Renee Rosenow

I was somewhere between the first and second problem on my latest class quiz, when the computer screen I was taking it on went dead. My freshly blank screen was followed by a quick thought of confusion, then was replaced by a stream of words going through my mind that no editor would let me print. To the content of those words, let’s just say any self-respecting trucker would have been proud.

This and other stories like it, as proven by a co-worker when she found she missed a quiz she did not know about, are all too common with the use of D2L. The idea of the program seems to be to make things easier for students and instructors. In reality, the amount of problems that have been caused with the use of this program seem to be dutifully overlooked.

I do want to point out early on that most problems are not the fault of instructors. Often times, though not always, they are also the victims of this failed program. The problem is that this does not solve the problem.

The honest truth is no student should graduate with a low grade point average because their grades were the subject of an experiment to see if a program works for teaching. Between assignments buried through multiple links, randomly listed quizzes, computers going down, final and mid-term exams not opening during the exam time and a whole host of problems limited only by the imitation of a few, are enough to make a student feel like a test rabbit at a mascara company. Here is a new way to use D2L, now shove it in your eye and see if it hurts.

We need to start over and make some ground rules for both students and instructors in terms of D2L use.

First, we need conformity of use by instructors. No more classes that rely heavily on D2L, while other classes are not even listed. Personally I run the full gambit of classes with multiple quizzes and assignments in three different areas, only to have other classes not even listed.

Students need to know what to expect, either we use D2L for the same content or we do not use it at all.

Second, we should address content. Maybe an instructor can answer this for me, but if we are here to learn and you are here to teach, then why not post PowerPoints on D2L?

Honestly, how much more effort does it take? Students should be able to spend less time in class scrambling to write every little thing down and more time actually thinking about what is being said.

Finally, students should be included in any discussion for the future use of D2L. I do not mean a group from the Student Senate – no offense – but meetings that are open to any student who want to be involved. It is our grades that are being messed with so we should have some say in how this experiment is done.

Some may disagree, and that is fine. Others are nodding their heads and know exactly what I am talking about. Either way I think it is high time to take the D2L rant beyond general discussion and push it to another level.

Maybe the one thing D2L can teach us is it is wrong to use technology simply for the sake of using technology. While it is true that some of the abilities of the program are useful for instructors and can be useful for students, the amount of problems in the current program should not be overlooked. No student should ever graduate from UW-Eau Claire with a lower GPA because of a program used for convenience.

Acheson is a freshman print journalism major and assistant photo editor for The Spectator.