WebCT Vista Student Orientation
--------------------------- Colorado Community College System
--------------------------- Colorado Community College System
Welcome to WebCT Vista Orientation! Your institution is switching to an online learning management system that will provide you with new and exciting features. This Student Orientation will give you an overview of WebCT Vista and help you become familiar with course navigation and the course tools you will be using in your WebCT Vista supported classes.
Follow your institution’s procedures for logging into WebCT Vista. After you log into WebCT Vista, the first page you'll always see is My WebCT.
Navigating My WebCT
Logo Bar
The Logo Bar is the top-most frame on your WebCT Homepage. It is always present and contains links to Change Password, Check Browser, Help and Logout.
Course Toolbar
Across the top of the page is the WebCT Course Toolbar, with Channels, Color, Layout and icons for email (email is intrasystem – only within WebCT Vista) and calendar. Channels, Color and Layout allow you to customize your My WebCT page.
Each box below the course toolbar provides access to a different organizational tool, also called a channel. Examples of different channels include Calendar, To Do List, the Course List and Announcements. Each of the available channels is described below, according to its location on you’re my WebCT page.
Left Channels
Calendar DayThe Calendar Day displays a summary of entries by day for the current day. When you want to enter information in any of your course Calendars or Personal Calendar, you can access it from here rather than having to enter each course individually. To add an entry just click on the pencil icon on the right side of the Calendar Day heading.
This is your personal to do list. To add an entry just click on the pencil icon on the right side of the To Do List heading. You can access it from here rather than having to enter each course individually.
My Grades displays scores that were released since your last log in. Grades for each course in which you are enrolled will appear here.
The Course List contains all of the courses in which you are currently enrolled. To enter one of your courses, click once on any of the course names. Once you enter your course, you will be taken to the course home page.
Campus Announcements is a list of communications from your campus for all students. When you first enter your myWebCT, a Campus Announcement may open in a new pop-up window. Make sure you read the Announcement before closing the window. Pop-up blockers will prevent you from seeing your Vista Campus Announcement pop-ups, along with several other functions of Vista. You should set your pop-up blockers to allow WebCT Vista to pop-up windows so you do not miss important announcements.
The Calendar Week displays a summary of entries for the current week. When you want to enter information in any of your course Calendars or personal Calendar, you can access it from here rather than having to enter each course individually. To add an entry just click on the pencil icon on the right side of the Calendar Week heading.
Right Channels
Personal Bookmarks
This channel allows you to save a link to websites that you use frequently by creating a personal bookmark. To add an entry just click on the pencil icon on the right corner of the Personal Bookmarks heading. You can access it from here rather than having to enter each course individually.
Campus Bookmark
Campus Bookmarks are useful links from your campus intended for all students.
Who’s Online
Who’s Online allows you to see who is currently online in your classes. Click on a specific class and you will be taken to a list of everyone who is online in that class, including other students and your instructor. You can choose your status – visible/available, visible/unavailable or invisible. You can also invite anyone on the list who is available to a real-time chat right in WebCT. Who’s Online is similar to instant messaging and only allows you to communicate with one person at a time.
Navigating Your Course
Once You're in Your Course ...
The Course Content Home page and the Course Tools menu provide the access points or links to all of the content in the course.
Hint: Use the bread crumbs to navigate. These appear just below the course toolbar and are displayed as “You are currently on….” The bread crumbs provide a trail showing where you are in the course and you can click any link in the breadcrumb to return to that page.
Course Content Home Page
Your Course Content Home Page will have three folder icons:
Getting Started: Look here for information from your instructor to help you get started with your course.
Syllabus and Schedule: This folder includes multiple documents with important information including the official syllabus, course schedule, course policies, etc. Be sure to print out all the documents in this folder for reference when you are not logged into WebCT.
Course Materials: This is where you’ll find all of the content for your course. Each instructor may organize their course a little differently (usually by week or topic). As with most web pages, you’ll use a process of pointing and clicking to dig deeper into the information.
The Course Tools Menu
The Course Tool menu on the left side of the screen gives you direct access to many or all of the following tools:
Announcements: An announcement may pop-up the first time you enter the course. These announcements are posted by your teacher and are important. Be sure not to close the announcement pop-up window before reading the announcement. Click the Announcements link each time you enter the course to view any previous announcements from your teacher.
Assessments: This offers the opportunity to take quizzes, exams, self-tests and surveys online. Many question-types provide instant feedback as soon as you submit a quiz.
Assignments: The Assignment tool offers a way to answer questions and attach documents to submit to your teacher.
Calendar: Calendar tool gives you a course calendar for each of your WebCT Vista-supported classes.
Chat: This allows the student an opportunity to participate in chatrooms set up by the instructor.
Discussions: This offers a "threaded" discussion tool, where you can have class discussions, as directed by your instructor. Note, messages posted in the Discussions area are public messages, and all members of the class or discussion group will see your message. Use Mail for private messages.
Learning Modules: Many courses will organize course materials using Learning Modules, providing learners with a guided path through the content, activities, and assessments associated with a given week or topic. To review information, or look ahead, you can also click on any individual item in the Table of Contents for that learning module to jump directly to that page.
Mail: Mail allows you to send private messages to other students or your instructor directly in WebCT. Note:. Email in WebCT Vista is a "closed system." You cannot mail into course mail from an outside email account, nor can you mail outside from within the mail tool. Consider this a course-messaging system, not your regular email.
My Tools
My Tools will contain:
My Grades: Will have your grades as they are released by the instructor.
My Progress: Allows you to track where you’ve been in the course and what you’ve done.
Notes: Where you can take notes while in the course. Just click on “add general note” and add title and type in notes.
Final Hint:
Help for WebCT Vista is available to you from anywhere in WebCT Vista. Help provides guidance and answers to questions or issues you may be having while working in WebCT Vista. Help should be your first source for information whenever you need assistance.
To access Help
Click once on Help. This will open a new WebCT: Online Help window. Depending on where you are in WebCT, you will get Help pertaining to that specific page, tool or function.