CTER Tech Support: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

After January 1, 2000, you will get this message when using versions of Netscape Navigator older than version 4.06 or when using Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 for the Mac, when accessing some secure Web sites. If you click the "continue" button, things will work fine. To avoid getting these spurious messages, upgrade to a newer version of the browser you are using.

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Web clients (Netscape, MS Internet Explorer, etc.) "cache" Web pages you've looked at recently and will show the version saved on your local computer if it thinks that the page hasn't changed.

1. After you transfer a changed Web page to the server, click the "Reload" button in Netscape Navigator, or the "Refresh" button in Internet Explorer.
   
   
2. If that doesn't show your changes, do a "Super Reload". Hold down the Shift key (Windows) or Option key (Mac) and click Reload.
3. If that still doesn't show your changes, clear your "cache". 
   In Netscape Navigator:  Select the Edit -> Preferences -> Advanced -> Cache and click on the "Clear Disk Cache Now" button. While you're there, you may want to set the "Page in cache is compared to page on network" to "Every time". This will slow down your Web browsing somewhat, but will substantially reduce your frustration when Web editing.
   In Internet Explorer:  Click the Tools menu and select "Internet Options".  In the Internet Options dialog box, click the "Delete Files" button under the "Temporary Internet Files" section.  While you're there, you may want to click the "Settings" button and instruct IE to "Check for newer versions of stored pages on every visit to the page."
4. In the few rare cases in which the above do not work, remove the old version of the file from the server with your FTP client and then transfer the Web page to the server again.
5. Also, note that if you insert a graphic into a Web page, and upload ONLY the revised Web page, your graphic will not appear.  You must upload the graphic in addition to the Web page that displays it.  For more information, see "Why does a graphic I've put into a Web file not show up when I look at it on the Web?"
6. If none of these work, contact us at cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

There are three kinds of icons you might get instead of your image:

1. the "not loaded yet" icon
   this means that either the image hasn't loaded yet (look up in the right corner to see if the browser's "busy" animation is still moving), or that you've stopped the loading of the page, or that you don't have "automatic loading of images" turned on. Either wait for the image to load, click on the browser's "Images" button to load all images on the page, or just click on the "not loaded yet" icon to load that specific image
2. the "broken" icon
   this usually means that the graphic file isn't really a graphic file (even though it might end in .jpeg or .gif)
3. the "missing" icon
   There are several reasons why the graphic might show up as "missing":
   • the graphic file might not be in your folder on the server
   • the graphic file might not be in the right place on the server (that is, the link might refer to a subfolder, but the graphic file might be in the same folder or vice versa)
     You can test for these cases by looking with your Web browser directly for the image file - you should be able to type in the URL, ending with the image file name. If you see the file, then the image file is okay and in the right place; if you still get a missing or broken image icon, then the image file is either not there or not the right kind of file
   • the file name in the link may not be the same as the file name on the server
   • the link to the graphic file might contain extra information put in by a Web editor (for example, "c:\" or somesuch)
     You can see what file name the link has by moving the cursor over the "missing" icon and holding down the mouse button (for Macs) or holding down the right mouse button (for Windows), and select "Save this image as..." from the pop-up set of choices. Look at the name it prompts you to save it as. Then click "cancel". If it is not the right name, go back to your Web editor, change the image link, and try again.

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1. Go to the WebBoard and select your own post.
2. If you're using "frames" in WebBoard (the default setting), open the posting frame in a new window by moving the cursor over your posting, hold down the mouse button (hold down the right mouse button in Windows), and select "New Window with this Frame" from the pop-up list.
3. Copy the long URL in the "Location" field near the top of the Netscape window - it should look something like this: http://webboard.outreach.uiuc.edu:8080/read?17711,1146
4. Go to C-Base, click in the URL field, and paste in the URL.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• First, there may be a problem with your individual computer or network connection.
  • If possible, try to access from a second machine or a different network connection, to see if the problem still exists.
• Second, there is the possibility that the server itself may be down (especially likely if you are connecting with a computer you have used successfully with this connection in the past).
  • Course Web pages are generally served from the College Of Education Web server (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu). If you cannot access your course Web pages and have not received a message about an outage, you can send email to the COE Webmaster: Webmaster@mail.ed.uiuc.edu, with a copy to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
  • CTER Tech Support maintains the Learning Resource Server, where many students place their own Web pages, and the LRSdb Server, which hosts C-Base. Problems with LRS or LRSdb should be reported to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
• Third, you may not have a required plugin or other resource.
  • For multimedia content delivered over the Web, browser plugins are often required. For example, you need an up-to-date copy of RealPlayer, available for free from www.real.com and also on the CTER CD-ROM, in order to hear and see audio and video files streamed in the Real (.rm or .ra) format. The QuickTime 4.0 Player plugin is needed to view streaming multimedia created in the QuickTime format. Let CTER Tech Support know if you have trouble finding or installing a plugin you need; we'll be happy to help you get it running.
• Fourth, "firewalls" can be a problem.
  • Most commercial internet providers do not utilize them, but many schools and districts do. Some of CTER's supplemental resources require connections to be made to an Internet port other than the standard Port 80. Some of our Web-enabled databases, for instance, make use of Port 591, as is evident from addresses like http://lrsdb.ed.uiuc.edu:591/ipp and http://lrsdb2.ed.uiuc.edu:591. Streaming multimedia also makes use of non-standard port addresses. If your provider has a firewall which disallows connections via the ports you need, you won't get through. Anyone with this problem either needs to get their provider to open up the necessary ports, or needs to find another way out to the Internet via a different provider.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

CTER 
Academic
Issues

Your instructor will tell you how to submit each assignment.

• Sometimes you will attach your work to an email message. (We recommend Eudora for this and other email tasks. A copy is provided on the CTER CD-ROM.)
• Sometimes you will need to create and upload a Web page, and send your instructor the URL.
• Sometimes you will post an assignment to a class discussion board, for everyone in a group or class to read.
• Sometimes you will make use of the CourseInfo "Digital Drop Box."
• And sometimes you'll do it in person - most CTER courses have a face to face meeting at some point during the semester. (If you are unable to attend this meeting, however, alternative arrangements can be made. Alternatives are what distance learning is all about.)

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

You can order official transcripts through the Website of the Office of Admissions and Records. http://www.oar.uiuc.edu/current/trans.html

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

If you change the name of a file in your Web server folder or move it (for example, create a subfolder and move it there), that will break all the Web links that other people have to the file. So, once a file is linked from other places, don't rename it or move it.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

All the info is in the micro order Web page:

http://www.cstores.uiuc.edu/moc/moc.html

Here, you can see that if you already order something in the past, you only need to call them to place a new order:

http://www.cstores.uiuc.edu/moc/order.html

Here you have the elegibility requirements:

http://www.cstores.uiuc.edu/moc/cert.html

And here you have the quotes:

http://www.cstores.uiuc.edu/center/prices.html

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

At the beginning of your CTER coursework, you will be provided with a summary of usernames and passwords that have been set up for you. You also need to keep detailed records about what passwords you have set up for yourself, and what changes you have made to supplied passwords. The following resources have some form of password protection on them:

• Course Web pages - generally, the class share a single username and password to access these documents. Check with your teacher or classmates if you need a reminder.
• Uploading student Web pages - if you use the Learning Resource Server, you will have a username and password for this. CTER Technical Support can help you reset your LRS password if the need arises. If you use the CCSO student Web folders provided along with your campus email account, your username and password will be the same for email and Web authoring access; CCSO can help you with any problems.
• WebBoard - you create your own user account and password for WebBoard. Your instructor can reset your password if necessary.
• CourseInfo - you will be supplied with a username and password. If your password is lost or fails to work, contact the Center for Educational Technology, which hosts our CourseInfo courses. You can also send a copy of your message to the CTER Technical Support team (cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu)
• C-Base - problems with passwords or any other access to this resource should be reported to the CTER Technical Support team. You can change your password on C-Base during a session.
• Learning Resource Server - you can only change this password from a network-connected Macintosh, via the Chooser. If your password suddenly fails to work, it may have been reset automatically - this can happen after you make several unsuccessful login attempts in succession. Password problems can be handled by the CTER Technical Support team.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• CTER maintains two servers you will likely interact with on a regular basis. The LRSdb server (http://lrsdb.ed.uiuc.edu) hosts C-Base, a resource for students and teachers to communicate about progress on course assignments. CTER students can also use the Learning Resource Server (htp://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu) to upload Web pages for display in a browser.
• In addition, course content is presented on Web pages which are hosted on the College of Education Web server (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu). The address http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu is actually an alias to a directory on the College of Education server; you can reach the same point via http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/ed-online/cter.
• You will also be working with some interactive resources hosted by groups other than CTER. The WebBoard conferencing system is run by the campus Webtech group. Its URL is http://Webboard.Webtech.uiuc.edu/~your_coursename.
• CourseInfo, a comprehensive course-management system we will be using extensively in our Spring 2000 courses, has a URL of http://courseinfo.cet.uiuc.edu/your_coursename.
• Certain kinds of multimedia resources may also come from other servers. For instance, streaming multimedia in Real format is served from the Webtech Talon server (http://talon.outreach.uiuc.edu). You will generally be provided with a link from your course Web page to these resources.
• It's important to remember that you will have a different password, and perhaps even a different username, on each of the servers. Also, remember that if you change a password on any of these servers, your other passwords will not be affected.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

The CTER Technical Support team is your single point of contact for server problems. If the problem's at the server end, email to cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu or a call to (217)244-3510 should be your first step. We'll clear up whatever we can, and communicate with you about how we can work together to put the rest right.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

If you're going to access your College of Education Web space with a Mac, you may get some error messages when you try to use Chooser to access that space if you don't have the current "UAMs" installed. Take a look at:

http://w3.ed.uiuc.edu/coeWebapp/default.asp?URL=/oet/support/fileservices/macaccess/nouam

Download the UAM Installer from:

http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/oet/support/uamsinstaller.bin

It is about 800K so shouldn't take too long to download. If you get a message that your browser doesn't know what to do with it, just save it to your hard disk. Double click on it and it should "unpack" into a file called UAMs Installer . Double click that file. You should only have to do this once on a given Mac (but will have to do this on each Mac you use).

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• First, there may be a problem with your individual computer or network connection.
  • If possible, try to access from a second machine or a different network connection, to see if the problem still exists.
• Second, there is the possibility that the server itself may be down (especially likely if you are connecting with a computer you have used successfully with this connection in the past).
  • Course Web pages are generally served from the College Of Education Web server (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu). If you cannot access your course Web pages and have not received a message about an outage, you can send email to the COE Webmaster: Webmaster@mail.ed.uiuc.edu, with a copy to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
  • CTER Tech Support maintains the Learning Resource Server, where many students place their own Web pages, and the LRSdb Server, which hosts C-Base. Problems with LRS or LRSdb should be reported to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
• Third, you may not have a required plugin or other resource.
  • For multimedia content delivered over the Web, browser plugins are often required. For example, you need an up-to-date copy of RealPlayer, available for free from www.real.com and also on the CTER CD-ROM, in order to hear and see audio and video files streamed in the Real (.rm or .ra) format. The QuickTime 4.0 Player plugin is needed to view streaming multimedia created in the QuickTime format. Let CTER Tech Support know if you have trouble finding or installing a plugin you need; we'll be happy to help you get it running.
• Fourth, "firewalls" can be a problem.
  • Most commercial internet providers do not utilize them, but many schools and districts do. Some of CTER's supplemental resources require connections to be made to an Internet port other than the standard Port 80. Some of our Web-enabled databases, for instance, make use of Port 591, as is evident from addresses like http://lrsdb.ed.uiuc.edu:591/ipp and http://lrsdb2.ed.uiuc.edu:591. Streaming multimedia also makes use of non-standard port addresses. If your provider has a firewall which disallows connections via the ports you need, you won't get through. Anyone with this problem either needs to get their provider to open up the necessary ports, or needs to find another way out to the Internet via a different provider.

 Back to Top

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

There are three kinds of icons you might get instead of your image:

1. the "not loaded yet" icon
   this means that either the image hasn't loaded yet (look up in the right corner to see if the browser's "busy" animation is still moving), or that you've stopped the loading of the page, or that you don't have "automatic loading of images" turned on. Either wait for the image to load, click on the browser's "Images" button to load all images on the page, or just click on the "not loaded yet" icon to load that specific image
2. the "broken" icon
   this usually means that the graphic file isn't really a graphic file (even though it might end in .jpeg or .gif)
3. the "missing" icon
   There are several reasons why the graphic might show up as "missing":
   • the graphic file might not be in your folder on the server.  Note that when you insert a new graphic into a Web page, you must upload both the updated Web page and the graphic you inserted into it.
   • the graphic file might not be in the right place on the server (that is, the link might refer to a subfolder, but the graphic file might be in the same folder or vice versa)
     You can test for these cases by looking with your Web browser directly for the image file - you should be able to type in the URL, ending with the image file name. If you see the file, then the image file is okay and in the right place; if you still get a missing or broken image icon, then the image file is either not there or not the right kind of file
   • the file name in the link may not be the same as the file name on the server
   • the link to the graphic file might contain extra information put in by a Web editor (for example, "c:\" or somesuch)
     You can see what file name the link has by moving the cursor over the "missing" icon and holding down the mouse button (for Macs) or holding down the right mouse button (for Windows), and select "Save this image as..." from the pop-up set of choices. Look at the name it prompts you to save it as. Then click "cancel". If it is not the right name, go back to your Web editor, change the image link, and try again.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• Don't use any spaces or other punctuation marks in your file name (except for "-" or "_")
• use all lower case in your file names - mixed case doesn't matter on the LRS server, but if you move your files later to another server, inconsistent case may cause problems for you
• Be sure to end each of your Web page file names with ".htm" or ".html"
  Be sure to end each of your JPEG graphic file names with ".jpg" or ".jpeg"
  Be sure to end each of your GIF graphic file names with ".gif"
  Be sure to end each of your Quicktime movie file names with ".mov"
  If you don't do this, some Web servers & browsers won't show the files correctly.
• When adding a link to a file, copy the file name and then paste it into your Web editor.
• When you find a URL you want to add while browsing the Web, but don't have access to your file, don't write it down on paper and type it in later. Instead, use the Web browser to email the URL to yourself, and then later, copy it from the email to your Web file.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

If you change the name of a file in your Web server folder or move it (for example, create a subfolder and move it there), that will break all the Web links that other people have to the file. So, once a file is linked from other places, don't rename it or move it.

Back to Top

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• First, there may be a problem with your individual computer or network connection.
  • If possible, try to access from a second machine or a different network connection, to see if the problem still exists.
• Second, there is the possibility that the server itself may be down (especially likely if you are connecting with a computer you have used successfully with this connection in the past).
  • Course Web pages are generally served from the College Of Education Web server (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu). If you cannot access your course Web pages and have not received a message about an outage, you can send email to the COE Webmaster: Webmaster@mail.ed.uiuc.edu, with a copy to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
  • CTER Tech Support maintains the Learning Resource Server, where many students place their own Web pages, and the LRSdb Server, which hosts C-Base. Problems with LRS or LRSdb should be reported to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
• Third, you may not have a required plugin or other resource.
  • For multimedia content delivered over the Web, browser plugins are often required. For example, you need an up-to-date copy of RealPlayer, available for free from www.real.com and also on the CTER CD-ROM, in order to hear and see audio and video files streamed in the Real (.rm or .ra) format. The QuickTime 4.0 Player plugin is needed to view streaming multimedia created in the QuickTime format. Let CTER Tech Support know if you have trouble finding or installing a plugin you need; we'll be happy to help you get it running.
• Fourth, "firewalls" can be a problem.
  • Most commercial internet providers do not utilize them, but many schools and districts do. Some of CTER's supplemental resources require connections to be made to an Internet port other than the standard Port 80. Some of our Web-enabled databases, for instance, make use of Port 591, as is evident from addresses like http://lrsdb.ed.uiuc.edu:591/ipp and http://lrsdb2.ed.uiuc.edu:591. Streaming multimedia also makes use of non-standard port addresses. If your provider has a firewall which disallows connections via the ports you need, you won't get through. Anyone with this problem either needs to get their provider to open up the necessary ports, or needs to find another way out to the Internet via a different provider.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

1. Click on the "More" button near the top of the WebBoard screen.
2. Click on "Edit Your Profile".
3. Scroll down to the "Signature" field.
4. Type in <img src = "http://full_URL_of_your_picture">. Be sure to replace full_URL_of_your_picture with the actual URL of your picture. Note that you need to type the URL without any spaces or returns
5. Click on the "Save" button at the bottom.

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Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

How do I put the URL for a WebBoard posting into C-Base?

1. Go to the WebBoard and select your own post.
2. If you're using "frames" in WebBoard (the default setting), open the posting frame in a new window by moving the cursor over your posting, hold down the mouse button (hold down the right mouse button in Windows), and select "New Window with this Frame" from the pop-up list.
3. Copy the long URL in the "Location" field near the top of the Netscape window - it should look something like this: http://webboard.outreach.uiuc.edu:8080/read?17711,1146
4. Go to C-Base, click in the URL field, and paste in the URL.

Back to Top

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

• First, there may be a problem with your individual computer or network connection.
  • If possible, try to access from a second machine or a different network connection, to see if the problem still exists.
• Second, there is the possibility that the server itself may be down (especially likely if you are connecting with a computer you have used successfully with this connection in the past).
  • Course Web pages are generally served from the College Of Education Web server (http://www.ed.uiuc.edu). If you cannot access your course Web pages and have not received a message about an outage, you can send email to the COE Webmaster: Webmaster@mail.ed.uiuc.edu, with a copy to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
  • CTER Tech Support maintains the Learning Resource Server, where many students place their own Web pages, and the LRSdb Server, which hosts C-Base. Problems with LRS or LRSdb should be reported to the CTER Tech Support team: cter-tech-L@listserv.uiuc.edu.
• Third, you may not have a required plugin or other resource.
  • For multimedia content delivered over the Web, browser plugins are often required. For example, you need an up-to-date copy of RealPlayer, available for free from www.real.com and also on the CTER CD-ROM, in order to hear and see audio and video files streamed in the Real (.rm or .ra) format. The QuickTime 4.0 Player plugin is needed to view streaming multimedia created in the QuickTime format. Let CTER Tech Support know if you have trouble finding or installing a plugin you need; we'll be happy to help you get it running.
• Fourth, "firewalls" can be a problem.
  • Most commercial internet providers do not utilize them, but many schools and districts do. Some of CTER's supplemental resources require connections to be made to an Internet port other than the standard Port 80. Some of our Web-enabled databases, for instance, make use of Port 591, as is evident from addresses like http://lrsdb.ed.uiuc.edu:591/ipp and http://lrsdb2.ed.uiuc.edu:591. Streaming multimedia also makes use of non-standard port addresses. If your provider has a firewall which disallows connections via the ports you need, you won't get through. Anyone with this problem either needs to get their provider to open up the necessary ports, or needs to find another way out to the Internet via a different provider.

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