Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

How to turn tools off

Warning: Turning off a tool will make it unavailable in the entire course, not just the navbar. Only turn off tools you are sure you don’t need on the navbar. Never turn off Content, any tools in the Course Info dropdown and Grades, as this will make them inaccessible to students. Never turn off tools that are not on the navigation bar (see step 3 below).

1. Click the Instructor Tools link and select Course Admin.
   
2. On the Course Administration page, click Tools.
   
3. On the Tool Status page, turn off unused tools (must be options in your navbar – do not disable tools not visible in your navbar)
   • For example, turning off the Discussions from the Coursework group in the navbar:
   • When you turn off the tool, a Set status to ‘Off’ pop-up message confirms the change.

Note: Changes to the settings on this page are saved automatically and will be reflected to your students immediately

How to add custom links

Create a link category

1. On the navbar, click Links.
2. On the Manage Links page, click New Category.
   
3. Enter your category details.
4. Click Save.

Create a single link

1. On the navbar, click Links. This will take you to the Manage Links page.
2. On the Manage Links page, click New Link.
   
3. Do one of the following:
   1. To add your link to an existing category,
      • From the Category drop-down list, select a category.
   2. To add your link to a new category,
      1. Click New Category.
      2. Enter your category details.
      3. Click Save.
4. Enter a title for your link.
5. Do one of the following:
   1. To add an external link, in the URL area, enter the URL in the field provided.
   2. To add a quicklink, click the Quicklink icon in the URL area.
      1. In the Insert Quicklink dialog, navigate to the link you want to insert.
6. Click Save.

Delete links and link categories

Warning: Deleting a category also deletes all the single links in that category.

1. On the navbar, click Links.
2. From the context menu of the link or link category you want to delete, click Delete.
3. A confirmation window will pop up asking if you are sure you want to delete the category and all the links inside it.
4. Click Yes.
5. The category will be deleted.
   

How to pin an Announcement on the Homepage

If you have something, such as a homework site (WebWork) or an OER textbook, which you anticipate students needing very often in the course, in addition to adding it to the “Links” area, you can also put it in a short announcement and then ‘Pin’ that announcement to the top, so it stays visible.

1. Create your announcement on the homepage, or in the announcements tool.
2. Next to the title of the announcement, select “Pin to top” from the context menu.
3. You will know it was successful if you see “Pinned” underneath the announcement title.

Note: If you do this, try to keep your message short so that other announcements are still easily visible to students.

Instructor view

Includes the Instructor Tools drop-down menu group with links for you only.

Student view

Does not include the role-specific Instructor Tools group of links, reducing clutter for student navigation in your course

How do I enable the new navbar in a course that doesn’t have it?

Contact the Learning Technology Help Desk at dlhelp@pcc.edu for assistance with updating the navbar in a course.

Can I remove Groups?

Not at this time. We’ve asked D2L to add that functionality so that it behaves like the other tools.

Can I remove Zoom?

We’re still investigating this but recommend keeping Zoom to support office hours and student group work.

How do I make links that get copied to the next term without breaking?

If you use the Quicklinks option, you can select the file you want from the Content:

1. In the Links tool, click on New Link
2. Name your new link (e.g. Syllabus)
3. Next to the URL field, click the Quicklinks button.
4. In the selector popup window, click on Content, then browse to the module with your syllabus and select it. That will fill in the URL field with the durable link.
   

How should I link to my Syllabus?

Use the steps outlined in the previous tip above, but select the syllabus instead of other content.

How do I add attendance to the Links tab?

Use this URL: https://online.pcc.edu/d2l/lms/attendance/view/attendance_list.d2l?ou={orgUnitId}

How do I add surveys to the Links tab?

1. In the Links tool, click on New Link
2. Name your new link (e.g. Surveys)
3. Next to the URL field, paste in https://online.pcc.edu/d2l/lms/survey/surveys.d2l?ou={OrgUnitId}
4. Click Save