Category: Technology

  • Cleaning Up VIULearn: New Process for VIU as of July 2018

    Cleaning Up VIULearn: New Process for VIU as of July 2018

    New Process for VIULearn Course Cleanup Status: Currently we have over 40,000 courses dating back to Intersession 2012 when we began using D2L’s Brightspace software (branded VIULearn). Many of these courses were never used or are not used anymore. The accumulation of old courses can make managing VIULearn challenging and creates a messy view for faculty. Rationale: It…

  • D2L FUSION Conference: Key Take-Aways for Higher Ed

    D2L FUSION Conference: Key Take-Aways for Higher Ed

    D2L’s annual FUSION conference (Reach Every Learner) for its customers was held July 19-20 in Las Vegas. This is a summary of the key take-aways for higher education faculty and support staff with a focus on Brightspace (D2L’s learning environment). Much of this info is also found on this Summer 17 release page: https://www.d2l.com/products-releases/summer-2017/ Daylight – Responsive…

  • VIULearn Looks Different! Updated to a Modern Responsive Design!

    VIULearn Looks Different! Updated to a Modern Responsive Design!

    When Vancouver Island University students and faculty members log in to VIULearn for the first time this Fall 2017, they will experience a change in the look and feel of the learning environment. On April 30, 2017 VIULearn was upgraded to “Daylight”, a new interface design that allows for the same experience regardless of your…

  • ‘Daylight’ Has Come and Gone: VIU’s Experience Moving to D2L’s New Responsive Design Interface

    ‘Daylight’ Has Come and Gone: VIU’s Experience Moving to D2L’s New Responsive Design Interface

    On April 30, Vancouver Island University switched its learning environment, called VIULearn, to the “Daylight Experience” from D2L. Daylight is a change in the look and feel (colours, buttons, icons, text), but it really updates the learning environment to one that is designed to be responsive/resizable to varied screen sizes and mobile devices. Daylight is…

  • VIUTube moves to a New Location at UBC

    VIUTube moves to a New Location at UBC

    VIUTube, VIU’s streaming video platform for uploading and watching videos in a secure and private location is being upgraded (and moved to a new location). VIU is now part of a centralized shared service for post-secondary institutions in BC for streaming video. By being part of this new service means we save on our annual…

  • Daylight is Coming! VIULearn Upgrades to a Modern Responsive Design April 30

    On April 30th, VIULearn (VIU’s learning management system) will be changing its look to a more modern and cleaner interface – called Daylight. Daylight is a brighter and more stream-lined environment with emphasis on faculty and student activity. The way VIULearn functions (where buttons are, how things work) remains untouched as the entire system will work…

  • Best Practices for Facilitating Online Learning: VIU Community of Practice Recap

    Best Practices for Facilitating Online Learning: VIU Community of Practice Recap

    We hosted our first fully online VIU community of practice discussing best practices for facilitating online learning last Friday over lunch. While the initial group was small the session went very well. We had established some structure to and prompts to guide the discussion however we ended up having a vocal group of faculty who…

  • What’s New in VIULearn? (Summer 2016)

    This summer, there have been changes to the names of some of the tools you use in VIULearn. For instance, “Dropbox” for submitting assignments has been creating some confusion with the internet storage service “Dropbox”. Additionally, there have been a variety of improvements to navigation for you and your learners. These changes rolled out on…

  • Exciting Ways to Use the New “Not” Release Conditions

    You may have seen my previous blog post where I talked briefly about the new “not” release conditions. If you were wondering what these conditions could be used for, I’m here to give you a few ideas to get you started. What Do You Mean by “Not” Release Conditions? Ever since VIU first adopted VIULearn…

  • Self-Paced Fully-Online VIULearn Orientations for Learners

    VIULearn is a learning management system. Some teaching faculty members use it to upload files for you (like your course syllabus or their PowerPoints), create Discussions or Quizzes, and have you upload assignments or view grades. Some teaching faculty members even run fully-online courses in VIULearn. This means that some of your course activities or…

  • BCcampus Open Textbook Project Presentation at VIU

    BCcampus Open Textbook Project Presentation at VIU

    On January 15th Clint Lalonde from BC Campus visited VIU to talk about the BCcampus Open Textbook Project.  Clint Lalonde manages the Open Education department at BCcampus and is an extremely experienced educational technologist in all aspects of teaching and learning. Clint was joined by Jessie Key, one of three BC Campus Faculty Fellows; post-secondary educators…

  • Learning and Nanaimo Bars

    Learning and Nanaimo Bars

    by Greg Klimes, Teaching Faculty, RMOT, Faculty of Science and Technology, Vancouver Island University In my program I delve into the basic principles of law enforcement, as it relates to the protection of our natural resources. In any successful program to be successful, there are always two 2 parts involved. Education and consequences. Education would…