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Use of this tool
This knowledge base article provides directions on how an employee at Metro State University can create a personal development shell inside. This article is not for actual D2L classes where students will be automatically populated, instead this is for a test site or a blank site in which to build out a future course for the purpose of copying the content from the development shell into a class site.
Class sites in D2L Brightspace are created automatically. If you are not seeing your class site, please reach out to the D2L Site Administrators at service.center@metrostate.edu and we can help you.
If you are creating sites for workshops or department training sites, please use the D2L Brightspace Blank Course Request (metrostate.edu). Each person is given the ability to create 15 sites in this automated process—we do not want a department or workshop counting against your total.
Creating a Dev Site
Visit: D2L Self-Help (minnstate.edu) (The link is also found on the D2L homepage, underneath My Courses widget on the right side of the page.)
You will have to log in using your Microsoft login (starid@minnstate.edu) and password.
From the window that appears:
- Select the menu (three horizontal, parallel lines in the upper left corner of the app)
- then select Dev Course Request.
- Select the plus sign in the upper right corner of the app
- Fill in the name you would like to use for the blank site name and select Submit. (Make sure the name is unique, your request may be denied if the name is the same as a previously created development site.)
This action will kick off an automated course creation process.
You can see the progress of your request by viewing the status on the widget or by selecting the request:
On a page refresh, you will eventually see (within 1 minute in this case) the status change from requested to completed. You will also receive an email from the SO-D2L CoreTeam Service Account to say your course is created with a link to the course.
When completed, your course will be waiting for you in D2L. If you check back on the status (by selecting the request), there is a “Go to course” button that you can select and it will do as it says, take you directly to the homepage of your newly crafted development shell.
Within D2L you can use the Select a course widget (the waffle in the upper navigation) and then select into the course. Your newly created course should be on the top of your list, or if you have pinned courses, just below the last pinned course:
You will find that you have 4 fake students in your new development shell, the fake students help with group creation and gradebook generation.
Final Caveat
You are given the ability to create 15 such sites. Upon creating 15 sites, you will no longer be able to automatically create sites on your own. Please reach out to the D2L Site Administrators at service.center@metrostate.edu and we can help.