How do I get trial access to CompClass?

Click here to pick which version of CompClass you want to review. Trial access lets you play around inside the course space; but remember that students can't enroll and your customizations won't be saved.

I want to use CompClass for my course. How do I get it?

Click here to request the version you want to use in your class. We recommend that you give yourself some time to set up your course the way you want it! We will contact you about setting up your course in 24-48 hours and you'll be able to start setting up your course in another 24-48 hours.

My school has a campus-wide course management system (such as Blackboard, Web CT, or Moodle). I want to use CompClass. What are my options?

If your students are used to Blackboard or another campus system, it's easy to link to CompClass from Blackboard. When you and your students follow the link, you have the option of clicking the box "Remember me on this computer" on the log-in page. This allows a user, (when on that computer and logged into your CMS course) to follow the link into CompClass without having to sign in again. Supported for Blackboard, WebCT, Moodle, & Angel.

If you want to export your grades from the CompClass gradebook into your campus system, go to the Gradebook Tab and click on "Transfer Grades to LMS "at the top of the page. This easy-to-follow 4-step "Gradebook Wizard" allows you to seamlessly transfer grades from your CompClass to any CMS.

If you want to use the tools of your campus-wide system (announcements, course mail, etc) but you want your students to have access to CompClass content, Course Cartridge PLUS gives you preset links to key CompClass content and tools. If you're interested in learning more, email khampton@bedfordstmartins.com or contact your sales rep. Supported for Blackboard, WebCT, & Angel.

How can I set things up so that my college's writing lab can use CompClass?

Contact your sales rep to talk about custom options for writing labs using CompClass.

I taught with CompClass last semester and I need a new course space for next semester. How do I get one? Can my customizations transfer over to my new course?

To teach with CompClass an additional semester, please fill out an adoption form for your version of CompClass. One of the questions on this form will be whether you want a new, or "clean," course, or whether you'd prefer a copy of your existing course. If you'd like your customizations to transfer to your new course, you should request the latter.

1. Go to www.yourcompclass.com.
2. From the Teachers drop-down menu, select Adopt Now.
3. Scroll down the page until you see your version of CompClass.
4. Click the Adopt CompClass Today link next to your version to open the adoption form.
5. Fill out the adoption form completely, and don't forget to request a copy of your existing course.

A new edition of my textbook just published. How do I transition from CompClass for the old edition to CompClass for the new edition?

Each semester, instructors are required to request a new CompClass course that is unpopulated with student data. To do so, you must fill out an Adopt Now form. When you request a new course, be sure to request the version of CompClass with the newest edition of the textbook you are using.

We can work with you to transfer the customizations you made to your old course from a previous semester—with all your course material, assignments, and customizations you have made—into your new course. Just be sure to specify that you'd like us to contact you about this in the Adopt Now form. Our Course Creation team will talk with you about transferring the customizations you've made that you'd like to keep. For more information, contact courses@bfwpub.com.

Can I archive my CompClass with the assignments and content I've added to it?

Absolutely! At the end of the semester, we will ask you if you want us to save your CompClass. Even if you haven't told us to save it, we will—and when you request a new course we'll ask you whether you want to use a copy of a course from a previous semester—with all your course material, assignments, and customizations you have made WITHOUT any student information. For more information, contact courses@bfwpub.com.

Can I import assignments and customizations from a colleague's course?

Absolutely! If you and your colleagues want to share course materials and assignments, you must be enrolled as a course editor in both your course and their course. To get this set up, please contact Technical Support at 1-800-936-6899 or techsupport@bfwpub.com.

Can I have multiple sections in one course space?

Of course! When you request your own course space, you can choose whether you want multiple sections managed in one course or as separate courses.

If you plan to give the same assignments to all your sections, you can bundle them in the same course. If you'll need to vary the assignments you give to your sections, request a different course for each section.

I'm teaching more than one section within the same CompClass course space. What are the ins and outs of section management?

Section management plays out in several different ways. Click here for a document with detailed instructions. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact our tech support team at 800.936.6899 or techsupport@bfwpub.com.

What kind of hardware and software do I need to use CompClass?

To check if you have the required browser and applications—and to link to needed updates and plug-ins—click on the "System Check" on the CompClass log in page.

Required Browser:
PC users: Explorer v. 6.0 & 7.0; Firefox v 3.5 & lower
MAC users: Firefox 3.5 & lower
Required Applications and Plug-ins: Flash, QuickTime, Shockwave, Adobe Reader

How do I change my password?

To change your password, click on the Tools button on the lower left-hand corner of your course home page. You will see the option "Change Password" in the new screen.

I've forgotten my password. How do I get it again?

To get your password hint emailed to you either: send us your email address and we'll email you a hint or click Forgot your password? on the log-in page.

Can I set CompClass to my own time zone?

Absolutely! You can do so through the Customize CompClass link on your home tab. To learn how, watch this video tutorial or follow these instructions:

1. Log in to your CompClass course.
2. From the home tab, click the Customize CompClass link in the upper-left corner of the page.
3. Click Time Zone Settings.
4. Select your time zone.
5. Click Submit.
6. Click OK.

Can I upload my syllabus into my CompClass course?

Absolutely! You can upload your syllabus into the course info nugget on your home tab. To learn how to do this and other home tab customizations, you can watch this video tutorial or follow these instructions:

1. Log in to your CompClass course.
2. From the home tab, click the light gray Edit button next to the course info nugget.
3. Click the Upload button to upload a syllabus file that your students can download. Alternatively, if you've posted your syllabus on another Web site, enter a link to the syllabus in the Syllabus Link field.

How do I upload my own course material?

Click on the Course Materials Tab, and click on add content. You can add documents, images, videos, PowerPoint presentations, and links.

You can also add content to the e-Book. You will see the "Add Content" option at the top of every page in the e-Book.

How do I create an assignment?

Click on the assignments tab and click on the "Add an Assignment" button. You have the option to either create a new assignment—such as a quiz from our robust test banks—or you can assign an existing content item from any of the course materials. For a detailed explanation on how to create writing assignments, see the FAQ "Can students use CompClass to submit their writing online?"

How do I set up my gradebook?

Click on the drop-down menu, "Other Gradebook Functions," on the top of the Gradebook Tab. From here you can set your preferences and create and edit your gradebook categories and grading scale. To watch a video tutorial on setting up your gradebook, click here.

How do I get my Portal/Class grades into my campus CMS?

Go to the Gradebook Tab and click on "Transfer Grades to LMS "at the top of the page. This easy-to-follow 4-step "Gradebook Wizard" allows you to seamlessly transfer grades from your CompClass to any CMS.

How do I get help building my current syllabus in my CompClass and getting answers to my other teaching questions?

Teaching support: Contact Lynette Ledoux for help tailoring the way you use CompClass to your existing syllabus and course goals or for a personal walk through of anything you're interested in learning more about.

Training: We offer web-based training sessions to help walk you through setting up and using CompClass. To sign up for a live session, go to bfwtraining.webex.com and register for a session.

How do I get help logging on and getting answers to my other technical questions?

Tech Support: Contact tech support if you have any questions or issues about logging on, setting up your course, or using CompClass.

Getting Started: Download the Quickstart and User Guides. You will find these in the HELP section of your CompClass course.

Online Help: Click on the help button inside of CompClass or contact tech support.

Video Tutorials: Click here to see our growing library of brief, simple video tutorials on how to set up different aspects of CompClass.

How do I make sure that my students are seeing my CompClass the way I want them to?

To see your course in the student view, click the "view as" button on the upper left-hand corner of your home page. To return to the instructor view, simply click the button again.

Do you have handouts and instructions on CompClass that I can give to my students on or before the first day of class?

Yes! Click here for handouts, slides, and more that can help get your students started. How do my students get CompClass?

Students can purchase access online at this site; instructors can package an access card with the corresponding print version; instructors can package an access card with any other Bedford/St. Martin's text at a significant discount; or instructors can order stand-alone student access cards for the bookstore. For package ISBNs and other pricing information, please contact your sales representative or explore our most popular packages of books with CompClass.

How do my students access my CompClass if I've packaged an activation card?

Tell students to register their activation code, located on the access card they purchased in the bookstore (see below). They will be asked to select the school's state/province, select your school name, select your name, and identify their course and/or section, enter the activation code that came with their textbook, enter their email address, choose a password and they're in!

I packaged our course book(s) with CompClass activation codes, but one or more of my students have bought used books. How can they access my CompClass course?

Your students can purchase access to your course directly from www.yourcompclass.com. No activation code needed! Direct your students to this video tutorial or give them the following instructions:

1. Go to www.yourcompclass.com.
2. Click ↓
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3. Scroll down to the version of CompClass your class is using click on the link to PURCHASE.
4. Select your institution's state/province, your institution name, and the course title/instructor from the drop-down menus.
5. Enter an e-mail address and password. You won't be able to change your e-mail address after you register, so pick one that will be valid for the duration of the course. The password must be at least 4 characters long and should be something memorable.
6. Provide payment information, including your name as it appears on your credit card, your credit card number and expiration date, and billing address.
7. Click NEXT.
8. After confirming your information, click on PLACE YOUR ORDER.
9. Once the system has accepted your payment, a thank you screen will confirm your name, e-mail address, username, and password.
10. You will also receive a confirmation e-mail.

How do my students access my CompClass if I want them to purchase access online?

Tell students to go to yourcompclass.com, click on the student tab, find their course and click purchase!

One of my students is having trouble registering his/her CompClass activation code. What should s/he do?

Ask your student to make sure s/he is entering all characters correctly, including the hyphens. If s/he continues to have problems, have him/her contact tech support at 1-800-936-6899 or techsupport@bfwpub.com.

One of my students registered for the wrong CompClass section. How can s/he switch sections?

You can direct your student to this video tutorial or give him/her the following instructions:

1. Go to www.yourcompclass.com.
2. From the Find Your Class drop-down menu, select the version of CompClass you're already registered in.
3. In the Login to CompClass box, click Need to switch courses?.
4. Fill in your e-mail, which is also your CompClass username, and password.
5. Select your school's state, your school's name, and your course/instructor name. If your instructor is teaching more than one section with CompClass, you will also be prompted to select your section name or number.
6. Click Next.
7. Once you confirm your account information, you will be able to log in to your new course at www.yourcompclass.com.

What if my students have trouble logging in?

Your students can contact our Technical Support team by clicking on the "Contact Us – Technical Support" link at the bottom of the log in screen. The Technical Support number is 1-800-936-6899 and the email is techsupport@bfwpub.com.

How long can my students access my course?

Most students purchase a 365-day (12 month) subscription to CompClass. If you are teaching a one-semester course and students have time left on their subscription, they will be able to switch into another course if they are taking a course using the product again by clicking on the "Need to switch courses?" link on the CompClass log-in page.

One of my students used CompClass for one semester of his/her composition sequence but wants to delay taking the second semester. Does the 365-day access have to be consecutive?

365-day access does not have to be consecutive. Once a student is completes his/her first semester of the sequence, he/she should contact our technical support staff by email at techsupport@bfwoub.com or by phone at 800-936-6899. They can suspend the student's CompClass subscription and then reactivate it when the student starts his/her second semester of the sequence. Please note that it is the student's responsibility to call technical support at the end of the first semester to suspend the subscription and at the beginning of the second semester to reactivate it.

If a student drops my course, can they get a refund?

If a student purchased access online and drops the course, she can contact tech support (within 2 weeks of purchasing access) to get a refund. Tech Support can be reached by email at techsupport@bfwpub.com or by phone at 800-936-6899. She can then re-purchase access when she takes the course later. If the student purchased an access card or a package at your campus bookstore they will need to contact the bookstore about a refund. Please note that if the student has already registered the access card they will not be eligible for a refund.

Can students use CompClass to submit their writing online?

Absolutely! If you use the CompClass writing tab to create writing assignments, students can submit their work to them. In addition, you'll be able to comment on their submissions and link to sections from the e-book within your comments. To read your comments, students simply click on the View Comments button from the writing tab My Documents page.

You can also have students submit writing the new old-fashioned way: by assigning a submission dropbox. We cover both options below.

To create a writing assignment for students:

1. Click the writing tab.
2. From Writing and Comment Assignments, click to open the Add a Writing Assignment window.
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3. Enter a name for the assignment.
4. Use the text editor to write brief instructions for the assignment. If you want to skip this step, you can add them later by editing the assignment's settings.
5. Set a due date and time for the assignment. Students can submit documents and revise submitted documents anytime before this date.
6. If you want to let students submit documents after the writing assignment deadline has passed, tick Allow Late Submissions.
7. If you want to be able to grade the documents students submit, select Include item in Gradebook, choose the gradebook category, and enter how many points the assignment will be worth.
8. Click Create Writing Assignment.

Students can now submit their work to the writing assignment you've created by first copying and pasting their work into the My Documents composing space, then submitting it to the writing assignment.

To copy and paste a document into My Documents:

1. Open the document you composed on your own word-processing program.
2. From the My Documents page, click the Compose New Document button.
3. Select all of the text of your document and hit Ctrl+C on your keyboard to copy the text.
4. Place your cursor in the composing space and hit Ctrl+V on your keyboard to paste the text.
5. Use the text editor toolbar to format your text.
6. To save your document, click . Give the document a title and click Save.

To submit a document to a writing assignment:

1. Click the Submit for Writing Assignment button.
2. Choose an assignment from the list.
3. Click Submit.
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As we previously mentioned, you can also assign a submission drop box to collect student writing. Students can copy and paste their writing into the drop box text editor or attach the original file to the drop box. To comment on the files attached to the drop box, you'd download them onto your hard drive or jump drive, save them as a different name, then comment using, for example, Microsoft Word's commenting feature. Finally, to return the document with comments to students, you'd upload them one by one into the drop box.

To assign a submission drop box:

1. Click the assignments tab.
2. Click Add an Assignment.
3. From the Create a New Assignment drop-down menu, select Submission Drop Box.
4. Give the drop box a title, then click either Create Instant Dropbox to assign default settings or Create & Change Settings to input your own.

To submit a document to a drop box:

1. Click the assignments tab.
2. Click the title of the drop box.
3. Give your submission a title in the Title text field.
4. Copy and paste the text of your document into the Message text box or attach the original file by clicking on Attachments.
5. When you're done, click Submit.
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I've always had my students do peer review face to face, but I'm considering having them do it online. Does CompClass support this?

Absolutely! You can use the CompClass writing tab to create writing and peer review assignments. You can even group your students into teams so that there's no question whose paper they should review: the papers they see inside the peer review assignments will be the ones they're responsible for.

For detailed information on teaching with the writing tab, download the instructor version of the writing tab user guide. You can also consult the student version of the writing tab user guide to learn how they can make and discuss comments on each others' work.

I require my students to use MLA style. Does the writing tab support this?

Students can use the My Documents text editor toolbar to format their documents to conform to MLA style.

Here are some key commands your students might need:

To select all text in a document:

1. Click Edit.
2. Select Select All.

To change font to Times New Roman:

1. Click Font.
2. Select Times New Roman.

To set hanging indents in a Works Cited page:

1. Click the Insert/Remove Bulleted List button.
2. Select Hanging Indent.

To double-space a document:

1. Click Spacing.
2. Select Double Space.

My students would rather format their papers in their own word processing program than do so with the My Documents text editor. Is there a way they can attach their original documents to their submissions so that I can grade them on MLA style?

They sure can. The Author Note inside a document's commenting space is for students to direct your attention to parts of the document that need most help. However, students could use the Author Note in another way: After submitting their documents to a writing assignment, students could upload their original documents into the Author Note, which would preserve MLA formatting. In this way, you could open the original files to check for MLA formatting while you are making comments on submitted documents.

To upload a document into the Author Note:

1. Submit a document to a writing assignment.
2. Open the writing assignment.
3. Click on the title of your submission.
4. Click Add Note to Your Readers.
5. In the text area, type something like "This is my original document in MLA style."
6. Select the word "document."
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7. Click Link and Website/Uploaded File.
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8. Click Target and Find/Upload File. Search for the file you wish to upload.
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9. Browse for the file you wish to upload and click Upload File.
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10. The Uploaded Files window will list all of the files you've uploaded into CompClass. Select the correct document by clicking on the file name.
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11. Click OK.
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12. Click .

When my students uploaded their papers into CompClass, their papers lost formatting. What went wrong?

Your students most likely used within the writing tab's My Documents page to get their papers into their My Documents list. Copying and pasting the text of papers into the My Documents composing space better maintains formatting.

You can give your students the following instructions:

1. Open the document you composed on your own word-processing program.
2. Log in to CompClass. From the My Documents page, click .
3. Switch back to your document. Select all of the text and hit Ctrl+C on your keyboard to copy the text.
4. Now switch to CompClass. Place your cursor in the composing space and hit Ctrl+V on your keyboard to paste the text.
5. If needed, use the text editor toolbar to format your text.
6. To save your document in CompClass, click . Give the document a title and click Save.

When you return to the CompClass My Documents page, you'll see your new document in the list, along with its modified date and word count.

I assigned an Exercise Central diagnostic test to my students, and I now want to assign exercises from their Personalized Study Plans. Can I do this?

You can't assign exercises from their personalized study plans, but you can track the results of exercises they take from the plan.

1. From the course materials tab, assign one or more Exercise Central Diagnostics. When students complete a diagnostic, they will receive a Personalized Study Plan (PSP), which outlines students strongest to weakest areas and recommends exercises they can take to help strengthen their skills.

2. To keep track of how students are doing on these exercises, assign a submission drop box to collect the reports generated after students complete them.

• Click on the assignments tab.
• Click on the blue Add an Assignment button.
• From the Create a New Assignment drop-down menu, select Submission Drop Box.
• Give the drop box a title, such as PSP Supplementary Exercise Reports.
• Click Create & Change Settings.
• In the Drop Box Directions text editor, give students instructions for using the drop box. (See item 4.)
• Click on the Assignment tab.
• Tick Assign Item and set a due date that will allow students enough time to complete all the supplementary exercises you've asked them to do.
• Set the Max Submissions drop-down menu to the number of supplementary exercises you're asking students to do. If they can take and submit as many as they want, leave this setting on Unlimited.
• If these exercises will not be for a grade, leave Include Item in Gradebook unticked. If these exercises are for a grade, tick Include Item in Gradebook, set the gradebook category, and enter possible points. For Calculation Type, select Manually Graded.
• Click Save.

3. Direct students to complete a certain number of supplementary exercises recommended by their PSPs.

4. After students complete a supplementary exercise, they should copy the report generated and paste it into the submission drop box. You can give the following directions to your students:

• Select the entire report with your mouse and copy it by selecting Edit > Copy from your browser window.
• Click on the assignments tab.
• Click on the title of the submission drop box.
• Place your cursor in the Message text editor and paste the report by selecting Edit > Paste from your browser window.
• Give your submission a title, such as Supplementary Exercise Report #1.
• Click Submit. (Note: If you get a warning telling you to add a message or an attachment, click OK, then click Submit again.)
• When you see that you've successfully submitted your report, click OK.

5. To view students' reports, click on the assignments tab, the title of the submission drop box, and the title of each submission.

6. When all reports have been submitted, you can give your students a grade, if applicable, by manually entering a grade for the submission drop box.