Of Arby’s and D2L

In the early 90’s Arby’s  rolled out the ad campaign
“Different is Good” in an effort to set themselves apart from the rest of the
burger joints.  As an impressionable youth, and  since my hometown had recently
opened an Arby’s,  I decided to check it out and see what the hubbub was all
about.    I must admit I did not like my first Arby’s experience.  It wasn’t the
food (I loved the grease laden potato cakes), but it was the way the  building looked. 
Dressed in layers of brown and orange it just did not appeal to me, it wasn’t as
bright or as cool looking as other burger joints that I was used to. 
Unfortunately, I got the feeling when I first accessed D2L.  After being
accustomed to seeing this in my WebCT

 

and only seeing this

 Wow that IS different.  I think that a number of users have this reaction to D2L,
and after spending sometime with D2L I have come up with a couple of strategies
to deal with this change.

First, I admit I am a techno junky, if there is a new technology out there I try to find a way to
incorporate into my class.  Unfortunately at times I found myself trying to
make my class fit the technology, not make the technology fit the class. 
It is at time like this that i remind myself that it is not necessarily the
wrapper the educational knowledge is in, it its the knowledge itself.  Just
because D2L is not as pretty as WebCT does not mean that it is not as good. 
In fact, D2L offer many other content, education drive items that WebCT does
not.  In essence it allows you to build a better educational opportunity
for your students.

Second, you candress up your pages to your liking if you are willing to put in a bit of work. 
The following is a screenshot of the course I will be piloting.

Using any .html editor will allow you to change the shape and feel of your course. If you
would like some assistance using a html editor or learning how to creates these
pages let any of us at IDS know and we would be glad to help.

I think the
moral to the story is different may be scary but it is also good.

BTW

 All of thescreen grabs were created by a program call Jing.  It is freeware
application that allows you to take screen shots and record you screen to
produce a video that you may narrate if you would like.  Check it out here JING

Welcome to D2L @ SDSU

Hi

Welcome to the inaugural post of D2L @ SDSU.  The aim of this blog is twofold.  Initially, I hope to keep everyone informed of the changes that are being made, and the progress of the switch From WebCT to D2l.  As we draw near to the change things will start moving in a rapid fashion, and I would like to keep you abreast of what is going on.   Second, I will occasionally bring some of the best practices in teach and designing we have discovered using D2L.  Hopefully this can be a conglomeration of both design ideas and ideas that you are implementing in your courses.  I would really like to see our community share its knowledge so we can all become better users and consumers of educational technology.  So if you have any questions or comments about either of these issues leave a comment and I will get back to them ASAP.