How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©

How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Access the SpeedDater by clicking the “SpeedDater” button at the top of the Timeline.
The SpeedDater function allows you to set or change Start, End and/or Due/Calendar Dates and
Gradebook Category. There are two main tabs enabling you to see and edit dates with all items
organized by Timeline session - Timeline View, or to see and edit items by item type - Item View.
Timeline view:
In Timeline view all sessions in the Timeline are listed along with all Coursework items in each
session. Data displayed in this view includes: ITEM TYPE, TITLE, START DATE, END DATE, CALENDAR DATE
and GRADEBOOK CATEGORY. Note: If there are no coursework items in a Timeline session, it will not
appear in SpeedDater Timeline view until items are added, even if it is marked “Visible”.
There are 4 ways to Edit dates, and a way to Edit an item’s Grading Category from this view:
1. Use a Base date and a Revised Base date to advance all dates for selected sessions and items by the
difference between the Base date and the Revised Base date.
2. Edit an individual Timeline session or Coursework item Start, End and/or Due/Calendar dates and
replace with new date or no date.
3. Apply Timeline session dates (Start, End and/or Calendar) to all Coursework items in the selected
session.
4. Set Global Advanced settings for whether or not Start dates or End dates are automatically copied to
Calendar dates.
5. Edit a Coursework item’s Gradebook Category. All items to be included in the Final Grade calculation
must be included in a Grading Category. Removing an item from a Grading Category does not remove it
from the course.
Please see “How To Use WebStudy Grading Categories” for more information on setting up the
categories.
To Use Base and Revised Base dates
A Base date is a starting date, i.e. the Start date of a Course, Timeline Session, etc. The Revised Base date
replaces the Base date by the number of days between the Base date and the Revised Base date. It also
advances all other selected Timeline Session and/or Coursework Items dates by the same number of days.
How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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As a general example, let’s say you taught a 14 week course in Fall 2013 with a Start date of Mon 09/09/13,
and all your Timeline sessions’ Start dates are set to the Start date of the Course, with sessions’ End dates
and/or Calendar dates set to Sundays 1, 2, 3 etc. weeks later.
If you had the same course replicated into the Spring 2014 semester with a Start date of Mon 01/13/14,
and enter or select the Base date of 09/09/13 and the Revised Base date of 01/13/14, all selected Timeline
sessions’ Start date would be changed to 01/13/14, End and/or Calendar dates for Session 1 would be set
to Sun 01/19/14, Session 2 End and/or Calendar dates would be set to Sun 01/26/14, Session 3 would be
set to 2/2/14, etc.
In other words, all dates in the selected Timeline session(s) and/or selected associated Coursework items
would be “shifted” forward by the number of days between the Base date and the Revised Base date.
A note about Spring Break - traditionally there is a one week break in the Spring semester, but not in Fall.
So, in the example above, you could select only the Timeline Sessions before Spring break week and set the
Shift date to 01/13/14 and “shift” those dates. Then you would select all sessions after Spring break week,
and set the Shift date to 01/20/14 to allow for the extra week in the Spring semester.
It is best to use SpeedDater in full screen mode.

To select a Timeline session or Coursework item within a session, click the checkbox
to the left of
the item. Note: The checkboxes only affect selections when using Base dates for editing.

To select all Timeline sessions and all Coursework items within a course, click the checkbox above the
first Timeline session listed (to the left of the ITEM TYPE column heading). You can then uncheck
individual item to exclude it from the selection if needed.

To select a Base Date, click the

Enter a Revised Base Date by clicking in the “Revised Base date” box, then clicking on the day within
an
icon to the left of the date.
the appropriate Month/Year from the drop-down calendar. Use the previous month, or next
month buttons at the top of the calendar to move the calendar to the appropriate month if necessary.

After all desired sessions and/or coursework items have been selected, the Base Date has been
selected, and a Revised Base Date has been chosen, click the “Shift selected dates” button to advance
all selected dates by the number of days between the Base date and the Revised Base date.
Note: any items whose dates are “not set” will not be changed.
How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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To Edit Selected Timeline Session or Coursework Item dates
To Change an existing Session or Coursework item’s date/time, or enter a New date/time

Click the
calendar icon or the date itself to the left of a date to change it. In the example above,
the Start Date is being changed. Note: It is not necessary to click the checkbox for the item. The
checkboxes only affect selections when using Base dates for editing.

The Calendar opens with the previously set date/time for the selected date (or today’s date if the
selected date was “not set”).

Use the previous month, or next month buttons at the top of the calendar to move the
calendar to the appropriate month if necessary. Important Note: You cannot select any date that
is before the Course Start Date (shown in the upper right), or after the Course End Date. When a
course is replicated into a new date range, any previously set dates that are outside the new date
range will have a red
next to them.

Click on the desired day within the appropriate Month to select it as the new date for this item.

Use the Hour and/or Minute slider buttons to increase the Hour and/or Minutes if necessary. Start
time is set to 12:00 am by default for Start Dates, and End time is set to 11:59 PM by default for
End Dates, and Due/Calendar Dates. Clicking the Hour or Minute slider button
to the right increases the hour or minutes.

Or, click the “Now” button to enter the current Date and Time.

Click the “Done” button to save the change.
How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
and dragging it
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Note: If you have clicked the calendar icon or existing date, and opened the calendar selector, but want
to close the calendar without making a change, click on a blank part of the page outside the calendar
selector. This will only work if you have not already selected a new date.
To Remove a Session or Item’s existing date/time


Click the
calendar icon to the left of a date, or the date itself, to select it.
o
If you see an “x” to the right of the date/time, click the “x” to clear the date/time.
o
If there is no “x”, click & drag to highlight the date/time and press the Delete key.
Click the “Done” button to save the change.
Note 1: The date field may remain blank until the page is reloaded, at which time it should display “not
set”.
Note 2: If you have clicked the calendar icon or existing date, and opened the calendar selector, but
want to close the calendar without making a change, click on a blank part of the page outside the
calendar selector. This will only work if you have not already removed the existing date.
To Apply Timeline Session dates to all Coursework items in the session
After setting a Start, End and/or Due/Calendar date for a single Timeline session, you can apply that same
date to all items in the Timeline session. Note: You can only apply session dates to one session’s
coursework items at a time. The checkboxes only affect selections when using Base dates for editing.

To apply the Timeline session Start date, for example, to all coursework items in the session, click
the gray down arrow
icon to the right of the session Start date/time.

After clicking the arrow, the screen will refresh and the dates will be changed.

Follow the same process to apply End and/or Calendar dates to all items in the session if desired.
This feature can be used to date all items in a Timeline session even if you do not wish to leave the
Start, End and/or Due/Calendar date(s) in the session itself. To do this follow the steps above to apply
the date(s) to the items in the session, and then remove the date(s) from the session itself.
How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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Note: Before the January 1,2014 update, Materials did not have Start, End or Calendar dates, but now
they can have them, and this is where you would set, edit, or remove Materials dates.
To Set Global Advanced settings
These settings determine if Start or End dates will be automatically copied to the corresponding
Due/Calendar date for all items.

Click the Global icon down arrow
display the options.

Click on the radio button to the left of the option desired, then click the “Ok” button to save your
selection.
Or, Click “Cancel” to leave the options window without making any change.

to the right of the DUE/CALENDAR DATE column heading
To Edit a Coursework item’s Gradebook Category
In order for any gradable item (Materials and Quizzes are not gradable items in WebStudy) to be included
in the Final Grade calculation it must be included in a Gradebook Category. There may be only one category
worth 100% of the grade, or several categories with weighted percentages, for example, Exams worth 70%,
Activities & Assignments 20% and Forums 10%.

To add a coursework item to a Gradebook Category, or change an item to a different category, click
the icon at the right end of the line for that item. This displays a drop-down list of all existing
Gradebook Categories to choose from.

To remove an item from the Final grade calculation, click “Not part of the final grade” to. This does
not remove the item from the course.
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How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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Item view:
In Item View there is a tab for each item type. Assignments tab is selected above. ALL items of
that type are listed in the associated tab, whether they are included in a Timeline session or not.
Data displayed in this view includes: TITLE, START DATE, END DATE, CALENDAR DATE, SESSION and
GRADEBOOK CATEGORY.
To Edit an Existing Item
To Change an existing Item’s date/time, or enter a New date/time

Click the

The Calendar opens with the previously set date/time for the selected date (or today’s date if the
selected date was “not set”).

Use the previous month, or next month buttons at the top of the calendar to move the
calendar to the appropriate month if necessary. Important Note: You cannot select any date that
is before the Course Start Date (shown in the upper right), or after the Course End Date. In a future
update, when a course is replicated into a new date range, any previously set dates that are outside
the new date range may have a red ! next to them.

Click on the desired day within the appropriate Month to select it as the new date for this item.

Use the Hour and/or Minute slider buttons to increase the Hour and/or Minutes if necessary. Start
time is set to 12:00 am by default for Start Dates, and End time is set to 11:59 PM by default for
calendar icon or the date itself to the left of a date to change it.
End Dates, and Due/Calendar Dates. Clicking the Hour or Minute slider button
to the right increases the hour or minutes.

Or, click the “Now” button to enter the current Date and Time.

Click the “Done” button to save the change.
and dragging it
Note: If you have clicked the calendar icon or existing date, and opened the calendar selector, but want
to close the calendar without making a change, click on a blank part of the page outside the calendar
selector. This will only work if you have not already selected a new date.
How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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To Remove an Item’s existing date/time


Click the
calendar icon to the left of a date, or the date itself, to select it.
o
If you see an “x” to the right of the date/time, click the “x” to clear the date/time.
o
If there is no “x”, click & drag to highlight the date/time and press the Delete key.
Click the “Done” button to save the change.
Note 1: The date field may remain blank until the page is reloaded, at which time it should display “not
set”.
Note 2: If you have clicked the calendar icon or existing date, and opened the calendar selector, but
want to close the calendar without making a change, click on a blank part of the page outside the
calendar selector. This will only work if you have not already removed the existing date.
In Item View, if the Item is included in a Timeline Session, the session name will be displayed in
the SESSION column. Note: It is for information only. You cannot change the session, or remove the
item from a session on this page.
To Edit a Coursework item’s Gradebook Category
In order for any gradable item (Materials and Quizzes are not gradable items in WebStudy) to be included
in the Final Grade calculation it must be included in a Gradebook Category. There may be only one
category worth 100% of the grade, or several categories with weighted percentages, for example, Exams
worth 70%, Activities & Assignments 20% and Forums 10%.

To add a coursework item to a Gradebook Category, or change an item to a different category, click
the icon at the right end of the line for that item. This displays a drop-down list of all existing
Gradebook Categories to choose from.

Click the Category name to select it.

To remove an item from the Final grade calculation, click “Not part of the final grade” to. This does
not remove the item from the course.
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How To Use the WebStudy SpeedDater©
Revised January 2014 © WebStudy, Inc.
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