Tuesday, August 8, 2017

Bye Bye Blog?

Not THIS blog; it is here to stay. The D2L Blog tool is being phased out from the NLU learning environment beginning in the Summer 2017 term.

Why?

  • The D2L blog is not a course-level tool. Depending on the individual settings, it is either visible only to the writer of the "blog", or it is public. This can raise potential FERPA issues and makes the tool inappropriate for course-level activities.
  • There are newer and better options for written communication in the D2L course and also for "outside" social media.
  • Publicly available D2L Blogs have raised security issues for our D2L site and our users.

Alternatives?

What alternatives do I have for blogging with my students?

Course-level Alternatives

  • D2L Discussion, when provided with blog-like instructions, can function effectively as a class-specific blog that can feed into the assessment plan for the class if appropriate. Students should each create a thread (their "blog"). Students should then read their classmates blogs and post comments if they wish.
  • Single-user Group-Specific Discussion for a journal-like experience that allows iterative interactions between the individual student and the instructor in a class. Posts are visible only to the writer of the post and to the instructor. Some NLU instructors call this a "Two-Way Journal".
  • Announcements provide a place for news that you would like to share with your students.

Other NLU-Sponsored Tools

The following NLU-sponsored tools are loosely integrated with D2L and can work across Courses and Term Boundaries

  • Wiggio (linked in the More Tools menu, but student-driven and not class specific).
  • Electronic portfolios (LiveText and ePortfolio)

External Social Media

If the public side of the D2l blog is important to a class activity, and if Wiggio, LiveText, and ePortfolio don't meet your needs, here are some external tools that other NLU instructors have used. Just make sure that you, and your students, understand the associated privacy policies. Additionally, LITS cannot support faculty and students in their use of external websites, so you will want to make sure you are familiar with the sites and with the specific activities you would like your students to complete.

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Edublogs (by Wordpress)
  • Google Docs (for collaboration)

Timeline?

What is the timeline? I need to copy material from my D2L Blog while I can.

July 2017

  • Students and faculty will no longer be able to make the blog externally available, or publish it as an RSS feed.
  • External viewing and RSS publishing will no longer be enabled for the D2L Blog.
  • Students will no longer be able to view entries for other users or post comments through ours D2l site.

December 2017

  • Instructors will no longer be able to view entries for other users or add comments to entries.
  • Students will no longer have access to the Blog tool.
  • Instructors will have access to their own Blog posts by accessing Blog tool through the Course Admin page.

January 2018

  • The Blog tool will not be available. Believe me, you will not miss it!
  • Still wanting to use blogging with you class but not sure what to do next? Come to an Open Lab to brainstorm ideas.

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