Pre-Semester WebCT Checklist for Faculty

Things you may need for your students before class or on the first day of class:

Become familiar with the college Web page information for students including the Getting Started section for new students and the Getting Help section for all students.   Become familiar with the Login Instructions and the location for these instructions in the Getting Started section of the Distance Learning Web page.   Take five minutes and take the online student orientation to online courses to find out the information students are given about your course and the college resources to support online courses.

Things to check in your online course before the first day of class:

A very visible and easy to find "Getting Started" or "Do this first" page is available for students the first time they enter the course that explains how the course is designed and what students need to do to succeed.   Your course Syllabus Tool is up-to-date with your current contact information and with clear evaluation strategies and all other instructions or links to instructions needed to complete the course. Check any dates to make sure they match the current term.   Students from a prior term have been removed.   Students have been "pulled" into the course using the call number and term information and double checked with your class rolls. Missing student names and social security numbers are emailed to Deidre or entered into the trouble ticket system for distance learning. During the Fall term 2003 staff will pull in your online class students on a specified date. You must pull in your own students into the hybrid sections at a time of your own convenience.   Discussion threads from prior terms have been removed. Make sure instructional postings are accurate. If you are using Topics to help manage the discussions, make sure they have the correct settings: public, anonymous, locked. Make sure the parameters for posting and replying to the Discussions Tool are clearly defined for the students.   If you are using the Assignments Tool, be sure the assignments have been released to the students.   Check all your tools in student view by adding a student to your course and logging in as the student to make sure everything is visible to the student as you intend. Check the My Grades to make sure all columns are visible and check the tests and quizzes to make sure they work as planned. Check every tool and make sure your students can see and do everything you have planned for them.   Back up your course or courses every time you make major changes and at regular intervals.   Learn to use the "help" link wherever you are and when you have questions and encourage your students to use help, too. It might be a good idea to include use of the help link as one of the assignments early in the course for this reason. We all forget that help is a click away.   Check your Calendar Tool to make sure the dates are for the current semester and make sure that entries for the students are public entries they can see. Private entries are in italics so if you see italics, the students will not see the entry.

Things to do at the end of the term:

Back up your course. Even though your WebCT administrator is creating a backup of the systems, you should create your own copy of your course or courses and copy them to your computer for safe keeping and for future use. You can also put the backup on a disk. Important note: Never try to open a WebCT Course Backup outside of WebCT because that will corrupt the file.   Make sure the final grade is released to the students and correct. After the final grades are posted and students have had a chance to review their grades, remove all completed students from the grade book. Remember to retain students with incomplete work to allow them an opportunity to complete their work, if they have been allowed to do so by granting them an "I" incomplete grade. Remember to warn the students that these grades change to an "F" automatically in the college student information system on a specific term date during the following term.   Start preparation for the next term as soon as your courses are ready in the next term area. Please note that with the latest release of WebCT, your courses are available in multiple copies by term. Work on the course section that is appropriate for the term the college is currently in. If you have made extensive changes to the course during the current term you wish to "roll over" into the next term, you may use the backup of the clean (no students or used discussions threads) to restore into the next term. For help with your first restore, please contact Deidre.