Oncourse Message of the Day compilation

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Each Message of the Day that has been posted on Oncourse is listed here, so you can find any tips that you missed.

Reset the current tool

Using the Oncourse up arrow icon is a better choice than using your browser's back button. The up arrow icon returns you to the starting point of the tool you're using as if you had entered the tool in a new session. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? [Posted February 7, 2012]

View participation statistics

Instructors: Using Forums, you can view statistics for individual course participants, including the number of authored, read, and unread posts. You can also see the full text of all posts by a particular participant. See Using Oncourse Forums, what participation statistics are available? Watch the feature demo: View Forum Statistics. [Posted February 2, 2012]

Embed a video in Oncourse

You can post a video hosted by a third-party provider (YouTube, Vimeo, etc.) within any Oncourse tool that uses the WYSIWYG editor, such as Assignments 2, Forums, Messages, or Blogs Beta. See In Oncourse, how do I post a video from an online host? [Posted January 31, 2012]

Add a photo to your Oncourse profile

The Profile tool in My Workspace allows you to enter and display public and personal information, including a picture. You can also choose whether your information is public or private. See Oncourse Profile: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Add a photo to your profile. [Posted January 26, 2012]

Feature demos

You can watch and listen to dozens of multimedia demos to learn about the tools in Oncourse. For a description of each available tool in Oncourse with links to more detailed descriptions and the feature demos, see Oncourse features. [Posted January 24, 2012]

Customizing Oncourse

Have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this, such as customizing your tabs across the top of the page. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted January 19, 2012]

Summer 2009 course sites archived January 30

Instructors: Summer 2009 course sites will be archived Jan. 30. Have you saved any materials you want to keep for future classes? See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted January 17, 2012]

Set your grade scale

Instructors: There is a default grade scale set in the Oncourse Gradebook. To change the grade scale, click the Course Grade Options and edit the listed scale and grade type. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I change the grade entry, grade type, and grade scale? or watch the feature demo Change grade type. [Posted January 12, 2012]

Assignments 2 enhancements

Assignments 2 now has integration with Turnitin.com for all course sites. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. See also Oncourse Turnitin integration: Overview. [Posted January 10, 2012]

Tests & Surveys enhancements

Tests & Surveys is now in full production status with improved Gradebook integration such as linking multiple assessments to the same gradebook item and setting a relative item weight to assessments in a percentage gradebook. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted January 5, 2012]

Communication tips for instructors

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted January 3, 2012]

Course site basic setup

Instructors: Consider the five tools used most often when setting up a new course site: Syllabus, Announcements, Gradebook, Messages, and Resources. See Oncourse Quick Start: For Instructors (PDF). To find out about workshops, contact your campus teaching and learning center. See also How accessible is my course site to students with disabilities? [Posted December 22, 2011]

Archiving your gradebook

Instructors: After submitting final grades to the registrar, it's best practice to export your gradebook from Oncourse as a spreadsheet file and store it on a secure hard drive in your department. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I view and export all student grades? [Posted December 20, 2011]

Copy Oncourse resources

Instructors: You can copy files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easier accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I copy an item? [Posted December 15, 2011]

Final grades in Oncourse

Instructors: You can submit final grades through the SIS Grade Roster tool in your course sites. See In Oncourse, using the SIS Grade Roster tool, how do I submit grades? Students: You can usually view your final grade the day after it is submitted. See In Oncourse, when will students have access to their final grades? [Posted December 13, 2011]

Help make Oncourse better

Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. When you use the Contact Us link at the top of any Oncourse page, your suggestions are tracked and catalogued. The Oncourse Priorities Committee then considers your proposals. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted December 8, 2011]

Find an open campus computer

Students: Looking for an available computer at IU Bloomington, IUPUI, IU East, IU Southeast, or IU South Bend? To see a list of open seats (plus a Google map for IUB/IUPUI), you can use the seat finder tool. See How do I find open seating in the UITS STCs or computing labs? [Posted December 6, 2011]

Order Gradebook items

Instructors: You can order Oncourse Gradebook items by adding a number to the title of the item, e.g., 01_Quiz 1 and 02_homework 1. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I add, edit, or delete an item? [Posted December 1, 2011]

Set up an online meeting

Instructors and site leaders: You can set up a Web Content link in Oncourse that site participants can use to log directly into your Connect Meeting room. Use voice or chat, share a whiteboard or your computer screen, even share a student's keyboard. See Using Oncourse Web Content, how do I link to a Connect Meeting room? Watch the feature demo: Add a Web Content tool to a course or project site. [Posted November 29, 2011]

Find any previous Oncourse tip

So that you can find any tips you may have missed, each Oncourse tip that has been posted here is archived in the Knowledge Base. See Oncourse Message of the Day compilation. [Posted November 22, 2011]

Students: You will have access to your spring course sites on Dec. 20.

[Posted November 17, 2011]

Oncourse time out limits

Unless you are actively using it, the Oncourse server disconnects your session after three hours (four hours for the Original Test and Survey tool). Oncourse will warn you when your session is close to timing out. Click OK when the timeout warning pops up. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [Posted November 17, 2011]

Import from previous semesters

Instructors: Rather than starting from scratch, you can import course materials from previous semesters into your spring 2012 course sites. You even have the choice of what materials to import. See Using Oncourse, how do I import material or participants from another site I own? or watch the feature demonstration Reuse content from other sites. [Posted November 15, 2011]

Oncourse will be unavailable Saturday, Nov. 19, midnight-4am, due to scheduled system maintenance.

[Posted November 10, 2011]

The "Users present" list has been removed from Oncourse sites to improve performance.

[Posted November 10, 2011]

Build a citation list in Resources

Using the Citation tool in Resources, you can quickly build a list of citations for your course. Search library databases or Google Scholar from within Oncourse, and then just point and click to add references to your list. See Oncourse Resources: Working with citation lists. [Posted November 8, 2011]

Share your Wiki

Anyone at IU can add a Wiki to Oncourse My Workspace and share it with others. Site owners can share one from a course or project site. Watch and listen to the feature demos or see Oncourse Wiki: Overview. To share the Wiki with anyone, see Using Oncourse, how do I set permissions for a wiki page?. [Posted November 3, 2011]

Give feedback to site participants

Instructors and site leaders: Using Oncourse Post'Em, you can upload a spreadsheet to present feedback to site participants. You can calculate and display simple statistics for just about any numerical data. See Using Oncourse Post'Em, how do I post grades or feedback? Watch the feature demos. [Posted November 1, 2011]

Course opening dates for spring

Course sites for spring sessions will be available to the instructor of record within Oncourse on Monday, Nov. 14. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the -more- tab. Students: You will have access to your spring course sites on Dec. 20. [Posted October 27, 2011]

Publish a podcast

Instructors and site leaders: With the Podcasts tool, you can store and distribute multimedia content to site participants that they can download manually or through RSS or a podcatcher such as iTunes. Content can take many different forms, including audio lectures, video presentations, and slideshow presentations. See Oncourse Podcasts: Overview. Watch the feature demos. [Posted October 25, 2011]

Set up an online meeting

Instructors and site leaders: You can set up a Web Content link in Oncourse that site participants can use to log directly into your Connect Meeting room. Use voice or chat, share a whiteboard or your computer screen, even share a student's keyboard. See Using Oncourse Web Content, how do I link to a Connect Meeting room? Or watch the feature demo: Add a Web Content item to a course or project site. [Posted October 20, 2011]

Set up a news feed

The News tool uses RSS to bring continuously updated news to your project or course site. RSS is a data format that is used to syndicate news on the web. See Oncourse News: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Add dynamic news to a site. [Posted October 18, 2011]

Gradebook features

The Gradebook tool in Oncourse has a lot of flexibility. For example, instructors can enter grades as points, percentages, or non-calculating grades; autocalculate course grades using point- or percentage-based grading; and create categories to organize items and allow for weighting of grades. Several feature demonstrations show you how to use the Gradebook. See also Oncourse Gradebook: Overview. [Posted October 13, 2011]

Start a discussion

Oncourse Forums is a communication tool that instructors or site leaders can use to create an unlimited number of discussion forums for their course or project sites. The Forums tool is designed to be an effective tool for both academic and collaborative work, and is integrated closely with other tools such as Resources and Gradebook. Several feature demonstrations can walk you through creating and using Forums. See also Oncourse Forums: Overview. [Posted October 11, 2011]

Let's chat

The Chat Room tool enables real-time, unstructured conversations among logged-in site participants. Instructors can use it to create online office hours. Project groups can use it for long-distance collaboration. Site leaders can add multiple rooms. See Oncourse Chat Room: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Create multiple chat rooms. [Posted October 6, 2011]

Post a calendar item

Your Calendar in My Workspace displays events and deadlines for your class and project sites. You can also import items from your personal calendaring program. See Oncourse Calendar: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Post a calendar item. [Posted October 4, 2011]

Help with Assignments 2

The Assignments 2 tool allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments and allows students to submit their work. Need more help using this tool? Several feature demonstrations can walk you through using the Assignments 2 tool. See Oncourse Assignments 2: Help contents. [Posted September 29, 2011]

WYSIWYG editing

In certain tools, you can control the graphical appearance of your text using the WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") editor. The WYSIWYG toolbar has icons for editing and styling your text. To insert formatted text from a Word document, click the Paste from Word icon. See In Oncourse, what is the WYSIWYG editor? [Posted September 27, 2011]

Store and share files

Store files in Oncourse and access them anywhere using a web browser. Your My Workspace has 1 GB of storage space. You can also customize permissions, so you can share them with just a URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [Posted September 22, 2011]

View participation statistics

Instructors: Using Forums, you can view statistics for individual course participants, including the number of authored, read, and unread posts. You can also see the full text of all posts by a particular participant. See Using Oncourse Forums, what participation statistics are available? or watch the feature demo. [Posted September 20, 2011]

Spring 2009 course sites archived 9/26

Instructors: Spring 2009 course sites will be archived on September 26. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted September 15, 2011]

Original Test and Survey migration guide available

Instructors: Get help moving your test and quiz content from Original Test and Survey to the Tests & Surveys Beta tool. The new migration guide gives step-by-step instructions and answers to the most common questions about the migration process. For more personalized assistance, make an appointment with a consultant at your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted September 13, 2011]

Reset the current tool

Using the Oncourse up arrow icon is a better choice than using your browser's back button. The up arrow icon returns you to the starting point of the tool you're using, as if you had entered the tool in a new session. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? [Posted September 8, 2011]

Resubmit an assignment

Students: In Assignments 2, you can resubmit an assignment if your instructor allows it. Watch the feature demo. [Posted September 6, 2011]

How to report Oncourse issues

Direct reports from Oncourse users like you are essential in helping track down and resolve larger system issues. If you encounter Oncourse-related difficulties like slow response time or unexpected system behavior, please contact your campus Support Center as soon as possible. [Posted September 2, 2011]

Oncourse on IU Mobile

Students: Using the new Calendar and My Classes tools in IU Mobile, you can find class locations and view resources such as course schedules, announcements, rosters, forums, and messages. Learn more. [Posted September 1, 2011]

Feature demos

All: Watch and listen to dozens of multimedia demos to learn about the tools in Oncourse. For a description of each available tool in Oncourse with links to more detailed descriptions and the feature demos, see Oncourse features. [Posted August 30, 2011]

Oncourse Quick Start for students

Students: Learn to use Oncourse for your course work: Oncourse Quick Start: For Students (PDF). Oncourse also has a wealth of other self-study material. [Posted August 25, 2011]

Tell others about yourself

Students: The Profile tool in My Workspace allows you to enter and display public and personal information, including a picture. You can also choose whether your information is public or private. See Oncourse Profile: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Add a photo to your profile. [Posted August 22, 2011]

Set your grade scale

Instructors: There is a default grade scale set in the Oncourse Gradebook but there is no official IU grade scale. To change your course grade scale, click Course Grade Options and edit the listed scale and grade type. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I change the grade entry, grade type, and grade scale? or watch the feature demo. [Posted August 18, 2011]

Tests and Surveys Beta enhancements

The August 11 update of Oncourse includes several enhancements to Tests and Surveys Beta. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted August 16, 2011]

Oncourse communication tips

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted August 11, 2011]

Customizing Oncourse

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted August 9, 2011]

Oncourse training

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, the campus centers for teaching and learning offer workshops and individual consultations on Oncourse. See How do I contact the teaching and learning centers at each IU campus? [Posted August 4, 2011]

Oncourse self-study

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, check out online self-study materials that include feature demos, least-you-need-to-know docs, and a build-your-own Customized How-to Guide. See Oncourse Training & Support. [Posted August 2, 2011]

Oncourse fall readiness checklist

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, have you thought of everything? Help ensure that your course site is ready for the first day of classes. See the Checklist for Oncourse course semester readiness. [Posted July 28, 2011]

Drop Box demo

The Oncourse Drop Box feature allows instructors and students to share documents within a private folder for each student. Watch the feature demonstration: Add an item to the Drop Box. See also Oncourse Drop Box: Overview. [Posted July 26, 2011]

Oncourse Chat demo

You can use the Chat Room tool for real-time, unstructured conversations among site participants who are logged into the site at the same time. Watch the feature demonstration: Create multiple chat rooms. See also Oncourse Chat Room: Overview. [Posted July 21, 2011]

Oncourse Calendar demo

Calendar allows instructors or site organizers to post items in a calendar format. Watch the feature demonstration. See also Oncourse Calendar: Overview. [Posted July 19, 2011]

Assignments 2 demos

For courses in Oncourse, Assignments 2 allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments. You can learn more about Assignments 2 by watching several feature demonstrations. See also Oncourse Assignments 2: Overview. [Posted July 14, 2011]

Oncourse Announcements demos

The Announcements tool is a great way to inform site participants about current items of interest. Announcements can also have multiple attachments. Watch the feature demonstrations or see Oncourse Announcements: Overview. [Posted July 12, 2011]

Feature demos

Watch and listen to dozens of multimedia demos to learn about the tools in Oncourse. For a description of each available tool in Oncourse with links to more detailed descriptions and the feature demos, see Oncourse features. [Posted July 5, 2011]

Communication tips for instructors

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted June 30, 2011]

View participation statistics

Customizing Oncourse

Have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this. For example, customize your tabs across the top of the page so that your most visited site is the first tab, and sites you don't use aren't displayed. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted June 23, 2011]

Take advantage of Oncourse storage

Your personal My Workspace and each course or project site comes with 1 GB of storage. You can easily share files with others by granting public access to any file and sharing its URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [Posted June 21, 2011]

Create an RSS feed of announcements

Instructors and site owners: You can provide your site members the option of reading postings to the Announcement tool in an RSS reader. The announcement must be marked public to appear in an RSS feed. You can also create a friendly RSS URL by changing the alias. In your site's menubar, click Announcements, and then Options. Under "RSS Feed Options", type a one-word alias in the box labeled "RSS Alias", and then click Update. See In Oncourse, how can I control the display of announcements? [Posted June 16, 2011]

Include extra credit in your Gradebook

Instructors: Extra credit calculations are supported by the Gradebook. If you want to give an extra credit assignment or grade penalty that stands alone, you can add an adjustment item. See In Oncourse Gradebook, how do I give extra credit or a grade penalty? [Posted June 14, 2011]

Tell others about yourself

You can personalize your Oncourse profile to include a picture and information about yourself and select whether your information is public or private. You can search the public profiles of other users, too. Find the Profile tool in My Workspace. See Oncourse Profile: Overview. [Posted June 9, 2011]

Drop a student's lowest grade

Instructors: The Gradebook allows you to drop the lowest or highest grade in a category. For situation-specific instructions, see In Oncourse Gradebook, how can I drop the lowest or highest grades from a category? [Posted June 7, 2011]

Oncourse self-study materials

Oncourse has a wealth of self-study material available online, including feature demos, least-you-need-to-know docs, in-depth materials, and a build-your-own Customized How-to Guide. See Training and support resources. [Posted June 2, 2011]

Course opening dates for fall

Course sites for fall sessions will be available to the instructor of record within Oncourse on Monday, June 6. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the -more- tab. Students will have access to their fall course sites on August 1. [Posted May 31, 2011]

Site Setup enhancements

Site Setup now allows site owners to set an easy-to-remember alias to stand in for the auto-generated site ID. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 26, 2011]

Email Archive enhancements

In Email Archive, the site owner is now able to choose whether replies go to the original sender, or to the email archive address. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 24, 2011]

Tests and Surveys Beta enhancements

The May 14 upgrade of Oncourse includes enhancements to Tests and Surveys Beta such as the ability to see a log of all class exam activity for a specific student. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 19, 2011]

Site Stats tool enhancements

The May 14 upgrade of Oncourse includes a new version of the Site Stats tool that shows more detailed information about site activity to instructors and site owners. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 17, 2011]

New Profile 2 Beta

The May 14 upgrade of Oncourse will make the new Profile 2 Beta tool available to all users in My Workspace. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 12, 2011]

Assignments 2 enhancements

The May 14 upgrade of Oncourse includes enhancements such as integrating Assignments 2 with portfolio evaluations. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 10, 2011]

Changes for summer 2011

Several changes to Oncourse will be available as of May 14. Oncourse will be upgraded to Sakai 2.7, involving performance enhancements throughout the application. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted May 5, 2011]

Final grades in Oncourse

Saving site content

Instructors: Course sites in Oncourse are kept on the servers for eight semesters. Fall 2008 will be archived on June 6. If you would like access to course content beyond that time frame, you will need to save your course site by importing it into a project site. Project sites do not have expiration dates. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted April 26, 2011]

Archiving your gradebook

Find an IUB/IUPUI STC computer

IUB and IUPUI students: Looking for an available computer in a Student Technology Center (STC) on campus? To see a list of open seats plus a Google map to help you find the location, you can use the STC seat finder tool. See How do I find open seating in the UITS STCs or computing labs? [Posted April 19, 2011]

Order your Gradebook

Sharing Oncourse resources

Instructors: You can post files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easier accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I move an item? [Posted April 12, 2011]

Help make Oncourse better

Get started with Tests & Surveys Beta

Instructors: Tests & Surveys Beta is in an open pilot phase, and UITS encourages you to begin exploring its features in a practice course or project site. You can add it to any course, project, or portfolio site. See Tests & Surveys Beta. [Posted March 31, 2011]

Import from previous semesters

Instructors: Rather than starting from scratch, you can import course materials from previous semesters into your summer 2011 course sites. You even have the choice of what materials to import. See Using Oncourse, how do I import material or participants from another site I own? or watch the feature demonstration: Reuse content from other sites. [Posted March 29, 2011]

Summer 2011 course opening dates

Course sites for summer sessions will be available to the instructor of record within Oncourse on Monday, April 4. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the -more- tab. Students will have access to their summer course sites on Monday, May 2. [Posted March 24, 2011]

Oncourse time out limits

Unless you are actively using it, the Oncourse server disconnects your session after three hours (four hours for the Original Test and Survey tool). Oncourse will warn you when your session is close to timing out. Click OK in the Timeout warning box to reset the timer. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [Posted March 22, 2011]

Build a citation list in Resources

Share your wiki

Anyone at IU can add the Wiki tool to Oncourse My Workspace and share it with others. Site owners can share one from a course or project site. Watch and listen to the feature demos or see Oncourse Wiki: Overview. To share the Wiki with anyone, see Using Oncourse, how do I set permissions for a wiki page? [Posted March 15, 2011]

Give feedback to site participants

Instructors and site leaders: Using the Oncourse Post'Em tool, you can upload a spreadsheet to present feedback to site participants. You can calculate and display simple statistics for just about any numerical data. See Oncourse Post'Em tool: Overview. Watch the feature demos. [Posted March 10, 2011]

Podcast publishing

Instructors and site leaders: With the Podcasts tool, you can store and distribute multimedia content to site participants that they can download manually or through a podcatcher such as iTunes. Content can take many different forms, including audio lectures, video presentations, and slideshow presentations. See Oncourse Podcasts: Overview. Watch the feature demos. [Posted March 8, 2011]

Set up an online meeting

Set up a dynamic news feed

The News tool uses RSS to bring dynamic news to your worksite. RSS is a data format that is used to syndicate news on the web. See Oncourse News: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Add dynamic news to a site. [Posted March 1, 2011]

Gradebook features

The Gradebook tool has a lot of flexibility. For example, instructors can enter grades as points, percentages, or non-calculating grades; auto-calculate course grades using point- or percentage-based grading; and create categories to organize items and allow for weighting of grades. Several feature demonstrations show you how to use the Gradebook. See also Oncourse Gradebook: Overview. [Posted February 24, 2011]

Start a discussion

Forums is a communication tool that instructors or site leaders can use to create an unlimited number of discussion forums for their course or project sites. The Forums tool is designed to be an effective tool for both academic and collaborative work, and is integrated closely with other tools such as Resources and Gradebook. Several feature demonstrations can walk you through creating and using Forums. See also Oncourse Forums: Overview. [Posted February 22, 2011]

Create multiple chat rooms

Add to the Calendar

Share files in Oncourse

WYSIWYG editing

Connect with Oncourse

Two distinct tools, Email Archive and Messages, are available for managing communication between site participants. Additionally, other site tools allow you to send email notifications to participants when you add new items. See In Oncourse, what tools are available for managing site communication? [Posted February 3, 2011]

Submitting assignments

Students: To turn in an assignment using Assignments 2, click Submit instead of Save and Exit. See Using Oncourse Assignments 2, how do I complete and submit an assignment? If your course is using the original Assignments tool, click Submit instead of Save Draft. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I complete and submit an assignment? (Note: Original Assignments is being retired at the end of this semester.) [Posted February 1, 2011]

Reset the current tool

Summer 2008 courses archived February 1

Instructors: Summer 2008 course sites will be archived next Tuesday; have you saved any materials you want to keep for future classes? See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted January 25, 2011]

View participation statistics

Instructors: Using Forums, you can view statistics for individual course participants, including the number of authored, read, and unread posts. You can also see the full text of all posts by a particular participant. See Using Oncourse Forums, what participation statistics are available? or watch the feature demo. [Posted January 20, 2011]

Tell others about yourself

Grade scale options

Instructors: There is a default grade scale set in the Oncourse Gradebook. To change the grade scale, click the Course Grade Options and edit the listed scale and grade type. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I change the grade entry, grade type, and grade scale? or watch the feature demo Gradebook: Change Grade Type. [Posted January 6, 2011]

Communication tips for instructors

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted January 4, 2011]

Changes for spring semester

Several changes to Oncourse will be available as of January 3, 2011. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. For background information about the Oncourse enhancement and development process, see Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted December 30, 2010]

Course site basic setup

Instructors: Not sure where to begin to set up your course in Oncourse? You might want to consider the five tools used most often: Syllabus, Announcements, Gradebook, Messages, and Resources. See Oncourse Quick Start: For Instructors (PDF). Or to find out about workshops, contact your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted December 28, 2010]

Saving site content

Instructors: Course sites in Oncourse are kept on the servers for eight semesters. Summer I and II 2008 will be archived February 1, 2011. If you would like access to course content beyond that time frame, you will need to save your course site by importing it into a project site. Project sites do not have expiration dates. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted December 23, 2010]

Archiving your gradebook

Copy resources into multiple sites

Instructors: You can copy files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easier accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I copy an item? [Posted December 16, 2010]

Final grades in Oncourse

Help make Oncourse better

Find an IUB/IUPUI STC computer

Order your Gradebook

Spring 2011 course opening dates

Spring course sites are now available to the instructor of record within Oncourse. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the -more- tab. Students will have access to their spring course sites on Monday, Dec. 20. [Posted November 23, 2010]

Oncourse time out limits

Unless you are actively using it, the Oncourse server disconnects your session after three hours (four hours for the Original Test and Survey tool). Oncourse will warn you when your session is close to timing out. Click OK when the timeout warning pops up. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [Posted November 18, 2010]

Build a citation list in Resources

Instructors: Using the Citation tool in Resources, you can quickly build a list of citations for your course. Search library databases or Google Scholar from within Oncourse, and then point and click to add references to your list. See Oncourse Resources: Working with citation lists. [Posted November 16, 2010]

Share your Wiki

Give feedback to site participants

Instructors and site leaders: Using Oncourse Post'Em, you can upload a spreadsheet to present feedback to site participants. You can calculate and display simple statistics for just about any numerical data. See Using Oncourse Post'Em, how do I post grades or feedback? Watch the feature demos. [Posted Novemeber 9, 2010]

Get Oncourse on the go

Accessible anytime, anywhere, IU Mobile delivers information and services for all IU campuses at http://m.iu.edu. If you log in, Oncourse Mobile displays the number of new messages, forum posts, and announcements for each of your classes or workspaces. You can read the messages from your mobile device; future versions will expand to include other Oncourse tools. See What is the IU Mobile App? [Posted November 4, 2010]

Spring semester course opening dates

Course sites for spring semester will be available to the instructor of record within Oncourse on Monday, Nov. 15. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the -more- tab. Students will have access to their spring course sites on Monday, Dec. 20. [Posted November 2, 2010]

Publish a podcast

Set up an online meeting

Instructors and site leaders: You can set up a Web Content link in Oncourse that site participants can use to log directly into your Connect Meeting room. Use voice or chat, share a whiteboard or your computer screen, even share a student's keyboard. See Using Oncourse Web Content, how do I link to a Connect Meeting room? Or watch the feature demo: Add a Web Content item to a course or project site. [Posted October 26, 2010]

Set up a dynamic news feed

The News tool uses RSS to bring dynamic news to your project or course site. RSS is a data format that is used to syndicate news on the web. See Oncourse News: Overview. Watch the feature demo: Add dynamic news to a site. [Posted October 21, 2010]

Gradebook features

Start a discussion

Let's chat

Post a calendar item

Help with assignments

WYSIWYG editing

Store and share files

Store files in Oncourse and access them from anywhere using a web browser. Your My Workspace has 1 GB of storage space. You can also customize permissions so you can share them with just a URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [Posted September 28, 2010]

View participation statistics

Instructors: Using Forums, you can view statistics for individual course participants, including the number of authored, read, and unread posts. You can also see the full text of all posts by a particular participant. See Using Oncourse Forums, what participation statistics are available? or watch the feature demo. [Posted September 23, 2010]

Tell others about yourself

Communication tips

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted September 16, 2010]

Set your grade scale

Reset the current tool

We want your photos

We want your photos to feature on Oncourse, showing students, instructors and staff on all IU campuses. The Submit a Photo link is now permanently available in the left navigation bar on the Oncourse Home page. [Posted September 7, 2010]

Instructors: Spring 2008 course sites will be archived on September 14. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters?

[Posted September 2, 2010]

Submitting assignments

Students: To turn in an assignment, make sure you click Submit instead of Save Draft. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I complete and submit an assignment? [Posted September 2, 2010]

Students: Customized how-to guide

Students: You can customize your own Oncourse how-to guide in PDF format that is sent to your email address. See Build Your Own Oncourse How-To Guide. [Posted August 31, 2010]

Feature demos

Students: Watch and listen to dozens of multimedia demos to learn about the tools in Oncourse. For a description of each available tool in Oncourse with links to more detailed descriptions and the feature demos, see Oncourse features. [Posted August 26, 2010]

New in Assignments 2

As part of the August 12 upgrade of Oncourse, Assignments 2 now includes the ability to specify a model answer. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted August 24, 2010]

Check out the new Oncourse home page for Oncourse news, tips, announcements, and spotlights of interest to faculty and students.

[Posted August 19, 2010]

Forums improvements

The August 12 upgrade of Oncourse includes improvements to Forums such as the ability to receive email notification of new forum posts. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted August 19, 2010]

Tests & Surveys Beta improvements

The August 12 upgrade of Oncourse includes improvements to Tests & Surveys Beta such as the option of notifying students by email when an assessment is published. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted August 17, 2010]

Portfolio sites available

As part of the August 12 upgrade of Oncourse, ePortfolio sites are now available for all instructors to request, using the Request a Site link. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted August 12, 2010]

Customizing Oncourse

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted August 10, 2010]

Take advantage of self-study

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, check out online self-study materials that include feature demos, least-you-need-to-know docs, and a customized how-to guide. See Oncourse Training & Support. [Posted August 5, 2010]

Take advantage of training

Check out the checklist

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, have you thought of everything? Help ensure that your course site is ready for the first day of classes. See Checklist for Oncourse course semester readiness. [Posted July 29, 2010]

Changes to default grade scale

Instructors: The default grade scale has changed for all sites created on or after June 3, 2010. However, if you import Gradebook content from a site created prior to June 3, the grade scale in the previous site will override this default. See In Oncourse Gradebook, what is the default grade scale? and Oncourse Gradebook: Help contents. [Posted July 27, 2010]

New for fall: Menubar changes

Instructors:To simplify site navigation, all new course sites beginning with the fall 2010 semester will start out with fewer default tools in the menubar. If you don't see a tool that you need for your course, you can easily add it back using the Edit Tools option under Site Setup. See In Oncourse, how do I add, remove, hide, or reorder tools? [Posted July 22, 2010]

New for fall: Assignments 2

Instructors: All new course sites beginning with the fall 2010 semester will provide the new Assignments 2 for your use along with the original Assignments tool. Neither tool is included in the menubar by default. You can decide which tool you want to use in your course and add it. The original Assignments tool will be retired at the end of the spring 2011 semester. See Oncourse Assignments 2: Help contents. (Note: For sites using the tool before June 3, the tool name will be Assignments Beta.) [Posted July 20, 2010]

Tests & Surveys Beta

Instructors: UITS is conducting an open pilot of Tests & Surveys Beta, a tool for administering tests, quizzes, surveys, and other types of online assessments. This tool, which can be added to any course or project site via Site Setup, promises significant functional and usability enhancements over the existing tool. For the pilot, you may want to start out with low-stakes activities (self-tests, homework assignments, simple surveys, etc.) until you are comfortable with the tool and its capabilities. Learn more. [Posted July 15, 2010]

View participation statistics

Include extra credit in your Gradebook

Personalize your Oncourse profile

You can personalize your Oncourse profile to include a picture and information about yourself and select whether your information is public or private. You can search the public profiles of others, too. Find the Profile tool in My Workspace. See Oncourse Profile: Overview. [Posted June 24, 2010]

Drop a student's lowest grade

New for fall: Assignments 2

Instructors: All new course sites beginning with the fall 2010 semester will provide the new Assignments 2 for your use along with the original Assignments tool. Neither tool is included in the Menubar by default. You can decide which tool you want to use in your course and add it. The original Assignments tool will be retired at the end of the spring 2011 semester. See Oncourse Assignments 2: Help contents. [Posted June 17, 2010]

Try Tests & Surveys Beta

Changes to default grade scale

Instructors: The default grade scale has changed for all sites created on or after June 3, 2010. However, if you import Gradebook content from a site created prior to June 3, the grade scale in the previous site will override this default. See In Oncourse Gradebook, what is the default grade scale? See also Oncourse Gradebook: Help contents. [Posted June 10, 2010]

Get help with Oncourse

You can find answers to your Oncourse questions in the Knowledge Base, Oncourse Help, or get one-on-one-help via ITHelpLive or by phone, email, and walk-in support. Instructors: You can get specialized help from your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted May 25, 2010]

ePortfolio enhancements

The May 15 upgrade of Oncourse includes enhancements to ePortfolio such as integration between Matrices and Assignments Beta. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 20, 2010]

Assignments Beta enhancements

The May 15 upgrade of Oncourse includes enhancements to Assignments Beta such as the ability to navigate among open student submissions easily. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 18, 2010]

May 15 enhancements

The May 15 upgrade of Oncourse includes enhancements to Assignments Beta such as a tool to import assignments from the original Assignments tool, and ePortfolio changes such as the ability to add Messages, Forums, Wiki, and Assignments Beta to portfolio sites. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 13, 2010]

New Assignments tool

Instructors: The new Assignments 2 tool will be available for the fall 2010 semester. You'll have the option to choose which version of the Assignments tool you'll use. The beta of Assignments 2 is ready for you to try over the summer. Now is a good time to begin exploring the tool so you can determine whether it will be suitable for your courses. See Oncourse Assignments 2: Overview. [Posted May 4, 2010]

Final grades in Oncourse

Saving site content

Instructors: Course sites in Oncourse are kept on the servers for eight semesters. Fall 2007 will be archived on May 31, 2010. If you would like access to course content beyond that time frame, you will need to save your course site by importing it into a project site. Project sites do not have expiration dates. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted April 28, 2010]

Find an IUB/IUPUI STC computer

Sharing Oncourse resources

Instructors: You can post files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easier accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I move an item? [Posted April 9, 2010]

Your feedback is important

Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. When you use the Contact Us link at the top of any Oncourse page, your suggestions are tracked and catalogued. The Oncourse Priorities Committee then considers your proposals. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted April 1, 2010]

Keep your Oncourse session from timing out

Unless you are actively using it, the Oncourse server disconnects your session after three hours (four hours for the Original Test and Survey tool). Oncourse will warn you when your session is close to timing out. Click OK in the Timeout warning box to reset the timer. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [Posted March 30, 2010]

Import from previous semesters

Instructors: Rather than starting from scratch, you can import course materials from previous semesters into your summer 2010 course sites. You even have the choice of what materials to import. See Using Oncourse, how do I import material or participants from another site I own? or watch the feature demonstration Reuse content from other sites. [Posted March 25, 2010]

Summer 2010 course opening dates

Course sites for summer sessions will be available to the instructor of record within Oncourse on Monday, April 5. If your new course site does not appear on the top tabs, click the - more - tab. Students will have access to their summer course sites on Monday, May 3. [Posted March 23, 2010]

Share your Wiki

Anyone at IU can add a Wiki in Oncourse My Workspace and share it with others. Site owners can share one from a course or project site. Watch and listen to the feature demos or see Oncourse Wiki: Overview. To share the wiki with anyone, see Using Oncourse, how do I set permissions for a wiki page? [Posted March 9, 2010]

Give feedback to site participants

Instructors and site leaders: Using the Post'Em tool, you can upload a spreadsheet to present feedback to site participants. You can calculate and display simple statistics for just about any numerical data. See Oncourse Post'Em tool: Overview. Watch the feature demos. [Posted March 4, 2010]

Podcast publishing

Set up an online meeting

Instructors and site leaders: You can set up a Web Content link in Oncourse that site participants can use to log directly into your Connect Meeting room. Use voice or chat, share a whiteboard or your computer screen, even share a student's keyboard. See Using Oncourse Web Content, how do I link to a Connect Meeting room? Or watch the feature demo: Add a Web Content item to a course or project site. [Posted February 25, 2010]

Gradebook features

The Gradebook tool has a lot of flexibility. For example, instructors can enter grades as points, percentages, or non-calculating grades; autocalculate course grades using point- or percentage-based grading; and create categories to organize items and allow for weighting of grades. Several feature demonstrations show you how to use the Gradebook. See also Oncourse Gradebook: Overview. [Posted February 18, 2010]

Start a discussion

Forums is a communication tool that instructors or site leaders can use to create an unlimited number of discussion forums for their course or project sites. The Forums tool is designed to be an effective tool for both academic and collaborative work, and is integrated closely with other tools such as Resources and Gradebook. Several feature demonstrations can show you how to create and use Forums. See also Oncourse Forums: Overview. [Posted February 16, 2010]

Let's chat

The Calendar

Help with Assignments

The Assignments tool allows instructors to create, distribute, collect, and grade online assignments and allows students to submit their work. Need more help using this tool? Several feature demonstrations can walk you through using the Assignments tool. See Oncourse Assignments tool: Help contents. [Posted February 4, 2010]

Tell others about yourself

Store your files

WYSIWYG editing

In certain Oncourse tools, you can control the graphical appearance of your text using the WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") editor. The WYSIWYG toolbar has icons for editing and styling your text. To insert formatted text from a Word document, click the Paste from Word icon. See In Oncourse, what is the WYSIWYG editor? [Posted January 26, 2010]

Connect with Oncourse

View participation statistics

Instructors: Using Forums, you can view statistics for individual course participants, including the number of authored, read, and unread posts. You can also see the full text of all posts by a particular participant. See Using Oncourse Forums, what participation statistics are available? or watch the feature demo. [Posted January 19, 2010]

Set your grade scale

Instructors: There is a default grade scale set in the Oncourse Gradebook. To change the grade scale, click Course Grade Options and edit the listed scale and grade type. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I change the grade entry, grade type, and grade scale? or watch the feature demo. [Posted January 14, 2010]

Reset the current tool

Customizing Oncourse

Communication tips

Instructors: There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [Posted January 5, 2010]

Saving site content

Instructors: Course sites in Oncourse are kept on the servers for eight semesters. Summer 2007 will be archived January 4, 2010 (summer sessions I and II are counted as one semester). If you would like access to course content beyond that time frame, you will need to save your course site by importing it into a project site. Project sites do not have expiration dates. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted December 17, 2009]

Archiving your gradebook

Final grades in Oncourse

Move your current sites to the top

You can rearrange how your Oncourse sites show up in the tabs across the top of the window. To change the order, and even hide sites that you no longer access, go to Preferences in My Workspace. See In Oncourse, how do I show, hide, and order sites? or view the feature demonstration. [Posted November 12, 2009]

Podcast publishing

Instructors and site leaders: The Podcasts tool in Oncourse allows you to store and distribute multimedia content to site participants. Participants may download materials manually or via an RSS feed. Content can take many different forms, including audio lectures, video presentations, and slideshow presentations. See Oncourse Podcasts: Overview. [Posted November 5, 2009]

Keep teaching in times of high absenteeism or campus closure

Instructors: A new online guide is designed to help you adapt your teaching in times of emergency. With a combination of IU-supported technologies, including email, phones, Oncourse, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Presenter, Adobe Connect, and Lynda.com, you can recreate an effective learning environment even with minimized face-to-face class time. See keepteaching.iu.edu. [Posted October 28, 2009]

Subscribe to an online journal

Instructors: You can use the News tool in Oncourse to provide students with a link to updated pages of a selected online publication. The News tool uses RSS to bring dynamic news to your course site. See Oncourse News: Overview. [Posted October 27, 2009]

Build a citation list in Resources

Oncourse by the numbers

185,264: Average successful requests for pages per day for the 7-day period ending Sept. 10, 2009 [Posted October 20, 2009]

Drag and drop files in Resources

Do you need to move several files between your computer and Resources in My Workspace? Thanks to a technology called WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning), you can set up Resources as if it were a folder on your computer and drag and drop files back and forth. Watch and listen to the feature demo or see Using WebDAV in Oncourse: Help contents. [Posted October 20, 2009]

Submit an assignment

Your instructor or project leader may set up assignments for you to complete and submit online. Watch and listen to the feature demo or see Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I complete and submit an assignment? [Posted October 15, 2009]

Collaboration space

Request a project site for your committee or team work. Use Resources to share files, Email Archive for a distribution list, and the Wiki for collaborative writing. Watch and listen to the feature demo or see In Oncourse, how can I request a site? [Posted October 8, 2009]

Blogs Beta available

The Blogs Beta tool in Oncourse is available as an open pilot. You can add it to your course or project site or to My Workspace. Members of a site can comment on each other's entries. You can also make your blog and its RSS feed publicly available. See Oncourse Blogs Beta tool: Help contents. [Posted October 6, 2009]

Get your Oncourse on the go

Accessible anytime, anywhere, IU Mobile delivers information and services for all IU campuses. Take it for a spin on your mobile device; the URL is short and simple: m.iu.edu. Tap into Oncourse for announcements, messages, and forum posts. The feedback app will gather your ideas for new and improved services. If you log in, you can also see content customized to your home campus. Learn more. [Posted October 1, 2009]

Modules tool now available in all sites

Instructors: After a year-long pilot program, the Modules tool has been updated and is now an optional tool in all Oncourse sites. The tool allows you to organize and publish learning material in a clear structure that guides students through the learning process. See Oncourse Modules: Overview. [Posted September 29, 2009]

Drop a student's lowest grade

Instructors: The Gradebook now allows you to drop the lowest or highest grade in a category. For situation-specific instructions, see In Oncourse Gradebook, how can I drop the lowest or highest grades from a category? [Posted September 24, 2009]

Oncourse by the numbers

30,825,501: Number of "hits" to Oncourse on the first day of classes at IU Bloomington, Aug. 31, 2009 [Posted September 22, 2009]

The Librarian role

Two new roles, Librarian and Librarian +, provide assistance in course sites. The Librarian role is added to all course sites by default, and instructors within a course site can upgrade a Librarian to a Librarian + for increased ability to interact with students. See In Oncourse, what are the participant roles, and how do I find out what my role is? [Posted September 17, 2009]

Show the site tabs you want

You can rearrange how your Oncourse sites show up in the tabs across the top. Plus, now you have the option to select how many site tabs display. To change the order, and even hide sites that you no longer access, from your My Workspace menubar, click Preferences. See In Oncourse, how do I show, hide, and order sites? [Posted September 15, 2009]

Assignments supports multiple submissions

Instructors: You can now configure an assignment to accept more than one submission from each student. You will not be able to see past submissions if students submit more than once, but you will not have to give students special permission to resubmit if they'd like to make a change before the due date. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I add, edit, or remove an assignment? [Posted September 10, 2009]

Submitting assignments

Oncourse "Top Ten"

Just for fun: A lighthearted take-off on the David Letterman Top Ten list, this video from last August features Luke Fields, then-IU Bloomington student association president, presenting The top ten ways students wish instructors used Oncourse, based on insights from the Board of Aeons, a student advisory group at IU Bloomington. Instructors: For tips on how to implement these suggestions, see the Top Ten in PDF, with helpful tips for instructors. [Posted September 3, 2009]

Feature demos

Welcome back students! Many of your instructors will use Oncourse to help you collaborate and learn more effectively. You can watch and listen to dozens of multimedia demos to learn about the tools in Oncourse. For descriptions of available tools in Oncourse with links to more detailed descriptions and the feature demos, see Oncourse features. [Posted August 31, 2009]

Customized how-to guide

Students: You can customize your own Oncourse how-to guide in PDF format that is sent to your email address. See Build Your Own Oncourse How-To Guide. [Posted August 26, 2009]

Oncourse by the numbers

443: Number of documents about Oncourse in the IU Knowledge Base and Oncourse Help. [Posted August 25, 2009]

View participation statistics

Take advantage of self-study

Take advantage of training

Spring 2007 course sites archived Aug. 17

Instructors: By creating a project site, you can import into that site the structure of the course you wish to save. Keep in mind, however, that this import process will only copy the framework of your course; it will not copy any student information. But it will copy content such as syllabus, resources, and wiki pages. See In Oncourse, how do I save course materials beyond eight semesters? [Posted August 6, 2009]

Customizing Oncourse

Instructors: As you prepare for fall, have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted August 6, 2009]

Check out the checklist

Take advantage of Oncourse storage

Each Oncourse site, including your personal My Workspace, comes with 1 GB storage. You can easily share files with others by granting public access to any file and sharing its URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [Posted July 30, 2009]

Oncourse News via RSS

Get Oncourse and other UITS news with ITNow 2.0. You can generate a custom RSS feed and receive news and notices about Oncourse or any UITS system in a feed reader or simply using most modern web browsers. Subscribe to Oncourse News or see ITNow Custom RSS Generator. See also What is RSS? [Posted July 14, 2009]

Announcements via RSS

Instructors and site owners: You can provide your site members the option of reading postings to the Announcement tool in an RSS reader. The announcement must be marked public to appear in an RSS feed. You can also create a "friendlier" RSS URL by changing the alias. In your site's menubar, click Announcements, and then Options. Under "RSS Feed Options", type a one-word alias in the box labeled "RSS Alias", and then click Update. See In Oncourse, how can I control the display of announcements? [Posted July 9, 2009]

Final grade submission

The Load Grades from Oncourse button in the SIS Faculty Center, available via Oncourse and OneStart, has been re-enabled at the Bloomington, Columbus, Indianapolis, Northwest, and South Bend campuses. Faculty at other campuses can submit grades by using the "Export for SIS" feature in the Oncourse Gradebook or by manually typing grades in. Access to the Grade Rosters continues to be available via Oncourse by clicking the SIS Grade Roster tool or by accessing the Faculty Center via OneStart. If you need assistance, contact your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted July 1, 2009]

Include extra credit in your Gradebook

Instructors: Extra credit calculations are now supported by the Gradebook. If you want to give an extra credit assignment or grade penalty that stands alone, you can add an adjustment item. See In Oncourse Gradebook, how do I give extra credit or a grade penalty? The June 6 upgrade of Oncourse includes many changes and enhancements. [Posted June 25, 2009]

OneStart link in Oncourse

Oncourse now provides a direct link to OneStart, IU's Web-based application portal, for seamless navigation between both online environments. Find the new OneStart link in the upper right corner of the Oncourse window. The June 6 upgrade of Oncourse includes many changes and enhancements. [Posted June 23, 2009]

Drop a student's lowest grade

Try the new Assignments Beta

Instructors: If you're teaching a Summer II class, help us with a pilot of Assignments Beta, an alternative assignment tool that features tighter integration with the Gradebook and support for multiple submissions with complete submission history. You'll be asked to complete an end-of-pilot survey, participate in a short focus group, and document bugs and suggestions in a Google doc. Contact your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted June 16, 2009]

New Assignments Beta available

Instructors: You can try out Assignments Beta an alternative assignment tool that features tighter integration with the Gradebook and support for multiple submission history. The Assignments tool you've always used will still be available; Assignments Beta is available in course sites only by request. If you're interested in participating in this summer's pilot, contact your campus teaching and learning center. The June 6 upgrade of Oncourse includes many changes and enhancements. [Posted June 9, 2009]

June 6 enhancements

The June 6 upgrade of Oncourse includes a new Modules tool for creating course content, a new version of the Messages and Forums Notifications tool in My Workspace, significant enhancements to the Gradebook and Forums tools, and many other new features. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. Your feedback guides the Oncourse enhancement process. Your suggestions are gathered through an online form, tracked, and catalogued. The Oncourse Priorities Committee then considers your proposals. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [Posted May 26, 2009]

Tell others about yourself

Individual help with Oncourse

New to Oncourse? You can get one-on-one help with Oncourse questions, and you don't have to visit campus. See Campus Support Centers to learn about ITHelpLive, phone and email support, and walk-in centers. Instructors: You can also get help from your campus teaching and learning center. [Posted May 12, 2009]

Archiving your gradebook

Sharing Oncourse resources

Manage communication in Oncourse

Participants in course or project sites have many ways to connect. Messages (internal mail) and email communications have several options. See In Oncourse, what tools are available for managing site communication? [Posted April 16, 2009]

Citation lists in Resources

You can use a function in Resources called citation lists that allows you to search library resources (currently available for IU Bloomington and IUPUI) as well as create and manage citations and persistent links to articles and other online items. See Oncourse Resources: Working with citation lists. [Posted April 7, 2009].

Linking to external web sites

Instructors and project site owners: Linking to an external web page is easy using the Web Content tool. Participants will see a direct link in the Oncourse menubar. See In Oncourse, how do I add, edit, or delete a Web Content item? [Posted April 2, 2009]

Take advantage of Oncourse storage

Watch that wiki

If you are using the Wiki tool for collaboration, you can set a watch on a wiki page and have Oncourse notify you whenever that page is updated. See Using Oncourse Wiki, how do I monitor activity on a page? [Posted March 19, 2009]

National Survey of Student Engagement

All IU campuses are participating in the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) this year. The NSSE gathers information from four-year colleges and universities throughout the United States on good practices in undergraduate education. Students who have received an invitation to participate in the NSSE's College Student Report are encouraged to complete the survey. See NSSE. [Posted March 11, 2009]

WYSIWYG editing

Oncourse uses WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") editor boxes in many tools. You can also preserve formatting using the Paste from Word button. See In Oncourse, what is the WYSIWYG editor? [Posted March 5, 2009]

Tap into the flexibility of Forums

Instructors: You can change the permissions for a forum or topic by role (e.g., instructor, student, AI) or by group. Also, take advantage of predefined permission levels (e.g., contributor, non-editing author, reviewer). See Using Oncourse Forums, how do I create a new forum and topic? [Posted February 26, 2009]

Connect with Oncourse

Oncourse gives course and project participants many ways to connect with each other. Two distinct tools, Email Archive and Messages, give you many options to manage site communications. See In Oncourse, what tools are available for managing site communication? [Posted February 19, 2009]

Oncourse by the numbers

153,468: Number of people who used Oncourse during 2008 [Posted February 17, 2009]

Tips to make Oncourse work for you

Customize your tabs across the top of the page; set notifications for email notices; use automatic forwarding: these are a few of the ideas for making teaching and learning with Oncourse easier. For more, see Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [Posted February 12, 2009]

Move your mail

Students: Get more space and features and avoid seeing blank Oncourse messages from your instructor. Switch from IU's Webmail to a new IU email account powered by Google or Microsoft! Imail and Umail make it easier to read messages sent from Oncourse. See Move your mail. [Posted February 10, 2009]

Restart the tool you're using

Clicking the up arrow icon, located to the left of the tool name, returns you to the starting point of the tool you're using, as if you had entered the tool in a new session (remember to save any work first). You can also click the tool name itself to return to the starting point of the tool. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? [Posted February 5, 2009]

True percentages in the Gradebook

The Oncourse Gradebook now supports the use of true percentages without doing background calculations using points. Assignments, Forums, and Original Test and Survey can all send percentage grades to the Gradebook. [Posted February 3, 2009]

Support for foreign language character sets

Oncourse supports the UTF-8 encoding form of Unicode, which allows the use of alphabets and character sets other than standard Latin. You can use alternate character sets to type text in any text box in any of the tools (e.g., Assignments, Forums, Web Content, Syllabus, Messages, Chat). You can copy and paste text from a UTF-8 compliant application into Oncourse. See In Oncourse, what do I need to know about using the UTF-8 character set? [Posted January 27, 2009]

Keep your session from timing out

Unless you are actively using it, the Oncourse server disconnects your session after three hours (four hours for the Original Test and Survey tool). If you're taking or creating an assessment, composing text, or otherwise working in the application when the disconnect occurs, you lose your work and can't retrieve it. You can keep your session from timing out by clicking a link or button that sends a command to the Oncourse server. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [Posted January 22, 2009]

Combined sections

Instructors: If the course you're teaching has several sections, you can combine the course sites for each section into a single parent site, so that you need to maintain only one syllabus, calendar, and set of course materials. See Using Oncourse, how do I combine course sites into a single parent site? [Posted January 20, 2009]

New feature: Gradebook

The Oncourse Gradebook now supports non-calculating items and true percentage grades. Instructors: You can set up a true letter-grade gradebook that does not convert the letter grades to points. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted January 15, 2009]

New feature: Roster organization

Members of a site can now view the roster by groups of participants if groups have been created for that site. See Using Oncourse, how do I see the list of participants and groups in my site? See also Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted January 13, 2009]

Customized how-to guide

Students or instructors: You can customize your own Oncourse how-to guide in PDF format that is sent to your email address. See Build Your Own Oncourse How-To Guide.[Posted January 8, 2009]

Adobe software now available at no cost to everyone at IU

IU has entered into a ground-breaking software agreement with Adobe that makes a wide range of Adobe software available to the IU community at no additional cost on IUware. Adobe software will also be available for purchase on physical media at discounted prices in early spring semester 2009. Find out more. Watch the podcast. [Posted December 11, 2008]

IU's iTunes U site goes public

When IU's iTunes U site goes public later this month, its content will become searchable by users worldwide in the iTunes Store. Instructors and site owners: You can make your podcasts available in iTunes by adding the iTunes U tool through the Oncourse Site Setup tool. See In Oncourse, how do I add, remove, hide, or reorder tools? Then, make your iTunes U site available to the public by sending an email request to podcast@iu.edu . See also Oncourse iTunes U: Overview. [Posted December 9, 2008]

Oncourse by the numbers

157: Number of Sakai installations worldwide. Oncourse is IU's local version of Sakai. Participation in the Sakai open-source community provides IU with the ability to work with a worldwide community of scholars and educational technologists to create new and innovative tools for teaching and learning. [Posted December 2, 2008]

Faculty showcase: Karen Banks

In the Kelley School of Business, the faculty in the Department of Operations and Decision Technology sought to manage courses in ways that were consistent, yet flexible. They found their solution in Oncourse. Senior ODT Lecturer Karen Banks is one of seven instructors who teach the same content and follow a similar class structure. Ms. Banks reports that, "These instructors have the experience and skills to follow their own teaching styles and add or change specific class exercises to fit the needs of a particular class of students. So, they need flexibility within the course structure to best benefit the students." A rich assortment of Oncourse tools provides a way to manage and maintain both that consistency and flexibility. See Oncourse CL promotes faculty freedom and course consistency in multi-section, multi-instructor classes. [Posted November 24, 2008]

Move your current sites to the top

You can rearrange how your Oncourse sites show up in the tabs across the top of the window. New sites usually appear under the -more- drop-down box. To change the order, and even hide sites that you no longer access, go to Preferences in My Workspace. See In Oncourse, how do I show, hide, and order sites? [Posted November 20, 2008]

Faculty spotlight: Mikel Tiller

Mikel Tiller, associate professor of accounting and chair of Graduate Accounting Programs at IU Bloomington, frequently teaches an introductory accounting course that often has enrollments of over 1,000 students. "A major benefit of using CL is that it helps me manage a huge number of students responsively and flexibly, and I can achieve my long-time goal of going completely paperless . . . except for those Scantron forms," says Tiller. By providing student feedback and analysis using a variety of Oncourse tools, Tiller is modeling reflective teaching and a student-centered approach to teaching. See Meeting 1,000 students where they are. [Posted November 11, 2008]

Share your thoughts on IU's second IT Strategic Plan

IU has released a preliminary draft of its second Strategic Plan for Information Technology (ITSP2) for review by the IU community. This plan will guide IU's IT investments for the upcoming years. Developed by the IU community for the IU community, this human-centered plan is divided into three major sections: sustaining IU's IT foundation, making IT more human-centric, and addressing grand challenges -- areas where IU's existing leadership provides opportunities for unmatched excellence. All members of the IU community are invited to review and comment on the draft. [Posted November 5, 2008]

Podcast publishing simplified

Oncourse by the numbers

2.5: Terabytes of data stored in Oncourse Resources [Posted October 28, 2008]

Open a gateway to the library

The Library Resources tool links your Oncourse site directly to the library. Instructors: On some campuses, you can customize the page your students see with links to resources and databases appropriate to your course. See Using Oncourse, how do I use the Library Resources tool? [Posted October 23, 2008]

Faculty spotlight: Amanda Cecil

By utilizing the ability to easily create an HTML Web page through the Resources tool, and then quickly publishing that page within her course using the Web Content tool, Professor Cecil has taken innovative advantage of Oncourse as a dynamic environment for the delivery of online curriculum. See Using Oncourse to choreograph teachable moments in online courses. Amanda Cecil is an assistant professor of Tourism, Convention and Event Management on the IUPUI campus. [Posted October 21, 2008]

Oncourse by the numbers

420: Number of documents about Oncourse in the IU Knowledge Base and Oncourse Help. [Posted October 7, 2008]

Faculty profile: Randy Isaacson

Randy Isaacson, associate professor of Educational Psychology at IU South Bend, uses Oncourse to teach his students about metacognition, or how to be sure of their answers. View the video or read his Making Thinking Relevant (PDF). [Posted October 2, 2008]

Keep your current sites at your fingertips

You can use the Customize Tabs feature in My Workspace to put your most important sites in your tabs. Watch and listen to the feature demo or see In Oncourse, how do I show, hide, and order sites? [Posted September 30, 2008]

SIS Grade Roster tool available September 30

Beginning Tuesday, September 30, the SIS Grade Roster tool will be available in all fall 2008 individual and combined course sites. This tool allows faculty of record to submit mid-term and final grades directly to SIS from the Oncourse Gradebook. See Oncourse SIS Grade Roster tool: Overview. [Posted September 29, 2008]

New feature: Drop Box at a glance

Instructors: You can now see which Drop Box folders have recent additions. Look for the orange star highlighting folders that have recently been updated. See Using Oncourse Drop Box, how can I view available Drop Boxes and their contents? Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted September 23, 2008]

Oncourse by the numbers

30: Number of countries with Sakai installations (Oncourse is IU's local version of Sakai, co-developed by a worldwide community of scholars and educational technologists who create new and innovative tools for teaching and learning.) [Posted September 18, 2008]

New feature: Return to the top page of the tool

The reset button has become the up arrow icon. Click this icon, located to the left of the tool name, to return to the top page of the tool you are currently using. Hint: You can also click the tool name itself to return to the top page of the tool. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted September 18, 2008]

New feature: Instructors, cruise your course site like a student

The new version of Oncourse allows instructors to see their course sites like a student does. Just click Enter student view at the bottom of the menubar. See In Oncourse, as an instructor or site owner, how can I see what my students or participants see? Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted September 16, 2008]

Original Oncourse retirement

Logins are no longer being accepted to original Oncourse. Course materials in original Oncourse will remain accessible until Sept. 30 by accessing those site tabs in Oncourse. Instructors: If you need help moving your content, see How do I contact the teaching and learning centers at each IU campus? or contact the Support Center. [Posted September 15, 2008]

Original Test and Survey tool staying in Oncourse

The Original Test and Survey tool remains available in Oncourse and is not affected by the original Oncourse retirement. However, if you have test or survey content in an original Oncourse site, you will need to archive or migrate it to Oncourse by September 30. [Posted September 10, 2008]

Where am I?

If you can enter your course in Oncourse, but can't see yourself in the roster, your identity may be hidden under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). You have the option to be listed or hidden using the Privacy Status tool in Oncourse. See In Oncourse, why don't I appear in the roster of a class for which I'm registered? [Posted September 9, 2008]

Tell others about yourself

Oncourse by the numbers

26,360,401: Number of "hits" to Oncourse on the first day of classes at IU Bloomington, Sept. 2 [Posted September 3, 2008]

Oncourse by the numbers

9,437,225: Average successful requests for pages per day for the 7-day period ending August 26 [Posted August 27, 2008]

Take advantage of support and training

Oncourse has a wealth of self-study material available online, including feature demos, least-you-need-to-know docs, and a brand-new, build-your-own Customized How-to Guide. See Oncourse Training & Support.
The IU Knowledge Base has 420 answers to common Oncourse questions. See the Oncourse menu.
Instructors: The campus centers for teaching and learning offer workshops and individual consultations on Oncourse. See How do I contact the teaching and learning centers at each IU campus? [Posted August 21, 2008]

Get your Messages notifications via email

To enhance the performance of Oncourse, the Messages and Forums notifications feature in My Workspace has been disabled. Messages and Forums notifications are still available on the home page of each site. To see what sites you have messages in, you can set the Messages tool to automatically forward your messages to an email address of your choice. [Posted August 18, 2008]

Preparing for fall: Sharing Oncourse resources

Instructors: You can post files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easy accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I move an item? [Posted August 12, 2008]

Preparing for fall: Customizing Oncourse

Preparing for fall: Tool demos at your fingertips

Instructors: More than 65 animated demos can help you get acquainted with Oncourse features. For example, learn to use the Messages tool with the Read and Reply to Messages feature demo. See the complete list of Oncourse features and demos. [Posted August 5, 2008]

Oncourse and final grades

Instructors: Using the Official Final Grades tool, you can import final grades from the Gradebook tool, upload them from a spreadsheet, or enter them manually. Only instructors can see the Official Final Grades tool. Students: You can see your final grade in OneStart the day following submission. [Posted July 31, 2008]

Original Oncourse retirement

On September 15, the URL to original Oncourse will no longer be available. On September 30, all links to original Oncourse course and project sites will be removed from Oncourse. Instructors: If you have materials in original Oncourse that you would like to keep, you will need to export those materials before September 15. If you need help moving your content, see How do I contact the teaching and learning centers at each IU campus? [Posted July 29, 2008]

Browsing success

Internet Explorer and Firefox are preferred browsers for work in Oncourse, but do you have the latest versions? Browser settings influence performance in Oncourse. See Which web browsers should I use with various IU services? [Posted July 24, 2008]

Email notifications

When you add resources, announcements, or syllabus items to an Oncourse site, you have the option to send a notification to all participant email addresses. These helpful notices keep everyone informed! See In Oncourse, what tools are available for managing site communication? [Posted July 22, 2008]

Students can upload podcasts

Instructors: You have the option to allow your students to upload files to the Podcasts tool for distribution to the entire class. See Using Oncourse Podcasts, how do I manage access to my podcasts? [Posted July 17, 2008]

Publish your podcast in iTunes U

Instructors and project site owners: You can create a site in iTunes U and publish your podcast there by adding the iTunes U tool through the Oncourse Site Setup tool. See In Oncourse, how do I add, remove, hide, or reorder tools? [Posted July 15, 2008]

Connect with Oncourse

New feature: Email notification in Drop Box

Oncourse now allows private email notification when you add a document to a drop box. Students can choose to notify instructors, and instructors can choose to notify a student. See Using Oncourse Drop Box, how do I add, edit, or delete an item?

Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted July 8, 2008]

New feature: Drop Box at a glance

Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted July 3, 2008]

New feature: Return to the top page of the tool

The reset button has become the up arrow icon

. Click this icon, located to the left of the tool name, to return to the top page of the tool you are currently using. Hint: You can also click the tool name itself to return to the top page of the tool. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon?

Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted July 1, 2008]

New feature: Instructors, cruise your course site like a student

The new version of Oncourse allows instructors to see their course sites exactly as a student does. Just click Enter student view at the bottom of the menubar. See In Oncourse, as an instructor or site owner, how can I see what my students or participants see? Oncourse 2.5 features many enhancements. See Oncourse changes and enhancements. [Posted June 26, 2008]

New feature: Put your menubar in order

Now you can decide the order of tools in your site's menubar by using the new Reorder Tools in Site Setup. Instructors: You can also hide a tool from students. [Posted June 24, 2008]

Browser best practices

You may get unexpected results if you use two browser windows to access the same Oncourse tool at the same time. For best results, use one browser window to work in Oncourse. See To access Oncourse, which web browser should I use? [Posted May 23, 2008]

Save your grades

Instructors: You may wish to save the grades in your course site Gradebook for future reference. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I view and export all student grades? [Posted May 1, 2008]

Move course content from original Oncourse

Do you have content in original Oncourse? On August 31, 2008, the URL to original Oncourse will no longer be available. Instructors: If you have materials in original Oncourse that you would like to keep, you will need to export those materials before August 31. If you need help moving your content, see How do I contact the teaching and learning centers at each IU campus? [Posted April 29, 2008]

Summer collaboration

Being away from campus doesn't need to mean being out of touch. You can collaborate with others from anywhere by setting up a project site in Oncourse. Students: You can request a project site with a faculty sponsor. See In Oncourse, how can I request a site?. [Posted April 24, 2008]

Final grades

Students: You can see your final grade in Onestart the day after the instructor submits it. [Posted April 17, 2008]

Timed tests

Students: If your instructor has set a time limit for your test, you will see a dialog box telling you how much time you have available to complete your answers. You can display the time remaining during the test by enabling a time remaining display in your browser. See In Oncourse, how do I take a test using the Original Test and Survey tool? [Posted April 15, 2008]

File storage space

Need online storage over the summer? All Oncourse sites, including your personal My Workspace, come with 1 GB storage. If you choose, you can grant public access to any file and publish its URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [Posted April 10, 2008]

Stay in the know with ITNow 2.0

Want on-demand access to the latest system notices about Oncourse and other UITS systems? ITNow 2.0 allows you to build a custom RSS feed, including the UITS services of special interest to you. See What is ITNow 2.0, and how do I subscribe to it? [Posted April 8, 2008]

Fast collaboration

Sharing the writing and editing of pages is a powerful collaborative tool. The Oncourse Wiki tool makes that possible -- and they are web-accessible! See Oncourse Wiki: Overview. [Posted April 3, 2008]

Tell others about yourself

Reach out with Messages

Do you want to make an extra effort to reach a message recipient? You can communicate inside Oncourse Messages and send a copy to a recipient's email address at the same time. See Using Oncourse Messages, how do I send, forward, and reply to messages? [Posted March 20, 2008]

Linking to external web sites

Instructors and project site owners: Linking to an external web page is easy using the Web Content tool. Participants will see a direct link in the Oncourse menubar. See In Oncourse, how do I add, edit, or delete a Web Content item? [Posted March 18, 2008]

Reset is better than back

Using the Oncourse reset button

is a better choice than using your browser's back button. The reset button returns you to the starting point of a tool. See In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? [Posted March 13, 2008]

Groups can work together online

Student groups can use the Forums tool to collaborate on projects without being online at the same time. For privacy from other groups, ask your instructor to set up a specific forum for you. See Using Oncourse Forums, how do I control access? [Posted March 6, 2008]

Getting help for specific tools

The blue question mark

that is displayed in the top right of the Oncourse screen can provide help materials specific to the tool you are using at the time! See Where can I find help documentation for Oncourse? [Posted March 4, 2008]

Submitting assignments

Students: To turn in an assignment, make sure you click Submit instead of Save Draft. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I complete and submit an assignment? [Posted February 28, 2008]

Grading assignments

Instructors: If students select Save Draft, the Grade option near their name will not be visible. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I grade or return an assignment or review a student's status? [Posted February 28, 2008]

Printing grades

To print grades from the Gradebook, right-click (Ctrl-click on a Mac) anywhere on the page to open it in a new tab or window. See In Oncourse, how can I print from the Gradebook? [Posted February 21, 2008]

Keep in touch with Messages

You can set Messages to auto forward messages to your preferred email. Oncourse also saves a copy in your Received folder. Although you won't be able to reply to the message from email, you'll be able to read it and any attachments even when you aren't logged in. See Using Oncourse Messages, how do I view and manage messages? [Posted February 19, 2008]

Copy files with WebDAV

Do you need to move several files between your computer and your site or My Workspace? Thanks to a technology called WebDAV, you can drag and drop files into Resources as if it were a folder on your computer. See Using WebDAV in Oncourse. [Posted February 12, 2008]

Connecting participants using email

Every course and project site in Oncourse has an automatically generated site email address. Email sent to the site address will go to all site participants. You can find the email address and archived email messages in the Email Archive. Site owners can set a friendlier email address by clicking Options in Email Archive. See Oncourse Email Archive: Help contents. [Posted February 7, 2008]

Joinable sites

Many Oncourse sites are public and can be joined by anyone who is interested in the site. You can view a list of joinable sites by clicking the Membership link in My Workspace. See In Oncourse, how do I join and unjoin sites? [Posted February 5, 2008]

Plug into podcasts

The Oncourse Podcasts tool allows site leaders to store and distribute multimedia content to site participants via an RSS feed. Instructors can allow students to post podcasts by editing permissions in the Resources podcast folder. See Oncourse Podcasts: Help contents. [Posted January 31, 2008]

Tool demos at your fingertips

Learning to use Oncourse features is easier when guided by short animated feature demos. For example, learn to use the Messages tool with the Read and Reply to Messages feature demo. See the complete list of Oncourse features. [Posted January 29, 2008]

Instructors: Set your grade scale

There is a default grade scale set in the Oncourse Gradebook. To change the grade scale, click the Course Grade Options and edit the listed scale and grade type. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I change the grade entry, grade type, and grade scale? [Posted January 24, 2008]

Citation lists in Resources

Oncourse users at IUB and IUPUI can use a new function in Resources called citation lists. This feature allows you to search library resources as well as create and manage citations and persistent links to articles and other online items. See Oncourse Resources: Working with citation lists. [Posted January 22, 2008]

Bringing files from course sites into My Workspace

You can easily copy files from a course site into My Workspace. Using the copy and paste function

The cut and paste icon looks like a clipboard

, you don't have to navigate away from the course site. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I copy an item? [posted January 17, 2008]

Sharing Oncourse resources

Instructors: You can post files, URLs, or other resources into multiple course sites using the Show other sites option in Resources. This option displays Resources in all of your other course sites and My Workspace for easy accessibility. See Using Oncourse Resources, how do I move an item? [posted January 15, 2008]

Oncourse Calendar

Your calendar in My Workspace displays the Oncourse posted deadlines for your class and project sites. You can also add items from your personal calendaring program. See Oncourse Calendar: Overview. [posted January 10, 2008]

Oncourse for projects

Instructors: In addition to course management, Oncourse is designed for collaborative projects such as writing grant proposals, conducting research, and facilitating committee work. You can invite anyone you wish, internal or external to IU, to join your project site. Use your project site to make announcements and share resources such as electronic documents or links to other web sites. [posted January 8, 2007]

Students: You can request a project site (with faculty sponsor) to collaborate on class projects.

To learn more about requesting a project or practice site in Oncourse, see In Oncourse, how can I request a site?

[posted January 8, 2008]

Oncourse and final grades

Instructors can report final grades to the registrar through the Official Final Grades link. Combined course sites will find their Official Final Grades link in the individual sites. Students can view their final grades in OneStart the day following submission. Instructors who use Gradebook in a combined course site can import grades into the Official Final Grades tool. [posted December 11, 2007]

Your feedback guides Oncourse development

Your feedback helps drive the Oncourse enhancement process. Your suggestions are gathered through an online form, tracked, and catalogued. Faculty members who are actively teaching with Oncourse (the Oncourse Priorities Committee) consider your proposals for enhancements, new features, and tools. See the Oncourse Enhancement and Development Process. [posted December 3, 2007]

Oncourse Time Out Limits

Oncourse will time out after three hours of inactivity. If you are reading lengthy text or taking an exam, Oncourse may not "see" your activity. Clicking any link or button, a tool from the menu bar, or a tab for a course or project site will keep your session from timing out. When taking tests, verify with your instructor that this is allowed. See Can I lose my work in Oncourse if my session times out? [posted November 29, 2007]

Check the status of UITS systems

You can determine the university-wide operating status of most UITS systems, including Oncourse, by checking "Notices and Alerts" at uits.iu.edu or by going to IT Notices. If you are having problems with a system and see nothing posted about it, contact your campus support center. [posted November 26, 2007]

New: Body of message in Reply

The Messages tool has been updated to include the body of the original message when you reply! When you click reply you will find the original content within your new message. For more information about the Messages tool, see Using Oncourse Messages, how do I view and manage messages? [posted November 8,2007]

Students: Assignment submissions

In the assignment tool, you can Save Draft to allow you to review your submission, add or change attachments, etc. Later, click Submit to send your assignment to your instructor. See Using Oncourse Assignments, how do I complete and submit an assignment? [posted November 6, 2007]

Email notifications

Internet browser choice

Internet Explorer and Firefox are great browsers for work in Oncourse, but do you have the latest versions? Browser settings do influence application performance. See To access Oncourse, which web browser should I use? [posted October 30, 2007]

Managing site communications

Course and project Oncourse participants have many ways to connect. Messages and email communications have several options. See In Oncourse, what tools are available for managing site communication? [posted October 25, 2007]

Individual help with Oncourse

You can get one-on-one help with Oncourse questions, and you don't have to visit campus. See Campus Support Centers to learn about ITHelpLive, phone support, and walk-in centers. Faculty can also get help from the Teaching and Learning Centers site. [posted October 23, 2007]

Calendar in My Workspace

Your calendar in My Workspace combines the deadlines posted in Oncourse for your class and project sites. You can add items from your personal calendaring program, too. See Oncourse Calendar tool: Help contents. [posted October 18, 2007]

Instructors Tip: Gradebook ordering

Gradebook items can appear in the order you choose by adding a number to the title of the item, e.g., 01_Quiz 1 and 02_homework 1. See Using Oncourse Gradebook, how do I add, edit, or delete an item? [posted October 16, 2007]

Search function

Have you seen the Search link symbol

at the top of the Oncourse page? You can open a handy window to search the Knowledge Base (KB) or use Cha Cha for Internet searches. [posted October 11, 2007]

Your Oncourse profile

You have a profile in My Workspace which you can edit to contain information about you and a picture. Your profile can help everyone to network and collaborate! See Oncourse Profile: Overview. [posted October 9, 2007]

Resource descriptions

Have you seen the information icon

in Resources? Mouse over it to view a description of the resource. Instructors, you can add text to describe resource contents. See In Oncourse Resources, what is the information icon? [posted October 4, 2007]

File storage space

All Oncourse sites, including your personal My Workspace, come with 1 GB storage. If you choose, you can grant public access to any file and publish its URL. See File storage in Oncourse. [posted October 2, 2007]

WYSIWYG editing

Oncourse uses WYSIWYG ("What You See Is What You Get") editor boxes in many tools. You can preserve formatting using the Paste from Word button.See In In Oncourse, what is the WYSIWYG editor? [posted September 26, 2007]

Communication tips for instructors

There are many ways you can use Oncourse to facilitate communication among all your course participants. See Oncourse communication tips for instructors. [posted September 25, 2007]

Customizing Oncourse

Have you customized Oncourse to meet your needs? There are many ways to do this, such as customizing your tabs across the top of the page. See Tips to make Oncourse work for you. [posted September 20, 2007]

Using the reset button

Using the Oncourse reset button is a better choice than using your browser's back button. The reset button

returns you to the starting point of a tool. See also In Oncourse, what is the up arrow icon? [posted September 18, 2007]

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