Here are some suggestions to make getting started in SPARK a little easier:
If you plan to upload Word documents
We strongly recommend converting any Word documents to PDF or html format prior to uploading them into SPARK. Files in PDF or html format will display in the student’s browser, while files in Word format will be downloaded to the student’s computer. Easy instructions for converting Word documents can be downloaded by clicking here.
Link titles and descriptions
Certain characters in link names and descriptions may cause pages to display incorrectly in the Student View. Colons (:), semi-colons (;), pound signs (#) and ampersands (&) sometimes cause link names and descriptions to break off where the symbol occurs. In some cases, the whole link disappears or the entire page will not load. If you have any of these characters in your link names or descriptions, consider removing them. These characters appear to work fine in page text, headers, and footers.
If you are migrating a WebCT Course
MyFiles quota
Every time a course is migrated from WebCT to SPARK, a copy of the course.zip file is placed in your MyFiles area. If you have more than one course to migrate, you may run into quota issues if the course.zip files are not deleted. As a matter of routine, you should delete the course.zip file from your MyFiles area after every import
Grade book formulas
Formulas are not migrated from WebCT to SPARK. This will affect any calculated columns in your grade book. If you have calculated columns set up in WebCT, you can expect to recreate the formulas in SPARK. We recommend opening the formula window in WebCT, copying & pasting the formula into MS Word for easy reference, then entering the formula in the SPARK formula box.
Grade book columns
When migrating from WebCT to SPARK, columns for quizzes and assignments will be created in the grade book automatically. Any columns that were manually created in WebCT (e.g., class participation) will not migrate.