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Using Connections Course Tools
I. Introduction to the Course ToolsWhat are the Connections Course Tools?Webster University's web portal, Connections, provides a suite of web based tools that help you connect with the Webster community. In addition to e-mail, calendaring, and departmental services, Connections offers Course Tools, an automated, easy to use home page for your class. You can use it to post documents and pictures, update the class with announcements, start and monitor discussions, easily e-mail your students, and more. How do I get to the Course Tools?To use the Connections Course Tools, simply use your Connections ID to log into Connections at: http://connections.webster.edu Once you have logged in, you will want to select the "Faculty" tab (Figure 1).
Figure 1 This tab has channels (boxes of information that serve a single purpose) that are pertinent to you as an instructor at Webster. In the upper, left-hand corner, there is a My Courses channel (Figure 2). Click the link in this channel to proceed to your courses.
Figure 2 This page will show you all the courses you are teaching for the semester (Figure 3). If you click on the name of the class, it will take you to that class homepage in the Connections Course Tools, or, alternatively, if it is an online class, it will take you to that course in WebCT.
Figure 3 After selecting one of the courses, you'll see this course's Course Homepage (Figure 4). This page is divided into three columns. From the left, the first column gives us links to navigate this page. Second, the middle column, displays recent announcements and message board topics. The third column provides information about the course.
Figure 4
II. When to use ConnectionsThe Connections Course Tools provide a simple way of using a variety of tools to communicate with your students. Since the classes are automatically populated with the students enrolled in a class, it requires no set up work on the part of the instructor. However, no tool will ever meet the exact needs of every teaching situation. If you find that you are limited by what the Connections Course Tools offer, there are other services that may work for you. Connections is one of three web based tools available to faculty at Webster University. The Library offers E-Reserves, and the Academic Distance Learning Center provides access to WebCT. Both of these tools offer some things that Connections Course Tools do not, but may require additional effort to set up or learn. You may even find times when you can use these services in conjunction with the Course Tools.
You may choose to use E-Reserves for some items, and Connections for the communications tools. Click here for help doing this. A thorough comparison of Connections Course Tools, E-Reserves, and WebCT tools is available here (requires PDF reader). When do I use the Connections Course Tools? Use Connections Course Tools if you want to upload documents or images, but aren't concerned about having to do it again for future terms. Use the Course Tools to have a class discussion open to all members of your course, to update students with announcements, or to post events to a shared calendar. When do I use E-Reserves? Use E-Reserves by itself when you only need to post and organize your syllabi, links, images, and audio materials for your students to access and when you want to retain materials for subsequent use. Use E-Reserves along with Connections Course Tools and WebCT when you need the other course tools but also wish to post materials for your students to access. When do I use WebCT? Use WebCT if you have multiple documents/images/link, a consistent syllabus, and want to have more enhanced features like quizzes, discussion groups, or gradebook. Also use WebCT if you want to copy and use same course from term to term.
III. Preparing for a new semesterWhen are my courses available in Connections?There will be an overlap of time when both Fall courses and Spring courses will appear in your My Courses area in Connections. New courses will be loaded into Connections two weeks before the start of the new semester.
A Course Homepage is created for every class – even those classes that are fully online or that are Web-enhanced using WebCT. These course homepages will exist for only a short time until Academic Distance Learning Center loads the WebCT classes (the Friday before classes begin). Once that is completed, the Connections course homepages for these courses will go away (along with any content or discussions posted by you or your students) and be replaced by your WebCT course. What if I do not want students using the Course Tools before classes start or after they end?Eight week courses in the second half of the semester have Connections Course Tools homepages available to enrolled students throughout the first half of the semester. Likewise, eight week classes in the beginning of the semester will be available to students weeks after the course has concluded. If you do not want students to have access to any or all tools at this time (or any time during the semester), you can disable the tools. Click here for directions on how to do this. What can I do to plan ahead?If you are going to use the Connections Course tools, it is probably best to plan ahead:
Content that you put into the Course Tools goes away at the end of the semester. By keeping things organized in folders on your computer, it allows you to reuse items from semester to semester. If you have a lot of content, like a few hundred pictures, or fifty or more hyperlinks, you may want to consider making a web page outside of the Course Tools that you can link to. Must I use my Webster E-mail?All persons affiliated with the University are given a Webster University e-mail address, whether they check this address or not. This address is used by Connections to foster communication. When a student enrolled in a course accesses their Course Home Page, they have access to email the instructor at his or her Webster provided E-mail address. Likewise, instructors have access to contact students via email from the Course Tools. For this reason, it is very important that both students and faculty check their Webster e-mail often.
From the Webster E-mail Policy, "The University will send official communications to employees and students by email to an account assigned by the University with the expectation that such emails will be read by the recipient in a timely fashion." Click here to read the full policy. You can check your Webster e-mail account from within the Connections portal, OR configure another e-mail client to connect to the Webster mail server. What do I do if I have cross-listed course?In Connections, a Course Home Page is created for every class number and section. Therefore, if you teach a cross-listed course, you will have 2 homepages. Students will automatically be members of the course with the number they enrolled. If this is the situation you are in, and you want to increase collaboration between classmates, you can do one of 2 things: create a Consolidated Course or Add the members of one course listing to the other. Consolidated courses allow you to post News, Links, Photos, and Files to both sections, but students in one class will not be able to see the work and responses of those in the other. Adding students of one course listing to the other means that you must tell the students you are adding to use one home page and not the other (or you can delete them from the other course home page). IV. Finishing a semesterDo I need to do anything when the semester is over?
Content that you have placed in your Course Homepages will not be archived or saved in any way. This includes any discussions, files, or photos that your students may have posted. It you or your students have uploaded files or posted information that you would like to use again, you need to make sure you have a copy saved on your computer. You can download files from the Files tool (click here for assistance) or the Photos tool, and you can copy and paste items posted in the Message Board, News, or Links tools to a word processor document for future reference.
V. Tips and Tricks
How do I disable tools in Connections? For various reasons, it may become necessary for the instructor of a course to deactivate one or more course tools to prevent students from submitting work or viewing course content. In this case, you can easily deactivate tools: 1. Login to Connections and go into the course for which you wish to disable tools. 2. From the menu at the left, under Configuration Tools, select Applications.
3. In the Applications Availability window, uncheck any/all Course Tools that you do not want available to students.
4. Click the Update button.
Your course should now only display navigation links to the tools you left enabled. How do I download items that have been submitted to Connections?Connections does not retain files submitted to the Files tool after the semester is over. The only way to reuse files, or to have a copy of a file after the semester is over, is to download each file individually. Here are the steps for downloading files from a connections course. 1. Login to Connections and go into the course you from which wish to download files. 2. Under Content Tools at left click on Manage Files. 3. Click on the name of the file you wish to download.
4. Choose the location to save the file and click OK. 5. Repeat for each file you wish to download. How can I link to E-Reserves?1. From the Library's web site, log on to your E-Reserves course page. 2. Navigate to your documents in E-Reserves. 3. Copy the URL from your of your documents page from E-Reserves by selecting it (begins with http...) and selecting Copy from your browser's Edit menu.
4. Login to Connections, and go to the page of the course you wish to put the link in. 5. Select Links from the Course Tools.
6. Click on Post a Link.
7. In the Post a Link window set the status of the link to Active from the status menu. 8. Give your link a title (example: E-Reserves.) 9. In the URL field, paste the URL of your E-Reserves course page by selecting Paste from your browser's Edit menu. 10. You'll need to type a description for your link in the Link Description box. It is best to describe where the link goes. 11. Click Post. 12. Connections will confirm that your link has been posted, click OK. 13. You will see your posted link with a description. You can click on the link to verify that it is working How can I create a consolidated course?If you teach multiple sections of the same class, you can save time uploading content to these classes by creating a consolidated course: 1. Log in to Connections and go to your list of courses. 2. Select My Consolidated Courses in the upper right hand above the list of courses you teach.
3. Select 2 or more courses you wish to consolidate by checking the box next to the name.
4. Click Create. To add content to all the courses, select the consolidated course you created from My Consolidated Courses under the Personal Tools. You can still add content to each course separately by selecting it from the My Courses list.
How can I add students to a class they are not officially enrolled in?1. Login to Connections and go into the course for which you want to add students. 2. Select Members under Configuration Tools.
3. This page will show you a list of those people associated with your class. To add someone, select Add Members. 4. If you know the persons Login (the first part of their email address, before the @) then you can add by login, or you can search for them in the system. 5. To add by login, select Add by Login, type the user ID or IDs.
You must make the person you are adding a Guest, where they have the same privileges as a student, or as a Teaching Assistant, where they have the same privileges as the instructor. You will have to type an email message to the person/s added to notify them that they have been enrolled. Click Add. 6. To search for a user, select Search for Users. Enter their first or last name. Select the desired ID/s from the list.
You must make the person you are adding a Guest, where they have the same privileges as a student, or as a Teaching Assistant, where they have the same privileges as the instructor. You will have to type an email message to the person/s added to notify them that they have been enrolled. Click Add (or Add All if you selected multiple names). How can I delete or inactivate students?1. Login to Connections and go into the course for which you want to add students. 2. Select Members under Configuration Tools.
3. This page will show you a list of those people associated with your class. 4. Check the box next to the student's name and click delete or inactivate.
It is probably best to only inactivate a student and not delete them, as the effects(a student being locked out of a course home page) are the same. However inactivating a student makes it easier for you to activate them again later. The process for adding a deleted student is a little more involved. Further AssistanceStill not sure what to do?If you have any questions about using Connections Course Tools with your classes, feel free to contact your Instructional Support Specialist: College of Arts and Sciences School of Communications School of Education School of Business and Technology Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts
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