Enhanced D2L combines Elluminate and Turnitin.com programs and allows waitlisted students to access potential classes two weeks before class starts.
Elluminate is a web conferencing program that provides its viewers with virtual rooms for classes and lectures; it was first incorporated into D2L in the spring. Turnitin.com had its debut on D2L during the summer.
“”They became available, but on a limited basis,”” said Sue South, director of instructional support and learning technologies. “”We were testing the integration to make sure that it was working properly so it was minimally used.””
With some of the kinks now worked out, Elluminate has generated positive feedback.
“”The instructors like the convenience of having Elluminate integrated to the D2L environment,”” South said. “”The whole class is included in the environment. It got real good feedback from faculty. We don’t hear a lot of feedback from students because the nature of our department is to serve faculty directly and students indirectly.””
L. Penny Rosenblum, associate professor of practice for the department of disability and psychoeducational dtudies in the college of education, used the Elluminate program in the spring and plans to use it again in the future. She used the program with 11 graduate students who were taking their first class towards becoming teachers of students with visual impairments. All of the students lived in Nevada.
“”One of the strengths of Elluminate is that you can make the world your classroom,”” she said. “”You can be literally anywhere with an internet connection.””
Because of her own positive experience with the program, Rosenblum informed fellow faculty member Irene Topor, about Elluminate.
“”Last year Dr. Rosenblum began using it and I knew that I would need a platform like that for my Las Vegas class,”” Topor said. “”She had great success.””
Topor, professor of practice for the department of disability and psychoeducational studies in the college of education, plans to use Elluminate as a tool for her students to do presentations, listen to lecturers and post video clips.
Although the Elluminate program has successfully been integrated, the benefits of incorporating Turnitin.com into D2L are still being explored.
“”The Turnitin integration has not really been widely used yet,”” South said. “”It was only recently announced that that was available so we don’t have a lot of feedback about that yet.””
Turnitin.com has been integrated with other course management systems such as Blackboard and Moodle and has been successful, Katie Povejsil, the vice president of iParadigms, LLC, said. IParadigms, LLC is the provider of Turnitin.com. The site is the top plagiarism prevention site and the company has a 90 percent year to year return rate from institutions such as the UA.
D2l provided students with another upgrade this semester; waitlisted students now have the ability to view the class on the D2L website for up to two weeks while they try to register.
“”We tried to follow the same philosophy that a classroom would follow if it was a face to face classroom,”” South said. “”We treat the virtual classroom the same that we would for a physical classroom. If a student is trying to get into a class, they would be advised to continue to visit the class until they were assured that the class was closed…We tried to treat the virtual environment, the D2L environment in the same way allowing student to see the materials that were in the D2L environment in case they did happen to get into the class. If they found out they couldn’t, they were dropped off the roster.””
The new ability to access waitlisted classes is something that will be available for students for subsequent semesters, she said.
“”It was a great idea if you did get into the class,”” said psychology junior Caitlin Bayley. “”You can see the syllabus and keep up with the homework so you don’t fall behind.””
