Instructions on How to Post Your Syllabus to Webster
EOU is now requesting faculty to make all their course syllabi available to students on the Web. The Webster course listings will be the environment in which students will either find or link to all syllabi. Each course has a page in Webster which looks like the one below. The link titled "Syllabus Available" needs to be enabled on each page in order to direct students to the syllabus for that course.
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There are two ways to post syllabi in Webster. Either method will activate the "Syllabus Available" link on the Webster page for your course, permitting students to review your syllabus. You will need to follow one of these methods for each of your courses:
1) The first method presumes that you have created and posted a syllabus to your personal EOU web space (typically having an address such as www.eou.edu/~facultyname/filename.html or www.eou.edu/~facultyname/filename.pdf).You would then use the "Syllabus Available" link in the Webster course listings to redirect students to a syllabus posted on a faculty web page.
2) The second method presumes that you have created a syllabus as a MS Word document but have not posted it to a web site. In this method you would actually post the syllabus in Webster so students can see it by clicking the "Syllabus Available" link in the Webster course listing.
For either outcome, the first set of steps is identical (steps 1 through 5 on this instruction sheet). Only the steps following step 5 will be different for the two methods.
For both methods, begin by logging into Webster, using your personal access code. This is the same procedure you would follow when submitting grades at the end of the term. After you log in you will see the screen below. Click on the "Faculty & Advisors" link.
Step 1
Clicking the "Faculty & Advisors" link presents the screen below. Now click on the "Faculty Detail Schedule" link.
Step 2
Clicking the link "Faculty Detail Schedule" link presents the screen below. Now select the term in which you are offering the course which needs a syllabus.
Step 3
Selecting the term in which you are offering the course will give you the "Faculty Detail Schedule" screen below. In the "Status" column you will find a listing for syllabus, and to its right the word "Add." Now click "Add".
Step 4
Clicking the word "Add" to the right of "Syllabus" presents you with an empty "Syllabus Information" screen below. At this point you have a choice of two methods for posting your syllabus.
Method 1) If you already have a syllabus placed on a personal web page, proceed to METHOD 1, below.
Method 2) If you have not placed a syllabus on your personal web space, proceed to METHOD 2, below.
Step 5
Method 1) If you already have a syllabus posted on a personal web page, write the URL (Web address) of that page in the box to the right of "Course URL" as in the example below, Step 6. Then click the"Submit" button in the lower left of this page, and a "Syllabus Available" link will be created in your Webster course listing. When students click this link, they will be directed to the syllabus you posted on your personal web site.
Step 6
Method 2) Webster will compile a web page of your syllabus for you if you write or paste text into the three text boxes labeled "Learning Objectives", "Required Materials", and "Course Description" as illustrated below as step 7. Do not place text in the boxes "Long Section Title" or "Course URL."
The easiest way to get your syllabus text into these three boxes is to leave open the Webster program window on your computer, while opening the syllabus file in whatever word processing program created it. Now select and copy the relevant parts of the syllabus text, switch to the Webster window and paste the text into one of the three boxes, such as "Learning Objectives." It is important to note that the maximum number of characters plus blank spaces that you can paste in any one of these three boxes is 6,998 characters, which is about 1,100 words.
Because Webster is web-based, all your text formatting, except for the capitalization of text will be lost in the pasted version of the text.. To preserve the paragraph and line breaks in the final compiled version of the syllabus web page you must place the following bit of code in all locations where you desire blank lines: <p>
If you do not do this your text will run on in a single large block.
Similarly, if you wish to create a list of items, such as the learning objectives in the example below, you must also place the <p> tag between lines of text.
You should also be sure to place the <p> tag on the very first line. All of this is illustrated below.
Step 7
Now click the "submit" button. Webster will take the text entered into the text boxes and compile a web page from that text. The text in the text boxes above above yields the web page below.
In order to see this compiled version of the syllabus you need to navigate to the public Webster course listings via the "Class Schedules" link at http://www.ous.edu/webster/schedules.html
Step 8
After viewing the public version of your syllabus, if you discover have made errors or wish to edit your syllabus, follow the sequence above from Step 1 through Step 4. The Faculty Detail Schedule page (Step 4) now displays the word "Modify" in place of "Add". If you click "Modify" you will see the three text boxes with your text and will be able to add <p> tags, move text or capitalize text to help lay out your syllabus.