WebCT First Steps

Putting Your Syllabus Into WebCT

In this session we will:

1. Briefly discuss the WebCT "Homepage."
2. Create a Single Page in WebCT
3. Upload and link your syllabus so students can view it.

Below are several examples of the first page of a WebCT course. It is called the "Homepage."

This first example looks a lot like the default WebCT template. Students can navigate the course by clicking the links on the Course Menu on the left, or the icons on the main content page, also known as an "Organizer" page.

This next example is one that has been customized. It still has the Course Menu on the left, but the icons are not being used in the center content area. I want to point out the "View" and "Designer" options tabs. Toggling between these two will allow you to get a "preview" of your page as a student would see it, or work in "Designer" mode.

The important things to remember about the "Homepage" are the two options for navigation, and the fact that this page is your starting point for all you will do in WebCT.

Here are some more examples of homepages in WebCT. In 2007 Teresa Van Hoy's Sacred Feminine in Latin America course won the Blackboard Greenhouse Exemplary Course Award.

You can use the center area of the homepage for announcements instead of navigation. These announcements can be changed or updated at any time.

Some faculty do not use the course menu on the left at all. It can be completely hidden.

Let's begin by adding your syllabus.

To add a single document to your WebCT course, such as an MS Word syllabus, create a "Single Page" and then link the document to it.

In Designer view, click the Control Panel button.

1. Click Add Page or Tool and click Single Page under Pages.
   ("Single Page" in WebCT speak equals single document.)
   
   
   
2. Fill out the information. There are 4 steps to filling out the form.
   • 1. Enter a title (ours is "Syllabus")
   • 2. Click the Browse button to connect this link to your syllabus.

   

   This is a view of your file manager. Your syllabus must reside in the My-Files folder in your WebCT course in order to create a link to it. From here we can upload your syllabus into the WebCT My-Files folder.
   
   Click the Browse button.

A windows opens that lets you view your computer hard drive to find your file. Navigate to your syllabus, select it by clicking once to highlight it, then click the Open button.





Click the Upload button to copy the file from your hard drive to the My-Files folder in your WebCT course.




Now the document is in the Myfiles folder in your course. Make sure the radio button to the left of the filename is selected. Click the Add Selected button at the bottom.





Your syllabus is now associated with the Single page link we are in the process of creating. We can now move to step 3.

3. Decide where to display the link to our syllabus (we have decided to put the syllabus on the Course Menu and the Homepage content area. )

4. Click the Add button.




The link appears on the course menu and the Homepage. This procedure works for any type of document, Power Point lecture notes, Excel spreadsheets, etc., that you want to make available to your students.



Clicking on the Syllabus link while in the "View" tab mode will open the syllabus word document.