WebCT

Importing Rosters from the DataPortal and More

Overview of this workshop

• Is there anything you see that has been neglected or omitted from this lecture?

Importing your DataPortal rosters (or any student list) into WebCT:

1. Using Netscape:
2. Open the DataPortal
3. Select the term and course for the roster you want.
4. Click the "text version" link at the top of the roster.
5. Select the roster list of your students (just like you would select text in a word processor).
6. Select "Copy" from the Edit pull down menu.
   • This will copy the selected students and information into your computer's memory.
7. Open your WebCT course (you need to have had one created by Computing Services (contact Garrett Collins for a WebCT course)).
8. Click the "File Manager" button from the designer tools (at the bottom of your WebCT homepage).
9. Click the "Create" button from the File Manager tools (at the bottom of the File Manager page).
   • In the right frame, you will see "Create Text File."
   • This is the window where you will create a text file that will alter be used as your WebCT roster.
10. Where you see the text "Untitled.txt," name your text file (I recommend something like roster.txt).
11. Place your cursor in the lager text box, below the name of the file.
12. From the Edit pull down menu, select "Paste."
    • This will paste whatever is in the memory of your computer into this box (hopefully, this is the roster information from the DataPortal).
13. Click the "Save" button next to the file name.

• Your file will be saved to your "Course Files"
• See it in the left frame "roster.txt [Edit]?"
• You may edit any of the files that have the "[Edit]" link simply by clicking on this link.
• Try it with the roster.txt file, now.

You need to format this file so that WebCT can use it a as roster; so, you need to clean up the student information you pasted just a moment ago.

1. Click the "[Edit]" link next to your roster file name.
   • You will see the file displayed (like it was before) in the right frame.
2. In your roster file, in the right frame, insert your cursor at the very top of the file.
   • You need to add "field names" to the file so WebCT can tell what the columnar information is.
   • WebCT wants information like: Last Name, First Name, Login ID, Student No, Initial Password, etc.
3. The first line of your roster.txt file should look like this:
   Last Name,First Name,Login ID,Student No,Initial Password
   • Notice: While there may be spaces between "Login" and "ID", there are no spaces between "ID" and "Student".   Each field/column is like this example.
4. Now you'll have to edit your DataPortal information (it looks messy, down below) so that it corresponds to the first line of your file.
   • You will have to remove extra spaces and carriage returns and then add commas to accomplish this.
   • Make passwords up at random and be sure your students know how to change their own passwords.  I recommend at least three letters and three numbers.
5. Your finished file should start something like this:
   Last Name,First Name,Login ID,Student No,Initial Password
   Collins,Garrett,garrett,1,asd876
   Rees,Jay,jrees,2,poi456
   
   Note: how there are no spaces between the fields/columns and how each student's information falls under the appropriate column/filed header (Under "Last Name" we find Collins and Rees.  A comma denotes the next field/column "First Name," in this case, and we find Garrett and Jay, etc.).
6. Click the "Save" button next to the file name.

Now you're ready to read the roster file into WebCT as a student roster

1. In the left frame (after you have saved the roster file), click the "Back" button to return to the "File Manager" in WebCT.
2. In the bottom frame (of the "File Manager"), click the "Back" button to return to your course homepage.
3. In the bottom frame (of your course homepage), click the "Course Management" button.
4. In the bottom frame (of "Course Management"), click the "Student Management" button.
5. In the bottom frame (of "Student Management"), click the "Students..." button.
6. Then, in the bottom frame, click the "Update/Add from File" button.
7. Follow the directions in the top frame ("Upload Facility").
   1. Click the "Browse..." button to find your roster file.
   2. Click once on the bullet in front of the file name for your roster (under "Course Files" in the window that pops up on your screen); then, click the "Pick" button in the top let corner of that same window.
   3. In the next box, leave "Separator:" set to comma (since we used commas when preparing your roster for WebCT).
   4. Click the "Continue" button in the top frame.
      • WebCT will start reading the fields (as they are delimited by commas) in the roster file.
      • It will tell you: "The field Initial Password was found in roster.txt.  This column does not exist in the database."
   5. In the "Selection:" box, select "Create New."
      • This will create a new field/column in WebCT for the Initial Password field.
   6. Click the "Continue" button.
   7. You will see This information displayed in the top frame:
      
      

      All Field Names Successfully Resolved.
      The following fields have been found in roster:
      Field in roster		Field in Database
      Last Name	->	Last Name
      First Name	->	First Name
      Login ID	->	Login ID
      Student No	->	Student No
      Initial Password	->	Initial Password

       

   8. Click the "Continue" button.
   9. Follow the instructions on the next "Upload Confirmation" frame.
      1. Confirm the new field "Initial Password" as alphanumeric.
      2. Under "Please select the field to be used as initial password for these new records:" set the field to "Initial Password"
      3. And verify the data in your new roster, below, in the table.
   10. Click the "Continue" button.

Now, you will see the roster when you

1. Click the "Course Management" button, in the bottom frame (of your course homepage); then
2. In the bottom frame (of "Course Management"), click the "Student Management" button.

Exporting your WebCT "grade book" to an Excel Spreadsheet:

1. Download your class roster and their grades into a comma delimited file.
   • Course Management, Student Management, Listing..., Download
   • Open the newly downloaded file with Excel.

Customizing the Student Management view:

1. In the bottom frame (of your course homepage), click the "Course Management" button.
2. In the bottom frame (of "Course Management"), click the "Student Management" button.

Notice the columns in the upper frame (if you have no students you will have no columns).  You may add, shuffle or remove columns by clicking the "Edit Columns" button in the bottom frame.

1. In the bottom frame (of "Student Management"), click the "Edit Columns" button.
2. Click the radio button (along the "Select:" line of the "Column Editor" view), of the column that you want to effect.
   • The, self explanatory option buttons are in the bottom frame of this view.

Note: as you create quizzes with the quiz tool, columns are added accordingly.

The people at WebCT have a comprehensive document that deals with the Student Management tools.  I especially recommend these sections: "Manipulating Columns," "Adding a New Column," "Viewing a Subset of Students, and "Using the Student Clipboard."

Remember the full tutorial for WebCT is here.

Q&A:

Maintained by Garrett Collins (garrett@mailhost1.csusm.edu), last updated 05/22/04

as of 5/3/99