Using
Claremont School of Theology Library Electronic Reserves (ERes)
for
Electronic Reserves and Discussion/ Posting Assignments
GETTING TO ERES AND TO A COURSE PAGE
1) Go to the CST website by typing www.cst.edu and press Enter. Alternatively, go to http://cst.docutek.com .
Using the Library Web Site to go to ERES
a) Click CST Library
b) Click Research - Electronic Reserves
c) Click Electronic Reserves
d) This will take you to the CST Reserves page.
2) The ERES home page appears.
3) Click Electronic Reserves and Course Materials.
For other materials, click the relevant links.
4) The Search page appears.
5) Here you can search for a course by school or program, by instructor, or by course number or keyword. Generally, the easiest way is to locate by instructor. For other searches, just follow the instructions for the search box you want to use.
Locate By Instructor
1. On the second box, labeled Instructor, click the pull-down arrow.
2. A list of instructor's with course pages appears.
3. Locate the instructor and click on her or his name.
4. Click the Go button next to the instructor's name.
5. All the courses currently taught by that instructor will appear.
6. Courses appear as links (words underlined in blue). Any phrase in a course is a link to that course.
7. Click on any part of the course you want to open the course page.
8. The course login page opens.
9. Type the password (given by your instructor) in the box and press Enter (or click Accept).
10. The course page should open.
Note: If the login page won't go away, your computer may not have cookies enabled. The system needs to use cookies for you to log in.
USING THE COURSE PAGE
The Course Page has a number of parts. The most important are:
Announcements - These appear in red type at the top of the page. The instructor can update these at any time. Always consult them when you first open the page as they might change.
Folders - Folders may contain documents or links to websites. Double-click a folder to open it.
Documents - These are the main resource. Documents can be any kind of file: text, image, video, audio, PowerPoint, spreadsheet, etc. Documents appear as blue underlined links. Click on a document to open it.
To see a document, you must have an appropriate program or viewer installed on your computer. You can always save a document to your computer's hard disk, if you want to open it later.
Links - These are direct links to websites. Links appear as blue underlined links. Click on a link to open the website.
USING THE DISCUSSION/PAPER POSTING FUNCTION
ERES offers a threaded discussion function. This means that students can post messages about specified or general topics, in a continuous discussion. This also is useful for posting papers or written assignments for students to share and review. For example, students could post a weekly journal entry (by pasting the entry into a message and posting it) before a weekly deadline. Students can be divided into groups, with each group having its own area to post items.
Using Discussion to Post Assignments
1. On the course page, click the Discussion link.
2. A list of topics or groups appears.
3. Click the proper group. You must click a topic or group to proceed.
4. A list of posted messages for that group appears. The date and time of posting is also displayed.
5. You can open a message by clicking on the blue underlined link. You can then reply to that message if you want.
6. To post a new message or assignment, click Post a new message.
7. A blank message window opens.
8. You must type a name and a subject in the appropriate boxes. Click I the boxes before you type.
9. You can type your message or assignment in the box labeled Message.
10. For real assignments, it is best to type them in a word processing program (Word, Woks, WordPerfect, etc.) and then paste the text into the message box. See below.
11. Leave the message window as it is, and open your word processing program. In other words, both programs are running at the same time.
Note: On a Windows-based computer, at the bottom of the screen in the Taskbar, you will see a rectangular box for the Message window and another box for the word processor (and boxes for any other programs that are running.) When you click on a box, that program comes to the front of the screen. This is an easy way to move from ERES to the word processor and back again.
12. In the word processor, open the assignment.
13. Select (Highlight) the whole text. Usually, you can highlight the whole text by (1) clicking and dragging the mouse down it, or (2) clicking at the very beginning, holding the Shift key and using the arrow keys on the keyboard to move the highlight down to the very end of the document, or (3) clicking Edit, then Select All (or Ctrl and A).
14. Copy the text of the assignment. Usually, copy with (1) Ctrl and C or (2) the Copy button or (3) click Edit, then click Copy.
15. Go back to the ERES Discussion message window. (Remember, you can click on the box to go back.)
16. Click inside the Message box.
17. Paste the text of the assignment. Usually, paste with (1) Ctrl and V or (2) the Paste button or (3) click Edit, then click Paste.
18. The text appears in the message box. Scroll up to see the top of your pasted text.
19. When you are sure the text is pasted correctly, scroll down the message window to the Continue button.
20. Click the Continue button.
21. When your message is posted, you will see the message "Success! Your message has been posted."
22. To see the group's posted messages, with your new posting, click the Discussion Board Messages (yourgroup) link.
23. To return to the course page, click the course page link.
When you are done using ERES, just close the web browser program or go to another website.
Revised 2/04/05