Collaboration and Communication
Desire2Learn® Learning Environment provides a wide range of opportunities for collaboration and sharing throughout the learning experience. The sharing of views, information and expertise across peers, mentors, faculty and experts is inherent in the learning process. With Desire2Learn Learning Environment this sharing is integrated within the learning tools, providing communication tools that can be customized to enforce an institutions unique security policy while promoting engaging usage.
Collaboration and Communication Tools
A fully-featured Email tool is included in Learning Environment. Configure it for send-only messaging, for internal messaging only, for sending/receiving both internally and externally, or for integrating with an existing IMAP system. The Email tool automatically associates messages and contacts with course offerings, and facilitates continuous communication with the rest of the experience.
Notifications
There are multiple options for where and how frequently learners are notified about changes and alerts within the Learning Environment. Whether users prefer email or text message, it's possible to always stay up-to-date on: updated or released grades; Discussions; upcoming Dropbox or quiz due dates; and updates to course news feeds.
Locker
Use the locker tool to upload and store files in the Learning Environment. Files in the personal locker are kept private whereas group lockers allow learners to collaborate with others.
Discussions
Discussions provide a means for class interaction. The Discussions tool enables rating message postings, participation incentives, and empowers users to call out key contributions. Encourage original thought with the "most post first" option, where learners must create a post before being able to view those made by their peers. Discussions can be graded with ease and support numeric and rubric assessment types.
Instant Messaging
Quickly find other users who are currently online and send private messages, communicating quickly with peers, friends and classmates. Instant messaging can be turned off when learners are taking an online quiz.
Social Profiles and Sharing
Users can add social profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to Desire2Learn Learning Environment profiles, making connecting with friends, mentors, colleagues or peers easy and an integrated part of the learning process.
Blog enhancements further extend social learning opportunities by offering like, tweet and +1 buttons, to share a blog post with external social media applications.
Blog
The Blog tool provides a controlled environment for communication and reflection. Users can read peers' blogs, leave comments, and maintain a list of favorite blogs. It's up to you to decide whether blogs are available inside or outside the organization.
Synchronous Integration
Synchronous distance learning and collaboration to course work is achieved using our integrations with third party synchronous tools. This can include real-time virtual classrooms with two-way voice, multipoint video, interactive whiteboard, application sharing, file transfer, breakout rooms, and more. Additionally, Desire2Learn LiveRoom, and the integrated Chat tool, are popular solutions for clients who want a simple and straightforward synchronous solution.
Calendar
The calendar tool provides administrators, instructors and learners with a variety of options for managing their calendar in a single environment including the creation, printing and viewing of a clear timeline of course events, maximizing efficiency and minimizing time spent managing tasks.
ePortfolio Integration
Learning Environment integrates seamlessly with Desire2Learn ePortfolio to extend the social learning experience even further. Users can:
- Pull information from a Learning Environment course into ePortfolio to use as evidence of learning progress
- Leverage the learning outcomes within Learning Environment to use in personal learning plans in ePortfolio
- Directly access ePortfolio materials in Learning Environment courses
