WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition Release Notes

Revised March 18, 2002

Contents

About WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition
Supported Configurations
New Features and Enhancements
Issues Resolved in WebCT 3.7

About WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition | Top

WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition allows easier management of users and courses. It can:

operate as a stand-alone system
be integrated with an existing Instructional Management System compliant campus information system
be integrated with the Campus Pipeline portal and SCT (a provider of administrative system databases for students, faculty, employees, and alumni) or with SCT alone

Note: If you are running WebCT in a load-balanced installation, contact WebCT Support.

Supported Configurations

Server Operating Systems

WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition supports the following server operating systems:

Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP2 (Warning: Because WebCT 3.7 uses a newer version of Perl (version 5.6.1), WebCT 3.7 cannot be installed alongside earlier versions of WebCT on the same Windows server.)
Red Hat Linux for Intel libc6 6.2 and 7.2
Sun Sparc Solaris 7 and 8
Note: WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition does not support the following server operating systems: Windows Advanced Server; Red Hat Linux 5 or below; Linux systems other than Red Hat Linux; SGI IRIX; FreeBSD; Sun Solaris x86; Digital UNIX; IBM AIX; HP-UX; Tru64.

Client Operating Systems

Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Mac OS 9.x or OS X 10.1

Browsers

Note: For all browsers, JavaScript must be enabled.

Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

Netscape 4.76 and 6.2.1
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher, including 6.0 (Note: IE 5.5 SP1 is not supported)
AOL 7.0

Mac OS 9.x

Netscape 4.76 and 6.2.1
Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher (Note: IE 5.5 SP1 is not supported)
AOL 7.0

Mac OS X 10.1

Netscape 4.76 and 6.2.1
Internet Explorer 5.1
AOL 7.0

New Features and Enhancements | Top

WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition provides the following new features and enhancements:

TOOL / AREA	FEATURE DESCRIPTION
Accessibility	Based on WebCT's accessibility tests, the following configuration will optimize accessibility: Screen reader software: JAWS 4 Browser: Internet Explorer 5.5 SP2 Operating system: Windows 2000 Keyboard navigation within Chat and Whiteboard has been improved. For example, links have been implemented to allow easier access via the keyboard. Currently, the quality of keyboard navigation within Chat and Whiteboard varies across browsers, but WebCT is working towards resolving this and other accessibility issues. New color scheme provides high contrast between background and foreground elements. The high contrast color scheme can be the default or overridden by users. Invisible navigation links can be used by screen readers.
Administrator	Support for terms, allowing courses to be organized within school terms. Ability to set password length restrictions and require password changes after initial logon and after specified period of time. Ability to add multiple students to a course at one time. Ability to restore a course over another course.
Assignments	Designers can download multiple assignments at one time. New setting allows students to submit late assignments. New setting allows students to re-submit assignments until the due date.
Compile	Images used as content pages can now be compiled. Content modules are now listed alphabetically.
Content Module	When the Update Student View function is complete, a confirmation message appears.
Discussions	When replying to topics, users can change the subject line. Interface has been improved. The number of topics in a collapsed thread is available and unread topics are bolded. A shortcut for View threads is now available. Manage Topics functions can be applied to default topics Main and Notes.
Global Calendar	Calendar entries can be associated with a course identifier and displayed in Palm Date Book.
Helpdesk User	Enabled administrators to restrict the change user type function.
Image Database	Created columns can be re-labelled.
Licensing	Licensing scheme has been improved. The license key can be viewed in the administrator interface. Advance warnings when license is either within four weeks of expiring or if user count reaches 90% of limit. Incremental warnings appear in administrator, designer, students, and teaching assistant interfaces after a license has expired.
Localization	Support for UTF-8 file conversion. Support for the following numeric formats: -1234567.89 -1234567,89 (1234567.89) (1234567,89) Support for flexible date formats. Support for flexible name formats. A classification keyword glossary is available. Support for flexible alphabet in Glossary. Phrasing has been re-worked to allow translated language's syntax (word order).
Logon	Support for Secure Sockets Layer protocol (SSL) allowing requests from the following areas to be authenticated via a secure server: user logon user logon hint user password changes via myWebCT administrator interface helpdesk interface Warning: In order to enable SSL, the Apache server that ships with WebCT must be recompiled. We strongly recommend against anyone but an advanced systems administrator attempting this task. A future WebCT release will simplify the enabling of SSL. If you decide to recompile the Apache server to enable SSL, further information can be found at the following URLs: http://www.modssl.org/ http://www.modssl.org/source/exp/mod_ssl/pkg.mod_ssl/INSTALL http://httpd.apache.org/docs/install.html
Mail	When replying to messages, users can change the subject line. Interface has been improved. The number of messages in a collapsed thread is available and unread messages are bolded. Outbox messages are marked read by default.
My Grades	Display of grades has been re-oriented to fit on the screen without left-hand scrolling.
myWebCT	Centralized course backups allows designers to back up and restore their courses from myWebCT. User type and course description can be displayed in myWebCT. Courses can be sorted and displayed by course title.
Quiz	Math ML-based Equation Editor allows users to enter and edit mathematical notations in WebCT tools. Quiz titles and section labels can be edited from one area. Display for analysis of all-or-nothing responses has been improved. Category titles can be edited. Question Database Options frame is redesigned to reduce scrolling. All question types allow general feedback, in either text or HTML format. Downloading quiz statistics includes answers to paragraph questions. Text areas for Question, General Feedback, and Answer may reference images in My-Files. Quiz timer shows seconds. For calculated questions, answers are shown in both E notation and scientific notation. When saving an existing question as a new questions and if the quiz category title has not been changed, a warning message appears. Select all/Select none options appear above the Question Database.
Performance	Enhanced application performance to accommodate heavy traffic.
Single Page	New setting allows navigation buttons to be displayed or hidden when page is set to open in a new browser window.
SCT/CP Alliance	Deletion of user data has been improved. CRN can be displayed instead of Course ID.

Issues Resolved in WebCT 3.7 Campus Edition | Top

TOOL/FEATURE	DESCRIPTION
Add Page or Tool	Entering a title with exactly 17 characters or less no longer generates a warning message.
Administrator	Very long course descriptions will be truncated to allow the breadcrumbs to display correctly. When restoring the backup of a course with a new designer ID, the original designer information is removed from the course. Improvements in performance when querying the Global Database. Restoring and resetting a course removes quiz, survey, and assignment data from student records. Changing a user's WebCT ID can no longer corrupt the course database. In Internet Explorer 6, buttons now display properly.
Apache Service	When upgrading a Windows installation, a new Apache service can be successfully created.
Assignments	When logged on as a designer and viewing Assignments in the student view, clicking an assignment title now opens the assignment in the student view. Students now receive the correct error message if they enter an invalid filename. Assignments with the setting Do not release the score selected no longer allow the score for a previous assignment to be displayed.
Calendar	The start and end times for entries can no longer be the same.
CD-ROM	Designers can no longer enter the same CD name for more than one CD. Clicking Reset no longer leaves the user at the CD-ROM set up screen. Deleting the value in the text box and clicking Update may now be used to remove the CD-ROM setting.
Change Settings	The last row of colors in the Customize Page Colors editor now displays correctly.
Chat	On the Macintosh, the General Chat for Course link successfully starts Chat for courses with titles longer than 17 characters. On the Macintosh, long chat room names no longer display incorrectly or render other chat rooms inaccessible. When a URL is sent, the sender no longer receives a copy of the URL. On Windows, stability has been improved.
Compile	Selectively-released content is displayed according to release criteria. Content Modules are now sorted alphabetically.
Content Module	In Netscape, users will now always access the top of the page for a content module that links directly to the first content page. The Take Notes, Page List, and View All functions now display notes taken from a quiz.
Course Builder	The Clear button now works correctly. When adding a Content Module, it is no longer possible to create and add two files with the same filename. The phrase "Add Content Module" is no longer hard-coded and can now be translated for language plug-ins. The phrase "Add Content Module" is no longer hard-coded and can now be edited for language plug-ins.
Course Map	Students can no longer access unreleased quizzes from the Course Map.
Designer Map	Accessing an item from the Manage Course column now displays the Manage Course header in the Breadcrumbs. Accessing an item from the Change Settings column now displays the Change Settings header and the item name in the Breadcrumbs. Under Change Settings, there is now a link to Course News.
Discussions	For expanded or collapsed threads, marking selected messages as Read or Unread correctly marks all the messages in the thread. When expanding threads, "re:" no longer disappears from the subject heading. With Internet Explorer, attached .pdf files now open correctly. For expanded or collapsed threads, clicking Compile Thread successfully compiles all the messages in the thread. After messages are deleted from a topic, messages in other topics are no longer displayed. Files in rich text format (.rtf) can now be viewed from the Attachments window.
Glossary	Clicking Go without first selecting an action now generates an error message. Glossary terms in the Others category now appear at the end of the list.
Homepage	The last row of colors in the Customize Page Colors editor now displays correctly.
Image Database	Searching with the Comparison field set to Not Blank and the Value field left blank now produces correct results. Created columns may now be re-labelled.
IMS API	Importing an IMS source that does not match an object in WebCT will no longer work. Changing the letters in a WebCT ID from lower case to upper case no longer generates an error message. All designer information is now included in an XML file export.
IMS Receiver	On Windows, CGI temp files are cleared.
Internet Explorer 5.5	In Mail, attached .txt files no longer need to be downloaded to be viewed.
Mail	For expanded or collapsed threads, clicking Compile Thread successfully compiles all the messages in the thread. For expanded or collapsed threads, marking selected messages as Read or Unread correctly marks all the messages in the thread. Outbox messages moved to another folder now retain the recipient's information There is no longer a maximum number of messages that a user can send at one time. Mail forwarded to an external account from Mail, Quiz, Assignments, and Forgotten Password now displays the sender's name consistently. Email addresses with the incorrect syntax now generate an error message. A rare case where clicking Preview could show an incorrect list of recipients has been resolved. When viewing a draft of a message, recipients' names now appear in the correct order.
Manage Course	When a backup is restored within a course, the Manage Course link is no longer removed from the Breadcrumbs. When resetting a course, resetting student data for Quizzes, Surveys, and Assignments is now available. From the Reset Course screen, clicking Help opens the correct help file. When resetting a course, the Quiz Details are now reset. When the Navigation Bar is hidden, the Control Panel drop-down list will always be shown correctly in the Menu Bar. When the Navigation Bar is hidden, the options for moving icons no longer change from Forward and Backward to Up and Down.
Manage Files	File attributes, including size, modification date, and modification time, now fit more easily on a single screen.
Manage Students	When designers click on the question mark that appears next to student names whose WebCT IDs have been changed in the administrator interface, the screen that appears has been made clearer. Entering non-numeric data into numeric fields will now generate an error. After deleting data from a Text column, the associated View button no longer appears. After clicking Clear Log, a confirmation message now appears.
My Progress	Posting messages to Notes no longer adds an extra message for original messages in Discussions. Untitled Content Pages or quizzes used as content pages no longer appear as a blank row.
myWebCT	The course list in myWebCT is now sorted correctly. Clicking Remove Course now generates a confirmation message. The Help pop-up windows for the See Courses and Add or Remove Course screens can now be resized. Under Announcements, the more link correctly appears only if there are announcement details.
Navigation Bar	When accessing Content Modules and if the setting A reader entering this content module will first see the first document in the Table of Contents is selected no longer opens the Table of Contents.
Netscape	In Netscape 6.2, radio buttons for View and Designer Options now display properly.
Organizer Page	For selective release, specifying the same time for Release after and Release until settings now generates an error message.
Question Database	Clicking Go without first selecting an action now generates an error message.
Quiz and Survey	When exporting quiz details to disk, Paragraph answers successfully appear in the text file. In Matching questions, if the designer corrects a mismatched question after a student has taken the quiz, the changes to the question are correctly reflected in the student's answers. Image source tags in questions with text formatting are no longer parsed. When viewing Details, unanswered Multiple Choice questions now appear in the "-" (not answered) column. When the answer for a calculated question is mathematically correct but the scientific notation is not in standard format, the answer is now graded consistently. A correct answer of "0.0" will be graded correctly. When saving a quiz question and if the title has not been changed, using the Save as new option now produces a confirmation message.
Resource Bank	A breadcrumb for Resource Bank has been added.
Resume Course	If the last content page accessed is a quiz, using the Resume Course feature no longer returns to the quiz content page.
SCT/CP Alliance	Upgrading your version of WebCT no longer overwrites the api_secret, autosign_secret, and client.key.
Self Test	Adding a Self Test to both the Navigation Bar and an Organizer Page no longer creates two separate Self Tests. When moving a Self Test from one organizer page to another, the Self Test's content is retained.
Syllabus	Iin the Course date drop-down lists, the dates that appear includes two years prior to the current date and seven years after the current date. When adding or editing entries, the designer view no longer switches to the student view after receiving an error message.
Track Pages	Untitled pages now appear in the Page Name column as "Untitled." Quiz pages now display with the correct titles.
Track Students	Searching records based on Listed Students correctly produces search results. The Mail icon is no longer missing. Using the First Access/Last Access criteria now produces correct search results. Correct date format is shown in the inline help for searching.
Welcome Page	The last row of colors in the Customize Page Colors editor now displays correctly.
Whiteboard	Opening a different screen no longer closes Whiteboard. Thumbnails for large images (approximately 300 KB or larger) display correctly in Internet Explorer. Detailed drawings that are saved, edited, and re-saved, successfully load as they were saved. Uploading images no longer generates entries in the error log. On the Macintosh, Internet Explorer 5 successfully starts the Whiteboard from the accessible interface. A maximum concurrent connection limit now works correctly. From the Text Font pop-up window, clicking Cancel now clears any selections. On the Macintosh with Internet Explorer, from the Text Font pop-up window, clicking OK now closes the pop-up window. After uploading a thumbnail to a slot from which a thumbnail was previously cleared, the old thumbnail no longer displays.