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WebCT Course Procedures

Preparing WebCT courses for a New Term

The following processes should to be done to prepare for a new academic term for course(s) using WebCT .

Reinstating courses to the WebCT server

Want to create a new WebCT course shell that is based on a previous course? Not a problem. Simply contact the Distance Learning Specialist (e-mail or call 698-1067) so that they can place your course in the proper term.  You will need to send your backup of the course either through an e-mail attachment or on a CD through Campus Mail.

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Backing up your course

Backing up your course to your local computer allows you to keep a copy of your course, including student data, discussion postings, calendar entries, e-mails and other course information. The time required to backup a course depends on the size of the course. Large courses may take over 10 minutes to back up; Publisher courses may take over 20 minutes to back up. To backup your course:

  1. From the Homepage, click Control Panel/Manage Course.

  2. Select the Backup Course link from the right-hand column.

  3. From the right side list below the Options: Backup Files, click Create Backup.  The Create Backup screen appears.

  4. Type a brief description for the backup in the text box and click Create. The description is for your own personal identification and will appear in the backup listing table.
  5. When the "Success" message appears, click Continue.

You will now be back to the Backup Course page and your course backup will appear in a box with a radio button in front of it.

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Downloading your course to your local computer

In the previous step you created a back up of your course. Now you will download the course backup to your local computer. The time required to download a course depends on the size of the course as well as your Internet connection speed. Please be patient. Downloads of courses over 10 MB are not recommended via a modem.

  1. From the Homepage, click Control Panel/Manage Course.
  2. Select the Backup Course link from the right-hand column.
  3. From the right side list below the Options: Backup Files, click Download. 
  4. A "File Download" window will pop up. You will be given the option of either save or open file.  Click Save.  Select the folder to save the file and click Save.
  5. When the Download is complete, click close.

Your backup course is now located on your local computer.  Do not attempt to open the file, a WebCT zip file is not the same as ordinary zip files and can be damaged by attempting to fix the file with most unzip programs.  The file can only be unzipped in WebCT.

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Archiving course information

Instructors should keep records of student data related to courses including the grade book, discussion postings, e-mails, and calendar entries. Although this information is stored within the course backup, it is much easier to click a single file rather than having to unzip an entire course within a WebCT shell. It is suggested that the following information be archived into a folder created exclusively for each course iteration:

  • Discussion postings
    • Select all messages within each Discussion Topic by clicking the radio button next to Subject at the top of the page, then click Compile at the bottom of the page.
    • Click Download and save the file to your course folder on your local computer.
  • E-mails
    • Select all messages within each E-mail folder by clicking the radio button next to Subject at the top of the page, then click Compile at the bottom of the page.
    • Click Download and save the file to your course folder on your local computer.
  • Calendar
    • Select all calendar entries by clicking Compile Entries.
    • Enter the date range of your course and click Compile.
    • Grab the entries by clicking CTRL A (select all), CTRL C (copy) and then paste your entries into a word processing document.
    • Save the document to your course folder on your local computer.
  • Grade book
    • Open the grade book by clicking Control Panel/Manage Course/Manage Students
    • Under Options/Records, click Download and then click Go
    • Select Comma and click Download
    • Save the file to your course folder on your local computer. You can open the file using Excel and Save As an Excel spreadsheet.

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Resetting your course

  1. From Designer View, click Control Panel/Manage Course/.
  2. From the Manage Course screen, click Reset Course.
  3. A list of all course tools will be displayed on the left side of the page. Click the Select All button. Important note: You must Reset your course as opposed to "deleting" information from these areas. Resetting will re-index the WebCT databases, where deleting can lead to corrupt WebCT tools and possible loss of student data.
  4. Click Reset. A warning message appears: "Warning.  The selected areas will be reset. Proceed?” Click OK.
  5. A Reset Result screen will appear with all the areas marked Success. Click Continue and a new screen appears that shows all the tools unchecked. At this point, you don't need to reset the tools again, you just need to go to your Homepage and refresh.

 The Reset Course feature clears and refreshes information from various sections of your course as follows:  (NOTE:  Resetting your course will not affect files, links to files, layout of course, or tool access.

  • Student Database – eliminates previous semester’s students.
  • Teaching Assistant Database – eliminates previous semester’s teaching assistants.
  • Student Groups/Presentations  - eliminates the previous semester’s student groups/presentation.
  • Page Tracking Records  - eliminates the previous semester’s student tracking.
  • Discussion Tool  - eliminates all postings and topics from the previous semester.  Keep a MASTER discussion file to copy and paste into each new semester.
  • Mail Tool – eliminates all WebCT emails from the previous semester.
  • Calendar Tool – will eliminate all postings.  You can export the previous semester’s calendar into Excel, change the dates to reflect the current semester, and then import into current semester’s course.
  • Chat Tool – eliminates all chat records/logs from the previous semester.
  • Whiteboard Tool – eliminates all whiteboard records/logs from the previous semester.
  • Student Homepages Tool – eliminates the previous semester’s student homepages.

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Adjusting your course for the new term

Now that your course has been reset it's time to modify other areas that may be affected by the new semester.

Several steps are involved, including checking due dates, modifying quiz/assignment release dates, and uploading new students on the first day of class. By following the steps outlined below you can avoid many problems during the upcoming semester. If you have questions about any step in the process, please email helpdesk@delmar.edu.

    1. If using selective release dates for icons, check your icon release dates.
    2. Check your quiz release dates.
    3. If using the Assignment tool, check your assignment release dates.
    4. Add new dates to your calendar tool.
    5. Add new dates to your syllabus.
    6. If using the My Grades tool, check that you're revealing the proper columns.
    7. Post a discussion message welcoming your students.
    8. If using a "Start Here" page, verify that it includes current data. Ensure that students are made aware of either your campus-based orientation or are given the link to the Web-based orientation to WebCT.
    9. Post a note to your students reminding them to check their browser version and their proper browser settings. They can get information about browser versions and settings at the WebCT browser tuneup page. Del Mar College is using WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 (CE 4.1).

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Adding students to your course (Video version)

Students must be added to your course before they can access your course materials. Remember that students may be added after the first day of classes so it is wise to perform this task daily for the first week fo classes. Adding students is a very simple process that takes less than one minute to complete. The process differs slightly depending on whether you are adding students for the first time or adding those newly registered

Adding students for the first time

  1. From your WebCT course, click  "Control Panel/Manage Course"
  2. Under "Manage Students", click "Add or Import students"
  3. In the text box underneath "Add multiple students from a registered course", type in your class ID and click “Select.

NOTE: Each course has a unique ID in the format:
ENGL13021709 where

  • ENGL1302 is the course ID
  • 1 is the major semester (1=Fall, 2=Spring, 3=Summer 1, 4=Summer 2), and
  • 709 is the section

    1. A listing of all students will appear with a checkmark by each name.  Click "Select"

    Your students have now been imported into your course.  Additional sections can be added to the same course by repeating the above process until all sections are added.

Adding students after the first day

  1. Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 above.
  2. Under the column labeled “Add Records”, ensure that all boxes are selected.
  3. Under the column labeled “Update Records” (found below the Add Records column), UNSELECT ALL BOXES!!!
  4. When finished, click “Select” at the top of the page.

Note: Be sure to do your initial import of students on or before the first day of class and then add late registrants at least daily during the first week of the course.

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