in which this topic will appear.
   

5. In the Title text box, type the desired title.

6. Optional: To select a location for the new file (for instance, within a folder),
7. 1. Click Choose Destination.
      Note: The Select a Path dialog box appears, showing your existing course folders and fields.

   2. Click Select a Path.
      Notes: You are returned to the New Topic pane. The location you have selected appears after Folder:

8. In the HTML Editor, type the topic's content.

9. Click Save to finish or Save and New to create another topic.

 

Editing a Topic

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Each topic within a module has its own context menu.

1. To view the context menu of an existing topic, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the topic you wish to display.
   
   
   
2. From this menu, click  to change the properties, title, or restrictions on the topic, as well as add comments.
   

 

Quicklinks

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Quicklinks allow you to link to other tools or files in your D2L course or to external URLs. The Content page is the outline for the course; you may want to link to quizzes, discussions, dropboxes, eReserve items, or websites. Often these are placed in chronological order as students view the content from top to bottom.

1. On the Navigation bar click Content.
   
   
2. Click the black dropdown arrow to the right of the Parent Module you wish your quicklink to appear under.   
   
   
   
3. Click New Quicklink.
   
   
4. Click Quicklink.
   
   
5. In the Title text box, type the desired title.
   Optional: You may include an abbreviated title in the Short Title text box.
   
   
6. Click Insert a Quicklink.
   
   
7. From the Category pull-down list, select a category. Here are some of the most common categories linked to:
8. • Discussions: Link directly to the topic rather than the forum.
   • Quizzes: Link directly to an applicable quiz.
   • URLs: Copy and paste the URL for an external website into the field.
     Note: The http:// is already entered; do not duplicate it.
     
     
9. Complete the option(s) in the dialog box for the category you selected.
   
   
10. Click Insert.
    
    
11. Click Save.

 

Adding Topics in Bulk

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1. On the Navigation bar click Content.

2. Click the Add Content dropdown arrow.

3. Click Add Multiple Topics.

4. In the Properties section, from the Parent Module pull-down menu, select the module these topics will appear under.

5. In the Course Files section, select the files you want to use.

6. To assign a title to a selected file, type the desired title in the Topic Title text box.

7. Click Add.

More Actions

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One new element at the top of the content page is the "More Actions" button. This will allow you to reorder modules and access reports.

1. Click  to change the order of all modules and/or the topics within the modules.
   Note: To expand a module and view the topics within, click the plus sign to the left of the module title. This will then change into a minus sign, which you can click to collapse the module if desired.
   
   
2. Click to access the Reports function. The Reports page allows you to view data about user access to the Content items in your course and any feedback students may have created.

• The default tab selected is the Content tab. This tab shows reports based on content. It shows the total number of users who have access to content, the total number of users who have viewed content, and the average time spent viewing content.
  Note: To see which content has been viewed by users, look to the Users Visited column on the right, and to see how much time has been spent on a specific topic look to the Average Time Spent column.
  
  
• Select the Users tab to view statistics based on individual users. This tab shows the names of the users who have access to the content, as well as the number of topics they have viewed.
  
  
• Click at the top of the page to view any feedback on a particular topic that may have been left by users.