UNLV Homepage
UNLV Homepage

WebCT Headquarters: WebCT Designer Resources Office of Information Technology website

 

 

WebCT Faculty Tip Sheets

Student Presentations

Student Presentations allows you to create groups of students within a class and assign them a project that they assemble in their own area of your WebCT course. The groups create their presentation in HTML as linked web pages. You, and other students in the course can view the completed project. Projects could be collaborative writing assignments, research proposals, or multimedia Web presentations on particular course topics. You can also assign students to individual student presentations.

To add the Student Presentations tool to your course:

  1. From the Control Panel, select Add Page or Tool.
  2. In the Evaluation & Activity Tools column, click Student Presentations. The Add Student Presentations screen appears.
  3. In the Enter a title for this item text box, enter the title as you want it to appear below the icon.
  4. Under Decide where to show the link to this item, select where you want the link to be displayed.
  5. Click Add. The Student Presentations tool is added to your course.

To create a group manually:

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. Under Actions, click Add group. The Group Information screen appears.
  3. In the Group name text box, enter a name for the group.
  4. Students who have not yet been assigned to a group are listed alphabetically under Class List by last name, first name, and User ID.
    1. To display all students in the class, select Show all students.
    2. In the Status column, select the students you want to belong to the group.
  5. In the Description text box, enter the instructions for the project. You can also use the Description text box to create a link to a page you have previously created (such as a project assignment) using HTML coding.
  6. To create a discussion area for this group:
    1. Under Topic, select Create a discussion topic for this group. In the Name text box, a discussion topic name is entered that matches the group name.
    2. To rename the discussion topic, clear the Update the topic name to match the group name check box and, in the Name text box, enter a new name for the discussion topic.
    3. To include yourself as a member of the discussion, select Include instructor as a member of this discussion.
  7. Under Availability, select Public.
  8. Click Add. The grou p is added to the Group List table.
Note:
  • You can create a group that does not contain any students by naming the group but selecting no students from the Class List. You can then add students to that empty group at a later date. You can also reorganize existing groups at a later date, using the Edit Group feature.
  • The project description may be added after the groups have been created.
  • A student may belong to more than one group.
  • The Class List can be sorted by column by clicking the Sort link at the top of the column.
  • The Mail icon does not appear until you add students to the group.
  • Students gain access to their discussion group through the Discussions tool.

To create a group using the Group Generator:

Note: All existing groups must be deleted before the group generator can be used.

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. Under Actions, click Generate groups. The Group Generator screen appears.
  3. Under Group, select one of the methods to generate groups and enter the applicable number in the text box.
  4. Under Additional Students, select how the extra students should be handled.
  5. Under Group Discussions, select if you want to create discussion topics for the groups and if you want to be a member of each discussion.
  6. Click Generate. The Presentations screen appears. The groups are added to the Group List table. The groups are named Group01, Group02, etc.

To communicate with the group:

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. In the Group List table, there is a Mail column that contains a mail icon for each group. Note: If you have created a group with no students in it, the mail icon will not appear until you add students.
  3. Send mail by clicking the mail icon. A new window appears and the Send to text box contains the group members.
  4. Enter your mail message.
To delete groups:

Warning:

  • All of the files relating to the presentation groups are also deleted, and are unrecoverable.
  • When you delete a presentation group that has an associated discussion topic, only the presentation group is deleted. The associated discussion topic is not deleted.

To delete one group:

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. From the Group List table , select the group that you want to delete.
  3. Under Actions, click Delete. A warning message appears.
  4. Click OK. The Presentation screen appears and the group is deleted.

To delete all groups:

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. Under Actions, click Delete all. A warning message appears.
  3. Click OK. A final warning message appears.
  4. Click OK. The Presentation screen appears and all groups are deleted.

To edit groups:

You can edit the group name, add or edit the description, create a discussion topic, edit the topic name, or add or remove students from the group.

  1. Click the Presentations icon. The Presentations screen appears.
  2. From the Group List table , select the group that you want to edit.
  3. Under Actions, click Edit. The Group Information screen appears.
  4. Edit the group information as required:
    • To edit the group name, in the Group name text box, edit the name.
    • To edit the description, in the Description text box, add or edit a description for the project.
    • To create a discussion area for the group and include yourself as a member, select Create a discussion topic for this group and Include Instructor as a member of this discussion. In the Name text box, a discussion topic name is entered that matches the group name.
    • To edit the discussion topic name, clear the Update the topic name to match the group name check box and, in the Name text box, edit the topic name.
    • To change presentation availability, select one of the following four options:
      • Public
      • Private
      • Specify date. From the Month, Day, Year, Hour, and Minute drop-down lists, select the date and time that the presentation will be available to view by the class.
      • Use default setting (public).
    • To add or remove students from the group, under Class List, select or clear the check box beside the students' names.
    Note: To access group presentation submissions, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click the group name under the student_pres folder.
  5. Click Update. The Presentations screen appears and the group information is updated.
 
CRC Help Support for WebCT Designers is available through the Computing Resource Center. To contact a Help Desk representative, please call 702.895.0777 or email crchelp@ccmail.nevada.edu. Support is available Monday through Friday 8:00AM - 5:00PM PST. WebCT training and instructional design support are available through the Teaching and Learning Center.

Last Updated: December 6, 2004
Problems or questions regarding this website should be directed to the WebCT Administrator.