Nicole Robinson

Desire to Learn is one program used at UW-Eau Claire that incorporates new technology into the classroom. Unfortunately, as the school year started, so did the problems in D2L.

Although not all faculty use the program, many are feeling the effects of the malfunctions.

D2L is a service provided through Learn At UW, headquartered in Madison. Donna Raleigh, instructional technology project manager at UW-Eau Claire, said both the Teaching and Learning Technology Development Center (TLTDC) and Learn At UW are aware of performance issues.

These issues range from slow-loading pages to pages missing items to simply being unable to open pages at all. This has caused problems for some students with classes using D2L.

“(D2L) is really frustrating, because I just can’t get it open sometimes to use for my class,” sophomore Stephanie Holte said.

Raleigh said Learn At UW is already in the process of redoing software in order to improve resource-intensive tools like grade books and quizzes. Also, Learn At UW is upgrading hardware to maximize D2L operations.

Jan Larson, associate professor of journalism, said she uses D2L in all of her classes because she doesn’t pass out paper – everything, from the syllabus to discussions to quizzes, is on D2L.

She said she has lost time in class due to the problems. Larson also has been allowing students to turn in assignments late because they’re unable to access assignments.

Raleigh emphasized while the UW-Eau Claire campus has no immediate control over issues, it does keep in constant contact with Learn At UW.

Larson said she understands the problems, adding the TLTDC staff has been doing an excellent job.

“I don’t consider it a campus problem,” she said. “I consider it a system problem.”