D2L or D2P?

The following is a response to an earlier post and provides a different perspective regarding the merits and pitfalls of D2L.  Thanks to Mary Willis, who teaches English at Pellissippi State, for these thoughts.
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I go back and forth about how I feel about putting assignments up on D2L. I must admit, it would be much easier if all students would just come to class, participate, and take notes! I spend a great deal of time developing my course, and sometimes it is frustrating to think that a worksheet with little explanation or something I write as an afterthought on D2L is all one student might take away. But some students are in it for nothing more than a grade. To me, that sounds more like only the Desire 2 Pass instead of the more hoped-for Desire 2 Learn!

Thankfully, there is a mixture of students in every class, some extrinsically motivated and others intrinsically motivated.  When D2L is used effectively, it can actually build stronger bonds between all types of learners and help the class evolve into a budding community of writers who are excited to share and learn together. 

In the past, my students have commented that they felt much more comfortable talking in class once everyone started opening up on the D2L discussion boards. To me that is good news! A student likely will be more interested in coming to a class where his or her peers are excited to talk to one another and participate in classroom discussions.  One can hope that even the most disinterested of students would somehow find this kind of energy contagious and become more active in the class! 

Also, I often tell my students to use each other, so I’m glad to see them on D2L discussion boards sharing what they missed, asking each other to look over their essays, planning to meet up in the ERC group study rooms, and asking each other what assignments are due and when. In these ways, I find D2L effective.

Hopefully the announcements about assignments and homework are reminders for the students and nothing more. As a teacher, I will try just about anything to get my students more excited about my course. At the end of the day, though, all I can do is cross my fingers and hope that as many students as possible catch the Desire 2 Learn.