Welcome Widget Update
As most of you know from the Online Studies presentations this week and previous posts here in the Faculty Innovation Blog, we planned to make the Welcome Widget active for all those using the default homepage in your D2L course shell; however, due to a few complications, the Welcome Widget will, for now, be an optional System Widget.
For those of you who have embraced the Welcome Widget and would like to add it to your homepage, Bill Harrison has created a step-by-step guide to add the widget. In addition, there are a few guidelines to follow to ensure that your content displays correctly if you choose to use the Welcome Widget.
Add Welcome Widget to a Custom Course Homepage In Falcon Online
The video below will walk you through the steps of creating a custom homepage in Falcon Online and including the Welcome Widget. Or, use the Add Welcome Widget to a Custom Course Homepage In Falcon Online pdf guide to see screenshots of these steps.
Steps for using the Welcome Widget on a Custom Homepage:
- Be sure to create a module with the word “Welcome” in the title.
- Do not add sub-modules to the Welcome module. Sub-modules will not appear in the Welcome Widget Content.
- If you add a file to the Welcome module, be sure it is an HTML or PDF. If you add any Microsoft Office file types (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx, etc.), the viewer will be prompted to download the file instead of the file appearing in the widget.
- If you want to show a video in the Welcome Widget, you must embed it through the “Video or Audio” option in the Upload/Create menu and paste the embed code. If you add the video by using the “Create a link” option, the video will not appear in the widget. (Videos can be embedded in a web page (HTML) file and they will show. This is the preferred way.)
We're Here to Help!
For additional questions or one-on-one help, please contact us in the Faculty Innovation Center. You can book a face-to-face or virtual appointment. Contact us via email at fic@daytonastate.edu or call 386.506.3485. Our office hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00AM - 5:00PM. We also encourage you to subscribe to this blog so you can comment and ask questions.
Brent Pierce
Instructional Designer, Division of Online Studies
brent.pierce@daytonastate.edu
386-506-3405
http://www.daytonastate.edu/onlinestudies/