WebAccess Semester Start Quick Tips
Here are your start of the semester WebAccess announcements and refresherGetting Started on WebAccess (or just a refresher)
I recommend checking out the WebAccess quick start guide available on the CTL website: http://www.ctlonline.net/WebAccess/WAQS1_Intro.pdf
There are quick start guides available for every WebAccess feature as well as video tutorials on the CTL website: http://www.ctlonline.net/WebAccess/index.html
Getting WebAccess Support
As many of you know, due to budget cuts, we no longer have a Centers for Teaching and Learning to offer one-on-one support and workshops for faculty and staff. If you or your students are having technical difficulties with WebAccess please contact our WebAccess support center: http://smccd.mrooms.net/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=8949 If you are an instructor using WebAccess and would like assistance with best practices, pedagogical questions or teaching strategies then please contact our Distance Ed Coordination, Peter Bruni bruni@smccd.edu
Importing Course Materials from Previous Semesters
The import function allows you to import pieces of any existing course on your account into a new course on the same account. To use the import function login to WebAccess, click on your Spring 2010 course and select “import” from the admin menu. It will ask you to select the course you would like to import. Next it will give you the ability to select individual modules from that course or allow you to select everything. Depending on the size of your course the import could take several minutes.
Making your WebAccess Course Active for Spring 2010
About 2 months before every semester we create all the empty course shells. By default these course shells are “not available to students” and will appear grayed out in your class listing. When you are ready to allow students to login to your course you will want to do the following:
- Logging into WebACCESS http://smccd.mrooms.net
- Click on the grayed out course link in your course listings
- Under the Admin Menu select “settings”
- Scroll down until you get to the availability drop down menu. Select “This course is available to students”
- Scroll down again and click the button “Save changes”
Making it Easy for Students to Find Your Website
If you want an easy way for your students to find your course website you can have it show up automatically in the WebSchedule of classes: https://websmart.smccd.edu/webschedule
It’s a quick 2 minute process that we encourage all faculty to do.
1) Login to WebSMART: https://websmart.smccd.edu
2) Click on the Faculty Tab
3) Midway own the page click “Faculty Website and Syllabus”
4) Type your website address into the URL box and click “Update”
Previous Semesters Hidden
On Jan 14th, 2010 in preparation for Spring 2010 I made all courses from previous semester “not available to students” When you login to WebAccess these courses will not show as “grayed out.” If for any reason you need to make your previous semester course available to students you can do so by:
- Logging into WebACCESS http://smccd.mrooms.net
- Click on the grayed out course link in your course listings
- Under the Admin Menu select “settings”
- Scroll down until you get to the availability drop down menu. Select “This course is available to students”
- Scroll down again and click the button “Save changes”
Resetting your Courses
If you are using WebAccess for labs or orientations you may want to clear out all student data before the start of the semester. You can do that by selecting “Reset” in the admin menu. Reset allows you to empty a course of user data, while retaining the activities and other settings. Please be warned that by choosing items you will delete the data forever, if you need that data for state reporting ensure you have gathered all your reports first. I would recommend doing a backup of your course and all the user data then downloading that backup to your computer BEFORE doing a reset.
Enrollment Management System
Fall 2009 we implemented a new enrollment management system that is more integrated with WebSMART and enrollments are now handled 100% through the new system. For every WebACCESS course that has a CRN, the new system will automatically add and drop students every two hours. You no longer need to manually manage your list of students via “assign roles.” If students need to add and drop they must do it via WebSMART.
There are some roles you can still manage yourself under “assign roles”
- Temporary Student – If students need immediate access to your course, and for some reason cannot get to WebSMART.
- Banned Student – If you need to ban a student from your course, but they are still registered in WebSMART.
- DSPS Student – If you have a student with special needs who needs unlimited time on quizzes.
- Teacher – If you are co-teaching a course with another teacher and would like them to have all the same privileges in the course that you have.
- Non-editing Teacher – If you would like to give your teacher or Dean access to your course but do not want to give them the ability to make changes.
Backing up Your WebAccess Courses
Although we do our own backups we only have enough storage space to keep your courses for two years. Also, if you make a dramatic change to your course and our backups run that night, we cannot restore the previous version of your course. We recommend you backup your WebAccess courses every semester and download it to your computer as well as doing backups before making any major course changes.
To back up a course with students and their data:
1. Select the course you want to backup.
2. In the Admin menu, click “Backup.”
3. Select yes for everything
5. Follow the on-screen instructions until the backup process is complete and the backup (*.zip) file is created.
6. Download the zip file to your computer.
To back up a course without students and their data:
1. Select the course you want to backup.
2. In the Admin menu, click “Backup.”
3. Click on “None” at top of the “User Data” column to uncheck all User Data boxes.
4. Scroll to the bottom and set Metacourse to No, Users to None, Logs to No, User Files to No, and Course Files to Yes.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions until the backup process is complete and the backup (*.zip) file is created.
6. Download the zip file to your computer.
Restoring your WebAccess Course
1. If you don’t have a copy of the backup file on your computer yet, download the backup file (zip file) of the course you wish to restore.
2. Go into the blank course shell where you wish to bring in the data from the backup file.
3. Under the Admin section, click on Restore.
4. Click on the Upload a file button to upload the backup file (zip file) you downloaded in step 1.
5. Once the backup file is in the course, click on the Restore link next to it.
6. Follow the on-screen instructions until the restore process is complete.
Note: Be careful not to restore users and user data unless you’re sure you want to re-add all your old students and their data.