Before the Semester Starts: 

Note:  If you have more than one section of a course, make as many updates/changes in your template as possible before assigning it to your sections.  This will save you time.  You can do all of the steps below in the template, except for adding dates to the calendar. (Just ignore the instructions to go into “Teach” view, since there isn’t a teach tab in the template.  You will do all your changes in the “Build” view.)

1. Set dates on assignments:
   1. In the “Teach” view, click on the Tool View tab (top bar).
   2. Under Assignments, click on “settings”
   3. Click on the title of each assignment you want to edit.
   4. Modify the dates
   5. Check the corresponding calendar event if you would like the information automatically placed on the calendar.
   6. Click “save”
       
2. Set dates on assessments:
   1. In the “Teach” view, click on the Tool View tab (top bar).
   2. Under Assessments, click on “settings”
   3. Click on the “edit settings” icon (blue circle on the right side)
   4. Modify the dates the assessment will be available by clicking on “dates available” at the bottom of the screen.
   5. Click “save”
      
      Note: The default on assessments is hidden. The “set release criteria” icon is on the right of the assessment page. Make sure the assessment is available for your students.
      
      Recommendation: Go into the “Student View” after your template is copied and take the assessment to check for problems.

3. Edit  discussion questions:
   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.
       
4. Add grade book columns:
   Note: Assignments and Assessments will automatically appear in the Grade Book. You can also add columns in the template, so they won’t have to be added each semester. (Under the “Build Tab” basic view, click “Grade Book” -- bottom left.)
    
   1. In the “Teach” view, click on the Grade Book
   2. Click “column settings” (top right side)
   3. At the bottom, drop down the menu next to “create column.”
   4. Select the type of column you want to add. (numeric, alphanumeric etc.)
   5. Click the green arrow
   6. Fill in the appropriate information.
      
      Note: Refer to chitester.weber.edu for the latest instructions on how to send exam grades to the WebCTWSU Online Grade Book.
       
5. Release grades: IMPORTANT!
   1. In the “Teach” 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 grades, students won’t see any of their scores.
       
6. Add calendar entries:
   Note: This must be done in the section level only. There isn't a way to access the calendar in the template.
    
   1. In “Teach” view, click on the Tool View tab.
   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 – add detail if pertinent
   9. Click “more options” for recurrence issues.
   10. Click “save”
        
7. Set selective release:
   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 “No or Yes.”
       
8. Check dates on content files (syllabus, instructor page, etc…)
    
9. Check the links to outside websites:
   1. Check the library for E-reserve documents (copyright laws may limit time)
   2. Check all links to other website.
       
10. Create learning groups (optional):
    Note: You can also set up learning groups in the template. Click “Group Manager” - bottom left side in
     basic view. The group names and description (or instructions) will be saved from one semester to another. Then all you will need to do each semester is add the members to the groups.
     
    1. To organize class members into groups, click on the “Group Manager” in the Tool View.
    2. Click “create groups.”
    3. Check the appropriate type of group.
    4. ive the group a name and description.
    5. Click “add members”
    6. Click “save”
        
11. Assigning your template to the current semester section:
    1. After all changes are complete in the template, go to your “My WebCT” page in Vista
    2. Under the “Course List” (center of page), click on the new semester section. (i.e. ENG 1000-1 Spring 05).
    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.
    6. You are now ready to teach in that section.

    Template Tips:
    
    Once you have assigned your template to the current semester, remember you may need to make changes in both the section level and the template.
    
    Items that will change in both the template and current course 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 carried to the section level as well.)

    Items that will not change in both the template and 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
       a. Assignments
       b. Assessments
       c. Discussion Questions
       d. Calendar Entries
       e. Learning Modules
       f. Organizer Pages
       g. E-mail
       h. Announcements
       i. Grade Book
        

Other Options: 

12. Calculated Columns for Total Points / Letter Grade
    Total Points:
    1. In the “Teach” view click on the Grade book.
    2. Click on the drop down menu “add column” at the bottom of the screen.
    3. Select “calculated” and click green arrow.
    4. Fill in the title “Total Points” and rest of information. Click “save.”
    5. Scroll over to the column you just created.
    6. Click the “edit column formula” icon () under the column title.
    7. Click “sum” – top right
    8. Go to the drop down menu “select a column”
    9. Choose the first item you want to add to the formula.
    10. Click the “insert column reference” button (next to select a column)
    11. Click the “+” sign
    12. Select the next column title you want to add to the formula and so on . . .
    13. Repeat steps 9-11 for all of the columns that you want added to the “Total Points” column.
    14. 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):
    A good way to check for accuracy –

    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 “add column” at the bottom of the screen.
    3. Select “Letter Grade” and click the green arrow.
    4. Fill in the title “Letter Grade.” 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 () under 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.

    Again, you can check to make sure the “Letter Grade” column is working by checking the Demo Student’s information.
     

13. Exporting grades to your computer:
    It is a good idea to backup your grade book periodically throughout the semester.

    To export grades to Excel or Quatro Pro:

    1. Open Excel or Quatro Pro. Minimize the window.
    2. Log in to Vista
    3. In the “Teach” view, click on the Grade Book.
    4. At the bottom left, click on “export.”
    5. Fill in the member data. (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. SST 2383 Sum_05)
    10. Click “open”
    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"
       1. Click delimited (may already be checked)
       2. Check comma
       3. Click finish
           
14. Backing up your course to the hard drive:
    1. Log into Vista and select the course you want to copy to your hard drive.
    2. In the “build” mode, select the disk icon on the top right.
    3. Click “backup” (may take a couple of minutes)
    4. Click continue
    5. The course is now zipped up and placed in your file manager.
    6. Click on the file manger icon (file cabinet).
    7. Click on the course main level (i.e. SST 2383) in the top bar. (This is up two levels from where you usually work with files in the file manager.)
    8. Select the box next to the item with your course name and “.bak” extension. (It will have a lot of numbers after it also.) Make sure you select the one with today’s date.
    9. Click download
    10. Select where you want to save it on your hard drive. (You may want to have a folder with all of your course backups.) Suggestion: Erase the numbers and add today’s date in the title.
    11. Click save.
    12. Complete this quick process once a week, or as often as you feel necessary.