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Managing Class Content

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
  • Document
  • 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.

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.


Recommended Document File Formats
You can use any file format on a class website; however, the following file formats are recommended because users can readily access them with minimal compatibility issues:

  • HTML - You can enter either plain text or HTML-formatted text in any text boz on a class or section website. If you enter plain text, Stelar adds minimal HTML formatting to display it on a class/section website page. For more advanced HTML fomatting, 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 http://www.w3org/TR/htrml401/intro/intro.html.
  • PDF
  • GIF
  • JPG
  • MOV (Quicktime)
  • RM (Real Media)
  • DOC (Word)*
  • XLS (Excel)*
  • PPT (Powerpoint)*
  • M (MATLAB)**
  • Free viewers are available for download from Microsoft.
  • Compound Documents - You can upload documents that contain more than a single file, such as an HTML page and its embedded web of pages. These files are referred to as compound documents. When adding such a document, first create a ZIP or JAR file that contains all related files in a hierarchy with a single top page, such as INDEX.HTML, in the hierarchy. The compressed file can include subdirectories. Because all pages in the compressed file are referenced relative to the top page, links to other pages should be relative links. That is, they should not have absolute URLs that include domain and web server names, but rather path names that show where they are in the hierarchy of pages under the top page, such as the following URL: contentdir/content_a.htm Any links to files outside the compressed file should be absolute links, as in the following URL: http://web.mit.edu/ In order to add a compound document, first configure the class website to unpack compound documents. You do this by checking the Enable Unpacking Of ZIP Or JAR Files option on the Website Settings page. Your users can then click the title link of the document and see the top page in the browser, and all links work as they should within the document. If you do not configure the class website to handle compound documents, unpacking the file will be left to the browser when a user clicks the title link.

Upload a compound document to a topic just as you would a single document. The only difference is that you must also select the option stating that the file is a ZIP or JAR file and enter the relative URL of the index page for a ZIP file.

DIRECTIONS to ADD TOPICS to the class/section website:

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

DIRECTIONS to ADD MATERIALS to the class/section website:

  1. Click Materials in the navigation bar.
  2. Scroll to the topic for which you want to add the material.
  3. Click the dropdown menu and choose what type of material (Assignment, Document, Webpage, or Weblink) you wish to add.
  4. Complete the entries on the Add Material page. Each type of material as it's own unique Add Materials page.
  5. Click the button.

DIRECTIONS to EDIT TOPIC NAMES and MATERIALS:

1. Click Materials in the Navigation Bar
2. Click next to the document you want to edit.
3. Make the changes on your document, webpage, or weblink.

4. Remember to hit after every edit to save your work!

DIRECTIONS to DELETE TOPICS and MATERIALS

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

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

Related topics:

Troubleshooting Uploading Documents

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