Do a course
back up as soon as you have everything set up but before actually
using the course, if possible. If you restore
an old course from a backup and need to delete posts, etc, do a
backup right after you have got everything the way you want it.
You cannot access individual parts of a course through a course
backup without first restoring the course to webct. In addition to a
course backup, then, you may want to back up individual parts of the
course:
If you add the calendar tool to your class, it will automatically
include the academic calendar information for the current year. Note
that
courses created early in the summer will not have the upcoming
year information (need to wait for Dean of Student's office to
provide)
if you do not want this information, simply go to Designer
Options for the calendar and select "Delete all Calendar entries" or
delete individual entries you do not want
if your course was created before calendar entries were made for
upcoming academic year, contact
your OET support person for a file containing updated info
which you can import
If you have added class specific calendar entries (test dates,
homework due, etc) and you expect to use these same entries again (but
dates may change), you should export the calendar entries at the end
of the semester (select "compile or download calendar", select dates,
type to compile). When you want to use these dates in another course,
open the downloaded calendar in a text editor and change just the
dates, following the same date format as the downloaded file. Then
upload that file ("Import
calendar entries from file") to the calendar.
Making the discussion relevant to class - You
can use the compile tool to gather several posts and download them
for printing. By bringing online discussions into class, you can
focus on key points in depth, redirect misguided threads, and
provide an opportunity and provide an opportunity or the less vocal
to participate in the discussion by elaborating on points made in
WebCT.
Avoid errant posts - If you only use one topic
at a time, lock the topics you are not currently using to limit
students from posting to the irrelevant topic.
Avoid a rut - Consider when you will use the
discussion tools. Some topics do not work well in a discussion
format. Choose wisely to avoid student's seeing the discussion board
as busy work.
Develop an Agreed Upon Style for Postings and Chat
Comments - By agreeing on what is an appropriate style of
communication you will help students post the kind of messages that
you will find satisfactory.
Using e-mail - If you send e-mail to a student
through WebCT (eg, "reply privately" to a discussion posting), the
e-mail goes to the student's WebCT e-mail, not their college e-mail
account. The student can't get at their WebCT e-mail, however, until
you add this to the course (Add page or tool > Mail). Students
can set up their WebCT e-mail so that it actually forwards a copy to
an external e-mail account.
Communicating from Student Database - You can
e-mail directly from the student database if you need to communicate
privately with a specific student instead of switching to the e-mail
tool. You can also use a text/memo column to communicate with a
specific student about a grade/assignment viewed through the my
grades tool.
Use A Note or Memo Column - If you want to
communicate privately with a student about a homework assignment,
quiz or test you can create a "Memo" or "Note" column in the
gradebook, and add your comments to that column. Students will then
see that entry when they view the gradebook.
Use Upper and Lower Text Blocks - The upper and
lower text blocks can be used for announcements and important
directions.
Use WebCT Navigation Tools - Use the
Breadcrumbs and the course menu to navigate through a WebCT course
not the browser forward and back buttons.
Encourage Use of Course Map - The Course Map
Link can help you and your students easily find a particular section
of a course.
Help is Actually Helpful - The WebCT Help link
is context sensitive thus is a useful tool to get you through the
bumps in the road.
Designer Map is One-Stop Shopping - The
designer map is a useful tool to build and modify your course
content as all of the tools are listed on one page.
Zip Files for Upload - If you have a number of
files to upload to WebCT at the same time, it is best to zip the
files, upload them to your course and then unzip them in WebCT. This
maintains the file structure.
Decide which will be the primary gradebook. Always make your
changes in the primary gradebook, and then upload/download changes
to the other gradebook.
If the excel gradebook is primary - Add your
columns and data in excel. Do calculations in excel using any excel
formula/feature and then save as xls file and also as
tab delimited text file. Upload the text file to webct and import
student data to add this info to online gradebook and make it
accessible to students.
If the webct gradebook is primary - Add your
columns and data in webct. Columns for work done in quizzes and
assignment tool will be automatically added. Do calculations in webct
if they are simple (limited functions available). Download data and
import into excel if you want an offline copy or you need to do more
complicated calculations.
Use A Note or Memo Column - If you want to
communicate privately with a student about a homework assignment, quiz
or test you can create a "Memo" or "Note" column in the gradebook, and
add your comments to that column. Students will then see that entry
when they view the gradebook.
Practice Makes Perfect - Allow the student's
first interaction with a tool for a non-graded activity.
For example - If you plan on grading the number
and quality of posts to a discussion board, first assign your
students the task of introducing themselves via messages to the
discussion board.
Another example - If you will use othe quiz
tool to test students knowledge you might first offer then the
chance to take a quiz to supply you with personal information such
as mail box number, preferred email address, and preferred name.
Offline Gradebook - Download from WebCT as a tab
delimited file and add the new columns in Excel, being careful not to
change the columns downloaded from WebCT and save as .xls file. Saving
a second time as a tab delimited file for upload. After uploading and
importing information to student database, delete the tab delimited
file from my files. Only make changes in the excel file and upload
that file to avoid losing grades.
Deny Student Access - This allows you to deny
student or group of students access to your course. It is a good
attention getter and a way to keep a record of students who drop the
course just incase a later dispute arrives.
Denying Access Instead of Deleting a Student -
This maintains the postings the student made which avoids confusion.
It also keeps a record of the student interactions in the course just
incase there is a future need.
Manage a Large Class - Divide students into groups
(groups of 5 seem to work best) and treat each group as you would
an individual student. So the group would deliberate amongst themselves
(in their own private thread) and then the group would post new threads
and replies in the class's discussion board.
Communicating from Student Database - You can
e-mail directly from the student database if you need to communicate
privately with a specific student instead of switching to the e-mail
tool. You can also use a text/memo column to communicate with a
specific student about a grade/assignment viewed through the my grades
tool.
Self Test - If you are using the Self-Test Tool,
create the questions in the Quiz Tool's Question Database so you can
download the questions and reuse them in the future. This also permits
you to use SOME of the questions from the self test on a quiz which
encourages students to take the self test.
Alway Create Questions in Question Database - If
you are using the Self Test Tool, create the questions in the Quiz
Tool's Question Database so you can download the questions and reuse
them in the future. This also permits you to use some of the questions
from the self test on a quiz which encourages student to take the self
test. Once you create the questions in the database, you will need to
export those questions to a text file and use that file to import
questions to self-test tool.
Customizing Timed Quiz - If you need to give a
particular student more time (you know this in advance) on a webct
quiz, you can create your quiz, then duplicate it with a longer time
than the original. Now selectively release the longer quiz to just
this student and the shorter quiz to all the other students
Use Cool Quiz Genius - If you have existing
multiple choice questions in a text format (in a Word Document, for
instance), you can use Cool Quiz
Genius to create a file for importing those questions into the
WebCT Question Database. Copy and paste your multiple choice questions
into the web form and you will get back (via email) a text file that
you can upload into the WebCT question database. You will still need
to create quiz yourself. Be sure to give titles to the quiz questions
and a category for ease of use later. You can add feedback later if
you don't do it at time of question creation.
WebCT can be Used for Mastery Quizzes - You might
give a pop quiz in class, and for all who didn't get grade at some
level determined by you, have them do make ups with WebCT quiz until
they reach a satisfactoy level.
Convert Your Syllabus from a Word Document to a Web Page
- Saving the Syllabus as a web page makes it easier for
your students to view the file and avoids unnecessary downloads.
Limit the Need to Redate Assignments and Activites
- Use relative dates such as Wednesday, Week 1 instead of
Wednesday, January 19.