The Content tool is used to provide students access to your course content. The Content is organized into Modules that hold Topics. Modules are the larger containers like weeks or chapters, etc. and the topics are the pages within that week or chapter that hold the information. The topics can be D2L web pages, Word documents, spreadsheets, PDFs or even PowerPoint files. You can also add links to external websites, videos and other media like YouTube, etc. Content is viewed by students right in D2L so there is no need to leave the platform. However, you can have external resources open in another window to avoid confusion. Students also have the opportunity to access the content in many different ways by downloading ebook or audio files. We also use Readspeaker to allow students to have the content of webpages read to them directly using the Listen button. You can find information on all of the accessibility features from the Assistive Technology for D2L page in the Accessibility tab above.
While it may seem easier and more interesting to provide students with videos of your lectures, watching a lot of videos can be very tiring and also challenging for students who have accessibility needs. We recommend using the Content tool to give students more options, using text and images for example, in addition to short media pieces if you choose to create them.
Here are some tutorials to get you started with the Content tool.
Tutorials for students related to the Content tool specifically are at the bottom of this page (and also on the D2L for Students page).
Creating
- Creating Modules and Topics
- Setting a Default Path (to Manage Files) for a Module
- Saving Topic Files to Manage Files
- Replacing or Re-linking Topic Documents
- Embedding a Video into a Content Page
- Embedding an H5P Object into a Content Page
- Inserting an Image into a Content Page (using the HTML Editor)
- Adding Links to Library Resources (or to any online resources outside of D2L)
- Insert a Quicklink (link to another D2L tool) into the HTML Editor (for Content, News, etc.)
Managing
- Deleting Modules and Topics
- Hiding Modules and Topics from Students
- Adding Start/End/Due Dates to Content
- Renaming Modules and Topics
- Moving Topics to Other Modules
- Downloading Content Files
- Printing Content
- Bulk Edit in Content
- Module Action Menu (the down arrow next to a Module title)
- Topic Action Menu (the down arrow next to a Topic title)
- Exempting Students from Content