MSU WebCT Support Offerings

WebCT Campus Edition 4.1 is available to all MSU faculty/designers.

MSU WebCT: Introductory Sessions

• Learn how WebCT CE 4.1 can help you design and deliver online courses and web-based supplementary course material.
• Learn some WebCT basics and how to request your WebCT ID and password so you can get started.
• New adopters of WebCT should sign-up for and attend an MSU WebCT Introductory Session.
  • All introductory sessions are taught using WebCT CE 4.1.
  • Basic computer skills are very helpful.

Sign up at least 1 day prior to the session.
Registration is required- limited to 6 participants per session.

Dates and descriptions of offerings are located at the BTC's Teaching, Learning, and Technology page.
Also, you can register for a session (Select this link and use the on-line registration form.)

All Introductory sessions take place on the MSU-Bozeman campus at the Burns Technology Center, EPS Building, Room 128 unless otherwise noted. All times Mountain Standard/Daylight.

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MSU WebCT: One on One Support

All manner of WebCT questions answered; distance learning pedagogical concepts; conversion of course materials; etc.-- work one on one with MSU WebCT support staff.

Available Monday through Friday, 9:00-5:00 PM - Mountain Time

Set up an appointment if necessary:

MSU WebCT Support: msuwebct@montana.edu

Also:
Burns Technology Center: btc@montana.edu; 406-994-6550
Julie Pester: pester@montana.edu; 406-994-7799
John Usher: jusher@montana.edu; 406-994-7794

Telephone and e-mail support ongoing-- use the 10 minute rule: If you can't solve the problem yourself in 10 minutes, call or write MSU WebCT.

If you get a group of 4 (or more) together then we will come to you at your facility or arrange a time to do the sessions at the BTC.

Helpful user attributes: Actively using WebCT with an MSU WebCT ID and an MSU WebCT course (active or practice) already established.

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MSU WebCT: Advanced Sessions

Take one hour to learn advanced information on various WebCT tools.

Sign up at least 1 day prior to the session.
Registration is required- limited to 6 participants per session.

Dates of offerings are located at the on-line registration form site.
Register for a session (Select this link and use the on-line registration form.)

Advanced sessions prerequisite: Participants must must have attended a WebCT Introductory session or possess equivalent skills. Participants must be an instructor/designer in an "active" or practice course established through MSU WebCT.

All Advanced sessions take place on the MSU-Bozeman campus at the Burns Technology Center, EPS Building, Room 128 unless otherwise noted. All times Mountain Standard/Daylight.

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Advanced session descriptions:

WebCT Assignments Tool
The Assignments Tool allows instructors to create and distribute course assignments to students through their WebCT course and return individual, private, on-line student-viewable grades to students regarding the submitted work. Students can view assignment instructions, view/download assignment related files and submit completed assignment work to a private area within the course. Instructors can create multiple assignments, edit instructions about each assignment, assign a maximum grade informing students of the assignment's value, and set time/date parameters regarding each assignment's availability.

• adding assignments
• editing assignment parameters
  • setting assignment availability
  • types of submissions
  • release of grades to students
• grading assignments

Discussion:

• dealing with electronic files, including file naming strategies, cross-platform issues and how to determine what file type(s) will work best

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WebCT Calendar Tool
Calendar Tool allows students, teaching assistants, and instructors to exchange information about class events quickly and effectively. Depending on the calendar settings chosen, both instructors and students can post public calendar entries (visible to everyone in the course) and/or private entries (visible only to the author). Calendar entries may include direct links to course content or external websites, notification of assignment due dates, changes to instructor office hours, or any other necessary scheduling information.

Hands-On Activities:

• add and edit public/private calendar entries
• make internal/external links
• import/export calendar entries for ease of calendar maintenance

Discussion:

• how to use and establish the calendar tool as a course organizational aid

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WebCT Content Module I:

Hands-On Activities:

• the mechanics of building content modules

• focus on how/when to use Content Modules
• related organizational concepts
• utilizing the WebCT tracking feature
• file types as they relate to Content Modules

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WebCT Content Module II:

Hands-On Activities:

• how to add items to the action menu in Content Modules
• how to import/export entire Content Modules from one course to the next

• the different types of tools that can be added to the Content Module action menu

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WebCT Course Maintenance
Instructors and designers can create course backups; upload/download backups to and from the server; and use backups to restore into another course or newly created course shell. This ability allows instructors and designers to take "snapshots" of their course at any particular time, create and maintain various "templates" of past, current and future course offerings, archive records of course results, and easily adjust/re-use courses as necessary.

Hands-On Activities:

• familiarize designers with how to make and manage backups (both on the server and locally)
• advantages of using the “Course Functions” area of “My-WebCT”
• various reset methodologies concerning the adjustment of previously offered courses

• highlight restore options theory, archiving methods and successful adjustment/re-use of previously offered courses
  

WebCT Discussions Tool
The Discussions Tool enables instructors, students and teaching assistants to engage in asynchronous online communication. Discussions are divided into different topic areas and allow instructors to create discussion forums around particular subjects. Topics can be public (accessible to all in the course) or private (available to instructor-defined groups of instructor, students and TA user accounts).

Hands-On Activities:

• topic creation/management
• message creation/management (including using the WebCT HTML editor)
• creation of private and anonymous topics

Discussion:

• intricacies of discussion views and recommendations on how to effectively create a sense of community via WebCT communications tools
  

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WebCT Grade Book I:

Hands-On Activities:

• adding a student view account into your course
• viewing students (all or selected accounts)
• effectively utilizing deny/allow access and inactive/active accounts
• adding columns manually into the Manage Students area

Discussion:

• column types and suggested uses of the different types of available column types

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WebCT Grade Book II:

Hands-On Activities:

• modifying columns (move, delete, sort and modify attributes)
• set column defaults
• edit column content
• column associated statistics
• releasing grade information to students

Discussion:

• advantages of using the Grade Book to release grade information to students

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WebCT Grade Book III:

Hands-On Activities:

• how to export/import data by downloading the WebCT Grade Book to a local machine, working on it using an application such as Microsoft Excel and uploading the Grade Book back into WebCT with typical modifications intact

Discussion:

• tips and tricks associated with this operation

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WebCT Quiz Tool I:

Hands-On Activities:

• participate in a sample quiz from the student perspective
• create categories in the Question Database
• create sample questions of various types offered in WebCT

• suggested uses of various question types in WebCT and quizzing options

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WebCT Quiz Tool II:
Quiz Tool Part II continues the exploration of designing quizzes in WebCT. This session will explore adding a quiz, adding questions to a quiz, allocating points, quiz settings, and grading options for quizzes.

Hands-On Activities:

• adding a new quiz, adding questions to a quiz, and allocating points
• establish proper settings for quiz
• explore grading options in Gradebook

• suggested uses of various quiz settings and grading options

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Register for a session (Select this link and use the on-line registration form.)

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To sign up for an Introductory or Advanced Session:

Register via the on-line registration page located at http://btc.montana.edu/TLT/register/
Register as soon as possible - at least 1 day before the session. You will receive an email confirmation.

Registration is limited to 6 for each Introductory and Advanced session.

Questions?
Contact:
MSU WebCT Support: msuwebct@montana.edu

Also-
Feel free to contact:
Burns Technology Center: btc@montana.edu; 406-994-6550
Julie Pester: pester@montana.edu; 406-994-7799
John Usher: jusher@montana.edu; 406-994-7794

All sessions take place on the MSU-Bozeman campus at the Burns Technology Center, EPS Building, Room 128 unless otherwise noted.

If you get a group of 4 (or more) together then we will come to you at your facility or arrange a time to do the sessions at the BTC.

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About MSU WebCT:
MSU WebCT is provided with support from the Office of the Provost.
The seminars and support for MSU WebCT are brought to you by the Burns Technology Center and MSU Information Technology Center. 

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