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WebCT Vista has been retired as of June 30, 2008.LATTE is now Brandeis University's only online learning environment. |
WebCT is a great solution for sharing files with your students because it allows you to keep your materials in one centralized, organized place, for which access is automatically limited to enrolled students. Additionally, these materials are automatically backed-up and archived after the semester, so they are available for your reuse in the future.
For help with any of the information below, please contact the WebCT Support Desk (x64739 or latte@brandeis.edu).
WebCT is superior to the popular practice of emailing course materials as attachments for several reasons: you're not reliant on changeable student email addresses, or email delivery systems; your students needn't bother with the hassle of opening or unzipping the attachment; and you're not putting a burden on the campus email servers and student inboxes by sending potentially large files to multiple recipients simultaneously. It also gives students a central location to find course materials.
Each WebCT course at Brandeis has a special folder named "private" stored within the WebCT-Files section of the Manage Files area of the course. Files stored in this folder are accessible only by the instructor.
It is strongly recommended that any sensitive course materials stored in the WebCT course be placed into this folder until ready for release, at which point they should be moved to the general Manage Files area. Such sensitive course materials might include copies of past quizzes, student grade information not stored in the grading database, answers to homework assignments, and so on.
One of the strengths of WebCT is that it can be used to release grade information to students selectively. If you intend to share grading information with your students, we recommend you make use of the Grading Database and the MyGrades Tool. These are built-in features of WebCT that allow instructors to ensure students have access only to their own grades.
When a course is restored, some WebCT Tools, such as the Discussion Area, retain past course information by default. When instructors restore past courses, soon after the course is restored, they should verify that it contains no information from past courses that might be inappropriate to share with new students, such as discussion board posts.
Because browsers temporarily cache login information, all users should close their web browser after finishing a WebCT session to prevent anyone using the same computer from logging in as them. This is particularly true for faculty and TAs, who have access to sensitive information in the WebCT course.
In keeping with the University Computing Policies, faculty, TAs and other course designers should never share their UNet login password with anyone else. This compromises the security of WebCT course materials, grades and student information which is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
An instructor (course designer) should never use his/her own UNet login for anyone else, including a TA. Faculty may grant TA access to their courses or request that the WebCT support staff do so.
WebCT provides communication tools, such as Chat, Discussion Area, and Student Presentations, that allow students and instructors to engage in lively discussions outside of class. It is important to remember that, by default, these communications are generally viewable by the entire course. As a result, it's not appropriate to expect students to use these tools for personal communication with the instructor - other, more secure forms of communication, such as email, should be used instead.
One of the easiest ways to restrict access to information in WebCT is to "hide" the links pointing to the files by selecting the link and clicking on the option "Hide" in the Action menu of the Designer View. For most materials this option is sufficient to block student access, but it is not completely secure; when sensitive materials need to be protected, instructors should make use of the private folder.
When posting materials in WebCT, instructors have the option to make the materials available through the "Course Menu," a drop-down menu available on the upper left of the homepage. A file listed in the course menu is still reachable even when a link associated with the same file is hidden. It's important to remember to also remove any references from the course menu when you hide your icons.
