Be aware that how your D2L email functions is dependent on how your D2L administrator has configured the tool.

• Send Only configuration: users can send but not receive email in D2L and copies of sent mail are not kept in D2L.

• Course Email configuration: users are provided a D2L-specific email address that allows them to send and receive email to and from other D2L users but not to or from external email accounts.

• Full Email configuration: users are provided a D2L-specific email address that allows them to send and receive email to and from both other D2L users and external email accounts.

When you have received an email, you will see a notification alert in the minibar. To access email in D2L, click the envelope icon in the minibar at the top of the window.

Video: Classlist-Contact Learners

If you wish to email a single learner, multiple learners, or all learners in your course:

• Navigate to the Classlist from the course navbar.

• Click the checkbox preceding the name of each learner you wish to email.

• Click Email from the options just above the learners’ names. If you wish to email the entire class, simply click the Email Classlist option found just under the Classlist title at the top of the window.

Notice that D2L automatically places the recipient addresses in the BCC field. Leave them there if you do not wish for all recipients to be able to identify the other recipients.

• Type a pertinent subject line in your message.

• If you wish to include attachments, click the appropriate option at the bottom of the message window.

• When you are finished composing your message, click Send at the top of the message window.

You can send instant messages in much the same way; instead of choosing Email from the options above the learners’ names, choose Instant Message. A message window will open so that you can type the text of your message. When you have done so, click Send to deliver your message to your identified recipients.

In addition to enabling you to email learners quickly and easily, the Classlist tool can provide quite a lot of information about a learner’s engagement with the course materials. Navigate to the Classlist from the course navbar. You can tell which learners are currently online by looking at the list; if a green dot appears next to a learner’s name, that learner is currently logged in to D2L (though not necessarily in your course). Note that learners can also see if you are online by viewing the classlist. If you wish to keep your status hidden, go to your account settings and choose Always appear offline from the Signing In options. That option will disable the green dot online status symbol.

You can use the Classlist tool to monitor learners’ progress in your course. Click the arrow to the right of a learner’s name and choose View Progress from the drop-down menu to open a Progress Summary window for that learner. That window will provide a login history from which you can determine which pages of content the learner has accessed and how much time was spent on each page. Please note that this tool has some errors and also does not account for the use of Binder or for students who download content to read offline.

If you wish to hold synchronous meetings online, you can make use of the Chat tool, which provides for effective interaction with learners via a real-time text-based collaborative environment. Access the Chat tool from the course navbar. When you use it for the first time, you will see a Chat List window that contains no listings.

Click New Chat to create your chatroom. If you choose to make your room a General Chat, that will allow all enrolled learners to participate. If you choose Personal Chat, you can specify which learners have access to the chatroom. Type a title and description and click Create to create your chatroom.

At the specified date and time, you and your learners can navigate to the Chat window and click on the chat title from the Chat List to enter the chatroom.

After the chat has concluded, learners can click on the arrow to the right of the chat title and choose View Sessions from the drop-down menu to open a list of chats that have occurred in the room. Clicking on the date from that list will open an archived copy of the chat. If you wish to delete a chat, choose Delete from the drop-down menu.

Video: Announcements-Create an Announcement

The Announcements tool allows you to create messages that will be delivered to learners directly from the course home page when they log in and access the course. It is especially effective for communicating updates, reminders, changes, or news items. The first time you open your course home page, you will see the Announcements widget, which probably says, There are no announcements to display and offers you the option to Create an announcement. You can create announcements to be released immediately, or you can schedule them for release at a later date.

• Click on Announcements just beneath the course title on your course home page, and the Announcements tool will open.

• Click on New Announcement to open the HTML Editor and give your announcement a headline.

• Type the text of your message. You can insert media, hyperlinks, or quicklinks to course objects by using the controls in the upper left of the HTML Editor. Other controls at the top of the HTML Editor enable adjustment of the formatting of your message and/or creation of tables or mathematical equations.

• In the lower right corner of the HTML Editor are options that allow for spell check, accessibility check, HTML source code editing, and previewing of your announcement.

• Below the HTML Editor, you can adjust the start and end date, add attachments, and/or set release conditions.

• Click Publish to post your announcement or save it as you schedule for future postings.

• Now, clicking on Announcements on the course home page will take you to a list of all the announcements you have created for the course; if you wish to edit one you have created and scheduled for future posting, simply click on its title to open the announcement in the HTML Editor and make whatever revisions are necessary.

Video: Teaching Tips- Make Regular Announcements

Boost engagement in your course by communicating frequently with all learners enrolled in your course offering by making regular announcements. This tutorial provides suggestions for making regular announcements to increase your communication with learners in your course offering in Brightspace Learning Environment.

Video: How to Make Your Course Pulse Friendly (in less than an hour)

If your learners use the Brightspace Pulse app, the communications tools in D2L will contribute to their engagement in the course. Make sure as you are using the tools that you make your communications Pulse-friendly by setting start and end dates, due dates, and using push notifications.

Video: Navigate Brightspace Learning Environment -Notifications

Encourage your learners to make use of instant notifications to receive alerts when new announcements have been made, content has been added or changed, grades have been released, or due dates are approaching. They can configure these notifications from the personal settings drop-down menu accessed by clicking on their name in the minibar. Notifications can be sent via email or text message, and they can choose to receive individual notifications instantly or in digest form on a daily basis.

Video: Activity Feed-Overview

The Attendance tool allows you to track learners’ attendance in your course for required synchronous sessions (chat, video conference). You can access it by clicking on it from the course navbar (where it may be nested in the Learner Management or a similar menu item).

Click New Register and give your register a name. Then choose your attendance scheme; the system scheme is a simple present-absent scheme. You can create your own scheme if you like, but for now assume that the system scheme is your choice. If you do not want learners to be able to see their attendance record, do not check the allowance box under Visibility. Under Sessions, list the dates, activities, or events for which you wish to record attendance. Click Save to create your register.

If you wish to create your own attendance scheme (such as Present, Tardy, Excused Absence, Absent), click the Attendance Schemes tab before you set up your new register. Then click New Scheme and give your scheme a name. For each category you create, assign a symbol, name, and weight. If you wish to add more fields, type the number of additional fields you desire in the box next to Add Statuses and then click the plus sign. When you are finished, click Save. Now when you create a new register, your new scheme will appear as a choice under attendance schemes.

To record attendance, navigate to the Attendance tool and click the name of the register you created. An Attendance Data window will open, showing cumulative data fields for all learners in the register. Click the icon next to the session name to open the recording pane which contains learners’ names. You can record the status of each learner individually using the drop-down menu next to each learner’s name, or you can record the status of all learners at once by clicking on Set Status for All Users. When you have recorded the status, click Save. Then click Close to return to the cumulative Attendance Data window.

You can edit an attendance register by clicking on the arrow to the right of the register’s name and choosing Edit Register from the drop-down menu. To delete a register, choose Delete from the drop-down menu. You can view the learner’s grades, as well as progress made in Discussions, Assignments, and Quizzes.

Video: Creating Intelligent Agent Low Score