Familiarize yourself with the aptly named viewing tabs in WebCT 6. In the Build view, you can make cosmetic changes and create all aspects of the class. The Teach view is where you should actually “teach” the class: grade assignments and tests, answer e-mails and respond to discussion posts. The Student View lets you preview what the students actually see. Unlike previous versions of WebCT, whatever you change or post is immediately live, meaning that students can see it.
Set a page header for the class’s main page to remind students of upcoming assignments or other important aspects of the class. In the Build tab, click on the arrow next to Page Options on the upper right side and select Edit Header. When the box comes up, click Enable HTML Creator. This will allow you to format your message to make it larger, bold or a different color. In my experience this method works better for class announcements than the built-in Announcements tool, which on some computers is considered a pop-up and is sometimes blocked if the computer has a pop-up blocker. This also seems to better catch students’ attention.
Use the Syllabus tool to upload your course syllabus for students. It’s very easy to use. Click on Syllabus on the Course Tools list and then follow the screen to upload your syllabus.
Learning Modules let you add informational content to your class. Because of the nature of online classes, it is a good idea to create lots of handouts and notes for your students to help explain various aspects of the class. Categorize this information to help students easily find what they need. For example, title each learning module after a textbook chapter or a unit of the class, and then add in all notes and handouts that go with that specific section. Click on Learning Modules on the Course Tools list, then click Create Learning Module, title it and click Save. On the Learning Modules page you will see a list of all of the modules that you’ve created. To add information to them, click on the title, then click Add File. Add as many files as you need and you can also rearrange them for extra convenience.
The Discussion board is a great place to create your classroom community. Creating discussion categories, as well as new messages for each main topic will help keep your class organized. Make a category called “Graded Discussion” and then create topics for each assigned discussion post – that way students will know exactly where to go to post required discussion. This also helps instructors because all of the discussion posts that need to be graded are in one place. Create categories that fit your class. You have a lot of freedom when setting up topics: you can choose whether it can be graded and students’ level of activity within a topic, such as allowing them to post only, reply only or post and reply to messages.
Use the appropriate built-in WebCT tool for each aspect of the class. For example, put all assignments in the Assignments section and have students submit them there. Similarly, make sure that all tests and quizzes are built in the Assessments tool and use the Syllabus tool to add your syllabus. In other words, don’t put assignments and the syllabus in the Learning Modules because it will cause lots of confusion.