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Distance Education
WebCT basics for WSC Faculty
Go to http://ecampus.wsc.edu and log in using your
network login and password. The preferred browser
is Mozilla Firefox, but WebCT will work as well with
any recent version of Netscape or Internet Explorer.
Then mouse-over the WSC Online Resources link at the
right of the page, and click the WebCT Online Education
link. This will take you directly to your MyWebCT
page.
This is the preferred login method for students,
because they will be notified in Ecampus if their
password is about to expire.
Once you reach your MyWebCT page, you must click on
the course you want to enter. The first page you see
is similar to what a student will see. The main difference
is that instructors have the ability to change the
appearance and content of the course, while students
do not. Toggle back and forth between Designer Options
and View to see the difference. In Designer Options,
a menu is available at the right of the page to add
tools or change the appearance of the homepage.
Go back to your WebCT homepage by clicking Homepage
toward the top of the WebCT page (not the browser)
or by clicking Homepage in the left hand navigation
bar. Make sure Designer Options is selected. This
allows you to alter the appearance of the page. Select
the textblock at the top of the page by clicking in
the button to the left of “Welcome to your WebCT
course.” Under Options: Textblocks at the right
of the screen, click the Edit button. Under Text Heading,
type “Welcome to Basketweaving 101,” or
even better, the actual name of your class. Then type
additional information in the Text box or, if you
wish, just delete the generic wording that appears.
You can change the color and size of your text, as
well. Click Update when you have finished.
From the Homepage, click Add Page or Tool. Then click
the Syllabus under Course Content tools. Type Syllabus
or whatever you wish for a title, and click in the
box next to On an Organizer Page: Homepage. Optional:
If you click in the Course Menu box, the Syllabus
link will also appear in the Course Menu at the left
of the screen. Click Add.
Open your syllabus in Microsoft Word. Go to File,
Save As. Make sure your filename is relatively short
and that it contains no special characters (&,
/, etc) or spaces. Hyphens and underscores are OK.
Change Save as Type to Web Page and click Save.
Go back to your Homepage in WebCT. Make sure Designer
Options is selected. Click the Syllabus icon. In Syllabus
Source, select Syllabus File. Click Browse, then click
Upload and browse to find the Click Browse, and click
Browse again on the next page. Find the syllabus web
page you just created. It might be the same name as
your original syllabus file, but now the file extension
will be htm or html. Click Open, click Upload, and
then click Add Selected. Click Update, and then click
View instead of Designer Options. You should see your Other tools appear by default on the homepage. You
can delete or hide them by selecting them and clicking
the appropriate button in the Designer Options menu.
The Introduction tool is an option some faculty choose
to use. As with the textblock, the Introduction now
contains a generic message. If you want to add your
own introduction, type it up, save as a web page in
Word, and load it in the same fashion you did with
the Syllabus. If you don’t want it, delete it.
Most faculty delete the Student Homepages tool as
well. Your choice.
WebCT Mail: WebCT has a built-in
mail (messaging) system used for communication just
within this course (completely unrelated to hotmail
or yahoo addresses, etc.). Click on the Mail icon.
To send an email message to everyone in the class,
or just certain people, click Compose Mail Message,
and browse to select any or all of the people in the
class. Click one name and Select to address a message
to one student. Drag through the list to select the
entire class. Click/CTRL Click to select separate
names. Type your message (it insists on a subject)
and click Send. The message will appear in your Outbox.
WebCT’s mail system allows users to attach
files, forward messages, etc., just like most mail
systems do.
Discussion: WebCT’s discussion
board allows online students to engage in asynchronous
discussions – meaning they don’t all have
to be on their computers at the same time. An instructor
could post a discussion message and notify the online
students that they have, say, a week to discuss the
topic. Students could log in any time – or several
times -- during that week to participate in the discussion.
Click on the Discussion icon. Click Main under Topic.
Click Compose Message. One difference between Discussion
and Mail is that discussion postings by default go
to everyone in the class. There is a Reply Privately
option that can be used if needed. You might have
to toggle the Show All and Unthreaded buttons to see
all the messages, and clicking Update listings will
The Discussion tool also allows users to attach files
to posted messages, and students can be assigned to
groups within the discussion board to facilitate working
on group projects or assignments.
Students can be added to discussion groups. Click
Create Topic, name it Group 1 or whatever you wish,
and click Create. Select the group by clicking in
the button to its left. Click in the button under
Private (same row as the group you’re working
on) and click Update. Select the group again and click
Manage Members. Select which students you want in
the group (always include yourself) and click Update.
Only the selected students (and yourself) have access
to this group. Repeat as needed.
Chat is similar to the chat
rooms and instant messengers that our students use.
It is a synchronous tool, meaning that the students
must be logged in at the same time to participate.
A very handy feature, from a teacher’s point
of view, is that some of the chats can be recorded.
So, for example, a group of students might decide
that they could all log on at 11:30 on a Tuesday night.
The instructor could come in Wednesday morning and
open a transcript of the chat to make sure the students
were on task, headed in the right direction on their
assignment, or whatever.
The Assignment function in WebCT allows instructors
to post course assignments that can be retrieved by
students any time or, if the instructor wishes, only
at certain times. The instructor can also include
additional materials.
To add the Assignment Tool, click Add Page or Tool
from the Homepage and add the Assignment tool, naming
To add an assignment: Click the Assignment icon.
Click Add under Actions. Type a name for your assignment
and click Add. Click the button in front of your new
assignment, and then click Edit. On the next page,
click Edit Assignment Settings. This page allows you
to enter a brief description, a maximum possible grade,
and some release criteria. This is where you could
set up an assignment to be available only after a
certain date, for example, or for a certain period.
Type a description and a grade. Faculty seem to have
the best luck if they use Do Not Allow Late Submissions.
Under Notification, select Do Not Acknowledge Submission
and Do Not Send E-mail (unless you want to get an
email whenever a student submits an assignment. Under
Results, select Release the Score Once Assignment
has been Graded, and select Yes under Release Column.
Click Browse under Import Assignment File to add
a file to the assignment. You can use an actual assignment
file, your syllabus Word file, or any other file for
now. You will have to go through the Upload steps
to place a new file into the course, and then click
Import.
Click back to the homepage, and click on Calendar.
Click Settings, select “The default access level
for a new calendar entry is public” and then
click Update. Click on a date. Click Add Entry. Type
a message in the Summary (reminder that an assignment
is due, for example). Be sure to type something in
the Summary box, and then a brief message in the Detail
box, if you wish. Click Add. Your entry should appear
in the calendar. New messages will pop up for students
when they access the calendar. tomorrow’s date
and your message will appear.
Return to your homepage. Make sure Designer Options
is selected, and at the right of the page click Add
Page or Tool. Click Organizer Page. Enter a title
– Course Resources will do – and select
On the Navigation Bar and On an Organizer Page (Homepage).
Link Shows Title and Icon should be selected. Then
click Add. You should automatically return to the
homepage, where a new Course Resources link and icon
should appear. Click on the icon and you should go
to your new blank page.
Make sure Designer Options is selected, and click
Add Page or Tool. First, we want to add a web address
– a URL. Click URL, and type Web Resources as
a title. In Address, enter the URL for Conn Library
-- http://academic.wsc.edu/conn_library/
This time we don’t want it in the Navigation
bar, but we do want it On an Organizer Page (Course
Resources). Make sure Link shows title, but not icon.
Click Add.
Return to your Course Resources page, where you should
see your Web Resources link. Make sure you’re
in View mode and click on the link. The Conn Library
web page should open.
Using this method, you can link to any page on the
web, including material you might have on the WSC web site.
Click back to your Course Resources page, and select
Designer Options again. Click Add Page or Tool, and
click Single Page. Enter a title – Additional
resources – and Browse to find your syllabus
web page. (Just an example – in real life you
would add more of your own course content.) Select
it and click the Pick button. Again, we don’t
want this to show on the Navigation Bar, but we do
want it on an Organizer Page (Course Resources). Select
Link shows Title, but not Icon. Click Add, and return
to your Course Resources page. When you click on the
Additional Resources link, your syllabus should appear.
Another means of organizing content is by adding a
Content Module, which functions more or less as an
index or table of contents, letting you add links
to files or quizzes for, say, a particular chapter.
From the homepage, click Add Page or Tool, then click
Quizzes/Surveys. Place it on the homepage or another
organizer page. Call it Quizzes, Tests, Exams –
this is a link that will take students to all quizzes
you create. Click Add.
Click on your quiz icon. This should take you to
a page that says “No quizzes are available,”
because you haven’t created any yet. Make sure
Designer Options is selected, and then click Questions
Database. Click Create Category, call it Quiz 1 Questions,
and click Create.
Under Options: Questions, make sure Multiple Choice
is selected under Create Question, and click Go. For
Title, just enter 1 or A. Enter your question (leave
all the options alone for now), then scroll down and
enter the first answer. If this is the correct answer,
click the box and enter 100 for the value. If it’s
an incorrect answer, enter zero and don’t click
the box. As you can see, the Quiz tool allows you
to enter images if you wish, and contains an equation
editor for math symbols. You can also enter feedback
for each question if desired. When you have entered
all your answers, scroll down and click Save.
In the interest of time today, we’ll start your
quiz with just this one, obviously very important,
question.
Select your question and, at the right of the screen,
under Manage Questions, select Move Questions to Category.
Toward the top right of your screen, click Quizzes/Surveys,
Add New Quiz, and click Go. Call it Quiz 1, do not
use another quiz as a template, click Add. Go back
to the Evaluation Tools page. Click your Quiz 1 link,
then select Designer Options. Click Edit Quizzes/Surveys,
and then click on the quiz. Click Add Questions, Go.
Select your question and click Add Questions to Quiz
1. Click Go. This should take you to the Quiz Editor,
where you can enter a value for your question. Enter
100 (we only have one valuable question, remember?)
and click Update Total. Then, at the right of the
page, click Edit Quiz Settings, Go. Enter a time duration,
and availability dates (Allow Access Now, set a date
for Available Until. Scroll down to results and select
Release score once quiz has been submitted, and release
column. Click Update. Go back to Evaluation Tools
– make sure View is selected – and click
on Quiz 1. You should get a preview quiz. There. Nothing
Click Control Panel, select Manage Course, and then
click Manage Students. This is your online gradebook.
In the gradebook, you should see a column for any
quizzes or assignments you have created. Go to Organize,
Manage Columns, Go. To add columns, click Add column.
Any columns you place in the gradebook will be shown
to students (only their own grades) if you select
Release Column. You’ll also have to place the
My Grades tool on your homepage.
If you want to add a Total Score or Final Grade column,
you make it Calculated instead of Numeric, and set
up a formula to calculate the final grade for you
as scores are place in other columns. Posted Assignment
and Quiz grades are posted automatically. For any
columns you have added, you’ll have to add the
grades manually by clicking Edit under Manage Students.
Click the Formula link in the Final Grade column
you created. The Calculation Editor appears. It consists
of four sections: the Formula box, the numeric keypad,
You must use the numeric keypad, Column tool, and
Function tool to perform all actions on the formula.
You cannot edit the Formula text box by selecting,
entering, or deleting text with your computer’s
mouse and keyboard. Here are some guidelines on using
the Calculation Editor: To enter numbers and arithmetic
operators, use the numeric keypad. To clear the last
value entered in the Formula box, click the CE button
on the numeric keypad. To clear all values in the
Let’s enter a formula to calculate the total
score based on your grading scale. For each graded
component (Attendance, your assignment, and Quiz 1),
the formula must calculate the percentage of total
possible points earned. Then the formula must calculate
the percentage of the total score that each graded
component is worth. So what we’ve got here is
Attendance at 30% of the final grade, the assignment
at 30%, and the quiz at 40%.
Using the numeric keypad, enter: ((
From the Column drop-down list, select Attendance
and then click Insert.
Using the numeric keypad, enter: /28*.3)+(
From the Column drop-down list, select Assignment
and then click Insert.
Using the numeric keypad, enter: /20*.3)+(
From the Column drop-down list, select Quiz 1 and
then click Insert.
Using the numeric keypad enter: /100*.4))*100
Click Update. The Student Records Table will reappear.
Note that the Total Score column contains zeroes.
This will change once you enter grades by hand or
To back up your current courses (actual courses you
are teaching or workspace courses that have been set
up for you), go into each of your courses and click
on the Control Panel. Click Manage Course and Create
Backup. It will ask for a short description –
none is needed. Click Create, and then Continue when
it tells you the course has been backed up successfully.
Select the current backup file by clicking on the
button in front of the filename, and then click the
Download button at the right of the screen. In the
dialog box that pops up, select Save File to Disk
and save the file somewhere you can find it. The auto-generated
filename includes the course name and the backup date,
so it’s best not to change the filename.
To place the backed-up content in your new course, enter your new course, go to Control Panel, and click
Upload Backup. Browse to find your file, select it,
click OK, and click Upload. Select the file and, under
Options: Restore, click Keep Users. When it asks if
you really want to do this, click OK. Your course
will be restored.
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