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How do I get into WebCT?

Go to the WebCT front page for your system. This should be arranged by divisions or schools. Find the name of your course and click on it. You will be asked for a login ID and a password. These will have been supplied to you by the person in your institution who is maintaining your WebCT system, setting up courses, etc. Enter your Login ID and your password and the first or homepage of your course will appear. (see image of a homepage above).

What do I do if I lose or forget my login ID or password?

Your WebCT administrator can provide this information for you or create a new password for you.

Where do I put my course outline and course syllabus?

WebCT has a file management system where course files are stored. There is an easy to use upload and download facility that allows you to place any type of file into the WebCT system. From the front page of the course click on "File Manager" at the bottom of the page. Once a file is in the system you need to put a pointer to it from the WebCT Path or table of contents. This is done by clicking on the course material button that you have made available on the front page. Another way to do this is to put a pointer off the front page to the course outline or syllabus. I have done both and it seems to be six of one, half a dozen of the other, students quickly find the files in either case.

Where and how do I "register" students in my WebCT course?

WebCT is like a classroom, a student needs to be registered in your course and have a password to enter. There are several ways to register students in the WebCT system. You can allow a period of time for self registration by setting student access to "Allow ." From the front page go to [course management/student management/students/access control/] and choose "Allow any person to create a student account for this course." You can also enter students in one at a time. I often register students during the first seminar by having them come to my computer one at a time and register themselves on their way out. A very efficient way to register students is to upload a whole file of them at once. This requires a bit of preparation in that your database in WebCT must have the same headings as the file you create with Word or Excel. Similarly, if your WebCT database is constructed in cooperation with your college or university records folks you can save your students' information, download it and send it in a form that they can use. The WebCT folks in Vancouver are great about helping you work out these types of procedures.

How do I convert my current course material to WebCT format?

If you have created your current course materials with a word processor and your newish word processor has a "save as html" function then it is very easy. Just save your file as html and it will automatically be in a form that WebCT can use. This is not to say that many other file formats could not be used, in fact almost any file format can be presented in WebCT. This is just the easiest format for the student to read.

The material that comes with my Wiley and Sons course looks great, and the original WebCT system we started looked good, but can I give our WebCT courses a different look, one that fits with our institution's other web pages?

Yes, the whole system is quite flexible in this way. While both examples in the question are set up to make setting up a WebCT course as easy as possible almost every aspect of it can be modified. You can create your own icons, generate a new background, do all your own banners and page illustrations, set your own fonts, etc. Within a few basic parameters you can create a course that looks and feels very much the way you want it. MS ImageMaker, PaintShop Pro, and CorelDraw are examples of program that can help you generate or modify icons.

When I go into WebCT it looks considerably different than it does for my students. How do I know what it looks like to a student?

This is an important point. When you are logged on as the "designer" you have a particular view of the course. You cannot, for example, take a test as a student would. It is very useful to have registered a mock student, so that you can log in as a student and try things out. It is best to register with a name other than your own, otherwise when students browse the e-mail list they will see your name twice or send e-mail to the mock student.

There are a number of on-line journals and sources of scholarly articles on-line in my discipline. May I use these articles in my WebCT course?

Well, yes and no. If you find articles and you have their Internet address (URL) you may, without permission, point students to them. You may not, however, save them to your system without permission from whoever holds the copyright. Similarly, your students may view anything that is on the Internet, but they may not download or save it without permission. We have tried asking for permission of put digital copies of articles in WebCT courses. We had thought that this would be granted, because we can guarantee that only a limited, set number of students will access the files. We have had very little luck with these requests because very few publishers or journals have figured out how to deal with digital copies. Many libraries have paid for such rights and it is possible that students may access "full text" articles, articles that provided in full on the Internet, through your institution's library. Often they can copy, save or e-mail these articles to themselves. Our library has such an arrangement with one service and this may be done from any networked computer from any campus of our college. By the way, there is a real advantage in using pointers in that someone else is providing the space to hold the files that you and your students are accessing. And there is a disadvantage to this in that as you begin to develop many pointers you will find that way too many of them "go stale" over time, i.e. the next time you or your students try to go to a given site it no longer exists or has moved. Someone, and there are commercial sites that will do this for a fee, needs to go through all your pointers about every 6 months and check to see if they are still live.

What other file formats can WebCT use?

Almost any file format can be presented in WebCT. In some ways WebCT is really just a very sophisticated file organizer and presenter. "html" files are easiest for the student to read because he or she is already using an html reader (Internet Explorer or Netscape) to work in WebCT. You could however provide a Word file for your students. If you did, and their computer was correctly configured, Word (the program) would open the file and they could read it. You can do the same thing with Acrobate files, PowerPoint files, audio files (.mov, mp3), video files (.mpeg) or picture files (.jpeg, .gif), etc. If they have the program or reader and their computer is formatted correctly then the file will open automatically. At Camosun College we make use of many audio files from recorded radio programs and we use a program called RealAudio server to serve these files out to the world. This means that the student has to have a RealAudio player installed on their computer. This player is available free from a download site and we provide information for the student on our web site and in our orientations.

I know that Wiley provides a great deal of WebCT ready material with their adoptions, but can I change this material to suite my needs?

One advantage of providing material in this format rather than CD ROM format is that any of the files provided by Wiley can be edited or changed. You can also eliminate files from the Path or Table of contents and you can add you own files with new content, images, pointers, exercises, etc. Wiley will provide you with four different types of files, html files (almost all the files are in this format); PowerPoint files, Acrobat files and image files (either .jpeg or .gif). html files can be edited with MS Word or FrontPage or many other word processing programs. Acrobat files need Acrobat to be modified, but these files only contain the instructor's manual. A free copy of Acrobat reader can be obtained off the Internet. If you want a section out of an Acrobat file just copy and past it into a word processing program. The images can be edited with MS ImageMaker, PaintShop Pro or other image editor.

What is the use of the "Whiteboard"?

The whiteboard is a very new feature of WebCT. It is a good example of the design team responding to instructor requests. The Whiteboard can be opened simultaneously by the instructor and a group of students. Each of the participants can then draw and label the drawing to get across visual concepts. You can also open a drawing and alter it. Each participant can then save the drawing for future reference. When you customize the course settings the designer needs to include the whiteboard in the functions available for this course.

What is the "My Notes" function?

"My Notes" allows the student to type in notes to themselves as they are reading various pages or study guides. The can then print these notes out later and study from them.

How do I get a glossary into WebCT or add to an existing one?

The glossary can be quite useful to students. Your Wiley WebCT material includes a glossary and even links to glossary terms off the study guide page. From any page you can link words to the glossary so that clicking on the, now blue, term with take the student to the glossary definition. While in a page click on "Glossary" at the bottom of the page and the "Edit Links." All terms that are contained in the glossary will now appear blue and have a little circle next to them. Click on the little circle to confirm that you want that term in that location to be linked to the glossary.
If you want to add items to the glossary there are two ways to do it. While in a page click on glossary at the bottom of the page. The click on "Define Keyword." This will provide you with a space to type a new word and a new definition. Click on "Add" when you are done and your new word will appear in the glossary. The second way is to upload a file with many definitions in it. As with other files destined for inclusion into WebCT there is a very specific format that must be followed. This one is fairly simple, it must look like this:

:Absolute refractory period
A brief period (1 to 2 milliseconds) after the initiation of an action potential during which it is impossible to elicit another action potential in the same neuron.

In other words a colon followed by the term, then a paragraph break then the definition. Once you have a text (.txt) file with the words and definitions that you want in WebCT format you can upload this file into WebCT. Then after clicking on "Glossary" you will notice a button at the bottom of the page that says "Update from File." This will ask for the name of the file to add to the glossary.

I use MS Excel to keep student records now. Can I keep student records in WebCT?

You can either use the built-in WebCT student record system or a spread sheet such as Excel or a combination of both. WebCT has a database that will keep track of student marks on tests. It also allows you to enter other marks and you can program it to calculate averages. You can upload spreadsheet files into the student record system of WebCT or visa versa as long as both are formatted in a compatible way. I generally find it easier to keep my student records in a spreadsheet on my computer. I have a laptop and usually have it with me so I make many changes during a day. Regularly I save my spreadsheet as an "html" file in File/Save as Html. I then upload this file into WebCT and I have a pointer to it off the WebCT front page for students to view their marks..

Can I do course evaluations from within WebCT?

Yes, WebCT has a very good system for collecting data via the "Survey" function. Go into the testing system, click on "Add Survey" at the bottom of the page. Setting up a survey is exactly like setting up a test, you choose questions and assign values to them. The major difference is in the record keeping and data analysis. The designer can see who has answered a survey, but not how an individual answered a survey. This allows you to assure students that their evaluation will be anonymous.

How can I use the Calendar facility?

The Calendar facility is quit adaptable. You can enter important dates for the class and set it up so that anyone enrolled in the course can enter dates. You can also enter information and make it private to you so you could use it as a personal calendar.

What types of things can I put into "Student Tips?"

Obviously "Student Tips" is a place to give students tips or ideas about just about anything. "Buy low and sell high" comes to mind for business students. Generally instructors have placed suggestions for making use of the many features of WebCT or the Internet to learn more about the subject in question.

How do I construct an "Index?"

First you need to include the "Index" in the course settings. From the front page click on "Course Settings" and then "Icons." Then, from within "Icons" click on the Index icon. The go back to the front page, go to a page and you will see "Index" at the bottom of the page. Click on it and you will see the options for generating Index items. Each item has to be entered one at a time and will be referenced to the page from which it was entered. Constructing an index is a great deal of work, something for the off season, not for the middle of a term.

	How do I get into WebCT?
	Go to the WebCT front page for your system. This should be arranged by divisions or schools. Find the name of your course and click on it. You will be asked for a login ID and a password. These will have been supplied to you by the person in your institution who is maintaining your WebCT system, setting up courses, etc. Enter your Login ID and your password and the first or homepage of your course will appear. (see image of a homepage above).

	What do I do if I lose or forget my login ID or password?
	Your WebCT administrator can provide this information for you or create a new password for you.

	Where do I put my course outline and course syllabus?
	WebCT has a file management system where course files are stored. There is an easy to use upload and download facility that allows you to place any type of file into the WebCT system. From the front page of the course click on "File Manager" at the bottom of the page. Once a file is in the system you need to put a pointer to it from the WebCT Path or table of contents. This is done by clicking on the course material button that you have made available on the front page. Another way to do this is to put a pointer off the front page to the course outline or syllabus. I have done both and it seems to be six of one, half a dozen of the other, students quickly find the files in either case.

	Where and how do I "register" students in my WebCT course?
	WebCT is like a classroom, a student needs to be registered in your course and have a password to enter. There are several ways to register students in the WebCT system. You can allow a period of time for self registration by setting student access to "Allow ." From the front page go to [course management/student management/students/access control/] and choose "Allow any person to create a student account for this course." You can also enter students in one at a time. I often register students during the first seminar by having them come to my computer one at a time and register themselves on their way out. A very efficient way to register students is to upload a whole file of them at once. This requires a bit of preparation in that your database in WebCT must have the same headings as the file you create with Word or Excel. Similarly, if your WebCT database is constructed in cooperation with your college or university records folks you can save your students' information, download it and send it in a form that they can use. The WebCT folks in Vancouver are great about helping you work out these types of procedures.

	How do I convert my current course material to WebCT format?
	If you have created your current course materials with a word processor and your newish word processor has a "save as html" function then it is very easy. Just save your file as html and it will automatically be in a form that WebCT can use. This is not to say that many other file formats could not be used, in fact almost any file format can be presented in WebCT. This is just the easiest format for the student to read.

	The material that comes with my Wiley and Sons course looks great, and the original WebCT system we started looked good, but can I give our WebCT courses a different look, one that fits with our institution's other web pages?
	Yes, the whole system is quite flexible in this way. While both examples in the question are set up to make setting up a WebCT course as easy as possible almost every aspect of it can be modified. You can create your own icons, generate a new background, do all your own banners and page illustrations, set your own fonts, etc. Within a few basic parameters you can create a course that looks and feels very much the way you want it. MS ImageMaker, PaintShop Pro, and CorelDraw are examples of program that can help you generate or modify icons.

	When I go into WebCT it looks considerably different than it does for my students. How do I know what it looks like to a student?
	This is an important point. When you are logged on as the "designer" you have a particular view of the course. You cannot, for example, take a test as a student would. It is very useful to have registered a mock student, so that you can log in as a student and try things out. It is best to register with a name other than your own, otherwise when students browse the e-mail list they will see your name twice or send e-mail to the mock student.

	There are a number of on-line journals and sources of scholarly articles on-line in my discipline. May I use these articles in my WebCT course?
	Well, yes and no. If you find articles and you have their Internet address (URL) you may, without permission, point students to them. You may not, however, save them to your system without permission from whoever holds the copyright. Similarly, your students may view anything that is on the Internet, but they may not download or save it without permission. We have tried asking for permission of put digital copies of articles in WebCT courses. We had thought that this would be granted, because we can guarantee that only a limited, set number of students will access the files. We have had very little luck with these requests because very few publishers or journals have figured out how to deal with digital copies. Many libraries have paid for such rights and it is possible that students may access "full text" articles, articles that provided in full on the Internet, through your institution's library. Often they can copy, save or e-mail these articles to themselves. Our library has such an arrangement with one service and this may be done from any networked computer from any campus of our college. By the way, there is a real advantage in using pointers in that someone else is providing the space to hold the files that you and your students are accessing. And there is a disadvantage to this in that as you begin to develop many pointers you will find that way too many of them "go stale" over time, i.e. the next time you or your students try to go to a given site it no longer exists or has moved. Someone, and there are commercial sites that will do this for a fee, needs to go through all your pointers about every 6 months and check to see if they are still live.

	What other file formats can WebCT use?
	Almost any file format can be presented in WebCT. In some ways WebCT is really just a very sophisticated file organizer and presenter. "html" files are easiest for the student to read because he or she is already using an html reader (Internet Explorer or Netscape) to work in WebCT. You could however provide a Word file for your students. If you did, and their computer was correctly configured, Word (the program) would open the file and they could read it. You can do the same thing with Acrobate files, PowerPoint files, audio files (.mov, mp3), video files (.mpeg) or picture files (.jpeg, .gif), etc. If they have the program or reader and their computer is formatted correctly then the file will open automatically. At Camosun College we make use of many audio files from recorded radio programs and we use a program called RealAudio server to serve these files out to the world. This means that the student has to have a RealAudio player installed on their computer. This player is available free from a download site and we provide information for the student on our web site and in our orientations.

	I know that Wiley provides a great deal of WebCT ready material with their adoptions, but can I change this material to suite my needs?
	One advantage of providing material in this format rather than CD ROM format is that any of the files provided by Wiley can be edited or changed. You can also eliminate files from the Path or Table of contents and you can add you own files with new content, images, pointers, exercises, etc. Wiley will provide you with four different types of files, html files (almost all the files are in this format); PowerPoint files, Acrobat files and image files (either .jpeg or .gif). html files can be edited with MS Word or FrontPage or many other word processing programs. Acrobat files need Acrobat to be modified, but these files only contain the instructor's manual. A free copy of Acrobat reader can be obtained off the Internet. If you want a section out of an Acrobat file just copy and past it into a word processing program. The images can be edited with MS ImageMaker, PaintShop Pro or other image editor.

	What is the use of the "Whiteboard"?
	The whiteboard is a very new feature of WebCT. It is a good example of the design team responding to instructor requests. The Whiteboard can be opened simultaneously by the instructor and a group of students. Each of the participants can then draw and label the drawing to get across visual concepts. You can also open a drawing and alter it. Each participant can then save the drawing for future reference. When you customize the course settings the designer needs to include the whiteboard in the functions available for this course.

	What is the "My Notes" function?
	"My Notes" allows the student to type in notes to themselves as they are reading various pages or study guides. The can then print these notes out later and study from them.

	How do I get a glossary into WebCT or add to an existing one?
	The glossary can be quite useful to students. Your Wiley WebCT material includes a glossary and even links to glossary terms off the study guide page. From any page you can link words to the glossary so that clicking on the, now blue, term with take the student to the glossary definition. While in a page click on "Glossary" at the bottom of the page and the "Edit Links." All terms that are contained in the glossary will now appear blue and have a little circle next to them. Click on the little circle to confirm that you want that term in that location to be linked to the glossary. If you want to add items to the glossary there are two ways to do it. While in a page click on glossary at the bottom of the page. The click on "Define Keyword." This will provide you with a space to type a new word and a new definition. Click on "Add" when you are done and your new word will appear in the glossary. The second way is to upload a file with many definitions in it. As with other files destined for inclusion into WebCT there is a very specific format that must be followed. This one is fairly simple, it must look like this: :Absolute refractory period A brief period (1 to 2 milliseconds) after the initiation of an action potential during which it is impossible to elicit another action potential in the same neuron. In other words a colon followed by the term, then a paragraph break then the definition. Once you have a text (.txt) file with the words and definitions that you want in WebCT format you can upload this file into WebCT. Then after clicking on "Glossary" you will notice a button at the bottom of the page that says "Update from File." This will ask for the name of the file to add to the glossary.

	I use MS Excel to keep student records now. Can I keep student records in WebCT?
	You can either use the built-in WebCT student record system or a spread sheet such as Excel or a combination of both. WebCT has a database that will keep track of student marks on tests. It also allows you to enter other marks and you can program it to calculate averages. You can upload spreadsheet files into the student record system of WebCT or visa versa as long as both are formatted in a compatible way. I generally find it easier to keep my student records in a spreadsheet on my computer. I have a laptop and usually have it with me so I make many changes during a day. Regularly I save my spreadsheet as an "html" file in File/Save as Html. I then upload this file into WebCT and I have a pointer to it off the WebCT front page for students to view their marks..

	Can I do course evaluations from within WebCT?
	Yes, WebCT has a very good system for collecting data via the "Survey" function. Go into the testing system, click on "Add Survey" at the bottom of the page. Setting up a survey is exactly like setting up a test, you choose questions and assign values to them. The major difference is in the record keeping and data analysis. The designer can see who has answered a survey, but not how an individual answered a survey. This allows you to assure students that their evaluation will be anonymous.

	How can I use the Calendar facility?
	The Calendar facility is quit adaptable. You can enter important dates for the class and set it up so that anyone enrolled in the course can enter dates. You can also enter information and make it private to you so you could use it as a personal calendar.

	What types of things can I put into "Student Tips?"
	Obviously "Student Tips" is a place to give students tips or ideas about just about anything. "Buy low and sell high" comes to mind for business students. Generally instructors have placed suggestions for making use of the many features of WebCT or the Internet to learn more about the subject in question.

	How do I construct an "Index?"
	First you need to include the "Index" in the course settings. From the front page click on "Course Settings" and then "Icons." Then, from within "Icons" click on the Index icon. The go back to the front page, go to a page and you will see "Index" at the bottom of the page. Click on it and you will see the options for generating Index items. Each item has to be entered one at a time and will be referenced to the page from which it was entered. Constructing an index is a great deal of work, something for the off season, not for the middle of a term.