Introduction to
Jenzabar
The Course Management
System
How to get in
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Open an internet browser
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Go to the Mount jenzabar site
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Jenzabar works best with Internet Explorer
http://portal.msmary.edu
Enter domain name, user name and password
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Domain: msmary (employees) or mount (students)
User name and password: the same as your email
username and password
Just like logging on to webmail
 msmary\rupp
 XXXXXXX
The Course Management System
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Use for an online supplement to your courses
Click Faculty in the top right, then Course
Manager in the drop-down menu
If you are currently teaching courses, they
will appear on the right, under Course
Manager, as links
If you are not currently teaching, click All my
courses, then past or future
Course Manager
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Click on a course to go to its course
information page
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Your name, email address, and the course
meeting times should automatically appear
Your picture and office hours will also
automatically appear if you already added them in
My Info
Or, select a category from the “Go directly
to:” dropdown list
Coursemates
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Jenzabar’s term for the students in a course
Use their pictures to learn names and faces
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Students can replace their Mount ID pictures with
whatever they want
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Although this may change
Email should go to their Mount email address
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studentname@email.msmary.edu
Coursemates, cont.
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You can email one student at a time, or
selected students, or all students in a course
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Click either Email selected students or Email
All
Check the box next to a student’s name to select
him or her
Attendance
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You can use jenzabar to keep track of
student attendance
Click Attendance
You will see student names and the dates of
class meetings up to the present
The default is that all students are present
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All boxes are checked
All have 100% attendance
Attendance, cont.
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Uncheck a box if a student is absent
Click submit
Attendance percentage will recalculate
Announcements
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You can add Announcements that will show
up on the students’ course manager page on
the dates you specify
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A reminder about a quiz
A change in the syllabus
Adding Announcements
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Click Announcements; click Edit; click Add
Enter the text of the announcement
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Enter the start date and end date
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Click on the tiny calendar to select the dates
Check faculty or student or both
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Short description: will display on the course manager page
Full announcement: will display in a separate small
window
This determines who will see the announcement
Click Save
Handouts
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Probably the most useful feature
Jenzabar calls a “handout” any computer file
that can be downloaded, not just a paper
handout
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A PowerPoint presentation or an Excel
spreadsheet, for example, could be a handout
Click Handouts, then Edit to work with
handouts
Working with Handouts:
Adding a Handout
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To add one or more handouts, select the number of
handouts you wish to add from the dropdown list,
then click Add
Browse to where you have previously saved the
handout
Enter the name of the handout in the label field
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This is the text that will be displayed on the Handouts page
as the link
Adding Handouts, cont.
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Enter a description of the handout, if desired
Specify a header from the dropdown list, if
desired
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You have to have previously specified a header
Specify the dates the handout will be
available to students, if desired
Click Save
Adding Handouts, cont.
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When a student clicks on the label, the handout will
download to her computer and open in the appropriate
program (if she has it).
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E.g. a Word document will open in MS Word.
She can then save or print the file as she likes.
A student can use File Tools to download programs that
will enable him to view handouts if he doesn’t have the
full program.
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For example, he can download a PowerPoint
viewer that will let him look at a PowerPoint
presentation.
Adding Handouts, cont.
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If the handout is a large file (like a
PowerPoint, e.g.) it’s best to add it where you
have a fast connection
If you try to add a large file using a dialup
connection, it’s likely to time out and you’ll get
a “this page cannot be displayed” error
Working with Handouts:
Headers
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Handouts can be grouped under headers
Click Add next to Add Header
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You can add only one header at a time
Enter the name of the header and a description, if
desired
If you already have added handouts, they will be
listed. You can specify that they be listed under this
header
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Select them
Hold down Ctrl key to select more than one
Click Save
Working with Handouts:
Editing Handouts
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If you see that you made a mistake in the label or
description of the handout, go back to the Edit
Handouts page
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Click Edit to get there
Then click Edit next to the handout you need to fix
You can change a handout’s header, label, or
description.
Edit will allow you to change only what appears on
the jenzabar page—it does not edit the handout
itself
Working with Handouts:
Deleting Handouts
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If you decide you don’t want a particular
handout, go to the edit handout page and
click delete next to the handout you want to
delete
Deleting handouts is quicker than adding
them
Working with Handouts:
Changing the Order of Display
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You can change the order in which handouts or
headers are displayed
Click the up or down arrow next to the handout or
header to move it up or down in the order
The default order is:
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Handouts and headers display in the order they were
added
Handouts not under a header display before the headers
Working with Handouts:
The Handout Bank
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If you have handouts that you use in more
than one class, or in more than one
semester, you can place them in the
Handout Bank
Check the box next to the handout, then click
Copy Selected Handouts to Bank
The Handout Bank, cont.
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Go to the course in which you want to
retrieve handouts from the bank
Click Bank under Handouts (in the left
column)
Check the handouts you want to add to this
course
Click Copy Selected Handouts to this
Course
Web Links
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Works much the same way as Handouts
Click Edit
Add any Headers you want to group the web
links under
Click Add and choose a number of web links
to add
In the URL field, enter the URL of the desired
web site
Adding Web Links, cont.
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The easiest way is to have 2 browser windows
open
 In the second window, go to the desired web
site
 Copy the URL
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Highlight it
Press CTRL-c to copy
Go back to the jenzabar window
Press CTRL-v in the URL field to paste
Adding Web Links, cont.
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Enter a label
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This is the text that will display on the web links page
It is what students will click on to get to the link
Enter a description of the link, if desired
Specify a header from the dropdown list, if desired
Specify the dates the link will be available to
students, if desired
Click Save
Web Links, cont.
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Like Handouts, Web Links can be grouped
under headers or added to a bank
They can be deleted or edited
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Again, editing will change only what you entered
in jenzabar: the URL, the label, the header, or the
description
Syllabus
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Click Syllabus, then Edit to get to the
Syllabus page
Either enter a URL to insert a link to a
syllabus stored on another server
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You can link to a course web page here
Or enter text in the box labeled HTML.
Maximum number of characters is 7500
It won’t let you do both
Syllabus, cont.
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Another option: upload your real syllabus as
a handout
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Right-click on the handout link
Select Copy shortcut
Go back to Syllabus
Paste (ctrl-v) in the URL field
Link to syllabus will show up as Click here for
syllabus.
Readings
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Just a list of the assigned readings
Click Readings, Edit, Add
Enter the requested information
Click Save
This is not the texts of the readings
themselves
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Those would have to be uploaded as handouts or
weblinks
Chat and Forums
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Chat is synchronous
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Forums are asynchronous
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Everybody participates at the same time
Everybody can participate at different times
You might use Chat for virtual office hours, or
an online review session
You might use Forums to allow students to
extend discussion outside of class
Chat
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Tell your students when the Chat is going to
take place
At the specified time, click Join the Chat
A new window will open
Participants type in the box at the bottom of
the window where it says Say
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Click Send when you’re done typing
Chat, cont.
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The participants are listed on the right of the window
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The current “speaker” is starred
All the postings appear in the main part of the
window
Click View Transcript to see a record of what’s
been said
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Opens in another new window
Can be saved or printed
It seems to go away when the chat is over
Forums
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A Topic is a discussion on a particular topic
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A Thread is a subtopic under a Forum
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Only the instructor can create a new topic
At this point, jenzabar doesn’t allow for threads
Students can only post replies to topics
created by the instructor
This may be changing with a later release
Coursework
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Allows students to do or turn in assignments online
Click Coursework, then Edit, then Add
Enter the Title of the assignment, an abbreviation,
and a point value
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The point value is used by the gradebook; even if you don’t
use the gradebook, you must enter a value to continue. I
just enter “1” for everything.
Enter the Start date and time, and Due date and
time.
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Click on the little calendar
The assignment will only be available to students during
the specified period.
Types of Coursework
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Offline is for conventional assignments that students
turn in to you on paper. Use this option only if you are
using the jenzabar gradebook to calculate your
grades.
Online is for tests or quizzes that the students do
while logged on to jenzabar.
Upload/Download is for assignments students do on
their computers while not on jenzabar (like writing a
paper). They use this feature to turn in their work to
you electronically.
 The advantage over having them email you their work
is that all the assignments end up in one place,
instead of being scattered through your inbox
Coursework, cont.
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Select a Header, to group the assignments in
the gradebook
Click Continue
Enter a description of the assignment and
other requested information and click save.
For tests and quizzes, click add or question
bank to generate questions
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Questions in the question bank can be re-used
Viewing Coursework
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To view completed assignments, click on
Gradebook
Click on the abbreviation of the assignment
The work will appear next to the students’
names
For uploaded assignments, you can then
print or save the papers as needed
Gradebook
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I wouldn’t bother with the jenzabar gradebook; it’s
not very sophisticated
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You can make an Excel spreadsheet that works much
better
Instructions available at
http://faculty.msmary.edu/rupp/IT/IThome.htm
Possible exception: if you’re using online quizzes
Also, all online coursework is deposited in the
gradebook
Group Manager
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Faculty member can define groups within the
class
For collaborative assignments
Group leader functions like a faculty member
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Can upload handouts, create forum topics, etc.
Click Group Manager, Edit, Add
Create the group, then click Manage
Members
Disclaimer: I couldn’t get this to work
Copying Materials from one
course to another
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In any course, click Copy Materials (on the
left bar)
Select which course you want to copy from
Select which course you want to copy to
Check what you would like copied
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Handouts, weblinks, readings, syllabus,
announcements, forums, coursework
Click copy
Copying Materials, cont.
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If you are copying handouts, for example, it
will display all the handouts in the originating
course
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Check which ones you want copied
Or Select all to copy all of them
You have to follow this process again to copy
to a second course (e.g. if you teach 3 sections
of something)
Customizing Jenzabar:
Your Home Page: My Info
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Click My Info
Left: space for your picture
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Right: name, email, “tidbits,” and office hours
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Click edit to add your picture
Browse to where you previously saved a digital picture
(.jpg or .gif)
Click save
Can add or edit them as you wish
This info (except tidbits) will automatically be
displayed for each of your courses
Your Home Page: Personalize
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You can adjust the layout of your home page
Click Personalize next to “Yourname’s
Homepage”
You can specify the number of columns
(default is 3) and what goes where
Customizing a Course
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Next to Navigation heading, click Edit to
remove features from the display
Select the ones you don’t want and click the
left arrow to move them from active to
available
You can also add external links to the
Navigation bar
Need more help?
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Click Help at the bottom left of the page
There’s an alphabet, but only A has anything under it
 A portal help link
The direct link is
 portal.msmary.edu/icpwebhelp/icp.htm
Or, contact
 Jeff Rogers
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jrogers@msmary.edu
Ext. 5014
Teresa Rupp
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rupp@msmary.edu
Ext. 4056