|
Use of the WebCT Campus Edition course management system implies consent with and adherence to other New River Policies on Information Technology.
Since December 28, 2007, New River Community and Technical College exclusively uses the web-based WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 as its course management system.
This set of policies and procedures is intended to provide members of the New River Community and Technical College educational community with standardized practices for using the WebCT Campus Edition course management system. These policies and procedures are also intended to insure reliable and consistent service from the technical support staff who keep the software available. This information is subject to change.
WebCT Campus Edition is available to all faculty, staff, and students of New River Community and Technical College although privileges vary according to one's position and need. WebCT Campus Edition is intended primarily to host New River course information.
The IT Advisory Group oversees the continued development of this document and actively addresses issues involving the use of WebCT Campus Edition. |
There are five User Roles that a user might have within WebCT (administrator, helpdesk user, designer, teaching assistant, and student). Having an account in WebCT is a privilege and each of these User Roles has very specific responsibilities. Please consult Dr. David Ayersman regarding the creation of a user account and/or user privileges associated with an account. The Designer role is for instructors and the Student role is for students. The IT staff uses the Helpdesk user accounts and Dr. Ayersman is the Administrator of WebCT. Instructors are solely responsible for course content and communication with students. The creation of course shells and enrollment management is achieved by extracting data from SCT Banner, which is done by the Administrator. Students are responsible for their own personal information and their conduct within their online courses. |
WebCT has built-in contextual self-support available. The Information Technology staff offers small group workshops and one-on-one basic assistance regarding access to WebCT. Dr. Ayersman offers more in-depth information to faculty regarding access to and effective use of WebCT. Course and user information used in WebCT comes directly from SCT Banner, the primary data source for enrollment and course schedules. The data are imported from SCT Banner to WebCT daily during the initial few weeks of the term and then weekly until the end of the term.
To request assistance with accessing and using WebCT users should contact the Help Desk (itsupport@newriver.edu or 304.929.6725). To request assistance with actual course registrations, payments, and scheduling please contact Student Services (admissions@newriver.edu). |
Usernames and passwords for WebCT are the same as for New River email. Initial passwords are the New River ID number and should be changed after your first access.
If you ever forget your password use the "Forgot your password?" link on the WebCT login page to have it reset or emailed to you. You may also contact the Help Desk for assistance with resetting your password. If you change your WebCT password you must manually change your email password if you want them to be the same. |
- Usernames and passwords are case sensitive and usernames are created in lowercase and passwords can be a mix of uppercase and lowercase.
- Courses (terms) are made inaccessible to students not at the end of the term in which the course was scheduled, but at the end of the term following the term in which the course was scheduled. This delay is intended to allow any students with Incompletes an ample opportunity to complete their coursework (students must contact instructors regarding Incompletes).
- Courses are archived and removed 11 months after being created (this is because New River recycles CRN numbers and these numbers must be unique within WebCT).
- Course shells are created manually by the Administrator 1 month prior to the term beginning and Instructors/Designers gain access at this time.
- Students gain access to course information one day prior to the term beginning (when the Administrator makes the term available to them).
- Naming conventions include: (a) Course ID = CRN, (b) Course Title = SUBJ + NUMBER + Course Title from Banner, and (c) username/password = email username/password.
- Designers ARE allowed (a) to change Menu Bar and Course Menu colors, (b) to use WebDAV clients, (c) import/export content, and (d) change student status to active/inactive.
- It is the responsibility of the Designer to maintain backups of his/her courses. Secondary backups are maintained by the WebCT Administrator.
- There is a limit of 3 course backup files allowed on the server per course. There is no limit to how many course backups that can be created and downloaded then deleted from the server.
- The equation editor is shown in all courses.
- Designers are NOT allowed to (a) change student passwords or (b) create global database records.
- Students ARE allowed to (a) see the class list and (b) check their browsers.
- All users ARE allowed to change their passwords (minimum length of a password is 6 characters and maximum is 12).
- Announcements, Institutional Bookmarks, choosing myWebCT and default course color sets, and customizing the login/logout pages are the responsibility of the WebCT Administrator.
|
WebCT is adminstered by New River but hosted at WVNET (in Morgantown). A Service-Level Agreement is in place between New River and WVNET and it addresses responsibilities of each party. WVNET hosts WebCT using an IBM blade server with two Intel Quad Core processors with 4GB of RAM and the RedHat Linux operating system. WVNET performs backups and coordinates the schedule for downtime and upgrades with New River. |
|
