WebCT Vista has been retired as of June 30, 2008. LATTE is now Brandeis University's only online learning environment.
Log into LATTE here.
As of Summer 2008, all courses at Brandeis now use LATTE. If you are an instructor who previously used WebCT and have questions about your WebCT course content, please contact LATTE Help at (781) 736-5883 or latte@brandeis.edu.
For those getting started in LATTE, Library & Technology Services offers regular workshops and assistance at the Faculty Resource Center.
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Using WebCT Vista's Grade Book
WebCT Vista's built-in Grade Book tool makes it easy to manage grades; its flexibility allows you to work offline should you choose to keep, say, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to manage grades. This page explains how to import and export grades. This page also describes the method used to synchronize the WebCT Vista class roster with the sage feed from the Registrar (and how to use the sort columns to advantage). You may want to refer to this related document, Entering Student Grades in WebCT Vista (Saved as a PDF).
In the Teach tab, click on the Grade Book icon
The Grade Book can only be accessed by instructors who have access to the Teach tab.
A screenshot of a deactivated auditor.
Currently there is not a way for LTS to preserve historical data such as Sally Jones submitted this file at this time before dropping the class without maintaining her within the WebCT Vista roster in some fashion.
As a result, we converted - and have created an automated process to convert - all students who were granted access by the registrar and then were removed from the course roll into deactivated auditors. The reason to change them into auditors is that it becomes easier for instructors to sort who really is a student in a the class by clicking on the role column. (We do not use the designation "auditor" within the WebCT Vista application, as students are students.)
For more information about these settings, please contact the WebCT Support Desk at 6-4739 or at latte@brandeis.edu.
Once you have set up all of the column headers and types, you'll want to bring a copy of this database to your computer. Here's how to bring a copy down locally.
- Step 1: After creating all of the columns that you need and querying the data to display only those who you plan on giving grades to, click on the "Export to Spreadsheet" button.
- Step 2: In the "Export to Spreadsheet" interface, make sure to save the file as a "Comma-delimited" text file (known as a *.CSV, or comma-separated value file) so that you can edit the file easily in Microsoft Excel. You'll also want to make sure that the text encoding is saved as Unicode (UTF-8). After making these selections, click "Export" to begin downloading a CSV to your computer.
Please note: Student records are private. The student information you are downloading is protected under The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). This information is only for the use of the individual student (for his/her records alone), the official instructor of the course, designated Teaching Fellows, and other Brandeis University officials with legitimate educational interests. All other access, use, distribution, or release of these records is prohibited. Please be careful with this file.
Once you have set up all of the column headers and types, you'll want to bring a copy of this database to your computer. WebCT is very particular about column headings - and you may inadvertently overwrite your data file in WebCT or add more work later if the column headers don't match exactly.
if you decide to keep the excel spreadsheet as the master database, you don't need to have information for every row inside WebCT Vista (or WebCT CE, for that matter). Since WebCT Vista uses database logic, in which the keys are the column header and the email address, uploading a file that does not have all of the rows is like saying "please update only these records." In this way, you can keep - in your local copy - only the rows that you wish to track so long as the column headers and email addresses match exactly.
As a good practice, make a local copy of your database before uploading and overwriting it with the one you are about to upload.
- Step 1: Click on the "Import from Spreadsheet" button
- Step 2: Locate the *.CSV file on your computer, make sure the separator drop-down indicates "Comma", and then press the "Upload" button.
- Step 3: Match the columns from the spreadsheet locally. Note that you can select "Do not import" if you know that you have not updated any values in those columns.
Please note that there is a 500 field import restriction currently (meaning that you can only bring 500 fields at each upload transaction).
