Because Desire2Learn does not currently offer an archive tool for saving a completed course offline, we do recommend several things to ensure you have easy access to information outside of D2L. This checklist will help you complete those items. Offline copies are always a good idea for permanent record keeping. 
 

Developmental Course

  • You should request a developmental course (request course)  for each of the courses you teach using D2L.  This course is a permanent shell and can be used to archive your active, current course by copying course components

Grades

  • Grade book information can be exported into a CSV file (openable in Excel). This will give you an offline record of your entire D2L grade book. Instructions for Exporting/Importing grades

    • DropBox

    • If you used the Drop Box to gather student assignments electronically, you may want to download all of the assignments for record keeping purposes. Each drop box folder must be downloaded separately, but this is easy to do using D2L's download features. Downloading papers from the DropBox
       

    Copy Files

    • Even though you may copy content files from semester to semester, it is a good idea to periodically copy everything from Desire2Learn's files (Word documents, PowerPoints, PDFs, etc.) to your local computer. If you have a large number of files you may have to do this in smaller chunks, but the directions for saving the files (files only, not the content outline) from D2L to your local computer are available here.  Download Files from D2L to your computer
       

    Discussions

    • Keeping a record of the discussions you and your students had during the semester is important not only for record keeping but may also be useful for analysis and assessment. You can easily save each discussion topic into a Word document for offline access and backup. Saving Discussion in a Print Format

    Last Active Day

    • The end date of a course is automatically set to the last date of the class. If you wish to shorten or extend this time, you will need to edit the ending course date.
      To do this, simply click the EDIT COURSE link on the right side of your course navigation bar. The course information screen will be displayed. Adjust the ending date as desired and don't forget to click SAVE CHANGES.
      Before or after the dates on this screen, students will not be able to see the course. You will always be able to see the course       until such time as previous semester classes are removed from instructor lists.

    Quizzes

    • There is not a way currently for you to export and save quiz information offline. If you have vital information, you may wish to simply print the screens that show you this from D2L.
       

    New Semester

    Finally, if you are teaching again next semester with D2L you do not need to request your D2L course. Once your course is created, you can use these instructions to copy the previous semester's content, quizzes and other information into the new semester.

    If you have any questions on these processes, contact:

    Rhonda Ficek 477-2339 ficek@mnstate.edu
    or
    Barb Hoppe 477-2596 hoppeba@mnstate.edu