WebCT (Student) FAQ

1) I'm taking my first online course, is there some information to get me started?

There are some important links you should know. These links are available from the New River WebCT Login Page and are also listed here:

1. Letter Sent to Newly Registered Online Students
2. WebCT Overvew (to learn a little more about WebCT)
3. People Search (to obtain your username)
4. WebCT Login Page (to access WebCT)
5. WebCT Frequently Asked Questions (this document)

2) I see all my courses in WebCT, but it looks like my instructor(s) hasn't update the information. What should I do?

Since the Spring 2008 term, every New River course section has a course shell created in WebCT. While an increasing number of instructors are using WebCT, there are some who are not yet using it.

Every course section begins with an announcement on the home page of the course informing the instructor that he/she must remove or modify the information if they plan to use WebCT. If this announcement is still there, then it is safe to assume that the instructor hasn't yet begun to use WebCT for that course. However, to be sure about YOUR COURSE, you should contact your instructor and ask him/her.

3) I've registered for an online course but I don't see it on the myWebCT page. What's up with that?

New River offers online courses using a number of different Instructional Methods (see list of Instructional Methods). If your course is denoted as WEBDL it is hosted outside of New River and you need to initiate a contact with that host. This information is provided in the Letter to Newly Registered Online Students (PDF). If your course is supposed to be in WebCT and you don't see it listed on your myWebCT page, please contact the Help Desk.

WebCT (Instructor) FAQ

1) How can I let students see their own grades?

You must make the grades visible to the students in Course Management -> Student Management -> Column: Column Editor. The table indicates a column's current status. Toggle Released to "Y" to show this column to your students.

2) Why can't my students view their quiz grades?

There are several reasons why your students may not be able to view their grades:

1. The quiz column may not be released to the students. When a quiz is created a column for that quiz is automatically created in your Student Management area. As a default the column is not released for the students. You must release the column for your students to see their marks.

1. From your course homepage click [Course Management] on your designer toolbar.
2. Click [Student Management]
3. Click [Columns...]
4. You will see the status for each column in the Released row of the Column Editor. "Y" means that the column is released and the students can view their marks. "N" means the column is not released and students will not be able to view their marks. The Hidden toggle works in a similar fashion, except that if a column is Hidden it means that it does not display on your (designer's) Student Management page. To change the status for any column select the box above the appropriate column, or columns, and click the [Released] button on you designer toolbar.

2. The quiz settings mat be set to not release the students' scores. There may be paragraph questions in the quiz that need to be marked by an instructor or grader before the quiz score can be released. To view the setting for your quiz, go to the Quiz/Survey Management area for your course.

1. Open the Quiz Editor by clicking on the Quiz hyperlink.
2. Click Settings on your designer toolbar.
3. Beneath the Results section you can see the settings for Student Score release. If it is set such that the students score is not released you will need to change it to "release the score once the quiz has been submitted" and click Update to save this change.
4. Click Back on your designer toolbar to return to the Quiz/Survey Management screen.
5. Click the Submissions link for the appropriate quiz.
6. Click Mark All, and then Regrade on your designer toolbar. This will regrade each students quiz submission so that their marks will now be viewable. Please note that if you have manually overridden any students' grades, the Regrade function will reset the grades to their original values.

3. Please note that Paragraph questions must be marked before the quiz results can be made available for students. To grade paragraph questions go to Quiz/Survey Management area for your course.

Click the Submissions link for the appropriate quiz.
To view a student's quiz, click the number link in the submissions column.
Grade the paragraph question, or questions, by entering a grade into the appropriate mark box and clicking Update to save these changes.

3) I have more than one section of a course but only want to develop content in one of them. Is there a way to have students in ALL my sections access the content in just ONE of the course sections?

A cross-listed course is what you need. One course section is designated as the master course and it contains all of the course content and user information. All course activity takes place in the master course. The other courses are designated as alias courses and contain only a reference to the master course. Only the WebCT Administrator (Dave Ayersman) can create a cross-listed course in WebCT, so please email him the CRN numbers of all the course sections you want cross-listed, identifying the one CRN of the master course (the one with your content). Starting in summer 2008, there will be far fewer course sections that need to be cross-listed since we are changing the way online courses appear in the schedule by assigning them only one CRN regardless of which campus where the student registers.

4) Is there anyone able to provide Help Desk support for WebCT?

The Help Desk provides both general computing support as well as some basic support of WebCT. The WebCT support information for the Help Desk staff is IT 299: Help Desk Support.

5) Is there an easier way to create tests/surveys for WebCT?

Yes, the College has a license for a product called Respondus. Using this application greatly simplifies the creation of tests, although some initial training with the software is usually required.

6) I have more students appearing in my WebCT gradebook than I expected. What's up with that?

During the initial few weeks of the semester a daily batch file is run to bring new enrollments from Banner to WebCT. These batch files add students to the correct courses but they NEVER remove students. So if a student withdraws from a course they will continue to show up in the WebCT gradebook until the INSTRUCTOR removes him/her. Instructors should cross-reference the WebCT gradebook enrollment against the more accurate data provided through Web Self-Service. If a student doesn't appear on the roster from Web Self-Service it is safe to remove him/her from the WebCT course. The WebCT Administrator never removes students from courses because there may be times when the instructor wishes to preserve any work that the student has completed. Removing the student from the course deletes this student work.

7) How do I put my PPT files into my WebCT class?

The best way to use PowerPoint in your WebCT class is to create your PowerPoint files, change them to HTM files, ZIP them, upload them, UNZIP them, then link to them.  It sounds much harder than it actually is.  Here are the steps:

Open your PowerPoint file, then use the Save As option within PowerPoint to convert it to an HTM file.  This will create (1) a single HTM file and (2) a folder of graphics for each PowerPoint file.  You’ll need to ZIP those two files together (click on both the file and the folder to select them, then right-click and choose Send to compressed zip file), then upload them to WebCT using the File Manager.  Then use the UNZIP option within WebCT to change the single ZIP file back into the (1) HTM file and (2) folder of graphics.  Finally, you’ll be able to then add a Single Page within WebCT and browse to the HTM file.  Be sure to choose the option “Open in a new browser window” as you do this.  Students will be able to view the PowerPoint files within their browsers and won’t need PowerPoint to open them.

8) How do I create an online syllabus so that everyone can view it?

Typically, WebCT requires users to login before they can view course-based information. There is one page intentionally available to everyone without logging in and it is called the Welcome Page. You can modify this page to contain all or part of your syllabus and then anyone interested in knowing more about your course can easily get the information (without logging in to WebCT).

This page allows you to view all the online course Welcome Pages but you have to choose the semester:

http://webct.newriver.edu:8900/webct/public/show_courses.pl

The Course Information column contains links to each Welcome Page for each course. Here is an example of an online syllabus that has been created using the Welcome Page:

http://webct.newriver.edu:8900/public/00000/index.html

To create your syllabus using the Welcome Page in WebCT, here are the steps:

1. First, you have to create your syllabus in Word or some other word processing application. When it is final, use the Save As option to create a PDF version of your syllabus file. Be sure to name it exactly this "syllabus.pdf". If you name it anything else you may have problems getting it to display properly.
2. Login to WebCT and click into your course. Click the Control Panel icon.
3. The middle column of the control panel screen is labeled Manage Files, in that column click on Upload.
4. Click on the Choose File button and browse to your PDF syllabus file (named syllabus.pdf) and click Upload. You should receive a message that your syllabus.pdf file already exists and you'll be asked if you want to overwrite it. Yes, you do want to overwrite it.
5. Click the Control Panel button and then on the right side of the screen you'll see a column named Course Settings. Locate the link for Edit welcome page and click it.
6. Click the radio button next to the link for Syllabus and then click the EDIT button on the right side of the screen to edit the link. In the URL field, edit the link to replace the 00000 with your CRN number, being careful not to make any other changes to the URL. Then click Update and you're finished. Now anyone can view your online syllabus.

The link to your syllabus file should look like this: http://webct.newriver.edu:8900/public/00000/syllabus.pdf

If you've named your syllabus correctly in step 1 above, then YOUR link will simply change the 00000 to reflect YOUR five-digit CRN number. Please note that all Spring 2009 courses actually have a letter "b" following the CRN number that must be included in your link.