Help is available for WebCT technical issues for all courses.
The help line phone number is 801 585-5959 or 888 853-6208.
Email support is available using the address:
webct-admin@lists.utah.edu
Help is available for WebCT technical issues for all courses.
The help line phone number is 801 585-5959 or 888 853-6208.
Email support is available using the address:
webct-admin@lists.utah.edu
Microsoft Office 2007:
The new Microsoft Office (Windows) creates documents in a new format using XML to represent the contents. This is shown with the suffix .docx for Word, .pptx for PowerPoint, etc.. These files still are not readable by anyone who does not have the latest version of Office, but this is not a WebCT problem. WebCT does support the uploading of these types of documents.
It is still recommended, though, that if you have the newest version of Microsoft Office for Windows, save your documents as the older format (e.g. 2003 Office - .doc, .ppt, etc.) so others can read those documents.
New Discussion Posting Notification Icon:
This is still a problem. The new discussion (little green checkmark by a pushpin) normally shows on the My WebCT page below the course name when there are new (unread) messages in the course. Occasionally a course gets in a situation where either that notification icon refuses to go away, even if you have read everything; OR the icon never shows, even if there are new items in the discussion area.
Gradebook Column Statistics:
If students are dropped from your course and they happen to have any grades entered in the gradebook, their grades figure into the column statistics of any column. If you use column statistics, choose the "Show Unenrolled Member Data" option under "Grade Book Options", then see if any grades are entered for students shown in red. Even if a zero is there, it will count in the statistics. To remove any grade, either click on Edit Values or click on the grade and delete anything in that field and save the change.
Item Titles and Descriptions Not Changing:
The situation is that on content pages, sometimes when you use the action link to change a title or description for an item (Edit Properties action link, Build mode), that change does not show on the page. Also, if the item is a link to a tool item, e.g. a WebLink, an Assessment, a Discussion Topic, etc., changing the title or description in the tool does not get reflected on the content page that links to it. Normally, those changes are reflected on the content pages whereever links are made.
According to Blackboard, this is by design.
What happens is this: Somehow the icon/link on the content page gets classified as being "customized." Once that has happened, the only way to change the title or description of that item on the content page is to use the "Customize Link" option further down the list on the action link for that item (in the Build mode). Most often, the icon/link gets classified as a "customized" link if you change its icon. After that, any changes to the title or description other than through the "Customize Link" option has no visible effect.
Mail:
When you choose to send a message to a pre-defined group, it will list the names of up to 5 members of the group as a reminder of who is in the group. If you have more than 5 in a particular group, it still only shows 5. The message should be delivered to all members, though. We have heard of occasions where newly added members of the group are not receiving the message, but that is still being investigated.
Mail Forwarding:
It appears that mail forwarding now works.
The way to set WebCT (internal) mail forwarding mail:
- Go to My Settings (the link at the top right while on the My WebCT page).
- Click the Edit Profile button and enter the email address you would like to forward mail to (you do not need to make it public), then click Save.
- Click on the My Tool Options tab, and under the Mail header check the box for "Forward all mail...", then click Save.
Learning Modules:
it is reported by Blackboard (Sept. 25, 2007) that the pre-existing Learning Modules with continuing indentation problems must be re-created from scratch in order to eliminate the problem. The most common problem is that the first line is not indented but all others are indented one level and will not indent or outdent. We are assured by Blackboard that these problems will not occur with newly created Learning Modules. NOTE: It may be possible to fix this problem by exporting the damaged Learning Module and re-creating it with the Import option (in Manage Course).
Ongoing issues with Assessments (Quizzes, etc.):
There are sometimes cases where in a timed quiz, the timer is not correct. Students should always use an external timer to be sure that they know how much time they really have left. Also, there are occasions where the connection gets lost and the quiz cannot continue without restarting it. In those cases, you just have to hurry and re-enter the quiz and continue where you left off. Because of this, it is always recommended that you save every answer, even if you intend to come back to it later.
Uploading files:
If you get a red x in the place of the My Computer icon, in other words, you are not able to upload a document from your computer, there are possibly two reasons. First, make sure that you allow the applets to run and accept their certificates. As you log into WebCT, you will see these notices, please run, accept or allow any of those items that are presented to you. Second, you may need to upgrade your Java. If so, follow the rest of this note.
Special Note: Sometimes even when you have the correct version of Java on your system, the best way to fix problems, especially browser crashes, is to re-install the Java.
The browser checker Java Link takes you to a confusing place and the download of the Java update code either doesn't work or is too confusing to use. Here is what we have found to be the best for Windows Java updates:
Go to http://www.java.com
Click on the Manual Download option (under the larger Download Now link)
Click on the first item in the list (on [Download]): Windows (Online Installation) [Download]
Open the downloaded .exe file and follow the instructions.
If you still have problems, you may have to go into Windows settings and remove older versions of Java.
TA posted announcements not visible or changeable by instructors
TAs can send announcements to students that are not seen by the instructor. The instructor/designer also cannot remove any announcements sent by TAs, even if they can see them. This is only if the TA marks them as available to students but neglects to include the instructor and/or designer as roles to receive the announcement.
Changing a column name sometimes breaks formulae in calculated columns
If a course is set up with a calculated column, e.g. a semester total grade, and later the column headings (titles) of columns used in the calculated column are changed, notably for graded discussions, the formula no longer works. There is no indication or warning when the column title is changed and nothing in the grade book explains why the calculation no longer occurs.
Order of sessions in the Student Tracking Report is not sequential
unenrolled students included in column statistics
The problem as we see it is that if a student is unenrolled, his/her data should not be included in column statistics. As it is, the instructor must know that they have to go in and find the scores recorded in unenrolled students in order to have the statistics be meaningful.