Semester Transitions for Your Online Course

1. In the “Build” view, click on the Content Inventory tab (top bar)
2. Click on Assignments
3. Click on the title of each assignment you want to edit
4. Modify the due dates and cut off dates
5. Check the corresponding calendar event if you would like the information automatically placed on the calendar
6. Click “save”

1. In the “Build” view, click on the Content Inventory tab (top bar)
2. Click on Assessments
3. Click on each individual assessment
4. Click on the “Edit Settings” icon
5. Modify the dates the assessment will be available by clicking on “dates available” at the bottom of the screen
6. Click “save”

1. Check all content pages for date changes (syllabus, course schedule etc…)
2. Access individual content pages in your file manager
3. Click the pencil icon to edit the file
4. Use the HTML Creator to make minor changes
   Note: It is a good idea, if you have files which you want to change significantly, to download them to your computer, make the changes. and then upload them back into Vista

1. In the “Build” view, click on the Grade Book
2. Click “column settings” – upper right corner
3. Check the box “select all” – upper left
4. Click “release” in bottom blue bar (if you don’t want to release them all at once, select only those you want the students to see)
   Note: If you don’t release the grade book columns, students won’t see any of their grades

Total Points:

1. In the “Build” view (in the template) click on the Grade Book (bottom left)
2. Click on the drop down menu “create column” at the top of the screen
3. Select “calculated” and click green arrow
4. Fill in the title and maximum value. Click “save.”
5. Scroll over to the column you just created
6. Right above the title, click the “edit column formula” icon ( )
7. Click “sum” – left side
8. Go to the menu “select a column. . .”
9. Click on the first item you want to add to the formula
10. Click the “+” sign
11. Select the next column title you want to add to the formula, click the "+" sign etc.
12. Last – click the “end function” button to close off the equation
    (Note: You should not have a plus sign right before you end the function.)

Is it working? (Can be done in the semester section only)

1. Go into the “Student” view
2. Submit all assignments as the Demo Student
3. Go into the “Teach” view
4. Grade all of the “Demo Student” assignments
5. Check in the grade book and see if your “Total Points” column has the correct total for the Demo Student.

Letter Grade Column:

1. In the “Teach” view click on the Grade book
2. Click on “create column” at the top of the screen
3. Select “Letter Grade” and click the green arrow
4. Fill in the title. Make sure you base the column on the “Total Points” column. Click “save.”
5. Scroll over to the column you just created
6. Click on the icon ( ) above the column title. (Edit column letter grade scheme)
7. At the top click the drop down menu “Base letter grade on column” and select “Total Points.”
8. Enter your grade breakdown. If there aren’t enough slots, you can click on the “add grade” button. The right side will automatically adjust as you change the range
9. Click save

FOR INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DETERMINE IF THE CORRECT TEMPLATE IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COURSE, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

1. After all changes are complete in the template, and you have checked to see that it is associated with the the course, go to your “My WebCT” page in Vista
2. Under the “Course List” (center of page), click on the new semester section. (i.e. HST333E - HST-333E-201)
3. Click on the button next to your template’s name. (Will include your name)
4. Click “save”
5. It may take several minutes for the template to be assigned

Items that you change in the template which WILL copy down to the section:

1. Any file you can see in the file manager
2. Click on the filing cabinet icon in the upper right hand corner to view files
   (Ex. If you change a date on your syllabus in the template – the change will be copied to the section.)

Items that you change in the template which WILL NOT copy down to the section:

1. New files added to the file manager after the template is assigned to a section
2. Anything you don’t see in the file manager
3. Assignments
4. Assessments
5. Discussion Questions
6. Calendar Entries
7. Selective Release settings
8. E-mail
9. Announcements
10. Grade Book
     

1. In “Teach” view, click on the Tool View tab. (top bar)
2. Select “calendar”
3. Click “add entry” at bottom left of screen (Or click directly on the number on the calendar where you want to add something, then click “add entry”)
4. Add a short summary title – this is what will appear on the calendar
5. Set the dates
6. Course – choose which course you want this entry to appear in
7. Access Level – click public, unless the entry is just for your eyes
8. Detail – some detail is required
9. Click “more options” for recurrence issues
10. Click “save”

1. In the “Teach” view click on the Tool View tab
2. Select “Discussions”
3. Click on each discussion question and edit if necessary or create new topics
4. Click on the “edit settings” icon (blue circle on right side) to make changes
   Note: You can set up your discussion topics in the template so they will be automatically copied to the course section each semester

1. If you want to control the availability of certain components in your course use the selective release feature - in the “Teach” view click on the Tool View tab
2. Click on “Selective Release Map”
3. Hide or make visible learning modules, assignments or assessments by clicking on the “Yes or No” under the "available" column

1. Click on "Student" view
2. Complete all assignments and assessments (you are the demo student)
3. Click on "Teach" view and correct each demo student assignment
4. In "Student" view click on "My Grades"

1. In the “Teach” view click on the Tool View tab
2. Select "Group Manager"
3. Click “create groups"
4. Check the appropriate type of group
5. Fill in the required fields
6. Click “add members”
7. Click “save”

1. Open Excel. Minimize the window
2. Log in to your Vista section
3. In the “Teach” view, click on the Grade Book
4. At the bottom left, click on “export to spreadsheet”
5. Fill out information (You can leave the export format and character set as the default)
6. Click “export”
7. Save
8. Select the appropriate folder, or make a new folder if necessary
9. Rename the document (i.e. ENG 101 Summer05)
10. Click “open” or go back to Excel and select the vile you just created
11. The grades are now available to view, store, or manipulate

If your grades do not line up in the columns:

1. Close the file
2. Reopen it
3. It should prompt you to go through the "text import wizard"
4. Click delimited (may already be checked)
5. Check comma
6. Click finish
    

To Deny Access:

1. Click the click TEACH tab and select GRADE BOOK
2. the Members tab
3. Select all of the students by clicking in the square at the top of the column
4. At the bottom of the list, click DENY ACCESS

If you made significant changes to your SECTION and you will want to use the SECTION as your template for the next semester:

• Click on the COURSE title on your myWebCT page
• From the Template Manager tab, locate the SECTION you want to use as a template and click on the title (Note: There will be a folder to the left of the SECTION title.)
• Under ACTIONS, click the COPY icon
• In the pop-up window, name the new template. We recommend that the template title be the COURSE number followed by the instructor’s last name and the semester the SECTION was used, for example, HST333E - Smith - Spring05
• Click the Paste button
• Decide if the template is to be public or private

Click Save