Faculty Workshop on WebCT and Netscape Composer
Kimberly C. Walls
June 23, 2000
1. Basic WebCT
concepts
WebCT is a program that will assist in creating interactive
course materials for the web. The benefits of WebCT include: an automatic
forum, the abililty for groups to post work to their own area within the
collection of materials, quiz and survey functions, chat, whiteboard, a
student information database, interactive calendar, a grade-checking function,
and the structuring of content.
A course created in WebCT may be linked to AUStudy's
course syllabus function and a particular section of a course. In this
case, the only persons who may view the course are the instructor, students
who are registered for the course, and additional instructors added by
the course designer.
A course has a course designer who sets up the
WebCT course. If a person logs in with the course designer password, he/she
has access to design features that other users do not have. If a person
logs in as the instructor, the course designer options are not available,
but the instructor options are available. The are some options students
do not have, such as seeing other people's grades or other people's private
calendar entries.
4.
How to convert course materials to html/WebCT
The easiest means for coverting course materials for the Web involve materials
that are already in electronic format. That is, if you have handouts typed
in Word or WordPerfect, export them from the program as html (.htm) files.
Then preview the html files in Netscape and use Composer to clean up the
format. If this doesn't seem to work well, you may also export the files
as ASCII text (.txt) files, open them in Netscape Composer, and make them
pretty. Graphic files must be .gif or .jpg files. File names and file name
extensions are important! Web servers understand .htm, .gif, and .jpg files.
If you have a complex document that needs to look good in print, use Adobe
Acrobat to save a .pdf file. Most browsers can open and print .pdf files.
5. Hints and caveats
You must have Netscape preferences set to accept cookies to use WebCT.
This means that if you log in as the designer, leave the WebCT course,
then go back, you will be the designer again.
Quit Netscape to log in as a different user (instructor).
The WebCT designer ID and login must be typed exactly as on the AUStudy
screen...case is important and Ohs and Zeros must be correct.
If you time out of WebCT, you must type in ID and password again. Sometimes,
you can use the back button on your browser and things will work again.
In the worst case, you have to quit Netscape by "crashing" it.
Use the back and home buttons on the designer frame instead of Netscape
back buttons.
If you want to edit the source code of a web page, you must save the
page first.
Make sure that you use the Format-->Page Title option in Netscape Composer
and give your web pages a descriptive title. This is the title that shows
up in the Course Content path.
Don't use tabs or spaces in Netscape to format documents. Use tables
instead. If you MUST use tabs or spaces, use the "Formatted" style to keep
the alignment.