WebCT FAQs for Faculty
When can I logon to the course(s)
I am teaching to modify the content?
Courses are usually made available two weeks prior to the logon date for students
(which is the Friday before the course officially begins). You will be notified
by your department (the one the course falls under) when the course is available
as well as be provided with any other applicable information. Any specific
questions regarding dates, or if you still do not see the course and it's
two weeks (and no more) before the logon date, you must first refer to your
department for any and all inquiries.
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I am not seeing all of the
courses I should be when I logon through Connections.
When you logon through Connections and click on your Faculty tab and then
the "Click here to:" link underneath the "My Courses"
section, this will only show you the courses you are officially assigned through
CARS to teach. Sometimes professors have special roles in other classes or
modules through WebCT that they are not officially "assigned" or
"registered" for. If this is the case for you, then you must logon
directly to WebCT and not through Connections by visiting
http://www.webster.edu/online
and logging in here. This is also the only way you can access the student
account that is setup along with your designer account for a particular course.
If you have any questions, or still cannot see what you believe you should
be seeing after logging in the back way, please contact the Help Desk.
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How do I get
to my student's assignment submissions?
Click on the link to Assignments in your course.
Designer Options
will be selected by default. In the middle section of the page, click on the
Submissions link in the row for the Assignment that you wish
to view submissions for. The Submissions page will appear. On the right of
the page (scroll to the right if necessary), click on the
Not Graded
link. The student's assignment submission will appear. You can view the student’s
paper by clicking on its link. You must give a comment and a score, and then
click
Grade button.
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My students can't
link to the Assignments I have posted.
This is likely because the release dates for the Assignments are not current.
To edit release dates:
- Go to the Assignments area. Designer Options will be
selected by default.
- Click on the link to the assignment you wish to change (e.g. Week 3
Assignment). The Assignment Information page will appear.
- On the right side of the page, under the Options heading,
click on the Edit assignment settings button.
- Under Availability, use the drop-down menus to select
the availability dates for your assignment including Available
Starting, Due Date and Cutoff date
if necessary.
- Finally, click on Update.
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I can't see some of
my students when I go to the Assignment Submissions area.
The assignment submissions area may contain more than one page of students
and you are only seeing the first "page" of students. On the upper
left of the submissions page just above the table of students, next to
Page,
use the drop-down menu to select
All. Now all of the student
names should appear to you on the same page.
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How can I change
content that is inside a Content Module?
Browse to the Content Module you would like to edit. Usually these Content
Modules are located inside an Organizer Page, such as Weekly Content or Weekly
Schedule. Click on the file inside the Content Module you would like to edit.
For example, if you wish to edit an HTML file within Week 3, click on Weekly
Content > Week 3 > [name of file]. The Content Page Settings page will
appear. Click on
Edit file button that appears below the
File Options heading. The Edit File page appears. Make the
changes in the code and text in the textbox provided, then click
Save.
If you do not wish to type in or edit the code manually, you can click on
the
HTML editor button and edit the file that way. Upon clicking
Save, you will be taken back to the Content Page Settings
page. Click the
Update student view button at the top of
this page, then
Update entire course, then click
Update.
Using the breadcrumbs trail, navigate back to the Content Module and then
click on the file you edited to view the updated content.
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How can I add a PDF file to a Content
Module?
First click on
Control Panel >
Manage Files
>
Upload. Choose your PDF file and then upload the file.
Next, go to the Table of Contents page in your content module.
Designer
Options is selected by default. You can then add your PDF file to
the content module as you would an HTML file by clicking on the
Add
files button underneath
Options: Table of Contents.
If items already exist in your content module, click in the radio button to
the left of the item that will be listed immediately before the one you want
to add before clicking the
Add files button. Since only HTML
files show up in the list of files by default, you will need to either click
the
Browse button or select the radio button that says
Show
all files in the My-Files folders in Manage Files. Select your PDF
file and then click
Add. If you want to change the title
of your file, click in its radio button and then choose
Edit titles.
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I can't see all my student's
postings!
It is likely you have the option view unread selected. While inside your discussion
topic, click on the
All button located just below the
Compose
message button after the text
Display and you should
be able to see all your student's postings.
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Can I print off
the Discussion messages to read offline?
Yes, while in your Discussion topic, select the messages you wish to compile.
You can select all the messages in the topic, individual threads, or specific
posts. To select all the messages in the Discussion topic, place a checkmark
in front of the text
Subject. To select individual threads,
place a checkmark in front of the thread title you wish to compile. After
making your selection, click on the
Compile button. An ordered
listing of all the Discussion messages will appear. You can either print out
this screen or click on the
Download button to save all of
these messages as a text file.
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How do I set
a Discussion topic to Private (viewable by a limited set of students)?
While in the Discussion tool, make sure
Designer Options
is selected. Click the
Private checkbox next to the topic
you want to set as private (you must be on the main discussion screen to see
all the topics), then click
Update. Now click the checkbox
to the left of the topic set to private and then click
Manage Members.
On the screen that appears, click on
Select Members. Choose
the members you wish to have access by selecting the checkbox next to their
name, then click
Update. Don't forget to add yourself if
you want to have access. Your private Discussion topic is now set.
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When I open my Discussion
Topic, all I see is a blue right pointing triangle.
Click on the green triangle to "open" the discussion thread for
reading. The triangle will now point downward. Click on it again to close
the thread in a particular topic.
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How can I
view or change student's Quiz question scores after they have been taken?
- Go to the area of your course where the Quizzes are taken by clicking
on its link on the Homepage or Course Menu. Designer Options
should be selected by default.
- Click on the Submissions button underneath the quiz
you would like to edit.
- Click on the number under Attempts for the Quiz submission you wish
to view (i.e. click on the 1 if you wish to view the first attempt).
- The View Submissions page appears. You can make comments and change
the score of individual responses if you wish on the View Submissions
page. You can overwrite individual scores on questions by using the Override
score text box. If you do not wish to override individual scores
and would rather change the overall score of the quiz, use the Quiz
score adjustment text box. This quiz adjustment is based on a
plus or minus to the original score. For example, if the student scored
a 70 and you want to give the student a 75, you would put a ‘5’
in the text box. Note: You can edit the Quiz question
score, but not the answer.
- Click Update grade when you are finished.
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My students can't link
to their Quiz.
The release date may not be set to the current date. Release dates are not
automatically updated when a course is copied for a new semester. To update
the release date, go to the Quiz Tool in your course.
Designer Options
should be selected by default. Click on the link to the Quiz you want to change
(e.g. Week 1 Quiz). On the right, click on the
Edit quiz settings
button. Under the
Availability section next to
Available
After, use the drop-down menus to select the new time for the Quiz
to open. Change the
Available Until dates as well if necessary.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, then click
Update.
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Can I re-open a Quiz
once the access time has time has passed?
Yes, you can do this by going to the Quiz Tool in your course.
Designer
Options should be selected by default. Click on the link to the Quiz
you want to change (e.g. Week 1 Quiz). On the right, click on the
Edit
quiz settings button. Under the
Availability section,
use the drop menus to select the new time for the Quiz to close. Scroll to
the bottom of the page, then click
Update.
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I want a student to take
a Quiz again. How can I do this?
You must reset the Quiz by first going to the Quiz Tool in your course.
Designer
Options should be selected by default. Click on the
Submissions
button underneath the quiz you would like to reset for the student. Check
the box next to the student's name you wish to reset. On the right side of
the page, click on the
Reset button.
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Can I download the student's
grades for viewing in Excel and printing?
Yes, go to
Control Panel >
Manage Course
>
Manage Students. Under the
Options: Records
heading at the top of the page, select
Download from the
drop-down menu and then click Go. You are then taken to the Download Student
Records page. You will be given a choice to download the file in a comma delimited
format or tab delimited. Choose
Comma from the drop-down
menu and then click
Download. Save the file to a known location
on your computer. You can open the file using Excel. Open the file in Excel
by opening Excel and then clicking on
File >
Open.
Browse to the location where you saved the text file and select
Text
Files from the
Files of type drop-down box. Select
your file and then click
Open. Excel may bring you through
a series of menus; Choose the default settings and your file should open correctly.
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How can I add a column
to my Student Gradebook for scoring Discussion participation?
Yes, go to
Control Panel >
Manage Course
>
Manage Students. Under the
Organize
heading on the mid-upper right of the page, select
Manage Columns
from the drop-down list and then click
Go. The Manage Columns
screen appears. On the right side of the page, under the
Organize
heading, click the
Add column button. The Add Column screen
appears. Give the Column a title (e.g. Week 1 Discussions) in the
Label
text box, then choose
Numeric from the
Type
drop-down menu. Click
Add. To add scores to the column, go
back to the Manage Students screen on your breadcrumbs trail, then scroll
to the column you just added. Click on
Edit, then give an
"out of" score and type in scores for any of the students. When
finished go back to the left of your screen and click
Update.
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Can I forward my
WebCT internal email to an external email address?
Unfortunately, this option is not available at this time.
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Where can I find more resources
for faculty members in regards to WebCT?
You can find excellent resources and answers and tutorials to even more WebCT
issues by visiting the following site:
http://www.webster.edu/online/training.php?section=faculty.
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