This page is meant to be the starting point for instructors who want to use D2L as a replacement for the Electronic Course Reserves (Eres) database. Please note that the Library continues to offer scanning services and assistance in finding materials for classes. This overview will help you make the best use of your time and avoid confusion. If you want personal assistance with moving your files, please register for a workshop or come to open lab in the LTC.

There are four parts to migrating from Eres to D2L:

1. Gathering Your Materials from the ERes Database

2. Creating a D2L Course Site

3. Logging Into D2L

4. Moving Your Files into D2L

5. Making Files Available to Students

*AND* Solutions to problems that you may encounter

If you want personal assistance with moving your files (Step 4), please register for a workshop or come to open lab in the LTC. 

EReserve Migration Workshop Schedule for Fall 2009

One: Gathering your Materials from the ERes Database:

1. Call or email the library to ask them to create a ZIP file for each course that has used Electronic Reserves. The librarians need to know the department and course number, for example SOC 633, GEOS 452, ANTH 108.
2. The library will email you directions for how to obtain the ZIP file(s).

UA Library Electronic Course Reserves - Phone: 520.621.6438 or askddt@u.library.arizona.edu

Two: Creating a D2L Course Site:

1. Request a D2L Course Site - You can do this while waiting for a reply from the Library.
   • Course sites are not created automatically. Instructors must request a course site every semester they plan to use D2L. Each course requires a separate request. (Materials can be copied from one semester to another so that setting up a course that is being retaught is much faster than creating it from scratch.)
   • Using D2L is voluntary and a course site is only available if an instructor requests it. A Site Request Form must be completed in order to create a course site.
   • A request can take between 1-5 business days to be answered IF it is submitted before a deadline date. If the request is submitted after the deadline then it may take a little bit longer to process -- but it will still be processed. Deadline dates are available on the Course Site Request Form.
   • After you submit the request, we will create the course site and send an email to let you know it is ready for you. Your students will not see the course until one week before the semester starts. You can override this at any time and make it available as soon as you would like by making selections through the Edit Course link.
   • Students will be automatically enrolled in your D2L course; their names will populate your D2L course site's Classlist and Gradebook. Enrollments (and unenrollments) are updated 6 days a week at 6:00 a.m. (Except Sundays).

   Create a UANet ID if you do not already have one. - This is necessary only if you do not have a UANetID.

   • A NetID is the same username and password that you use to sign into UA Webmail and Employee Link.
   • Instructors and students must use UANetID to log in to D2L
   • If you are a new hire and waiting for your paperwork to be finished, you can still obtain a Department Sponsored Visitor's NetID in place of a regular NetID. Please contact your department to set this up as you can then use D2L before you are officially hired. Once you are officially hired your DSV NetID can be made into your regular NetID.
   • Students are required to have a UA NetID.

Three: Logging Into D2L:

1. After you fill out the course site request form, you will receive an email in 1-5 business days letting you know that your D2L site has been created and is available to you. Once you recieve this message, go to http://D2L.arizona.edu and click the NetID button.
2. After logging in, you are placed on the My Home screen, which lists all the D2L course sites you have access to. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on your course name.
3. It is recommended that instructors who are new to D2L use the Content tool to post their EReserves materials. (You are welcome to use as many of the tools as you would like, but it is recommened that you start with no more than 3 tools in your first semester as the learning curve can be difficult at times.)

Four: Moving your Files to D2L:

The Content tool in your D2L course site will be the place to set up all your files and links. Before starting the 12 steps please take a moment and think about how you want the files organized for your students. D2L uses "Modules" to create category headings that assist students in finding materials. You can display these modules in many ways. Here are a few examples:

• Course Materials, Week 2, Week3...

• Course Materials, Theme 1(Physics), Theme 2(Process Modeling Outcomes)...

• Course Materials, Set of smiliar materials 1(Readings or PDFs), Set of similiar materials 2 (PPTs)...

Once you have chosen a layout style you will be ready for naming Modules in step 10. Please begin the 12 steps.

1. Go to Content in your course site.

   

2. Click Manage Files.

   

3. Click Upload in the upper right corner of the screen.

   

4. Click the Browse button and find your zipped file that you previously saved to your computer from the Library. (It will be named what ever you saved it as, the image below is only an example.)

   

   

5. Upload it. This may take a few minutes. If it is over 100 megs then you may need to do this from a computer that is hard wired to the Internet on campus.

   

6. Once it is uploaded, an icon to the right of the file name will appear inside Manage Files.

   

7. Click it as this will unzip your folder and all of its materials.

   

8. Check the boxes to the left of the file names that you want to make available to your students.
9. Click Create Topics in the upper right corner of the screen.

   

10. Choose the Parent Module (Category) that you want this set of files to belong to. If you have not already built the Modules then you can click Add Module, type in a Title, and click Add.

    

11. Rewrite any Topic Titles that you do not like. This is the name that students will click on to view the file.
12. Click Add.

Making Files Available to Students

You have uploaded all your files and made some of them available to your students. To finish making all of them available please repeat steps 8-12.

1. Check the boxes to the left of the file names that you want to make available to your students. (You can only add files to one Module at a time so you may need to do steps 8 -12 a few times to create the desired layout for your students.)
2. Click Create Topics in the upper right corner of the screen.

   

3. Choose the Parent Module (Category) that you want this set of files to belong to. If you have not already built the Modules then you can click Add Module, type in a Title, and click Add.

   

4. Rewrite any Topic Titles that you do not like. This is the name that students will click on to view the file.
5. Click Add.

Solutions to Problems that you may encounter

Cannot upload the ZIP files to D2L

Cannot unzip or can only partially unzip the files on the D2L server

Links in the text files are broken.

If you want personal assistance with moving your files, please register for a workshop or come to open lab in the LTC.

You cannot upload the ZIP files to D2L.
This is caused by one or more of the following factors:

• Large file size of the ZIP file
• Network connection speed
• Network distance from the D2L server

There are a few things you can try to counteract these issues:

• Upload from a computer that is hard wired to the campus Internet
• Break up the large single ZIP file into a set of several smaller ZIP files.   

To break up the large ZIP file on a Windows computer:

1. Downoad the ZIP file from the library site to your local computer
2. On your local computer open the ZIP file and drag all the files out
3. Select several of the files that you pulled out of the original ZIP file
4. Right Click on the selected files
5. Choose "Send To"
6. Choose "Compressed"

*This will generate a new ZIP file on your computer. It will put the file on the same screen you are currently on. Repeat these four steps until you have all the original files inside of ZIP files. Try not to put the same file into different ZIP files.

To create ZIP files on a Mac Computer running Leopard:

1. Click once on each file to select it in the Finder (e.g. MyFile1.doc, MyFile2.doc, etc.)
   (hint: Press the Shift key to make multiple, contiguous, selections. Press Command to make multiple, non-contiguous, selections)
2. Press the Ctrl button and then click Compress <!-- google_ad_section_end -->

*This will generate a new ZIP file on your computer. It will put the file on the same screen you are currently on. Repeat these four steps until you have all the original files inside of ZIP file. Try not to put the same file into different ZIP files.

To create zip files on a Mac Computer running OS X:

1. Click once on each file to select it in the Finder (e.g. MyFile1.doc, MyFile2.doc, etc.)
   (hint: Press the Shift key to make multiple, contiguous, selections. Press Command to make multiple, non-contiguous, selections)
2. Click the File menu and choose "Create Archive of 2 items" (note, the number is automatically appended to the end of the Create Archive menu item depending on the quantity of files you have selected)

*The files are zipped and a new archive is created in the same location as the original file the archive will be named Archive.zip. (note: this archive is actually a folder containing the selected items.

You cannot unzip or can only partially unzip the files on the D2L server.
This is caused by the large size or special characters in a file name.

There are a few things you can try to counteract these issues:

• After you have uploaded the ZIP file, simply wait a day and try unzipping it tomorrow. This will be enough time for the server to clear its cache and work correctly.
• Occasionally trying multiple times to unzip the file in D2L is enough, it might work on the 6th or 7th time you click on the unzip icon.

Links in the text files are broken.
This can be caused by one or more of the following:

• Video Furnace link is no longer active
• Journal article URL has changed
• Web site address has changed or is incorrect

If the link is to a Video Furnace streamed movie or a journal article, you will need to contact the UA Library Document Delivery Team - Phone: 520.621.6438 or askddt@u.library.arizona.edu - and ask them to either redo the video link or locate an alternative link to the journal article.

If the web site address has changed or is incorrect you will need to verify the correct URL. Many websites change the location (or URL) of their pages. Occasionally, this means things you have linked to on the Internet in previous semesters will no longer be available to you or your students. Contact the owner of the website that you linked to and find out if the material is still available. For example, newspapers and news websites often change the location of pages.