My Workspace

From e-Learning Documentation

Last updated: 9-07-2012

Contents 1 Overview 2 My Workspace Toolbar 2.1 Edit Your Profile 3 My Workspace Resources 4 Worksite Setup - Create a Project Site

Overview

When you login to e-Learning, the first page you encounter is "My Workspace." This page is unique to you as the user. It will show any Calendar entries, Mail (Messages), Discussion Postings (Forums) and Announcements that are current in any course or Project Site in which you are enrolled. There is also space for community wide announcements delivered by e-Learning Support Services under "Message of the Day" and "My Workspace Information." All of these tools, except for Announcements, allows you to set some preferences by clicking on the Options link at the top of each area.

My Workspace Toolbar

Since the My Workspace area is unique to each user, there are certain personal options you can set.

• Account - This information is pulled from the UF directory and is not editable within e-Learning
• Membership
  • My Current Sites - You can enter any course or project site where you are enrolled by clicking the name of the course.
  • Joinable Sites - The sites listed here are all open-enrollment sites where anyone interested can enroll. Click join to add yourself to these sites.
• Preferences - Make sure you click Update Preferences after any changes you make.
  • Customize Tabs - The courses in which you are enrolled are displayed as tabs across the top of the My Workspace page. You can edit how many and in what order these tabs appear. Instructions for setting your preferences are provided on the page.
  • Notifications - Almost every action performed within an e-Learning site has the option to "send an email" notification of the action. Here, you can manage how you receive these email notifications.
  • Time Zone - Since Calendar entries, due dates, submission times, etc., are recorded in e-Learning sites, you will need to make sure your time zone is accurately recorded. The default Time Zone is America/New_York, the time zone where UF is located.
  • Language - Several languages (but not all) are available. If you choose a different language, the text displayed in the e-Learning sites where you are enrolled will be displayed in the chosen language. This does not affect the content posted by instructors. That content will be in the language used by the creator of the content.

Edit Your Profile

• Profile - Every user can create a searchable profile. Here, you can set up your profile and search for other users' profiles.
  • Edit my Profile - Fill in any information you want to provide and click Save.NOTE Regarding "Personal Information:"Users should use the "Basic Information" area if you want others to view information in your profile. At this time, the "Personal Information" area is hidden from others, regardless of your privacy settings.
  • Add a picture - If you want to display a photo on your profile, you need to either upload the photo into the My Workspace Resources or use a photo that is posted on the web, such as your departmental website or your personal website.

1. Upload to Resources
   1. Click Resources in the left menu bar.
   2. Beside the "My Workspace" folder, click Add.
   3. Click Upload Files
   4. Click Browse
   5. Locate the file on your computer, select it and click Open.
   6. Click Upload Files Now. The file is now located in your My Workspace Resources folder. You want to copy the URL link to this file in order to use it in your profile.
   7. Beside the file you just uploaded, click Actions
   8. Click Edit Details.
   9. Under the heading "Availability and Access," select "This file is publicly viewable."
      1. Because the My Workspace Resources folder is private to you, files there are not available for others to see unless you choose to make them publicly viewable.
   10. Beside the heading "Web address (URL) click Select URL (for copying).
   11. While holding down the CTRL key, hit "C" to copy the URL to your computer clipboard.
   12. Click Cancel. Now you have the URL, you can place it in your profile.
   13. Click Profile.
   14. Click Edit my Profile.
   15. Beside the heading "Picture" select "Use Picture URL:"
   16. In the box underneath, place your cursor and while holding down the CTRL key, hit "V" to paste the URL from your computer clipboard.
   17. Click Save.

Perhaps there is a photo of you on your department website or personal website that you want to use for your profile. First you need the URL of that photo. To get the URL:

In Firefox browser:

1. Go to your department's website and right click on your photo. A box will appear with several options.
2. Click Copy Link Location

In Internet Explorer browser:

1. Go to your department's website and right click on your photo. A box will appear with several options.
2. Click on Properties. Another box appears with several pieces of information about the image.
3. Highlight the Address (URL): and copy it (CTRL "c" on your keyboard).
4. Click Cancel to close the window. Now you have the URL, you can place it in your profile.

Follow Steps 13 and 17 above to paste the URL into your profile.

My Workspace Resources

Resources at the My Workspace level is a place to store private files. You will also encounter the Resources tool in a Course or Project Site, but there are fundamental differences between the two. At the My Workspace level, Resources is private to the user and all files uploaded or created there are, by default, private. No one else can access or view the files you place there. For Instructors only - You may link to these files in a course by choosing to make them "publicly viewable," and as long as no one other than yourself needs to access the original file, that is fine. It may be a problem if a TA or other instructor needs to access the file to edit it.

NOTE Regarding "Publicly Viewable:" Publicly Viewable means that the file is viewable outside of E-Learning. If you capture the URL of that file within E-Learning and send it to someone outside of E-Learning and that person could view the file.

Worksite Setup - Create a Project Site

Anyone with a Gatorlink username has the ability to create a Project Site. A Project site can be a collaboration site for groups of students, faculty, departments, clubs, etc. The Project Site can be made publicly available for anyone with a Gatorlink usernmae. Project Sites do not contain assessment tools such as Assigments and Tests & Quizzes. They also do not contain a Gradebook.

A common use for a Project Site is to use it as a place to store files that will be used to construct a course. This method addresses several issues that are present in courses that do not use this method:

• Files I use to build the course are visible to students in the Resources inside my course.
  • If you use images in test questions or other files in the construction of the course, they will be visible in the Resources tool where students can see them. If these files aren't sensitive, you can just hide the Resources tool and use "Lessons" to give content to students. But this method does not guarantee that students cannot access Resources in other ways. If you have sensitive files that you are using to build the course (such as images in test questions that should not be viewed by students prior to the test), the better option is to use a project site to store the files and link to them from within your course. This frees up the Resources tool in your course if you want to use it to distribute files to students.
• If I use the Content Editor in tools to link to images or other files stored in Resources, the link will break when I import the content to future semesters.
  • If the files are stored in the Resources in your Project Site, the links will not break because the files themselves never move from one course to another.

To use a Project Site for file storage, do not make it public. Enroll those people you want to have access to the files in the course as "Facilitators." Upload the files you are going to use in your courses into the Resources in the Project Site. The files need to be made "publicly viewable" so that they can be seen by the students in your course.

To create a Project Site:

1. Click Worksite Setup
2. Click New.
3. Select "Project Site" and click Continue.
4. Give your site a title (required) and a description if desired.
5. Click Continue
6. Choose the tools you want to incluce in your Project Site.
7. Choose to use material from another site if you want.
8. Click Continue.
9. Choose whether or not the group will be public. (Anyone with a gatorlink username can join the group if it is public. If it is not public, the Facilitator will enroll participants.)
10. Click Continue
11. Click Create Site