All Users

1. What is Post'Em?
2. Who do I contact if I have a question about Post'Em?

Instructors

1. How do I use Post'Em?
2. How should I instruct my students on how to access Post'Em?
3. How can I change the scores of one or more of my students?
4. How long can students normally see scores after the end of the term?
5. How can I delete my old course(s) so my students no longer see scores?
6. My students report that they can see scores for the entire class. What went wrong?
7. Why do names take up two columns in Post'Em but only one column in my Excel spreadsheet?
8. How do I import an electronic roster file into an Excel spreadsheet for use in Post'Em?
9. When are workshops given on the use of Post'Em?
10. How do I display the same information for all students?
11. Should I use Post'Em or Oncourse to post scores?
12. Is there a limit to the number of courses that a student or instructor can create in Post'Em?
13. How should I post scores for several sections of the same course using only one scores file?

Students

1. How do I check my scores?
2. Where else might my scores be posted?
3. Why are there no scores listed for me?
4. What should I do if I can't see my scores?
5. There appears to be a mistake in my scores. Who should I contact?
6. When will scores from past courses be removed?
7. Why am I not asked to login and I see someone else's scores instead?

Post'Em General Questions

1. What is Post'Em?

   Post'Em is a tool for posting student grades and scores on the Web. It was created by BEST staff.

2. Who do I contact if I have a question about Post'Em?

   • For urgent questions, call BEST at (812) 855-1595.
   • Our e-mail address is best@indiana.edu.
   • To contact a specific staff member, see the Staff page.
   • Students should contact their instructors for questions about specific scores and grades.

Post'Em Instructor Questions

1. How do I use Post'Em?

   To log in to Post'Em, go to the BEST home page and click Post'Em Instructors.

   For more information, see "How to Post Scores" in the Overview of the Post'Em Instructor Documentation.

2. How should I instruct my students on how to access Post'Em?

   There are at least three possibilities.

   • "Go to the BEST home page and click Post'Em Students." This is the easiest to remember, but there is some possibility that students will accidentally click the wrong link.
   • Give students the full URL to the site:

     https://www.indiana.edu/~best/cgi-bin/postem/students.pl

     This assures that students will not go to the wrong place, but the URL is hard to remember, typing the whole URL is time-consuming, and students may be frustrated if they mis-type it.
   • Put a link to the full URL on your course web page, if you have one. This takes more effort on your part, but it gives you the opportunity to give your more detailed instructions about the specifics of your quizzes.

3. How can I change the scores of one or more of my students?

   Update the list of scores on your microcomputer and upload it again. This will replace the previous list of scores.

4. How long can students normally see scores after the end of the term?

   We do not currently have a fixed policy, but accounts that have not been used in over a few months may be deleted.

   If you want to make sure that old courses are not deleted, just upload your scores file periodically.

5. How can I delete my old course(s) so my students no longer see scores?

   To remove old course scores immediately, you can upload an empty scores file.

   • On your computer, open a text editor such as Windows Notepad.
   • Type a single blank space.
   • Click File->Save As and type blank.txt.
   • Log in to Post'Em using the appropriate course and section number.
   • Select Upload Scores and click OK.
   • Click Browse and double-click blank.txt.
   • Click OK.

   To delete entire courses, select Delete Courses from the Select Course menu. Select the courses you want to delete, click Delete, and click Delete again to confirm. This is a faster way to delete multiple sections.

   You may also send us a request indicating the course(s) and section number(s) you want deleted.

6. My students report that they can see scores for the entire class. What went wrong?

   This will occur if you accidentally upload the scores file into the layout. To fix the problem, from the Post'Em Main Menu,

   1. Choose Edit Layout, click OK, click Delete, and click Delete to confirm the deletion.
   2. Choose Upload Grades, click OK, click Upload, double-click your scores file, and click OK.
   For more information about layouts, see Customizing the Layout in the Post'Em documentation.

7. Why do names take up two columns in Post'Em but only one column in my Excel spreadsheet?

   The problem is that any commas in the file count as field separators.
   For example, if you use Smith John W it will be displayed properly, but Smith, John W will be split into two fields because it contains a comma. Also, Excel adds quotes to fields containing commas when exporting the file to CSV format.
   So "Smith would appear in the Name column and John W" would displace the contents in the next column:

   Username	Name	Quiz1	Quiz2
   jwsmith	"Smith	John W"	88

   You could solve the problem in one of several ways:

   • Remove the Name column entirely.
     

     Username	Quiz1	Quiz2
     jwsmith	88	92

     This would solve the problem, but it might give some students the impression that their usernames are more important to you than their real names. It also increases the possibility of posting the wrong scores for a student.
   • Manually split each name into two separate columns in your spreadsheet.
     

     Username	Last Name	First Name	Quiz1	Quiz2
     jwsmith	Smith	John W	88	92

     This would look the best, but it could be a lot of work for a large class.
   • Change the column header "Name" to "Last Name". Add a blank column with a header "First Name" in your spreadsheet just after the "Last Name" column so that the first and middle name will appear in it when you upload.
     

     Username	Last Name	First Name	Quiz1	Quiz2
     jwsmith	"Smith	John W"	88	92

     You could then get rid of the quotes by using the search and replace feature of Excel (Ctrl-H) to replace " (double-quotes) with nothing.
   • Use the search and replace feature of Excel to replace , (commas) with nothing.
     

     Username	Name	Quiz1	Quiz2
     jwsmith	Smith John W	88	92

     This would put the entire name in one cell.

8. How do I import an electronic roster file into an Excel spreadsheet for use in Post'Em?

   In brief, follow these steps:

   1. Obtain the roster from the Registrar.
   2. Save it as a text file.
   3. FTP it to your computer.
   4. Edit out the lines without e-mail addresses.
   5. Import as a comma-delimited ASCII file.
   6. Delete unneeded columns.
   7. Move the username column to be the left-most column.
   8. Add a header row and columns with scores and grades.
   9. Save as a CSV (comma delimited) file.
   10. Upload into Post'Em.

   Please see the detailed instructions.

9. When are workshops given on the use of Post'Em?

   In past semesters, workshops have been given in summer and early fall.

   A workshop can be arranged for groups of five or more instructors and/or secretaries upon request.

10. How do I display the same information for all students?

    The most effective way is to use a layout. For ideas of the type of information you might want to display using a layout, see Why Would I Change the Layout? and the Example Layout.

    To display the same information for all students without using a layout, you could put the information in the last (comments) column.

    1. In the top cell of the comments column, type the description of the information, e.g. Information for All Students
    2. Enter the information in the last (comments) cell of the first student.
    3. Select this cell.
    4. Scroll down to the bottom of the spreadsheet.
    5. Hold down the Shift key and click the last comments cell.
       This should select the comments cell for all students.
    6. In the Edit menu of your spreadsheet program, select "Fill Down".
       The information should be copied to all the selected cells.
    This will work, but it has some disadvantages compared with using a layout:
    • It might be difficult to insert a large amount of information into a single cell in your spreadsheet program.
    • Every time the information changes, it must be copied to all cells in the column.
    • If the comments column is taken up by aggregate information, it cannot be used for individualized information.
    • The information cannot be easily formatted.

11. Should I use Post'Em or Oncourse to post scores?

    See the Comparison of Post'Em and the Oncourse On-line Gradebook to decide which program is more appropriate for your needs.

12. Is there a limit to the number of courses that a student or instructor can create in Post'Em?

    Yes. Due to a limitation in our database files, instructors and students can be listed in a maximum of 100 courses. To avoid reaching this limit, instructors are encouraged to delete old courses.

13. How should I post scores for several sections of the same course using only one scores file?

    It might be a lot of work to create a separate scores file for each section.

    You could create a Post'Em account for each section and upload the same scores file to each section, but we advise against this for three reasons:

    1. You would have to upload the same file one time per section.
    2. Students would see many entries on their course selection menu and would be inconvenienced by having to scroll down to their other courses.
    3. It takes up many times more disk space on the server.

    Instead, you can use an unused bogus section number such as 0000 or 9999 and just upload the scores to that one Post'Em account.

    • Students will be able to identify the class by the course number.
    • You could tell students in class that the scores will be posted under section 0000 instead of their actual section number.
    • You could even include the section number in the scores file itself as a double-check for students.

Post'Em Student Questions

1. How do I check my scores?

   To check your scores using Post'Em, go to the BEST home page and click Post'Em Students.

   For more information, see the Post'Em Student Documentation.

2. Where else might my grades be posted?

   • You can see your official transcript from the Office of the Registrar through Insite at insite.indiana.edu.
   • Grades can also be posted through Oncourse, a Web-based teaching and learning environment, and accessed at oncourse.iu.edu.

3. Why are there no scores listed for me?

   Your username is probably not in any of the scores files of any Post'Em instructors this semester. In most cases, this is because none of your instructors is using Post'Em to post scores for any course you are currently taking.

4. What should I do if I can't see my scores?

   • If none of your instructors is using Post'Em this semester, there are no scores posted for you and you should take no further action.
   • If your instructor has not yet uploaded the scores file to Post'Em, you may want to ask him or her when it will be uploaded.
   • If other students in your class have used Post'Em but you cannot, you should ask your instructor to check whether your username is in the scores file and spelled correctly.
   • If your username has changed, you should ask your instructor(s) to change your username in their scores file and upload it again.

5. There appears to be a mistake in my scores. Who should I contact?

   Please contact the instructor first. The instructor posted the information, and he or she can determine if it contains a mistake and make corrections.

6. When will scores from past courses be removed?

   We do not have a fixed policy for deleting old course accounts. Also, there is no way for students to remove old scores.

   Since most instructors still have access to their accounts, you may want to e-mail them and ask them to upload a scores file containing a single blank space, which will remove their old scores, or to delete the entire account if it will not be re-used.

7. Why am I not asked to login and I see someone else's scores instead?

   This is a problem caused by Internet Explorer's ability to store and automatically enter username and passwords when prompted. If you do not want Internet Explorer to automatically enter your username and password,
   

   1. Click on the "Tools" pull-down menu and select "Internet Options".
      
   2. Click on the "Content" tab.
      
   3. In the Personal Information section, click the "AutoComplete..." button.
      
   4. Uncheck the option labeled "Usernames and passwords on forms".
      
   5. In the Clear AutoComplete history section, click the "Clear Passwords" button.
   If Internet Explorer is not showing the login prompt at all,
   
   1. Click on the "Tools" pull-down menu and select "Internet Options".
      
   2. Click the "Security" tab.
      
   3. Click the Internet icon, and click the "Custom Level..." button.
      
   4. Scroll all the way to the bottom to the "User Authentication" section.
      
   5. Under "Logon", select "Prompt for user name and password" and click OK, Yes, OK.
   If you continue to have problems logging in, please feel free to contact us.