Question: I have an assignment that requires students to do online research, but I would like them to go to specific Web sites to do this research. Can I add links to those sites in an assignment in TRACS?

Answer: Yes, you can add links to an assignment.
When you create the assignment, you enter assignment instructions in the WYSIWYG editor. You can click the link icon in the WYSIWYG editor and then copy and paste the URL or link address of the Web site(s).

(The link icon looks like a tiny earth with a single chain link attached.)

Step 1: In the WYSIWG editor in assignments, type the name of the Web site; for example: “Library of Congress”.

Step 2: Use the mouse cursor to highlight the name of the site.

Step 3: Click the link icon. The link dialog box opens.
Type the site URL, for example: http://www.loc.gov/index.html in the URL field. Or you can copy the URL from the browser window and paste it in the URL field.

Step 4: Click [OK].

The name of the Web site turns blue and is underlined indicating it is an active link.
For example: Library of Congress
The student will be able to click the link to go to the Web site.

You can add participants from the university community to your course or project site.

When you add participants from the university, you must enter their Net ID into the first field in the “Add Participants” screen that says “NetID(s)”. Make sure you enter that information in the correct field!

You will then select whether to:

• Assign all participants to the same role
• Assign each participant a role individually

Make your choice and click [Continue].

Next you’ll choose a role for the participant(s) from the following choices:
For a course site: Student, TA (Teaching Assistant), or Instructor.
For a project site: Access or Maintain.

Click [Continue].

You’ll have the option of sending the participant(s) an email notifying them of their addition to the site. Click [Finish] and the participant(s) is/are added.

Adding participants from outside the university:

To add someone from outside the university to your site, use the second field, the one named “Guest(s) Email Address (external participants, e.g. jdoe@yahoo.com)”.
You will need the individual’s email address—for example: jdoe@yahoo.com. The rest of the steps are identical to those for adding a participant from within the university community (see above).

However, there is one difference. Participants from outside the university will automatically be sent an email with the following header TRACS New User Notification, followed by the individual’s email address.

The email message says:
You have been added to TRACS (https://tracs.txstate.edu/portal) by (Your Name). Your password is 37645555

This is a password from TRACS that they must use the first time they access the site. Later they can go to the Account tool in their My Workspace and create their own password.
 

Tip of the Week (Assessment for Individual Student(s))

To accommodate an individual student that needs more time than that allotted on an assessment, you can create a duplicate assessment that requires a username and password for the student. To do that, follow these steps:

Step 1: Create an assessment. It appears in your list of “Core Assessments”.

Step 2: Set options for the assessment and publish it. Let’s say you name the assessment, Test 1.  Test 1 is the assessment that all your students, except the one individual student, will take. Once published, Test 1 appears in your list of “Published Assessments”.

Step 3: Rename the assessment, for example, as Test 1A, and under the High Security setting, add a username and password to the assessment. Change the Delivery Dates options to allow extra time for the student.

Note: You must give the student the username and password that you set.

Step 4: Under ”Grading>Gradebook Options” for the assessment, select “None”. This is so that a gradebook entry for Test 1A is not created. Instead you will enter the grade for Test 1A manually.

Step 5: Publish this version of the assessment, Test 1A. It appears in your list of “Published Assessments”. All students will see it in the list, but only the student with the username and password will be able to access it.

Once the individual has taken the test, retrieve the student’s grade using the [Scores] button in Test 1A.

Go to the Gradebook tool and to the original assessment--Test 1--and adjust the score manually. To do this:

Step 1: Click on the [Scores] button of the original assessment—Test 1.

Step 2: Find the name of the individual.

Step 3: In the adjusted score column, input the score from Test 1A, and click [Update] at the bottom of the screen.

Question: I have been using TRACS with no problems. But today when I logged in and clicked on my course site, I was asked to log in again and again. What can I do to avoid this problem?

Answer: Clearing your browser’s cache and cookies will solve the problem. See the instructions below on using the Tools menu to clear the cache and cookies in commonly-used browsers.

Internet Explorer
• Select Tools>Internet Options
• In the General tab, under Browsing History, click the Delete button and then delete/clear Temporary Internet files (cache) and Cookies.

Firefox
• Select Tools>Clear private data and select Cache and Cookies to clear.

If you need additional help with clearing browser cache and cookies, please contact the Information Technology Assistance Center (ITAC) HELP Desk at 245-4822.

FYI: Past tips are available in the TRACS Facts Site at: http://tracsfacts.its.txstate.edu/Faculty-and-Staff/tipsfac.html

Question: I would like my students to be able to add items to Resources in our TRACS site. Is that possible?

Answer: It is possible. As the instructor, you can set permissions for most of the tools in your site. Permissions are set for particular roles. The main roles in a course site are Instructor, TA (Teaching Assistant), and Student. In a project site, the roles are Maintain for the creator and manager of the site and Access for other site participants.

Permissions are granted for a tool rather than for a particular item created by using a tool. For example, permissions are set for the Resources or Announcements tool, rather than for individual items or announcements. Note that in the Resources tool, you can set permissions for individual folders.

To set permissions for a tool, follow the steps below.

1. Open the site by clicking its tab.

2. In the menu bar, click the tool for which you want to set permissions.

3. Click the [Permissions] button along the top of the main window.

4. Check or uncheck the boxes to grant or remove permissions.

5. Click [Save]. To change your selection, click [Cancel].

You must exit the permissions feature by clicking Save or Cancel before you can set permissions in another tool.

Each tool has a different set of available permissions. Some common permissions are shown below:

• new: Create a new item
• delete: Delete an item
• import: Import an item
• read: Read an item
• revise: Revise an item
• all.groups: See postings associated with any group

FYI: Past tips are available in the TRACS Facts Site at: http://tracsfacts.its.txstate.edu/Faculty-and-Staff/tipsfac.html

Question: I want to add the “Polls” tool to my existing TRACS course site. Can I do that in the middle of the semester?

Answer: You can add or drop tools from your TRACS site at any time. Of course, you will want to alert your students to the newly added or removed tool(s).

Add and remove tools by clicking the [Site Info] link in your left-hand site menu.

Click the [Edit Tools] button. You’ll see a list of all available tools. Tools that are currently being used in your site will have a checkmark in the checkbox next to the tool name.

To add a tool, click the checkbox next to the tool name.

To remove a tool, uncheck the checkbox next to the tool name.

Click [Continue].

The next screen asks you to confirm the newly added or removed tools. Once you have confirmed your choices, click the [Finish] button.

You’ll see the new tool added (or removed) from your left-hand site menu. If you need information on using the new tool, go to the TRACSFacts Support site at: http://tracsfacts.its.txstate.edu/Faculty-and-Staff/trainingdocsfac.html

Copyright issues affect instructors, librarians and others who teach in a classroom, or who use TRACS or other online systems to teach.

What is copyright?
It is a set of exclusive legal rights granted only to the creator/owner of original literary, musical, artistic (and other) "works". These include the right to exclusive publication, production, sale, or distribution of a literary, musical, dramatic, or artistic work.

Whether you use graphics you found on the Web, or video clips from DVDs or television shows, audio recordings, or prints of famous artists, chances are copyright issues are involved. Violating copyright is a serious matter. You can be held liable, as can the University, and fines can be substantial.

To assist you in sorting out copyright issues, we have created a TRACS site where you can find information on the use of copyrighted materials in the classroom or online.

You must join the site in order to see it and use it.

To join the site, log in to TRACS. You’ll be in your “My Workspace”, where you will click the “Membership” link on the left hand menu.

On the Membership page, you’ll see a list of sites to which you belong. Click the “Joinable Sites” button/link near the top of the screen.

Search for the site by entering the work “Copyright” in the Search box and clicking the Search button. Once the site name appears, click the “Join” button/link.

The tab for the Copyright site will now appear with your other site tabs, or in the dropdown box to the right of your site tabs. Click the tab or site name to go to the site. Once you are in the site, click the “Copyright Info” link on the left-hand menu.

By the way, when you upload a file, or create an HTML or simple text file in TRACS, you can set the copyright status of the file. For more on this see the Copyright Tip on the TRACS Facts Help site at: http://tracsfacts.its.txstate.edu/tips

How to set copyright notifications in TRACS

When you upload a file, or create an HTML or simple text file in TRACS, you can set the copyright status of the file.

Choose your file's copyright status from a drop-down list and add optional copyright information, if you wish.

Choices found on the drop-down list are:

• Material is in public domain
• I hold copyright
• Material is subject to fair use exception
• I have obtained permission to use this material
• Copyright status is not yet determined
• Use copyright below

If you select, Use copyright below, enter the appropriate copyright information in the text box.

COPYRIGHT ALERT:

You can also choose to display a copyright alert.
Use the checkbox to select whether or not to display the alert. If you select this option, the item will be displayed with a copyright symbol next to the title.
When a user clicks the item, they will see the copyright alert message and must click I agree to access the item.

The copyright alert provides the title of the item, the copyright information and the following text:

• You may download or copy this file for use in this class.
• You may NOT download or copy this file to another site.
• You may NOT download or copy this file for publication or sale.
 

Question: I have old classes that are showing up in the tabs at the top of my screen when I log into TRACS. Is it possible to only display course tabs from the current semester?

Answer: You can display only certain course tabs and you can determine the order in which they display by using the Customize Tabs function in Preferences.

As you know, course and project sites appear as tabs across the top of the screen. When you have a certain number of sites displayed as tabs, other sites you belong to are placed in a drop-down list at the far right of the tabs.

You can arrange tabs so that only courses from a particular semester, or those you use most often are displayed across the top, and others either appear in the drop-down box or are hidden from view.

To hide certain site tabs or to change the order of a site tab:

Step 1. Log in to TRACS. You will be in your “My Workspace”.

Step 2. Click [Preferences] in the menu bar.

Step 3. Click [Customize Tabs] in the upper left grey bar, to the right of “Notifications”.

Step 4. To remove a site or sites from view, select the site(s) in the Sites visible in Tabs list box, and use the left arrow(s) to move the selected site(s) to the Sites not visible in Tabs list box.

To reorder sites in the Sites Visible in Tabs list box, select a site in the list and use the up and down arrows to change the order of the site.

To make a site or sites visible, select it/them in the Sites not visible in Tabs list box and use the right arrow(s) to move it to the Sites Visible in Tabs list box.

Step 5. Click [Update Preferences].
 

If students complain that they are not receiving email messages sent from your TRACS site(s), it may be because their mail is set to be automatically forwarded to an external mail server. Some students and faculty have chosen to have mail to their “txstate.edu” address forwarded to external mail service providers such as Gmail, RoadRunner, Yahoo, Hotmail, or AOL.

The problem is that these external email providers filter mail for spam. When they receive high volumes of bulk mail from a single site, such as a mass email from a TRACS site, that mail and all other mail from that server (txstate.edu) may be blocked by spam filters. As a result, the timely and proper delivery of the email cannot be guaranteed, as final delivery to the destination mailbox is not within Texas State’s control.

The problem is not unique to Texas State. Other large universities that allow students and faculty to forward their university email to another email address also cannot guarantee that important messages sent from university sites will be received.

You may want to advise your students and colleagues of this issue.

If you, or your students, have forwarded your Texas State email to an external provider, you, and they, may want to reverse that setting.

To change your setting, go the main Bobcatmail log in screen at https://synergy.txstate.edu, and click on “Email ToolKit” which is found under the Need Help heading.
Log in and click on “Set Forward”. Select [Remove]. Click [Submit].

You can place an E-Reserve link from the Library directly into your TRACS site. This makes E-Reserve documents more easily accessible to students in the course. To do this, you must first get the direct URL to the E-Reserve login screen.

To get the URL to your E-Reserve follow these steps:

Step 1: Go to the library web page at http://www.library.txstate.edu

Step 2: Click on the link under "Services" titled [E-Reserve]

Step 3: Click on the link [Electronic Reserves & Reserves Pages]

Step 4: In the search form, type out your (course instructor's) last name and click the [Search] button

Step 5: Click on the course name you want to access

Step 6: In the address field of your browser, highlight the URL and copy it.
The next step is to add your E-Reserve URL to the “Web Content” tool in TRACS.

Here’s how you do that:

Step 1: Log into TRACS and navigate to your site.

Step 2: Click [Site Info].

Step 3: Click [Edit Tools].

Step 4: Select the checkbox for Web Content and click [Continue].

Step 5: Enter a title for the E-Reserve page and paste the URL into the URL field. Click [Continue].

Step 6: A confirmation screen appears. Click [Finish] to add the link to your TRACS Site.

The link will appear in your left hand menu. The student would click the link, enter the password, click “I accept” and access the materials. Of course, you must be sure to provide students with the password for your E-Reserves.

This week, we’re sharing tips from TRACS users. Some of our pilot group faculty has told us about ways in which they use TRACS or about valuable features that others could use. Here are two such tips from Dr. Judy Allen of Family and Consumer Science:

When you upload an item to the documents tool, enter a description for it and then send an email notification to site members, the email contains the description you entered. Thus site members can learn not only that a new item has been added, but also something about the item itself.

In fact, the description field could be used to enter information other than a description, such as instructions on using the item. That information will be contained in the email notification to site members.

Dr. Allen uses project sites to organize her students into groups. But rather than creating the project sites herself, she organizes the groups, and then has students create the sites.

Having students create project sites in TRACS provides an opportunity for them to show initiative and to learn useful skills. In addition, the project sites provide multiple tools that students can use to communicate and collaborate on class projects.

Thank you Dr. Allen for sharing these tips!

The TRACS Team occasionally hears requests from TRACS users to increase the size of the text letters on TRACS screens. But did you know you can easily adjust the size of text in your browser to suit your particular preference?

In Firefox, go to View>Text Size> Increase (keyboard shortcut is Control +) or Decrease (keyboard shortcut is Control -), Normal (keyboard shortcut Control 0). Each time you press the Control and plus sign keys, the text gets larger. Each time you press the Control and minus sign keys, the text gets smaller. Keep pressing these keys until the text is at its optimum size for you.

(Note: On the Mac, the keyboard shortcut is Apple + or Apple -)

In Internet Explorer, go to View>Text Size and choose from the available options which are Largest, Larger. Medium, Smaller, Smallest
 

When you upload an item to the resources tool, the item is accessible only to members of your site. But you can choose to make the item public, that is, to share it with individuals outside the site, and even outside the TRACS system.

For example: You may have a document you wish to share with a colleague at another university.

To make the item available to individuals outside the site and outside TRACS, when you upload the item, put a checkmark in the Access: Display to non-members (publicly viewable) box.

Leaving the box unchecked makes the file accessible only to members of the site.
Click [Add] to finish the file upload process and you are returned to the main Resources page, on which the newly added item is displayed.

Right-click (Windows), or Control + click (Mac), the item name in the resources tool and select Copy Link Location, Copy Link or Copy Shortcut (depending on your browser) from the pop-up menu. This copies the absolute address of the item on the TRACS server.

Paste it in notepad/word pad, a Word document or email message.

Send the document address to the individual with whom you wish to share the item.
To access the item, the individual will open a browser, copy and paste the address in the browser address bar, and click Go.

You can use the Resources tool in your My Workspace as a convenient filing cabinet for files and folders on which you are working. You can store documents, images, media files and more. By doing so, you can access those items from different locations, as long as you have a computer, the appropriate applications and an Internet connection.

For example, let’s say you’ve started a document in Word in your office.

− Complete your work and save your document on the computer.
− Then open a Web browser and log in to TRACS.
− Go to your My Workspace and click the resources tool in the menu bar.
− Upload the document.

NOTE: If you are working on a public computer, you may want to delete the file from the local computer once it has been uploaded.

Later, at home or elsewhere, you can log in to TRACS, go the resources tool in your My Workspace and open the document so that you can continue working on it.

When you are done, save the document on your computer with a different version name and upload it back to your My Workspace resources.

Even though the document is in the TRACS system, ALWAYS keep backup copies of all your documents!

It may not always be convenient for students to meet with you during your office hours. So you may want to consider using the TRACS Chat Room tool as an alternate way for students to reach you with questions and concerns. The Chat Room tool allows real-time, unstructured conversations among site participants who are signed on to the site at the same time.

When you are in the Chat Room, you will see a list of all other participants who are also in the chat room. This is so that you will know who is available to talk. Everyone in the chat room can see everything that occurs onscreen.

You can create an Online Office Hours chat room where you will be available to chat on a specified day and time. Some instructors set up regular online office hours. An added benefit is that students who are shy about talking to you in person may find it easier to make their concerns known through the chat tool.

Another use for the chat tool is as a space for an online study group. Students can arrange to meet online on a certain day/time to discuss course content and exchange information.

For either of these uses, it’s important to know the Chat Room tool does not provide a way to chat privately. Chat messages are saved and visible to all users. By default, all chat messages are displayed for at least three days.

NOTE: Make sure students understand this so that they do not discuss sensitive information, such as grades, in the chat room, and that they do not make personal comments as those will also be visible to all users.

Question: When I copy and paste text from Microsoft Word into the WYSIWYG editor in the Syllabus tool in TRACS, the text doesn’t display properly. What should I do?

Answer: Use the “Paste from Word” button in the WYSIWYG editor.

When you copy and paste text from a Word document into the TRACS WYSIWYG editor (which is found in several TRACS tools, including Syllabus and Assignments), your text can appear compressed or cut off and some of the formatting may not appear at all.

This issue occurs when you use the general “Paste” icon or use the keyboard shortcut Control + V, or Command + V (Mac) to perform the paste function.

This is because Word creates extra code that is not read by the WYSIWYG editor in TRACS. As a result, the text is not rendered correctly.

The solution is to use the “Paste from Word” button in the WYSIWYG editor.
There are three “Paste” buttons that appear in the editor in the middle of the topmost row of formatting buttons. The third Paste button from the left is “Paste from Word”, as you will see if you mouse over the icon.

When you use this feature, enough of the extra coding that Word supplies is removed, so that the editor can maintain the formatting and display the document as it appears in Word.

So remember to use the “Paste from Word” button whenever you copy and paste text from Word into any tool in TRACS that uses the WYSIWYG editor.

What are Permissions and Roles in TRACS and why should I care?

Permissions and Roles allow you to set limits on what users of a course or project site can and cannot do within your TRACS site.

Each participant in a TRACS course or project site is assigned a specific role for that site. Depending on the role, the user will have permission to perform certain functions within each tool in TRACS. For example: Some roles allow the user to simply access or read content, while other roles allow the user to upload files, edit the site's content and add or remove participants.

When you create a site, you specify the role other participants will have when they use your site. For each tool that you add to your site, you can set permissions that allow or prevent users from seeing or performing certain tasks depending on their roles.
Note: Permissions are granted for a tool rather than for a particular item created by using a tool. For example, permissions are set for the Announcement tool, rather than for individual announcements.

In a course site, there are three possible roles: instructor, teaching assistant (ta) and student. In a project site, there are two possible roles: maintain and access.
Each role has certain default permissions.

Instructor/Teaching Assistant/Maintain role: This role has full administrative permission to create, edit, and delete within a site. This is generally the role of the faculty member that creates and maintains the site, and of teaching assistants. In the maintain role, you can change permissions for different roles to suit the site's needs.

Note: All users are assigned the maintain role in their respective My Workspace. This gives a user edit control over his or her My Workspace.

Tools for which those in a maintain role can set permissions are:
• Announcements
• Assignments
• Chat room
• Discussion
• Email archive
• Documents
• Calendar

Student/Access role:
The access role has fewer permissions, and cannot delete content. It has limited permission to add content. For example, the access role cannot add an assignment, but can create Chat messages and Discussion replies. This is the role of the student, or others to whom you assign an access role in your site.

To set permissions in a tool, click the Permissions link located at the top right of the tool window.
 

Have you ever needed to print a page from your TRACS site? Here’s some information that can help you accomplish that task.

All pages (or screens) in TRACS are displayed in frames. The menu bar occupies a frame on the left side of the screen where links to TRACS tools are displayed. The TRACS logo and site tabs are in a frame that horizontally spans the top part of the screen. The main frame which is part of the screen below the horizontal upper frame and to the right of the menu bar is where most of the content in TRACS is displayed.

To print the main frame you’ll use slightly different commands, depending on your browser and computer platform (PC or Mac).

On a PC, to print the main frame, right-click the frame and:

• in Explorer, select Print, or highlight the text you wish to print, right-click and select Print from the file menu, then choose the “selection” option in page range.
   
• in Firefox, select This Frame>Open Frame in New Window. Then go to File>Print

On a Mac, to print the main frame, hold down the Control key and click the frame and:

•  in Firefox, select This Frame>Open Frame in New Window. Then go to File>Print

Once in the Print dialog box, select a printer, set options and print.

(Please note, some of these commands may vary slightly, depending on the version of the browser that you use.)

Did you know that you can rename your site in TRACS? This applies to both course and project sites.

To do that, log in to TRACS and click the site tab whose name you wish to change.
Once you are in the site, click on [Site Setup] in the menu bar, and then on [Edit Site Information].

Click in the Site Title box, highlight the existing text, and enter the new name.

NOTE: It’s best to keep site names short. A lengthy name results in a lengthy tab which will take up much of your tab space.

Click [Continue].

On the next screen, your new site name is shown in blue text. If it is correct, click [Finish].
The new name is applied and takes effect immediately. You will notice that the site tab now displays the new name.
 

The roster tool allows you to view the names, photos, and profiles of site participants, but only if the participant has added a photo and entered information in the profile tool (found in each individual’s My Workspace).

When you create a site in TRACS, you have the option of adding the roster tool. You can also add the tool later using site setup.

NOTE: The roster tool is not used to add or remove participants from a site. To do that, you must use site setup.

To access the roster tool, in the site menu bar, select roster.

Viewing Options

By default, participants are listed alphabetically, and separated by role (Instructor/TA/Student or Maintain/Access).

• To sort alphabetically by last name, click Name. To reverse the order, click Name again.
• To sort alphabetically by user ID, click User ID. To reverse the order, click User ID again.
• To see all roles in one list, use the View drop-down list and select All Users.

Viewing Profiles

To view a participant's profile, click Profile next to the person's name. Information the participant has entered into the profile tool (found in My Workspace) is displayed.

Photos

To view a photo that a participant of your site has added in the profile tool, click [Show Pictures] at the top right side of the roster page. To hide photos, click [Hide Pictures].

To include a photo as part of your profile:

Step 1: Go to your My Workspace and upload the photo into the documents tool in your workspace

Step 2: In the documents tool, right-click (Windows), or Control + click (Mac), the item name and select Copy Link Location, Copy Link or Copy Shortcut (depending on your browser) from the pop-up menu. This copies the absolute address of the item on the TRACS server.

Step 3: In the menu bar of your workspace, select profile, and then [Edit My Profile].

Step 4: Scroll down to the heading Picture and select Use Picture URL. Paste the address of the picture (copied in Step 2) into the field below the words Use Picture URL.

Step 5: Click [Save].

The photo will now appear as part of your profile.

Official ID Photo

Currently, TRACS does not display official university photos of participants. Therefore clicking [Show Official ID Photo] on the roster page will result in the following message: No Official Photo is Available.

Did you know that certain characters in file names can cause problems in TRACS?
These “unsupported characters” should not be used when naming items such as a file, folder, discussion forum, or wiki page. Here is a list of the unsupported characters:

Character

\
Back slash
/
Forward slash
?
Question mark
*
Asterisk
"
Quotation mark
:
Colon
<
Less than
>
Greater than
#
Hash mark
%
Percent sign

Using any of these characters in a file name will cause an error when you attempt to upload that file into TRACS. If your file's name contains one of these characters, change the file name before uploading it.

Question: As the end of the semester approaches, I would like to remove old classes from the tabs at the top of my screen in TRACS. Can you tell me how to do that? Also, how can I end student access to a course site and materials?

Answer: You can display only the most current course tabs and even determine the order in which they display by using the Customize Tabs function in Preferences.

To terminate student access to a site, un-publish the site using [Site Info].

To hide certain site tabs or to change the display order of a site tab:

Step 1. Log in to TRACS. You will be in your “My Workspace”.

Step 2. Click [Preferences] in the left-hand menu bar.

Step 3. Click [Customize Tabs] in the upper left bar, to the right of “Notifications”.

Step 4. To remove a site or sites from view, select the site(s) in the Sites visible in Tabs list box, and use the left arrow(s) to move the selected site(s) to the Sites not visible in Tabs list box.

To make a site or sites visible, select it/them in the Sites not visible in Tabs list box and use the right arrow(s) to move it to the Sites Visible in Tabs list box.

To reorder sites in the Sites Visible in Tabs list box, select a site in the list and use the up and down arrows to change the display order of the site.

Step 5. Click [Update Preferences].

To end student access to a site:

Step 1. Click [Site Info] on the site left-hand menu bar. (It is the first item on the menu.)

Step 2. Click the [Manage Access] link.

Step 3. Un-check the Publish Site checkbox, and click the [Update] button.
The site is “Unpublished” and will not be available to students.

It’s important for instructors to know how many students are in a particular course site.
You can go to Site Info in a course site and see the list of students that are enrolled and that have logged in at least once.

The TRACS system is currently set up to only display those students that have logged into the system and we are aware that this has caused some confusion and aggravation for instructors. What happens when the registrar’s roster shows you have 30 students but when you go to Site Info in your course site, you only see the 24 students that have logged in so far?

Here’s a simple and quick solution.

Go to Site Info in the course site

Go to the bottom of the list of participants and click [Update Participants].

This forces the TRACS system to display all students that are registered in the course, not just those that have logged in.

A wiki is a Web site that allows site participants to edit it. That makes it different from most Web sites that can only be edited by the Webmaster. The name comes from the Hawaiian term wiki, meaning quick or fast.

In TRACS, you can add the wiki tool to your course or project site. This creates a wiki space dedicated to participants of the site. Site participants can then log in to TRACS, go the site and add, edit, and update content and pages within
the wiki tool.

But that’s not all. A wiki also allows participants to track the history of a document as it is revised. Each time changes are made to a wiki page, the revised page is saved as the current version, and the previous version is stored. All participants have immediate access to all versions of the document by clicking the [History] button.

In addition, by viewing the Home page within the wiki, all participants can immediately see when each page was last revised and who revised it.

Suggested uses of a wiki:

Student Uses:
• to gather information for a group report
• to collaborate on writing a group report
• to gather data from multiple students for a research study
• to share the results of research
• to collaboratively write reviews of courses taken

Faculty Uses:
• to collaboratively author the curriculum of a course
• to collaboratively write a grant proposal
• to gather information for a group report
• to collaborate on writing a group report
• to gather data for a research study
• to share the results of research with colleagues or fellow researchers
• to create assignments for students that involve using the wiki, such as those shown above!

Documentation on using the wiki tool is available at the TRACS Faculty/Staff Support site.

TRACS has two dedicated email tools that allow you to easily communicate with learners and other site participants.

• Mail Tool
• Email Archive

Mail Tool allows instructors/site maintainers to easily email an individual site participant or a selected group of participants in a site.

For example:

Do you want to send an email to only two out of thirty site participants? Or do you need to send an email message to all your teaching assistants regarding
a change in course practices?

Using the Mail Tool you can quickly select a subset of site participants, either individually, by their role in the site (instructors, teaching assistants, students), or by a previously defined section or group. Once you have selected the recipients of the message, compose the message and send it.

The Email Archive tool is used to send email messages to all site participants.

For example:

Do you need to notify all site participants that class is cancelled because of bad weather? Or that an upcoming field trip date has been changed?
When you add this tool to your site, you will have to create a site email address. Messages can then be sent from any email program to the site email address; from there they are sent to all site participants. In addition, a copy of the email is archived (saved) on the site.

The Email Archive automatically updates changes to site participants. Thus, as students drop or add the course, they will be dropped or added from the email list appropriately. However the Email Archive tool cannot be used to send email to selected individual participants.

Our tip this week comes from Dr. Frank de le Teja, Chair of the History Department. He recently created a project site in TRACS to use as a repository for all his departmental documents and forms. History department faculty and staff are enrolled in the site and now have immediate access to all such documents from their computers in the office, at home and on the road (as long as they have internet access).

What is a project site?

Project sites are standalone sites that exist across semesters for as long as you wish. Unlike course sites, project sites are not linked to a specific semester or course. Once you create the site, you decide who will participate in the site and then add them as participants. Participants can include individuals from outside the university. All the tools available in a course site are also available in a project site.

For these reasons, project sites are ideal for collaborative projects, such as research, or for organizations and groups, and of course, for academic departments.

Thanks to Dr. de la Teja for sharing his idea! If you use a TRACS site or tool in a way that you think could benefit others, please write and tell us about it.

Question: How can I tell whether a student has checked feedback in a Post’Em file?

Answer: Post’Em allows you to see at a glance which students have checked their feedback.

Post'Em is a tool that allows instructors to post general feedback, grades, or comments for students or other site participants.

Once the grades, comments or feedback has been posted, instructors can check to see whether students have viewed their grades/comments/feedback by looking at the entire posted file.

To view the entire posted file in spreadsheet view:

Step 1: In your site's menu bar, click [Post'Em].

Step 2: Find the file to view, and then click [View]. The contents of the posted file appear.
The names of participants who have not checked their feedback will appear in red. Under "Last Check", you can see the last time participants checked their feedback.

Step 3: To return to the main Post'Em screen, click [Back].

To view feedback for a single student/participant:

Step 1: In your site's menu bar, click [Post'Em].

Step 2: Find the appropriate file, and then click [View Participant].

Step 3: Use the drop-down list to select a participant. You'll see the feedback as it will appear to that person.

Step 4: To return to the main Post'Em screen, click [Back].

Question: Can I review the status of all students for all assignments?

Answer: Yes you can!

You can view a list of all your students and see whether a student has submitted the assignments, the date each assignment was submitted, and the grade, if one has been given.

Step 1: In the menu bar of the site, click the [Assignments] button.

Step 2: From the View drop-down list, select Assignment List by Student.

Step 3: Click the triangular arrow next to a student's name to view the status of his or her assignment submissions. Click the arrow again to hide the student's information.

Did you know that you can add a link to a Web site or to an HTML page in the left-hand menu bar of your TRACS site? TRACS makes it easy to add a link to a Web site that you and your students use often. You can also use the Web Content feature to link to existing HTML pages that you created using Web page creation software. (The pages must be on a Web server.)

To add a Web Content item

Step 1: In the site’s menu bar, click [Site Info].

Step 2: On the Site Info page, click [Edit Tools].

Step 3: Check the box next to [Web Content]. Click [Continue].

Step 4: On the Customize Tools screen, enter a title and the URL of the site in the appropriate fields.

Note: You can add more than one Web Content item by selecting the appropriate number of items from the More Web Content Tools? drop-down menu.

Step 5: Click [Continue]. On the next screen, confirm your new entry and click [Finish]. The link is added to your left-hand site menu.

To edit a Web Content item

Step 1: In the site's menu bar, click the link of the appropriate Web Content item.

Step 2: Click [Options], found near the top of the Web Content frame.

Step3: On the Customize Web Content form, you can change the:

o Tool Title: The title that appears in your site's menu bar
o Page Title: The title that appears at the top of the Web Content frame
o Frame Height: The height, in pixels, of the Web Content frame
o URL: The URL for the Web Content item
o Make the link open in a new browser window by checking the box next to Open in a new window?

Step 4: Click [Update Options] to save your changes.

It’s a good idea to use question pools when you create an assessment in TRACS. Creating question pools allows you to quickly create new assessments using questions created earlier and placed in a pool or pools.

Question pools can contain sub-pools, so that you can organize questions by subject matter, section number, question type, or any other criteria desired.

This can be especially important if you create an assessment using a particular assessment “type” and then realize that the type you selected doesn’t contain all the settings you need.

In that case, simply start with a new type that has the settings you require. Rather than having to recreate the questions one by one, simply import them from your question pool(s).

Note: An assessment “type” contains particular settings that will apply to all assessments created using that type. Settings include how many times a student can take the assessment, time limits, due dates, and other features.

Using question pools can save you time and aggravation. For complete information on using question pools, see the Question Pools documentation at the TRACS Facts Site.

Question: When I look at my Course Grades in the Gradebook, some of my
student’s course grades are incorrect? Why is this?

Answer: In TRACS, grades are calculated by averaging only submitted
grades that have been entered for each student and for each assignment.
For the Course Grade to be calculated correctly, you must either enter a zero
for each non-submitted grade in the gradebook or use the “Calculate Course
Grade” button which will automatically add zeros for you.

Note: The “Calculate Course Grade” button is located at the bottom
of the Course Grades page in the Gradebook.

Question: Does the TRACS Gradebook tool allow for weighting of grades?

Answer: TRACS does allow for weighting of grades.

In the Gradebook, you can create categories, and assign Gradebook items to
them. For example, you might have categories titled Homework, Quizzes,
and Exams. Each category can be assigned certain percentages of the total
grade thereby weighting them and the items they contain.

Note: The total percentage must equal 100 percent and each
assignment within a category must have the same point value. For
example, you cannot have a test in a category that is worth 100
points and another worth 200 points; otherwise the resulting grade
will be calculated incorrectly.

Question: Can I add an extra-credit assignment to the Gradebook? 

Answer: You can add extra-credit for students by using the Grade Override function in the Gradebook.

Procedures:

1. In the menu bar, click [Gradebook], and then click [Add Gradebook Item].
   (You must add a title and assign a point value greater than zero)
2. To allow students to view the grade for this item, check the box next to Release this item to Student.
3. Make sure to leave unchecked the "Include this item in course grade calculation" box. TRACS averages all grades, and since extra credit asignments are extra points on top of student grades they should NOT be counted in the average.
4. To create the item, click [Add Item]. You will see a message saying the item has been added. Alternatively, click [Cancel] to discard the item.
5. You will be returned to the Gradebook Items screen. Click on the extra credit item and enter the extra points per student in the colunm for the new extra credit item.
   (You may want to keep a separate record of these entries for the next step in the process).
6. At the top of the screen, click [Course Grades].
7. On the Course Grades page, you will see a list of enrolled students and their calculated course grades. In the "Grade Override" column, add the extra points to the calculated course grade for each student.
   (NOTE: The grade you enter in the Grade Override colunm must be a letter, not a numerical grade.)
8. Click [Save].

Question: As the end of the semester gets closer, I'm thinking about how to calculate couse grades in the Gradebook. Do you have any advice?

Answer: The Gradebook automatically calculates a course grade that is the percentage of current points scored by a student out of the total points possible for all gradebook items.

It is important to know that any ungraded gradebook item (where the grade is left blank) is NOT counted toward the final course grade. Any un-scored grade boxes are converted to zeros and will be dalculated in the average ONLY when you use the "Calculate Course Grade" tool.

To calculate course grades, follow these steps:

1. In your site's menu bar, click [Gradebook].
2. Near the top of the screen, click [Course Grades].
3. Below the Grading Table, click [Calculate Course Grades].
4. On the confirmation page, click [Continue].
   (NOTE: This action is irreversible.)
5. You will receive a confirmation that course grades have been calculated.
6. You can export course grades as a .csv file, which you can view in Excel by xlicking the [Export Course Grades] button.

Question: My policy is to drop certain grades at the end of the semester. Can you tell me how to do that in the TRACS Gradebook?

Answer: The procedure for dropping grades in the Gradebook is outlined below. As noted below, if you do drop grades, do not use the Calculate Course Grade function which could produce an incorrect result.

To remove a grade in the Gradebook:

1. In the Gradebook, click [All Grades] at the top of the page. You will see a list of all students and their averaged course grades.
2. Select a student by clicking his/her name.
3. You will see a list of items and the grades you recorded for that student.
4. Remove a grade by highlighting the entry and deleting it.
5. Click the Save button at the bottom of the screen.

Caution: If you drop grades, do not use the Calculate Course Grad function in TRACS gradebook. The Calculate Course grade function will convert the grades you just dropped into zeros and include them in calculating the final grade.