Tips & Tricks

1. Copyright and Using Course Tools

2. Exams - Best Practices

• Issues to watch out for: System timeouts, dropped network sessions

• System timeout is 90 minutes. If you have a two hour exam, and 90 minute timeout, students can have problems.

• If a network connection is lost, students will not be able to save their answers. Best option is to restart immediately and continue not to keep working.

• Current system has an autosave feature to reduce the risk of not saving exam answers.

• Suggestion: train students to hit "save answer" often, especially in long essay questions. They CAN change the answer after.

• Suggestion: If status doesn't change to "Answer Saved", then network connection is probably lost. Immediately record all answers that were not saved, log out, re-establish network connection, log in, and continue the exam.

• Suggestion: DO NOT take exams from wireless networks because they are susceptible to network loss. 

• Suggestion: DO NOT use the "Force Completion" option in tests to force a student to complete the exam in one sitting. If you use that, students with network problems will not be able to log in again and continue the exam.
• MORE....

3. Naming Conventions

• It is IMPORTANT to properly name files for upload or download. Keep filenames short (8-10 characters is plenty), lower case, no spaces and be sure a file extension is included (such as .doc or .jpg)

  Example: Bad: biology assignment lab # 1.1 Good: bio_a1.doc

• Do not use special characters in filenames (*,/,^,!,@,#,$,%,&, ,"",'', etc.)

  Example: Bad: help@me!.pdf Good: help_me.pdf

• Use standard formats (.doc, .pdf, .jpg, .png)

  Example: yourlastname_a1.pdf

• For the Hot Spot question type, use on .jpg images with no special characters in the file name

  Example: Bad: car diagram.png Good: car_diagram.jpg

• Keep filenames short (fewer than 25 characters in length)

  Example: Bad: this_is_the_first_assignment_for_the_course_my_course.doc Good:yourlastname_a1.doc

4. Pasting from Word

When pasting text from Word, the formatting of the pasted text can break. As such, there is a "Paste from Word" tool that solves this issue.
To paste from Word:

1. In the Text Editor, click the  button.
2. Select "Paste from Word"
3. An editor will pop up. Paste the text from Word into the text box by using the  button.
4. Click "Submit" on the pop up. Your text should now load in the Text Editor with the proper formatting

5. Submitting an Audio File - Helping Your Students

Are students having trouble submitting an audio file in an assignment upload? Follow these steps:

1. Ensure when uploading files as part of an assignment submission, the connection from the computer to the internet is via a HARDWIRED connection, NOT wireless. This may mean dropping the files onto a USB key and visiting a lab on campus to upload the files. Using the wireless internet access can result in timeout errors when attempting to upload large files.
2. Compress the audio files into the smallest file format possible. The best format is MP3. Instructions on how to add this functionality to Audacity can be found here.
3. Keep file sizes small, keep file names simple. It is IMPORTANT to properly name files for upload or download. Keep filenames short (8-10 characters is plenty), lower case, no spaces and be sure a file extension is included (such as .mp3) A good example is audio1_smith.mp3