Managing Class Content

Adding Topics, Assignments, Documents, Webpages, and Weblinks

Topics are similar to file folders on a desktop, and you use topics to organize class/section materials – by lecture, by week, by subject unit, or by any other scheme appropriate to the class. You can add all class documents to one topic or create topics that represent an outline of the class materials, then add the appropriate materials to each topic.
You can create as many topics as needed for the class. Topics appear on the Materials page in the order that you create them, but you can reorder them.

Adding Materials to a Stellar site can be a beneficial way to organize and distribute class materials among instructors and to students.

Assignments
Documents
Webpages are displayed within the Stellar frame, with the class/section navigation bar to the left of the webpage.
Weblinks are links to resources outside the Stellar class website. The links are listed along with other topic documents, and you can choose to include the link in the navigation bar.

Directions to Add Topics to the Class / Section Site:

Click on "Materials" in the navigation bar.
On the Materials page, click the "Add Topic" link.
On the Add Topic page, enter a name or title that describes the topic.
Click the "Submit" button.
As you create topics, they will appear on the materials page.

Directions to Add Materials to the Class / Section Site:

Click "Materials" in the navigation bar.
Scroll to the topic for which you want to add the material.
Click the "Add Material" dropdown menu and choose what type of material (Assignment, Document, Webpage, or Weblink) you wish to add.
Complete the entries on the Add Material page. Each type of material has its own unique Add Materials page.
Click the "Submit" button.

Directions to Add Webpage/Weblink to the Class/Section Site:

Use this procedure to add your own webpages of class or section content to a topic on the Materials page. The webpage is displayed within a Stellar frame, with the class/section navigation bar to the left of the webpage. Students have access to the webpage by clicking its link under the associated topic on the Materials page. You can also choose to give students access to the webpage from the navigation bar.

To add a webpage/weblink to a topic:

Click "Materials" in the navigation bar.
Scroll to the topic for which you want to add the webpage/weblink.
Click the topic's "add webpage/weblink" link.
Complete the entries on the Add Webpage/weblink Document page.
Click the "Submit" button.

Note:

When a class website is first set up, it has a single topic: General. You can keep that topic, edit its name, or delete it.
Before preparing and uploading files, see the Recommended Document File Formats below.
There is a size limit of 250 MB for any file uploads.

Using HTML

You can enter either plain text or HTML-formatted text in any text box on a class or section website. If you enter plain text, Stellar adds minimal HTML formatting to display it on a class/section website page. For more advanced HTML formatting, either cut and paste code from an HTML editor or type HTML text in the text box.
Note: Stellar automatically converts URLs that begin with http://, https://, ftp://, or news:// to live links. URLs enclosed in punctuation marks or brackets are not converted.

For more information on using HTML see www.w3.org.

Editing Topic Names, Assignments, Documents, Webpages, and Weblinks

Directions to Edit Topic Names and Materials:

Click "Materials" in the navigation bar.
Click "Edit" next to the document you want to edit.
Make the changes on your document, webpage, or weblink.
Click the "Submit" button after every edit to save your work!

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Deleting Topics, Assignments, Documents, Webpages, and Weblinks

Directions to Delete Topics and Materials:

Click "Materials" in the navigation bar.
Scroll to the topic or material you want to delete.
Click the "(X)" next to the desired topic or material. Result: Stellar displays the Delete Topic or Delete Document page.
Confirm that the correct topic or material is listed for deletion.
Click the "Delete" button.

You cannot delete a topic if it contains course materials. First delete all course materials for the topic and then delete the topic.

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Adding and Editing Introductory Text on the Materials Page

Directions to add or edit Introductory Text:

Instructors have the option of adding an introduction to the class/section materials or instructions for students regarding topics and documents on the Materials page. The introduction appears near the top of the Materials page, before the topics.

To add or edit the introductory text:

Click "Materials" in the navigation bar.
Click the "add intro text" or "edit intro text" link near the top of the Materials page.

Result: Stellar displays the Edit Intro Text page.
Type the introduction using plain text or HTML tags.
Click the "Submit" button.

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Importing Class Content from a Previous Stellar Website

Each semester that you teach a class, you need a new class website. However, rather than re-creating the class content, you can import it from a prior class's website. You can import topics, documents, and/or assignments from the entire class or just a section.

Tip: You can import information from more than one class. For example, first import some topics from class A, then repeat the procedure to import topics from class B.

Directions to Import Class Content:

Do one of the following:
- Click "Materials" in the navigation bar. Then click the "Import content from another class website" link.
- Click the "Website Settings" link at the bottom of the navigation bar. Then click the "Import Content" link.
Select the class or section from which you want to import content from the dropdown menu.
Click the "Submit" button.
Result: The Import page now lists all the information that you can import from the selected class or section.
(Optional) Click the "From" link to display the class from which you are importing content in another browser window.
Select a destination for the imported materials.
Choose one of the three options:
- Copy the content into corresponding Course Topics where Stellar will create new Topic headings, if required.
- Copy the content into an existing Course Topic that you select from corresponding drop-down list.
- Copy the content into a new Course Topic where you enter the new Topic name into the corresponding text field.
Select the materials to copy. (You can select each item individually or click the "Select All" and "Unselect All" buttons to select all or none of the items.)
Click the "Import" button.
Imported documents and assignment have the schedule and due dates from the prior class. You need to edit the documents, change the dates, and select whether to post them on the schedule.

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Exporting Class or Section Materials

Stellar can download a .zip file of all documents, webpages, and weblinks listed on the Materials page for you to download onto your computer.

Students cannot export topics that contain materials marked as "restricted use". Instructors can export all materials.

Directions to Export Class / Section Materials:

Click "Materials" on the navigation bar, then click the "Export Class Materials" link.
Wait while Stellar creates the .zip file. (Depending on the number and size of material documents, creating the .zip file can take up to 30 minutes.)
Result: Stellar displays a message that the .zip file is available.
Click the "Download Zip" button.
Specify the folder location for the downloaded file.
The .zip file includes the document paths. When extracting documents you may want to specify a folder/directory on your computer.

When the materials are downloaded onto your computer, the folder will organize course materials into two folders: Homework and Topics. The assignments for your class will be located in the Homework folder while other materials will be organized in the Topics folder. The topic folders will be labeled Topic 1, Topic 2, etc. according to the order of the topics on your site. Within each topic folder, the materials will be organized by type of material.

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Troubleshooting Uploading Documents

The following problems are frequently encountered when uploading documents to a class website:

When students click the document's title, the content comes up in the browser window in error.

Although the error shows up when a user attempts to view or download the file, the cause of problem may be in the upload process. Make sure the file that was uploaded has been saved with the appropriate file extension (e.g., .doc). Windows-based applications generally name documents properly, but other operating systems (e.g., Mac OS) may not. Check the File/Document type and re-save your document. Otherwise, start fresh by uploading the original file in a "new" document.

The uploaded file is a document that requires a separate application in order to read it (e.g., Microsoft Word). Some students cannot access the document's contents, even though they have that application.

Adding documents created in certain applications, such as Word, may introduce platform and version compatibility problems. See Recommended Document File Formats (above) for a list of document types to use to avoid this problem. Also, save documents using commonly available software versions rather than the newest release, which students may not have yet.

After editing and uploading a new version of a document, clicking its link still displays the old version of the document.

The old document is probably stored in your web browser's cache. Empty the browser's cache. The next time you click the link the browser will load the new document. Other visitors to the site will not need to do this, because the older document is probably not in their cache.

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Child pages

Managing Class Content