WebCT Procedures - Creating a New Course

Below are the basic steps involved when creating a new WebCT course. Any questions regarding the procedures listed below should be directed to the University of Texas at Arlington, Center for Distance Education (CDE): support@distance.uta.edu.

Request A New Course

1. Complete the New Course Request form (http://www.uta.edu/webct/new_course.htm).
      
2. The WebCT administrator will contact you with the Course ID and Course Title for your course once your new course has been created.
   
   For example:
   - Course Number: BIOL 3309
   - Section: 010
   - Course Title: Medical Terminology
   - Semester/Year: Spring, 2005
   
   Course ID = biol3309010sp05
   Course Title = BIOL 3309-010 Medical Terminology (SP05)
     
3. Once your course has been created, the course will appear as a link from your WebCT homepage (myWebCT) when you log in to WebCT.
    
4. When you request a WebCT course for the first time, your email address is automatically added to a very important UTA faculty mailing list for WebCT designers.
    
   Please be certain to read any correspondence sent through this WebCT mailing list. The WebCT administrators will send out notification regarding any important issues such as scheduled server outages, solutions to identified WebCT problems, and training opportunities.
    
   If you believe you are not subscribed to the mailing list for some reason, email support@distance.uta.edu, and we will make sure that you are.

Develop Your Course

1. Once your course has been created, you are then free to begin development. This may include use of WebCT tools (e.g. Syllabus, Discussions, Gradebook, Quizzes, Assignments), web page creation, or possibly even media production.
    
2. If training is needed at this time, contact support@distance.uta.edu or refer to the WebCT Training schedule (http://www.uta.edu/webct/training.htm) to attend one of the training workshops.

Upload Your Students To Your Course

1. Once you finalize your course development, prior to the start of the semester you must complete the Student Upload form (http://www.uta.edu/webct/student_upload.htm).
    
2. Please note: This form may not be submitted any earlier than two weeks before the semester begins because class rolls are not released for transfer to WebCT until then.
    
3. Upon submission, each night an automatic update will run, loading registered students to your course as they become listed in the official class roll. This information is downloaded from CICS.
    
   Please be aware there is a twenty-four hour time lag in data transfer from the time the student registers and pays in CICS to the time their names are transferred to WebCT.
    
   If a student does not appear listed in your WebCT course, ask when they made payment for their course as this may explain why they are not appearing and possibly another overnight update needs to take place.

Class Begins And Progresses Through The Semester

1. It is recommended that you backup your course at the beginning of the semester and periodically throughout. Each time you do this, a current version which records all student/instructor activity will be recorded.
    
2. If assistance or training is needed on how to perform this function, please contact support@distance.uta.edu.

Your Course Is Finished – Time for a Final Backup

1. It is highly recommended you perform a final semester backup of your WebCT course by saving a local copy on your machine once the semester is completed and grades are final. This copy will act as an official document of all student/instructor activities.
    
2. If assistance or training is needed on how to perform this function, please contact support@distance.uta.edu.

Archival of Your Course

1. In addition to your personal backup, at the end of each semester we will also create an official off-site archive of your course for future reference.
    
2. CDE will send an email to the mailing list notifying WebCT Faculty designers of the specific date when this archive will be created.
    
3. Note: The course is archived to tape and taken off-site. Should information need to be retrieved, it is much faster to restore from your local machine end of semester, official backup noted in the “Final Backup” section above.