1.4. Accessing Instructor’s Comments
1.5. Frequently Asked Questions
Most of assignments will require writing, but you will also come across other forms of assesing your knowledge.
For detailed requirements, see the Syllabus available form the Course Content page.
Homework assignments can be found in the Assign Dropbox area. The are not located in the general Assignments area. In the Assignments area only Quizzes are located.
Deadlines for all assignments can be found in the Calendar/Deadlines area.
Important Note: To avoid further problems use very simple filenames. I want you to use your last name and then the extension “.doc” or “.txt”. So if your name is Jan Smith, use smith2.doc or smith2.txt as your file name.
Here are detailed instructions on how to submit the assignment. Please, consult Fig. 1 to get a visual representation of the “location” of the various pages I mention.
· From the Home Page or Course Menu, select Assignment Dropbox
You are now on the Assignments Dropbox Page. Listed here are all the assignments for the course.
· Select (click) the assignment in question.
You are on the Assignment Page. It begins with the name of the assignment. Just under the title of the page you will find a link back to the dropbox. Then there are two important buttons (mark their location): “Student Files” and “Submit Assignment”. They are followed by a brief description of what I am going to describe in a couple of pages… Finally, there is a due date, a maximum grade for the assignment, instructions that you should read carefully. (I have not uploaded any additional assignment-related files.)
As the short instruction tells you, your submission of the assignment happens in two stages. First, you need to upload all your files (there may be more than one) to WebCT. Second, once you have done that, you need to formally submit them. (Note that without doing the second step, you have not actually submitted the assignment.)
So, uploading files:
· Click on the button Student Files [on Assignment Page]
You are now on the Student Files Page. Just under the title of the page you will find a link back to the Assignment Page. Then there are two buttons: “Upload” and “Delete”. There is again good instruction and a space for “Student Files” – this is where all your files will appear if you uploaded them successfully. (The Delete button is for any files that you may have uploaded by mistake.)
· click on Upload [on Student Files Page]
You are now on the Upload Page.
· type the file name (e.g. c:\smith2.doc) [Upload File Page]
The name should include the directory name on your computer. Alternatively, click Browse in which case you will be able to browse your computer (you’ll need to click Open for the filename to appear in the box – the file will not actually open). Once you are done, the name of the file is in the box, then
· click the Upload button [Upload File Page]
You should be back to the Student Files Page. At the bottom of the page, you should now see a table with your uploaded file in it.
(Please, note here that there used to be a submission bug at this point. Sometimes the files that were submitted did not show. If this happens to you, simply use the Refresh or Reload button on your browser. If this does not help, try uploading again.)
If these are all the files you want to submit, you can proceed. If you want to submit more files, you need to click on Upload and repeat the process – I am assuming that you will be transferring one more file c:\smith2.txt, in which case you need to:
· click on Upload [on Student Files Page]
· type the second file name (e.g. c:\smith2.txt) [Upload File Page]
· click the Upload button [Upload File Page]
Once you uploaded all the files, you need to get back to the Assignment Page by clicking on the actual name of the assignment, which is a hotlink at the top of the Student Files Page.
On the Assignment Page, you will not see any mention of your files. That is OK (as long as you have seen a mention of them on the Student Files Page).
· Click on Submit Assignment button [Assignment Page]
You are now on the final page of the submission journey. You will see two buttons “Submit assignment” and “Cancel”; followed by a box for e-mail address; followed by a list of the files that you are submitting. (Note that to make any changes in the files you are submitting you need to go back to the Upload Page.)
· Type in your e-mail address [Submit Assignment Page]
Note that it must be an external email address like jsmith@ocean.otr.usm.edu, not an internal MAIL address.
· click Submit Assignment button [Submit Assignment Page]
You are now on the Assignments Dropbox Page (see §Fig. 3). There is a double evidence of your successful submission:
Please note that after I grade your assignment, its status will change further from “Submitted” to “Graded”. In addition, the word “Graded” will be a hot link to my comments on your assignment.
Since I have had numerous problems reading student submissions of assignments, I am very picky about the way your file needs to be formatted.
· You will submit the assignment in at least two formatsfrom the following:
– Microsoft Word 2000 or lower (.doc)
– HTML (.htm, .html)
– rich text format (.rtf)
– plain text (.txt)
No other formats are acceptable!(In particular, I have been absolutely unsuccessful in reading files with the extension .wps!)
Every word-processing program these days has the capacity of saving files in different formats (types). In MS Word, for example, there is a File Save As... function where you select the type of format beneath the textbox where you type in the name of file. If you cannot figure this out for yourself, it is your responsibility to seek the assistance of a professional to figure out what you can do so that you can save your text in two of the required formats.
Important Note: To save a file under in a text (.txt) format, it is not sufficient to just give the file the name smith2.txt. If you are working in MS Word, for example, and you do this (without choosing the appropriate format), Word will save your file as smith2.txt.doc – you have still produced a MS Word .doc-document, not a .txt-document.
· Use your last name as the base for the file name. Use ‘2’ as a reminder that this is the second assignment.
For example, If your name is Jan Smith, and you choose to submit the essay as a Word and as a text file, the names of your two submission files should be:
Smith2.doc
Smith2.txt
Yes.
In order for me to grade your assignment it must be submitted via the Assignments Dropbox.
You may not submit the assignment as an attachment to a MAIL or an e-mail message except in extraordinary circumstances and only when you have cleared this with me first.
· On the Home Page, click on “Assignments”.
On the Assignments page, you will see various assignments. Those, which you submitted and which have been graded will have the status “Graded”, which is also a link to the comments.
· So, click on “Graded”.
If the “Submitted” status appears, this means that I have not yet graded the paper. You should MAIL me if you think this is by oversight.
You need to ask. The sooner you ask the better.
Mail me.
No.
Put it this way: if it is late 1-24 hours late, you will be penalized 10 points (one letter grade); 25-48 hours - 20 points (2 letter grades), etc.