Home > Instructor Resources > Managing Student Info

Using Excel and WebCT for Student Grades

Downloading the WebCT Gradebook to a common-delimited text file

From the left navigation bar, select Manage Course. Then click Manage Students.
Choose the download button.
Choose comma as your record separator, then click download.
Save the file to a folder on your computer, and remember the location of that folder. When you name the file, add the extension ".csv" (no quotes) to the end of the file name to indicate that this is a comma-delimited file. Be sure not to use any spaces in the file name.

Opening the comma-delimited text file in Excel

In Excel, select the File/Open.
Go to the folder where you saved the file.
Next to Files of type, select All Files.
Double-click the file.

Suggestions for Working in Excel

Do not add any blank rows or fancy formatting to your spreadsheet if you plan to send the data back to WebCT. This could interfere with the integrity of the data.
Do feel free to add new columns to your spreadsheet. Click on a column letter, and choose Insert/Columns. The new column will be inserted to the left of the column you selected.
Do resize columns, if you like, for printing purposes. Point to the border between two column letters. When your mouse looks like a double arrow, drag left to make the column smaller or right to make it bigger. This will not affect how the data look in WebCT.
Do use formulae to manipulate your data. If you return the data to WebCT, the results of the formulae will display in the gradebook, but the formulae will not update automatically in WebCT.
Do create a new column for manipulating data from automatically graded quiz results if you plan to return the data to WebCT. If you try to use the same column where the data were automatically stored, WebCT will not overwrite the automatically graded results. If you create a new column with a new name, WebCT will store the new data.
When it is time to save the file, there are two options that may be appropriate. For either option, choose File/Save As. If you plan to send the data back to WebCT right away, save as a comma-delimited text file (.csv). If you plan to do more work in Excel at a later time before uploading the data back to WebCT, save the file as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls). Make sure you note the folder where you have saved the file.

Uploading the file back to WebCT

In WebCT, from the left navigation bar, select Manage Course.
Under Manage Students, choose Import Student Data.
Next to Filename, select the Browse button. A new window will open.
Near the top of the new window, choose Upload.
Next to Filename, select the Browse button. Next to Files of type, select All Files. Locate your .csv file and double-click. Click the Upload button at the bottom of the screen.
Click the radio button (the small circle) next to your filename. Choose Pick at the top of the screen.
Next to field separator, select comma. Then click Import.
If you created new columns in Excel, WebCT will ask you if you would like to add those columns. The screen called New Column Resolution will appear with several options. Next to Select, choose Create New. Do this for each new column.
Once the field names are resolved, select Continue. This will bring up the Final Confirmation Screen. WebCT will then ask you if the data for each of your new columns are numeric or alphanumeric. Make the appropriate choice(s) for your data, then scroll down and click Continue. This should complete the operation.
If you have added columns, you should check to see if the columns have been released to your students. From the Manage Students screen, select Modify Columns from the Advanced Options. Find the label for the column you wish to release - note that you may have to scroll to the right to see your column label. Under the column label, check to see if your column is released. If the released area says No, then check the box above the label name. On the right side of the screen, select Released, select Yes, and select Update.