D2L Exporting Grades and Course Materials

D2L -- Exporting Grades and Course Materials

D2L allows you to make back-up copies of your grades and other course materials (including content, quizzes, discussions, and dropbox folders) to your local computer.

It is useful to create a special folder that will hold your D2L back up materials.

You may wish to create a parent folder called "D2L EXPORTS" and then have child folders, one for each course that you are running in D2L.

For example

--D2L Exports

|--20075 Artificial Intelligence

|--20075 Programming for the Web

|--20083 Commercial Web Design

|--20083 Online Instructional Design

Exporting of grades should be done after each major assignment – to ensure that you have the most up-to-date set of course grades in your backups. Once grades have been entered, it is recommended that you export a copy of the grades from within the GRADES tool.

D2L – Exporting Grades to CSV File

A CSV file can be opened as a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel. CSV stands for Comma Separated Values. Within the Grades tool, D2L allows you to export a CSV version of your gradebook values (the text comments are not exported).

To export your grades, go into the D2L GRADES tool and select the IMPORT/EXPORT button.

[Image 1: Import / Export button on D2L Grades page]


On the next screen choose the option to EXPORT TO CSV

[Image 2: Option button to Export to CSV File from Grades]


Next, select the options for the export as well as the specific items you wish to export.

You might want to include the email address for the student.

You might also want to include the grade scheme in addition to the points. The grade scheme is how grades appear to the student for each item (percentage, letter grade, checkbox, etc.).

[Image 3: Export options and list of grade items that can be exported.]


Press the EXPORT TO CSV FILE button to complete the process. The FILE SAVE dialog screen will open at which time you can choose the destination for your grades export.

[Image 4: Button for Export to CSV file]

Export of Course from D2L

D2L allows you to export your entire course. You should do this at the end of each term, as well as at the completion of each major revision of a course. This will provide you with a back-up copy which can be later loaded into D2L through the COURSE IMPORT function.

Begin by going to your D2L course and clicking the EDIT COURSE link.

[Image 5: Edit Course link in toolbar.]

Click on the COMPONENTS tool and then choose the option for EXPORT COMPONENTS. Then click NEXT.

[Image 6: Edit Course screen showing the Components tool with EXPORT COMPONENTS option selected.]

If you wish to Export the entire course, choose the checkbox for SELECT ALL COMPONENTS. You may also individually select individual items you wish to export. At the bottom of the screen, press the NEXT button.

[Image 7: Select Course Materials list from within Export Components.]


You will see a screen that allows you to MODIFY the list of items in each tool. HINT: It is best to exclude items that you no longer need or are outdated. You can click MODIFY and then keep selected the items you wish to keep.

[Image 8: Confirmation screen for Components to Export which allows you to modify the list of items under each tool to export.]

[Image 9: Using the Modify control - you can individually pick which items will export with your course, on a tool-by-tool basis.]


When you have confirmed the items you wish to export (and finished any modifications to the lists), click NEXT.

[Image 10: Confirmation screen for Components to Export showing the modifications to the export list.]

As the course builds the export file – a set of circling arrows will display which items in currently being processed.

[Image 11: Progress arrows in D2L course export.]


If the export build was successful, all the items in the EXPORT SUMMARY will have a green check.

If not, try selecting a smaller sub-set of tools and build a collection of exports (for instance, Content in one export, Quizzes in another, and all other items in a third export). Click DONE.

[Image 12: Export Course Components showing a successful export build.]

The ZIP package containing the file export can then be downloaded to your computer. Click the link for
"Click here to download the export Zip package." Then use the SAVE AS dialog to browse to the location to store the course export file.

[Image 13: Course Export Summary with link to download Zip package containing the export files.]