WebCT User's Guide


LOGGING ON:

To access the password-protected portion of the course web site, click on PASSWORD-PROTECTED COURSE MATERIALS on the web site HOMEPAGE

All access to this portion of the course is password-protected, so you must have a valid userid and password to view any material beyond the Welcome Page. To log on to the course, simply click on the Login button at the bottom of the Welcome Page. You will be prompted for a username and password.  The course instructor provides both of these for all registered students in the course; see him if you don't yet have either.

Note: Usernames and passwords are case-sensitive, so make sure to type in the name and password exactly as they were assigned to you.

NOTE TO AMERICA ON LINE USERS:  Some students using AOL browsers have experienced problems with portions of the WebCT programs, particularly those involving posting messages and sending email.  If you have similar troubles, first, be sure you are using the latest version of the AOL browser; if not, download the newest browser software from AOL, install it and see if things improve.  Another "fix" involves setting your current browser so that it accepts Javascript commands.  To do that, follow these steps (as worked out by Mark Prestien, a CSU student enrolled in HIS 393, Special Topics -- Local History Seminar in Spring 1999):

This should the trick; let the instructor know if it doesn't and we will work out another approach (if we can think of one!). Another comment on AOL: I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but I have found that with AOL 4.0, not only is it necessary to connect to AOL, but you have to actually connect to a web page within AOL (using its browser, whatever it may be) before you can connect to the web with another browser.
 

THE PASSWORD-PROTECTED COURSE MATERIALS HOMEPAGE

Once you've logged on successfully, you will see the (Password-Protected Course Materials) Homepage. The Homepage is the starting point for all accesses to the password-protect course materials. The center of the Homepage shows a number of icons which will take you to these parts of the course. The sections below describe some of the icons you will see.

    Bulletins

Bullletins serves as the main form of group communication for the course. This Bulletin Board is an effective way for students to participate in class discussions outside of the regular class sessions.

 Clicking on the Bulletins icon divides the window into 3 frames. The left frame contains various selection options; the top right frame contains the listing of messages; the bottom right frame is used to display an individual message.

 WebCT keeps track of which messages each user has read, and by default displays only messages which have not yet been read (these messages are denoted by a "New" icon to the right of the message in the message listing). To view all messages, whether read or unread, select "All" in the "Show:" drop-down list in the left frame, and then press the "Update Listing" button.

 To compose a new message, click on "New Message" in the top right frame. A composition window will appear, into which you can type in a subject and the body of the message.

The Bulletin Board allows you to perform a number of search operations to extract messages. Refer to the online help (by clicking on the Help button in the left frame) to find out about all of the bulletin board features.

      Web Teaching Unit Presentations

This is the spot to which you will upload your contribution to our common teaching unit project as well as your own web-based teaching unit and where you will find those being constructed by others.
 

  1. Once you have constructed an .html web page in Netscape Composer [and saved to a your 31/2 Floppy (A:) disk] and are ready for it to be seen by others, go to the password-protected portion of the course web site and click on the PRESENTATIONS icon.
  2. In the list of presentations, click on EDIT FILES beside the name of the presentation to which you are adding your file.  [Click on GROUP to get a list of all the members working on that presentation.]
  3. In the lower EDIT FILES screen, click on UPLOAD, then BROWSE to the file on your A: drive that you wish to transfer; highlight the name of the file and click OPEN, then hit CONTINUE twice -- if all goes well, you should then be back on the EDIT FILES screen.
  4. Repeat the step above for any additional files you wish to upload -- be sure, for example, that you upload any image files associated with the web pages you have already transferred.
  5. Once all the files are uploaded, click on the BACK button to return to the list on the PRESENTATIONS page; then click on the name of the PROJECT itself to bring up the presentation 9in its own separate window) so that you can check to see if all the links work, the images load correctly and all is well.  When finished CLOSE the browser window; you should be back on the PRESENTATIONS page from which you can go elsewhere on the web site..
  6. If the process goes wrong, return to the first step and repeat until the presentation material works the way you hoped it would in the first place!


      Email Contact with Fellow Students

The Mail tool allows you to send a private message to one or more course participants. Unlike bulletin board messages, which are readable by everyone, mail is only visible to the originator and recipient(s) of the message. The layout and functionality is very similar to the Bulletin Board.

       Student Grade Records

This tool allows you to view the grades that the instructor has released. You can also view the statistics for the class by clicking on a hyperlinked column label.

   Change Password

The Password tool allows you to change your WebCT account's password.

    Back to the Course Homepage

Click this to return to the non-protected portions of the course web site.