The homepage serves as the student’s gateway to your course and should communicate core information that your students must know. Be strategic in how you construct it.

Homepages

There are two parts to creating or modifying a homepage. The first is to choose the homepage layout you want. The second is to add, create, or modify the Widgets you want to use.  These two jobs can be accomplished in any order, but let’s start with the Homepage.

Editing the Homepage

When Learn@UW creates a course it automatically assigns a homepage. You can choose to use that homepage, select a ready-made homepage, or create your own.  You will likely find the default homepage poorly suited to your needs. You may, if you like, edit the default homepage or create a new one.

Follow these instructions to edit an existing homepage or to create a new one.

Step 1:  

Click on the Course Admin drop-down menu in the NavBar.  Select Edit Course. Select the Homepages Tool.

Step 2:  

Select the blue Create Homepage box to create a new homepage – OR – to edit an existing homepage, click the small triangle next to the homepage you want to edit. Click Copy and then click on that new Homepage to begin editing it.

Step 3:  

Regardless of whether you created a new homepage or edited an existent one, provide your homepage a name and select a layout. I prefer the Basic Two Panels layout, though you can select another in Change Layout. The Layout will impact the look of the grey box at the bottom of the screen labeled Widgets. This box is an outline, or map, of your homepage, and details the order and location of the widgets that will populate it.

As you see, a homepage consists of a collection of Widgets. Widgets are tools that display whatever content you choose.

Step 4:

To add widgets to your homepage, click Add Widgets. Which Widgets you include on your homepage depends upon your preferences. I’ve found the most important Widgets to be the News, Calendar, and Content Browser Widgets. Moving your Widgets is easy. Simply click and drag them to the desired location within the grey Widgets box.

To delete a Widget: hover over the Widget and click on the encircled “x” in the top right corner.

For information on how to create and add custom widgets see the Widgets section below.

Step 5:

To save and activate your new homepage, click Save and Close. You will be returned to the Homepages page. From here select the arrow next to the Active Homepage box. Select your desired homepage, and then click Apply. Navigate back to your homepage to see the results.

Modifying or Creating a Widgets

Step 1:  

Click on the Course Admin drop-down menu in the NavBar.  Select, Edit Course.

Step 2:  

Choose the Widgets Tool.

Step 3:  

To modify any pre-made Widgets find the Widget on the list.  Preview the Widget by clicking on the Preview button (shown here:  ) from the icons along the right side of the screen.

Step 4:  

When you find a Widget you wish to modify, copy the Widget by clicking on the Copy button (shown here:) from the icons along the right side of the screen.

Step 5:  

The copy of the Widget should appear in the list. Notice a new icon. That is the “Edit” icon.  Click on the icon to edit the copy.

Step 6:  

If you wish to create a new Widget click on the Aqua “Create Widget” near the top of the Widget page.

Step 7:  

Name the Widget and write a description if you wish.  Then click on the Content tab.  This opens the HTML Editing tool.

Step 8:  

You’ll see this editing tool many places in D2L. It is pretty flexible. You can add pictures, links, video, even a Twitter Feed . For the most part, however, the HTML Editing Tool is used in a manner similar to a word processor. Learn more at How do I Upload or Create Content.

If you know HTML, you can switch to text view by clicking </> in the lower right-hand corner of the editing window. D2L really only accepts light coding, and doesn’t accept JAVA and more advanced languages.

Step 9:  

When you finish editing the Widget, click Save and Close.

Step 10:  

Continue editing/creating other Widgets using this process.

Populating a Homepage with Widgets

After you finish creating or editing your Widgets you need to populate them in your homepage.

Step 1:  

If you are at the Widget list, you can click on the tab for Homepages next to Widgets the top of the page.  Otherwise, click on Course Admin, choose Edit Course, and then click Homepages.

Step 2:

Select the Homepage you have already began editing

Step 3:  

Add your Widgets by clicking on the “Add Widgets” button in the grey Widgets box at the bottom of the screen.

Step 4:  

The widget your widget from the “Custom Widget” tab. Repeat for other customized widgets and then click Save and Close.

Resources

Division of Information Technology. “Learn@UW (UW-Madison Only) – Master KB: Customizing Your D2L Course Website.” University of Wisconsin – Madison, https://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=48660 .