Student D2L Tutorials
Thank you for visiting National Louis University's Student Support website for its online campus, D2L Brightspace.
Here, you will find guides for the most commonly asked D2L questions. Learn how to navigate course content, submit an assignment, email your instructor and more. You’ll also find guides to NLU’s other technology tools such as the Panopto video capture platform and Turnitin. If you are new to NLU, we recommend beginning by viewing the guides in the Getting Started Menu below.
Student Orientations for D2L and Online Learning:
The following orientation videos and handouts are designed to not only introduce you to the NLU Online Campus (D2L), but also to help you succeed as an online student. Learn specific tips and strategies to get the most out of your online course.
- NLU Online Campus (Desire2Learn) Orientation
The NLU Online Campus orientation shows you how to log into the system, set up your personal preferences, and navigate your online course content.
Personalize Your D2L Account
D2L Personal Settings includes three areas: your Profile, Notifications and Account Settings. Profile is an area where you can upload an image, and share information about yourself that others can see in the Classlist. Notifications is an area where you can set up alerts concerning course activities. Account Settings is an area you can customize as to how D2L is formatted for your view.
Tutorials:
- Modify your Brightspace Profile
- Modify your Brightspace Notifications
- Modify your Brightspace Account Settings
If you need assistance with D2L, you can call the NLU Helpdesk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll free at 1-866-813-1177 or at extension x4357 if you are on campus.
Navigate the Course Home Page and Content
The Course Home Page is where you can access Announcements and Course Updates, Discussions, the Dropbox, Grades and more! Course content is where you go to view course materials, such as the syllabus, lecture notes, readings and more.
Tutorials:
If you need assistance with D2L, you can call the NLU Helpdesk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll free at 1-866-813-1177 or at extension x4357 if you are on campus.
Desire2Learn Tools
You might think of D2L as your digital classroom. Use D2L's tools submit your work, collaborate with your classmates, check your grades and more. The following tutorials on D2L Email, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes, Groups and Grades will help you complete your work online through the Desire2Learn Learning Management System.
Tutorials:
- Email using the D2L Classlist
- Assignments (formerly Dropbox)
- Video: Submit Assignments and View Feedback (1:38)
- If your Assignment folder has Turnitin set up,you can view a Turnitin Similarity Report for an Assignment submission. First, click on Assignments in the menu bar of your course. This takes you to a table listing all available Assignments. In the Assignment Submission Column click the number of your submissions. This will take you to a list of your submissions. Click a Similarity Report Icon to view your score. Need a little help working out what it all means? Check out Turnitin’s Interpreting the Similarity Report guidance page.
- Participate in Online Discussions
- How to Take a Quiz
- Enroll in Brightspace Groups
- Grades
- How to View user/class progress
Advanced and External Tools
The following three tools are considered to be a little more advanced than other tools in D2L. The materials posted here will help you use these tools to complete your assignments.
- Panopto Video Capture Tool
- Panopto Guides
- Video: Panopto Quickstart for Students (1:47)
- Link: Panopto Support Website
- Pulse Overview for Learners
- Brightspace ePortfolio Tool Video Playlist
- NLU ePortfolio Tool Tutorial
If you need assistance with D2L, you can call the NLU Helpdesk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll free at 1-866-813-1177 or at extension x4357 if you are on campus.
Assistive Technology and Privacy Guides
Here are some additional resources the first guide, "Assistive Technology Guide" will help you locate assistive technology resources. The Privacy Guide will assist you in locating the privacy policies, and provide tips for protecting your privacy and personal information.
Guide to Assistive Technology
This guide provides links and resources for accessibility guides for many different technology resources at NLU, such as D2L, Course Smart, LiveText, and other frequently used online educational tools and media sites.
Student Privacy
This guide provides students with resources to assist you in safeguarding their privacy and accounts.
If you need assistance with D2L, you can call the NLU Helpdesk 24 hours a day, 7 days a week toll free at 1-866-813-1177 or at extension x4357 if you are on campus.
Below you will find answers to some of the questions most frequently asked by NLU Students. If you aren’t able to find the answer to your question here, or in the documentation above, please contact the NLU IT Helpdesk http://www.nl.edu/lits/helpdesk/
Accessing your course
Q: D2L does not seem to work properly. What can I do?
A: First, run a browser check to determine whether or not your web browser is capable of running D2L. If it is not, consider upgrading your browser, or using another browser. D2L should work well on up-to-date versions of most modern web browser such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Q: Why can't I see my course? (Future, current, past)
A: It may be that your instructor has not yet opened, or has closed your course. NLU courses open 2 weeks before the 1st day of class. Before then you will not be able to see your course. If you are within 14 days of your courses start date, or currently taking the course and you still cannot see your course please contact the NLU IT Helpdesk http://www.nl.edu/lits/helpdesk/.
Q: How do I reset my password?
A: Please click the following link, click Reset Password, then follow the on-screen instructions. https://passwordreset.nl.edu/showLogin.cc
Assignments
Q: I am trying to upload a document to D2L, but it's not working. What am I doing wrong?
A: It could be the name of the file. Make sure it has the appropriate three letter file extension ("filename.PDF" or "filename.DOC", etc.) at the end of it. Also make sure the filename doesn't have characters like slashes ("/") ampersands ("&"), question marks, quotation marks or asterisks. When uploading files to the web, it is best to use only alphanumeric characters, underscores and dashes in the names. Thus, "lorenzo & vanzetti.DOC" and "lorenzo and vanzetti" will not work. "lorenzo_and_vanzetti.DOC" will.
Discussions
Q: Why can’t I see my classmates’ discussion postings?
A: It may be that your instructor has chosen to use the “Must post first” option which means you will need to make a post before you are able to read and reply to others.
Q: I know I posted my discussion but now I can't find it.
A: Make sure you are not using a setting that lets you see only new posts, or hides your own posts. (This is the most likely explanation.) If your settings should allow you to see your posts, check to see whether you posted to a different discussion topic, or saved a draft rather than posting your thread.
Q: Why do I get an error when I try to send D2L mail to an outside address?
A: D2L is a closed email system. You are not able to send email to an external email address from within D2L. Only an email ending in @d2l.nl.edu email addresses will work. If you need to send an email to an external account please use a personal email account, or your student outlook email account which you can access through the “Student Email” tab in the portal.
Quizzes
Q: How can I see feedback on my quiz answers? My instructor said I should look at this but I don't know where to look!
A: Please view this tutorial on viewing quiz feedback https://youtu.be/7okbzJ7Lhck.
Q. I started a Quiz but I cannot submit it.
A: Save your answers, then close the quiz and contact your instructor. The instructor can submit your quiz attempt for you, or manually grade the quiz.
Miscellaneous
Q: Why can some of my classmates see the next week's module, dropbox, etc. and I can't?
A: It may be that your instructor is using selective release options to send different content to different students. Ask your instructor about this issue.
Q: How do I make a suggestion?
A: If you have a suggestion for improving your class let your instructor know by completing the IDEA course evaluation survey which can be found here: https://nl.campuslabs.com/courseeval.
Q: I have a Question. Where can I get an answer?
A: If the question is related to your courses content or structure, consider asking your instructor. Many courses have a dedicated discussion topic for questions. For more personal questions you can also email your instructor though the classlist tool. For technical inquiries you can contact the NLU IT Helpdesk.
