QuickStart: Using Files

Introduction A zip file, also called an archive, is a collection of files, packaged and compressed into a single file. CourseWorks can handle zip files in several ways. While you can upload a collection of files this way and leave it intact for your students to download all at once, CourseWorks can also expand these files for individual download, or even embed that collection as a “Web Lesson”, allowing students to easily navigate through the files within the CourseWorks frame using the built in navigation of the files that were zipped.

Getting started To start, your files into a zip file. On Windows XP, select (highlight) all the files to be zipped, right-click on them, and choose “Send To -> Compressed (Zipped) Folder”. On the Mac, select the files, right-click (or control-click) and select “Create Archive”. The zip/ will appear adjacent to your files and will have the file extension “.zip”.

Next, log in to your class on CourseWorks, click on “Class Files”, and click the “Post File” button, just as you would do if you were uploading a single file. (Fig. 1)

Fig. 1

Uploading your file to CourseWorks Type a name for the file into the “title” bar. Click the “Browse” button in order to locate the zip file and select it. (Fig. 2) Note that if you choose to expand all the files individually, this name will be added before the name of every file extracted from the archive, so you’ll want to keep it simple.

Fig. 2 You can still use the “Associated Session” dropdown menu to attach the file(s) to a class session in the syllabus. If you choose to expand the zip file, this will associate every file from the archive with the same session. However, you can go back after uploading them and edit each file to attach it to a different session. Additionally, select the folder in the class files section where the archive should go (normally, this is “shared files”).

When you click “Submit”, the “Post ZIP Archive” menu will appear. (Fig. 3)

Fig. 3

Leaving the archive intact will allow a student to download the archive and extract it on his desktop, but will not allow students to view the files individually within CourseWorks.

If you select “Expand in folder”, CourseWorks will unzip the archive after it has been uploaded, putting all the individual files into the same folder. They will then act just as if you uploaded them one at a time: you can view, move, delete, or associate the files with class sessions individually.

The third option, “Treat as Web Lesson”, will expand the files within CourseWorks, but add functionality to easily browse through them within the CourseWorks’ window. If your files are HTML files with their own navigation structure (for example, an image gallery exported from iPhoto or Picasa), you can select “Use internal navigation”. Otherwise, choose “Use CourseWorks navigation buttons”.

CourseWorks Support: E-mail: [email protected] http://courseworks.columbia.edu For general CourseWorks questions, For CourseWorks technical support please call the Columbia Center for New and troubleshooting, please call the Media Teaching and Learning (CCNMTL): Help Desk: (212) 854-9058 (212) 854-1919

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