Course Studio (the simple course site in WyoWeb) carries severe limitations that sometimes surprise instructors. Prior to use, please review the documentation on this website. As with all web applications and services, you must use a supported browser and operating system.
The eCompanion shells provided by UW Instructional Computing Services are meant as supplements to on-campus courses. We support student access through the UW Student Lab Systems but not distance arrangements. Reliance on other configurations such as connections from home or a commercial ISP may lead to problems that we cannot resolve, and students should be so informed.
Faculty should maintain their course materials on their own systems, outside their eCompanion course shells, including all syllabi, notes, images, and exams, and student records. The student gradebook should be downloaded for permanent archival at the end of the class. (But a future course can be based on a former one.) eCompanion is not intended to be an archiving facility.
In eCompanion, courses are reached through the "Academics" tab and the term list. Materials are uploaded through an edit window or the File Manager and connected to content items associated with units. The "Author" interface makes these facilities accessible. If you don't understand these references, attend an online course workshop or tutorial at Instructional Computing Services before you start to rely on your course website.
Make sure your students know what to do when you refer them to the "online" component of the class-- explain whether it is Course Studio or eCompanion. They, and you, should start by reading the "Student Info" web page at http://www.uwyo.edu/ctl/ics/coursewebsites/StudentInfo.html; it contains sections of instructions for each of the platforms. Please have students try out the system early in the term by performing a low-stakes task such as reading or downloading some materials, taking a self-test, or contributing to a discussion. (Because it's easiest to understand the procedure through a demonstration, the Coordinator of Instructional Computing will come to your class, on request, to hold one for your students.) Note that fictional students, available for inclusion in your course membership, carry our office's e-mail address, and so we receive the messages that you send them. The staff of Instructional Computing Services has complete access to your course websites.
Note: Your user ID for eCollege/eCompanion is your UWYO domain user name (the part of your e-mail address up to the '@').
Students are enrolled in the eCompanion course automatically, and drops and adds are reflected in the "Course Enrollment" list within a couple of days under routine circumstances. Because the current procedure's manual steps expose it to error, a course, and its students, may take several days to appear. Because of the Combined-CRN Drop Problem, you may have to request manual enrollment of missing students, specifying each user ID as in point 3 below. Student access to eCompanion course sites opens one week before the semester starts.
Use a supported browser. Javascript must be enabled and pop-ups must also be enabled. Browser settings must allow cookies from various eCollege sites. Please see the "Tech Requirements" link on the login page, and the Troubleshooting section of the "Instructions" document.
Instructors who wish to have missing students enrolled, guest instructors or teaching assistants given privileges in their courses, or dummy students for testing purposes, must fill out the Additional Participants form.
Schedule your exam in the course before you announce it to your class, as you may find it tricky. Warn your students to "Save Answers" at least every 15-20 minutes as they take an exam.
In the Gradebook, when entering scores, "Save Changes" before you click "Share with Students." Do not use a column in the Item Summary view to enter grades; they will not show to the students. Use the column in the item's unit.
Last update 8 January 2013; RKH
Faculty are encouraged to find more detailed instructions on this website or to consult with Instructional Computing Services at Coe 510B, ectltech@uwyo.edu, or 766-5499.