Instructor s guide to project site tools.

Transcription

1 Instructor s guide to project site tools.

2 The Motiva Platform Introduction Starting out with the Motiva Platform Overview Announcements Assignments Calendar Chat Room Contact Us Dashboard Drop Box Archive Forums Gradebook Lessons Messages News Podcasts Polls PostEm Resources Roster Sign-up Site Info Statistics Syllabus Test & Quizzes Web Content Wiki This guide has been designed to help course/project site maintainers get familiar with the toolset provided by the Motiva Platform. For each tool that instructors can place in their sites, a brief introduction is given with common example applications. 1

3 Starting out with the Motiva Platform. Logging in Visit and find the Access to the Platform button. Home consists of the following navigation and display elements: 1. A breadcrumb style site navigation across the top. 2. The user s personal tools on the left sidebar. 3. The Message of the Day 4. Home: Calendar 5. Home: Information Display 6. Home: Recent Announcements 7. Home: Message Center Notifications To log in, click on the LOG IN button along the website s header. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Home. Enter your account information, and click on Log in on the appearing dialog box. If you forgot your password, click on the corresponding button to redeem it. If you don t have an instructor s account, please contact your platform administrator to create a new user. Creating a site 1. To create a new project or course site, click on Sites, across the top header. You will see all sites created by yourself, including your own personal workspace (HOME) automatically created by the Motiva Platform. On the opening dialog click on Create a New site. 2. Sites can be created in a number of different ways, select project site. Home When you log in to Motiva, you will immediately see your Home area, or your individual workspace in the system. The Home area of Motiva is designed to give you an overview of what is happening in your courses, and provide access to your individual account information and preferences. 2

4 3. Enter site title, description, and a short description if desired. This information can be edited in the future. 4. Finally add an Icon URL, site contact name and . Click continue when done. 6. Next, you will be asked to customize 3 tool instances ( Archive, Lessons, and External Tool, require prior configuration). Since we are just creating the site, click Continue, as you can make tool-specific configuration adjustments later. 7. We now need to customize Project Site Access. Default settings are recommended. Click continue. 8. Motiva will finally ask you to review the new site s information. If all is good, click Create Site, otherwise, click Back to edit site details. Adding an image URL will make embed an image at the top of the site s left sidebar. Adding/removing worksite tools. 1. First reach the site you want to edit the tools available, through the Sites button in the top header. 5. Now you will begin adding your worksite tools, select which tools you would like to add. After selecting, click continue to work our way through the site creation process. 2. On each of our sites we may add or remove worksite tools at any given time. To begin doing so, once you have reached your site, click on Site Info from the left sidebar. 3

5 3. Now click on Manage Tools, from the top toolbar. 4. You will be presented with a list of tools that can be added to your site. Check or uncheck the tools you want to add or delete. Click Continue when done. 5. Finally review your changes and click Finish to make changes effective. On the next pages you will see a brief description with some tutorials to start out with Motiva s work site tools. 4

6 1. Overview The Overview tool gives instructors the ability to introduce the site to participants and explain to them key points. The tool will be accessible from the left sidebar and contains the following areas: 4. If you would rather like integrated web content to appear, fill in the website URL field. 1. Title and Description of the site, manually written by instructors. This can be substituted by an embedded website through an iframe. 2. Recent Announcements* 3. Calendar* 4. Message Center Notifications* 5. Recent Chats* *The corresponding tool must be activated in the site for it to show in the overview display area. Editing the Overview Site. 1. First, after activating the tool, navigate to your left sidebar and click on Overview. 5. Finally click Update options to see the results. 2. By default, when you activate the Overview site, no content is loaded. To edit its content click on Edit. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Overview. 3. Next, if you just want a title and description, fill in the corresponding fields. 5

7 2. Announcements The Announcements tool is used to inform site participants about current items of interest. Announcements can have multiple attachments, such as documents or web addresses (URLs). 6. If you want to send the announcement to participants accounts, change Notification to High - All Participants. The Announcements Toolbar: 1. View: Lists the current announcements and their relevant information. 2. Add: Feature for adding new announcements to the current list. 3. Merge: Feature for allowing central courses to push out announcements to other courses. 4. Reorder: Allows to change the order in which announcements are shown in the site. 5. Options: Change the way announcements are shown in the View list, Include RSS Feed URL, and limit how far back participants are allowed to see announcements. 6. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with announcements may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 7. When ready, select Post Announcement. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Announcements. Creating your first announcement. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Announcements. 3. Select Add, from the announcements toolbar. 4. Provide a title for your announcement. 5. Type your message in the text box and/or scroll down and select Add Attachment, to add files and URL links. 6

8 3. Assignments to force students declaration of authorship, and any necessary attachments. The Assignments tool helps manage papers, reflections, and other digital media you ask students to submit. If you have used attachments or Dropbox in the past, you may prefer the Assignment tool because it keeps all student submissions and your feedback neat and tidy (and archived) in a single location. 5. Next, specify the availability. The Assignments Toolbar: 1. Add: Creates a new assignment. A wide range of options are available ranging from due dates to group options, submission types, grading, and other criteria. 2. Assignment List: A list containing all assignments launched with relevant information. Submissions may be reviewed and graded in bulk. 3. Student View: Shows how this section of the site is viewed by students. 7. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with assignments may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 4. Options: Change the way assignments are shown in the assignments list, either showing all students, or filtered by a certain group and/or search results. 2.1 Creating an assignment. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Assignments. 6. Add how the student should submit his or her work and the sort of notification you would like to receive of this event. 7. Select how the assignment will be graded, and if done by points, what will be the maximum. 3. Click on the first toolbar option, to add an assignment. 4. Give your assignment a title and description. Additionally you may add whether you would like 8. Finally, you may add supplemental items to the assignment: 7

9 Notifying students their grade. - Group Submissions. - Additional items to help complete the task. 2. In the following page you will see a list of submissions with their grade status. Click on the participant to grade their work. 9. Once done, you may submit the assignment. 3.2 Submission. 1. In the course site, participants will see a list of currently available tasks and information, in the Assignments page. By clicking on the assignment title, participants will be directed to the task. 3. You will then see their work and be able to review their submitted text or attachments. Finally, grade their assignment and click on Save. (You may notify the student by releasing the grade) 2. Assignment status will show along the page s header. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Assignments. 3. To submit the task, participant must comply the requirements by completing the form. Once done, click on Submit. 3.3 Grading. 1. To grade the assignments click on Grade (under the corresponding task in the assignment list). 8

10 4. Calendar The Calendar tool allows instructors or site organizers to post events in a calendar format. The Calendar can be used to post important dates in a class, such as start and end dates, assessment dates, etc. Project sites may use Calendar to post key dates, such as deadlines. All calendars from all sites you have access to, are merged in your My Workspace Calendar. The Calendar toolbar: 8. Fields: Allows changing the number of fields each event of the site calendar should have. 9. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with calendars may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). Creating your first calendar event. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Calendar. 3. Click on Add Event in the site toolbar. 4. The minimum required information for an event is the Title, Date, and Starting time. 1. View: Is the main window where we will see our Calendar. We can view the Calendar by year, month, week, or day. 5. Optionally fill in the rest of fields and click on Save Event when done. You will now see the event displayed in the calendar s View section. 2. Add Event: Allows the addition of events, specifying the time, duration, frequency, location, and the ability to add attachments. 3. Import Event: A tool that imports events from other popular calendar applications. For example from your personal Google Calendar, or other. 4. Merge Internal Calendars: Similar tool that allows merging calendars across your sites. 5. Merge External Calendars: Allows merging ical format calendar events, from a URL. 6. Publish (public): Generates a public link (*.ics i.e. Microsoft Outlook), to which any user may subscribe. 7. Publish (private): Generates a private link (*.ics i.e. Microsoft Outlook), to which any user may subscribe. To keep this link private, the instructor may regenerate the link. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Calendar. 9

11 5. Chat Room The Chat Room enables participants and instructors to engage in communication in real time. The Chat Room toolbar: 1. Options: Allows the modification and creation of new chat rooms with a set of different options. 2. Change Room: Lists the rooms available in the site and allows quick navigation between them. 3. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Chat Rooms may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 7. Users are allowed to post to the Chat Room between the dates specified below. Leaving or setting a date blank indicates no date restriction (only the permissions would limit posting). The end date must be the same as or later than the start date. By default, when adding Chat Room for the first time to your site, it will automatically create a main chat room. Creating a second chat room. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Chat Room. 3. Click on Options in the site toolbar. 8. When done, click on Update Options. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Chat Room. 4. Click on Add Room, on the following toolbar. 5. Now put a title and description for the chat room. 6. Change how recent messages will be displayed, and if participants will be allowed to change these settings in their own view. 10

12 6. Contact Us Issues with dates in calendar to file a report we must fill in the following fields: 1. Recipient 2. Subject 3. Description of your problem. 4. Any attachments (i.e. snapshots, files, ) The Contact Us tool allows users to quickly and easily reach the appropriate contact for system issues. The user has the opportunity to choose if the issue is content-related, if they need help with the system, if they are having a technical problem, or if they wish to make a feature request. By clicking on the Contact Us button on the left sidebar, you will be presented with a site containing four different options: When done with your report, click Send to inform it to the corresponding contact person. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Contact Us. Under each of the four options, you will see a link to contact the corresponding person. For example, with problems related with site content, we would Report the problem to the site owner. Some common site problems are: Missing files or documents Broken links Blank pages Permission denied errors or access problems 11

13 7. Dashboard The Dashboard is a unified home display of recent announcements, resources, assignments, calendar events, and up-to-date information concerning the course. It provides a user-centric tool that serves as a summarized view of system events (calendar event, assignment due dates, etc.), contents (resource files, announcements, assignments, forum posts, etc), activities (membership changes, etc). The tool must provide functions so that user can pin/hide/tag one specific item. For more information visit Sakai Project s entry on the Dashboard tool. 12

14 8. Drop Box The Drop Box tool creates a folder for each participant in the course. Students are only able to access their own folder. Students and instructors can both place files in the Drop Box folders. 4. Click and drag files from your computer into the bounding box to set the files you want to upload. The Drop Box mirrors the file management features and functionality of the Resources tool. The Drop Box toolbar: 1. List of drop boxes: shows all the drop boxes related to the course site. You will see all users uploaded content and folder structures. 2. Trash: shows the files that you have deleted. 3. Upload files to multiple drop box folders: allows you to batch upload files to selected users or groups of users. 4. Transfer Files: Allows you to set a network location in your operating system using the WebDAV protocol. This will add a folder in your system, where you can upload/download files directly, resulting in a similar experience as other Cloud based applications like Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive. 5. Check Quota: Each user has a limited quota on their drop box, this tool allows shows us the percentage we have used. 5. Keep in mind that if the file size is too large you will not be able to continue with the upload process. 6. Before finishing the process, select whether you want to overwrite existing files with the same name or version a new copy of the same file keeping old ones. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Drop Box. Uploading files. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Dropbox. 3. You can interact directly with the list of drop boxes shown. By clicking on the Actions button you will see a drop down list of options. Click on Upload Files. 13

15 9. The tool allows user to send an message to site participants by role, section, or group, and also provides a field for specifying non-site participant addresses. The tool works using the sender s external address, which is specified in the user s account details. Typically, this address is the user s institutional . The toolbar: 5. The To address can be: a. Written manually and separated by commas/semicolons for multiple addresses. b. Specific roles, sections, or groups of the site. 6. Finally click on Send Mail when you have written your message in the text editor. Note that you can send yourself a copy to keep track of sent messages through the Motiva platform, and append the list of recipients to the message. The Motiva Platform will confirm the status of the sent message in the following page. 1. Compose: allows users to create new s. 2. Options: changes the default options for sent s. 3. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with s may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: . Sending an Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on On the toolbar, clicking on Compose will show a page with the following fields: From, To, Subject, and Content/Attachments. 4. The From address is by default the senders external address. 14

16 10. Archive The Archive tool allows site managers to specify an alias address which essentially serves as a listserv for the site. By default, you send to the site address is copied to the addresses of all site participants and owners. All messages sent to your site s address are stored in the Archive. You can use any program to send mail to the address listed at the top of your Archive page. Site members can use Preferences in My Workspace to choose how often they want to receive sent to the site s address: either as it is sent, or in digest mode, with all posts for the day sent in a single message. Please bear in mind that you cannot use Archive to send mail to particular individuals. To send messages to individual participants or a group, use either the Messages tool (for internal course mail) or the tool (for external institutional mail). The Archive toolbar: 1. Options: allows to modify the archive s mailbox settings and site address. 2. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with the Archive may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 4. If you have not set up the Archive address, find Options in the toolbar. At the bottom you may change the site s In the same page you may also change mailbox parameters: - Accept Messages From: You can choose to allow anyone to send mail to the Archive address, or to allow only site participants to send mail. - Set the reply-to address: You can set the reply-to address for messages sent through the archive so that users automatically reply to the original sender or to the Archive address. - Send messages to: You can choose to send to site participants as well as archiving the messages, or you can choose to archive messages without ing the site participants. The Archive receives messages sent from authorized addresses, it is an inbox that all site participants will be able to consult. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Archive. Setting up a course Archive and sending an Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Archive. 3. Locate the address for sending messages to the archive. Any sent from the authorized address to the Archive address (for your course s site) will be accepted and stored. 15

17 11. Forums The Forums tool allows instructors or site leaders to create an unlimited number of discussion forums, and is integrated closely with other tools such as Resources and Gradebook. The Forums toolbar: Forum structure and creation. Forum Structure: Forum structure is organized in a hierarchical manner. The order is the following from top to bottom. Forum Site: Top level entity, site that contains forums. Forum: Mid-level entity that contains Topics. Topic: Lowest level entity that contains messages. 1. New Forum: Allows you to create new forums to post different topics under. 2. Organize: New Forums and Topics will automatically appear at the top of your list. Organize lets you rearrange the topics within a Forum or reorder your Forums 3. Template Settings: You can modify the Forum s settings globally so that each new Forum or Topic will automatically have the settings and permissions of your choice 4. Statistics & Grading: Statistics summarizes each participants activity by identifying how much they authored, read, and will display both in an itemized format. 5. Watch: You can adjust your notifications and s that you receive from the Forums tool Understanding the Forum tool. Some topics that must be understood before exploiting the Forums tool are: Structure: By understanding the basic hierarchy of a forum you can begin to create a unique environment for online communication Statistics & Grading: Interactions can be assigned a point value and sent to the Gradebook along with private comments. The Statistics option provides a snapshot of participation from each member in your site Managing Groups & Sections: Learn how to set-up and maintain Forums based on manually created groups or multiple sections in the same course site. Forum creation: 1. On the Forum s site click on Create a Forum? 2. Fill in the Forum s Title, a brief description, and any attachments. 3. Set the forum Posting Rules. 4. Finally choose which Permission Rules apply for different participant roles. 16

18 5. Click on Save, or Save and Add a Topic to immediately create a new topic. You may also save the Forum as a Draft for later publishing. 6. To create a new message enter the corresponding topic and click on, Start a new conversation. Topic creation: 1. In the Forums site, click on New Topic beside the forum you would like to create a new topic in. New messages will appear with the New mark on the Topic section. Remember that participants will not be able to start new conversations in locked forums. 2. You will now be presented with a similar page to the forum creation page. First fill in a Title, a Brief Description, and any Attachments. 3. Set the Topic posting Rules. Keep in mind that if you set anonymous posting, you will not be able to change it later. You should also note that when activating message moderation, a moderator will require to approve every single message. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Forums. 4. Add other criteria for the messages that will be posted in this topic, such as Permissions, Attachments, Grading, and topic availability. 5. Topics will sit under the Forum name. 17

19 12. Gradebook The Gradebook is one of the most powerful tools in the Motiva platform allowing instructors to calculate and store grade information and distribute it to students online. Instructors can: - Auto-calculate course grades, with the ability to override any course grade. - Define course letter grades based on a 100% scale. - Choose between point- or percentage-based grading. - Add gradebook items for manually graded or offline activities. - Create categories to organize items and allow for weighting of grades. - Enter, view, edit, and release student scores, grades, and comments. - Integration in other tools where grades are assignable, such as Tests & Quizzes, Assignments, and Forums. - Drop grades or keep the highest grades in a category. - Specify items or categories as extra credit. In Gradebook, students can view their scores for all items; view their course grades once an instructor releases them; and sort their items by title, due date, grade, and weight, where applicable. The Gradebook toolbar: 1. Grades: Where all gradable items are made, and participant grades are edited and shown. 2. Import / Export: Allows to export scores and grades to Microsoft Excel (in XLS format) or a printer-friendly PDF. This also allows to import item scores from spreadsheet (CSV) files. 3. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity that teacher assistants have with the Gradebook, if any. 4. Settings: Edit how grades are entered, released, weighed, and the grading schema you want to follow. In this section a grade distribution chart is presented, which is useful for having a general idea on class performance. Creating a Gradebook Item. 1. Navigate to your course, and click Gradebook on the left sidebar. 2. Click on Add New Gradebook Item, and fill in the item s Title, Due Date, if it will be for Extra Credit. You can also include it in the course grade calculations, and if you would like to release the grade to students. Finally click on Create. Grading course participants. 1. After the due date, it is time for participants to be graded. To grade items, click Grades, on the toolbar. 2. You will be presented with a spreadsheet of current gradable items (Columns) versus the list of students (Rows). Each pair represents the score obtained for each assignment for each student. 18

20 To grade, simply click the corresponding cell (for the student/gradable item pair) and enter grades directly. 4. Please note that course averages are calculated immediately, and extra credit assignments will add to it. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Gradebook. 19

21 13. Lessons 5. Sections can stack vertically (as in rows), or horizontally (as in columns). To do this we need to add section and column break points. By clicking on the plus signs, and finding Add section break above we will add a section before or after the content. The Lessons tool allows you to create a course interface and structure for students, combining elements from the Resources tool. The Lessons tool provides flexibility in organizing course content by breaking it up into units and sequences. It is thought to provide students for preparation, study, and practice of the course materials providing a seamless experience. Within Lessons, you can integrate content from other Motiva tools such as, Assignments, Tests & Quizzes, Forums, Discussions, Private Messages, and Polls & Rubrics. Understanding the Lessons tool, organizing content. 1. Navigate to your course, and click Lessons on the left sidebar. 2. Start out by clicking on Add Content on the top toolbar, add some sample text to get our first content box up and running. 6. To divide sections horizontally, we do the same with Add column break above, which depending on the plus sing clicked, will add a section to the left or to the right of the content. 3. You will see an outlined box created. This box is called a Section, which can be created as many times deemed necessary. 7. To merge sections with neighbouring left and top sections, click on the button with the two confronted arrows at the upper left corner of the outline. 4. We can add content Rows above (1) or below (2) by clicking on the designated plus signs. 20

22 Adding Content to sections. Now that we have a clear view of content organization, let s jump into the plethora of contents we can add. Remember that by clicking on the plus signs,, a dialog menu will show what can be added. 1. Add Text: Adds text as already described at the beginning of this guide. 2. Embed content on page: Lets instructors embed files that can be rendered by the web browser, such as PDF or AVI files. 3. Add Content Links: Uploads a file to the Lesson s Resource folder and inserts a direct link to that file. 4. Add Subpage: Adds a new child Lesson Page, and inserts a link to it. 5. Add Resources Folder: Allows the instructor to add any course site resources to the Lesson Page. Keep in mind that a new resource folder is created for each Lesson tool created. 6. Link to an assignment*: Links to a course assignment. 7. Embed Calendar: Inserts a course calendar into the section. 8. Link to a test or Quiz*: Links to a course Test or Quiz. 9. Link to a forum or topic*: Links to a course forum or topic. 10. Embed Announcements*: Embeds the announcements tool into the lesson s page. 11. Embed Forums Conversations*: Embeds an ongoing forum conversation into the lesson s page. 12. Add Checklist: Adds a task list that users can mark independently. Instructors are able to view how users are interacting with this tool. 13. Add Question: Allows to add gradable multiple choice or short answer questions to a section. These questions are gradable and may be linked to Gradebook Items. 14. Add Comments Tool: Inserts a text box where users can comment on any subject. 15. Add Student Content: Adds a link that lets users create their own pages, with their personalized content. Course Instructors are able to see their content. 16. Upload content in ZIP file: Uploads a file to the Lessons Resource folder, and inserts a link 17. Add External Tool*: Embeds an External tool into the section. *The corresponding tool must be activated in the site. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Lessons. 21

23 14. Messages 3. Fill in the message fields as if it were an . Note that in the To and BCC fields, you will be able to select from the entire course site s roster. In the CC field you will be able to send a copy of your message to the recipients address. The Messages tool offers a convenient way to send and receive private messages to other members enrolled in the course site. Each course site has its own Messages tool. For example, if you are enrolled in two course sites (Site 1 & Site 2) you will have two separate inboxes, one in each site. When in Site 1 you may send and receive messages to and from members of Site 1. When in Site 2 you may send and receive message to and from members of Site 2. The Messages tool is like in some respects but the two have fundamental differences. The Messages tool does not use external addresses. Instead, you simply select the person you wish to write from the list of enrolled site participants. Also, messages do not leave the system. They are not carried over the Internet like is; therefore, they remain selfcontained with the course or project site. 4. Finally add any attachments to your message and click Send. The Messages toolbar: 1. Compose Message: Allows sending messages in an like manner. 2. New Folder: Adds a new folder to the Message s main directory. 3. Settings: Lets users activate auto forwarding and adding an address for forwarding. It also allows sending copies to recipients addresses. 4. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Messages may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Messages. Sending a message. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on Messages, on the left sidebar. 2. Click on Compose Message on the top toolbar. 22

24 15. News 3. In this case we are looking for the News RSS feed of the European Parliament. The News tool uses RSS to bring dynamic news to your site. RSS is a data format used to syndicate news on the web. It allows continuously updated content from a remote news site to appear in another web site. To set up your site to display news, the instructor or site owner must specify a URL pointing to an RSS news feed. An RSS news feed is a specially formatted list of news articles. You can find RSS feeds by using an Internet search engine (e.g., Google or Yahoo). Sites that distribute news in RSS format are called news feeds. The News tool is an RSS news aggregator (or news reader) that reads and displays content from RSS news feeds. You can usually identify an RSS feed by the.xml or.rss at the end of the the URL. In addition to news, some web sites use the RSS format for information that is updated often, such as blogs, events listings, or the revision history of a book. Site owners can add more than one News feed either when setting up the site or at a later time via Manage Tools in Site Info. Adding a new RSS feed to a News Tool: 1. First search for the external RSS feed you would like to add to your course site through the News Tool. In this example we will add a news feed from the European Parliament. 2. Find any news feed related with your topic through your favourite web crawler. Here are some keywords you should add to your topic to help you find it: news feed, rss feed, and syndicated news. 4. Finally, the website we are soliciting will create a link, copy & paste it. 5. Now in your course site, add the News tool. You will be prompted to add the news Title & URL feed. When done, click on Continue and your News Tool will appear on the course s left sidebar. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: News. 23

25 16. Podcasts The Podcast tool allows instructors to distribute audio, video and PowerPoint files to their students either manually or via a RSS feed. Students that subscribe to a site s RSS Podcast feed have the audio, video or PowerPoint content automatically downloaded to a podcatching application of their choice. Bear in mind that the Resources tool must be activated in order to be able to use Podcasts. Adding a new Podcast. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on Podcasts, on the left sidebar. 2. Click Add on the top toolbar and fill in the form. First upload a file, *.mp3, *.avi, or any other podcast related media is recommended. Second, set the publish date. Finally put a title, and if necessary, a brief description. The Podcast tool is a convenient delivery mechanism for students to subscribe to a RSS feed and listen/view content on their Mobile devices. Instructors can also edit the Podcast permissions allowing students to upload and manage podcast files. The podcasts toolbar: 4. Navigating back to Podcasts (from the left sidebar), you will see all course related podcasts. Published content will appear in dark text, and to be published content will appear in light text. Users will only see published podcasts. 1. Add: Lets users upload podcasts and select when it should be published (and seen in the corresponding resource folder.) 2. Options: Allows public syndication of the podcast feed outside the course site or not. 3. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Podcasts may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Podcasts. 24

26 17. Polls The Polls tool allows instructors to post single question multiple choice survey questions on their site. Polls can be structured to elicit single or multiple responses to a question. 1. Choose Opening and Closing dates for Poll availability. Results of a poll can be made available to students immediately, after voting, after the closing date, or never. Instructors can post any number of polls. If desired, instructor may also change the tool permissions to allow students to post poll questions. Participants may only vote once per poll. Responses to poll questions are anonymous. The Poll toolbar: 1. Add: Allows addition of new polls. 2. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Polls may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). Creating a Poll. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on Polls from the left sidebar. The initial page, will show a list of current and past polls. 2. In Limits, set the maximum and minimum amount of options participants can choose. Note that the maximum should be greater than the minimum amount of selectable options. 3. Finally choose when and if results should be shown to participants at all. When done click: 4. You will now be prompted to add the first option. After completing it, if you would like to write more options, keep clicking on Save and add options. When you reach the last option of your poll, click Save to be directed back to the Poll creation page. 5. Finally, review the Poll questions are correct before publishing. Click on Save when done. 3. Click Add on the top toolbar to be directed to the Poll creation page. First, add a question and any information that will help participants. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Polls. 25

27 18. PostEm Choose a URL for you CSV file (2), Instructors can use the PostEm tool to upload and distribute a comma-delimited (CSV) spreadsheet to present individual feedback and/or grades to students. Or choose a CSV from your Resources (3), Instructors can upload as many feedback files as they want. Students only see their own individual feedback and/or grades. The PostEm tool provides a convenient mechanism to post comments and grades for those instructors that regularly use Excel spreadsheet files to calculate grades. You might also use it to post class attendance records from a spreadsheet file. PostEm *.CSV files must follow a particular format: I. The first column of the spreadsheet must contain participant usernames. II. The first row must contain headings. An example CSV format can be opened with any text editor, which in Motiva s case, should look like the following: 5. When the file has been chosen, click Continue. 6. Finally, choose whether you want to notify participants their feedback information, click on Post to publish. Adding a new PostEm. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on PostEm from the Left Sidebar. You will be directed to a page with all feedback files you have posted. 2. On the toolbar click on Add. 3. Fill in the form with a Title, and to upload a *.CSV file, click on: Motiva automatically retrieves user names from the first column, and sends each participant their corresponding feedback information (from column 2 onwards). For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: PostEm. 4. A modal dialog box will show where you can either, upload a local file from your computer (1), 26

28 19. Resources Using the Resources tool, allows sharing different kinds of material securely with members of your site, or make them available to the public. You also have your own private Resources area in your My Workspace. You can upload files (e.g., text documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, and videos), as well as create and post HTML (web) pages and simple text documents, and share links to useful web sites. You can organize your resource items into folders, and you can control which groups or types of users can access and add to different folders. Also, you can show or hide an item at any time, and set a start and/or end time for its availability. The file management features of the Drop Box tool mirrors those of the Resources tool. The Resources toolbar: 6. Check Quota: Allows you to view how much space you have used and how much remaining storage you have in the site. Adding Resource Files & Folders. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Resources. 3. You are displayed with a list of files and folders. By clicking on the Actions button you will see a drop down list of options. Click on Upload Files to add new files, and Create Folders for new directories. Each folder, however nested, has a list of available Actions. 4. Click and drag files from your computer into the bounding box to set the files you want to upload. 1. Site Resources: Displays a list of items and folders. Here you can manage folders and upload files. 2. Upload-Download Multiple Resources: Provides instructions and the site s URL to upload multiple resources via a process called WebDAV (Webbased Distributed Authoring and Versioning). WebDAV allows you to easily transfer files and folders from your local computer to your Resources folder. 3. Trash: A temporal folder where all deleted files pass through. 4. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Polls may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 5. Options: Select or unselect resource types to indicate whether resources of that type can be created in this site. 5. Keep in mind that if the file size is too large you will not be able to continue with the upload process. 6. Before finishing the process, select whether you want to overwrite existing files with the same name or version a new copy of the same file keeping old ones. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Resources. 27

29 20. Roster. Allowing participants to interact with the Roster. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on Roster from the Left Sidebar. You will be directed to the course site s Roster. 2. On the toolbar click on Permissions. 3. Mark the checkboxes for the data you would like participants to view. Finally click on Save. The Roster tool displays an overview of the number of site participants along with their names, photos, and profiles. You may export in *.XLSX format (Microsoft Excel) or print a copy of all site or specific group participants. If you are looking for a specific participant, you may use the Find function. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Roster. 28

30 21. Sign-up. 3. Fill in the form with basic information about the event: Title, Organizer, Location, Category and Description. 4. Add a Start and End Time. The Sign-up tool allows students to sign up for office hours, meetings, review sessions and other events in one convenient place. This tool can also be used in project sites to create meetings for the participants. Various scheduling, participation, recurrence, and notification arrangements can be made. An instructor can assign participants to timeslots or allow them to select their own choices. If a timeslot is full, the instructor can allow participants to add themselves to a wait list, which automatically promotes a participant when a slot becomes available and sends an notification. The Sign-up tool is group- and section-aware which gives instructors the ability to set up office hours or meetings which are visible only to their sections or to a group. The Sign-up tool toolbar: 5. Since this exam revision is a one-time event, we ll leave Meeting Frequency in Once Only. 6. Select meeting availability, you can choose the whole course site, or groups. Note that you can also add groups from your other sites. 7. Select Attendance will be taken if you would like to generate a checkbox list to keep track of attendees. This list is reachable via the main Sign-Up view list. 1. Add: Creates a new meeting element where users can sign-up. Meetings have a wide variety of choices like: group/section filtering, attendance taking, and queue participants/groups in time slots. 2. Permissions: Changes on the level of interactivity with Sign-up may be changed for each role. (i.e., student, teacher, assistant ). 3. Export: Allows course participants to export & print a list of future meetings. Creating a meeting with time slots for exam revision. 1. Navigate to your course site and click on Sign-up from the Left Sidebar. You will be directed to the course site s Sign-up tool main view, where you will see the list of current and future meetings. 2. On the toolbar click on Add. 8. Select the meeting type. In this scenario we would like to have students enter in an organized manner with reserved seats. Activating Multiple Slots will allow students to queue for the meeting. 9. Finally press Next to review your meeting information. When done click on Publish to create the meeting. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Signup. 29

31 22. Site Info. 10. Import from Archive File: Does the same as the previous, but from a saved course file. 11. User Audit Log: Lists important site participant events. Tool Management. 1. On the Site Info toolbar click on Manage Tools. Site Info tool contains many of the course management features needed for instructors to customize and manage their courses. Instructors may edit and rearrange the tools on their course toolbar, add participants, manage groups, publish or unpublish their course, import content from another site, and track participant enrolment activity. 2. Check the tools you would like to activate and press Continue. All the tools will be reachable via the Motiva s left sidebar. If you have limited site permissions (i.e. participant), you ll see only the site s description and your group memberships, if applicable, in Site Info. The Site Info Toolbar: 1. Edit Site Information: Allows to edit basic site information, as well as setting the localization & language settings. 2. Manage Tools: Rapidly publish or unpublish site tools. 3. Tool Order: Allows tool organization by the instructor, the way seen best. 4. Add participants: Lets site instructors add participants manually. 5. Manage Groups: Allows to create groups and assign participants in various ways. 6. Link to parent Site: Creates a hierarchical relationship where the current site will be a child of another site. 7. External Tools: Allows installation of an LTI tool. 8. Manage Access: Lets instructors change site status, access to public course assets to non-course participants, and how users are added to the course. 9. Import from Site: allows to import data from other sites. Data can be either replaced entirely or merged with the existing site. 3. To change tool order return to Site Info and again on the toolbar, find Tool Order. 4. You will now be able to re-order vertically by clicking & dragging each row. 5. Note that by clicking on each of the tools settings, you may change the tool s title to your liking, make the tool invisible to students, lock access to the tool, or delete it. 30

32 Creating Groups and Adding Participants. 1. On the Toolbar click on Manage Tools. 2. Now in group management tool, click on Create New Group. 4. Choose additional user options. When done click Add, to save the set. 3. Set a Group Title, a Description, and select which site participants you would like to add to the group. You can add entire roles, or individual members by selecting them from the member list and clicking on the arrow buttons to transfer them. 5. After adding, the set will generate groups with the same number adding a number at the end (according to the number of groups required). 4. Finally click on Add to save changes and add the group. Creating a joinable Group. Motiva is designed so that if a joinable group wants to be created, first, a Joinable Set must be made. 1. On the Toolbar click on Manage Tools. 6. In case we only wanted one joinable group, it would be more aesthetic to delete the number after the group s name. To do this, click the group s title from the list to edit it. 2. Now in group management tool, click on Create New Joinable Set. Joinable sets consist of automatically created groups that users can elect to join. Each group in a set begins with the set name and ends with a unique number. An individual can join one group per set. 3. Enter the Set name, the Number of groups in the current set, and the Maximum members per group. 7. Click Update to save the group. 8. Participants will be able to join the group by clicking their view of Site Info, which by default only shows, site URL, Site contact and , and joinable groups. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Site Info. 31

33 23. Statistics 5. Fill in a title and description for your report. The Statistics tool allows authorized users (typically instructors or site owners) to view site usage statistics and user activity events. Summary statistics can be viewed the initial tool landing page. These summary reports present a quick overview of site usage. Additionally, custom reports may be created on the Reports page for more detailed reporting. The Statistics toolbar: 1. Overview: Is the initial page when entering this tool showing general information of course statistics. Show more, will display the data in bar charts. 6. Select how far back the statistics tool should retreive information. 7. Narrow down data acquisition by selecting which sets of participants should be included in your search. 8. Finally, change data visualization for your report by selecting the remaining data. Click on Generate Report to generate a *.XLS, *.CSV, or *.PDF report, and Save Report to keep this report for future consultations. 2. Reports: Allows instructors to create and save statistical information displayed in an orderly manner. 3. Preferences: edits how information is shown in the overview site. Generating a statistical report of participant activity. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Statistics. 3. Click on Reports, from the top toolbar. 4. Now you will be able to create, save and export reports to common file formats. Click on Add. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Statistics. 32

34 24. Syllabus The Syllabus tool provides a place in the course site for the instructor to post a syllabus and for students to access the syllabus. The Syllabus toolbar: 1. Add Item: Adds a new item to the syllabus, items can be reorganized by maintainers. 2. Bulk Add: Adds many new items at the same time. 3. Bulk Edit: Edits many syllabus items at once. 4. Collapse All: lets viewers collapse/expand syllabus site titles (containers). 5. Print View: Expands all the syllabus content into a printer friendly format. Creating new syllabus content. To create syllabus content simply click on the Add Item button on the top toolbar. You will be presented with a Title/description. When done click on Save. After saving, syllabus content will appear inside expandable, widget-like, containers that are reorganisable by the instructor (via click & drag). Syllabus content can also be scheduled to appear for a determined duration, useful if instructors would like to make content appear progressively matching course/project progress. To do so, click on the start and end dates, which will determine availability of the syllabus container to participants of the site. The types of content syllabus items may have are: - File Attachment: Instructors may add a document (ie,.pdf,.docx) as an attachment to the Syllabus tool. Students may download, open, and print the file at their convenience. In order to make an edit to a syllabus that is posted using this option, the instructor will need to make the edit to the original document on their computer, remove the attachment and replace it with the edited document. - Webpage from Document: Instructors may create a webpage syllabus from a text document using the Rich Text Editor in the Syllabus tool. Instructors may copy and paste the text from the document into the Rich Text Editor to create a webpage version of your file. Students may read the document in the Syllabus tool, and there is also a print option to print the syllabus. Any edits the instructor wants to make to the syllabus can be done directly in the Rich Text Editor. - Multi-Part Syllabus: Instructors can create a multipart syllabus by adding one syllabus item at a time. This allows the instructor to reorder or remove individual items in the syllabus. The Syllabus tool allows users to bulk add items by number of items or by dates. If the instructor likes to organize the syllabus by weeks or class meetings, this is good option to use. - Point to Webpage: If the instructor has a syllabus posted on a webpage, the instructor may direct the Syllabus tool to that syllabus. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Syllabus. 33

35 25. Test & Quizzes The Tests & Quizzes tool allows instructors to create online assessments (i.e., tests, exams, quizzes, and surveys). It may be employed to administer tests, or create surveys to gather course feedback. Assessments are created question by question, or through already prepared text, or through import from a formatted XML file. Instructors are able to control the layout, delivery, grading, student review options, and metadata during assessment authoring. Assessment types can be saved as future templates, for future rapid-deployment by the instructor. Assessments can be either Working Copies (unpublished) or Published Copies already visible to participants. The Test & Quizzes toolbar: 1. Assessments: Directs instructors to the assessment creation page, showing both working and published copies of assessments. The assessment builder allows instructors to select from a wide variety of types of questions. 2. Question Pools: A question pool is a set of questions, identified by a name or category, which belong to you (not the worksite). You can share a question pool with others, and others can share theirs with you. They are set up in advance of an assessment, for convenience and assessments can be made so that they pull random questions from one or many of pools available to you. 3. Event Log: Logs detailed information on the worksite s assessments. 4. User Activity Report: The same as the previous, but giving detailed information on a particular participant s academic progress. Creating a multiple-choice assessment. 1. Navigate to your course site. 2. On the left sidebar, click on Test & Quizzes. 3. You are by default directed to the Assessments page, otherwise, click on Assessments from the top toolbar. 4. Provide a Title make sure the radial button for Create using assessment builder is checked then click Create. 5. From the drop-down menu select the question type. 6. Assign a point value for the question (total possible if they get it correct), deducting points, and if there is only one, or multiple correct answers. 7. Now, in the case of multiple choice answers, you will be able to select which is the correct, and what text should be displayed to assessment takers. 8. You can add more answers at any time by clicking the drop-down Insert Additional Answers and selecting how many more should be added. 34

36 9. Provide any additional feedback based on answering correctly or incorrectly. 1. In the main Test & Quizzes window find the assessment you would like to backup. It will be under Working or Published copies. 2. Beside the assessment, in the drop-down menu, select Export. 10. Click on Save, and repeat the process by inserting a new question. 11. When finished, you can click on Publish or return to Assessments and publish the test at another time. This will keep a Working Copy of the assessment instead of a Published one. 3. On the following page select the type of export you would like. When ready, select Export. Importing from XML or ZIP files. Tests can be imported from other course sites, or from documents that are IMS QTI-compliant in XML. Some popular test building software will allow you to export your assessments in that format (i.e. Respondus or QTITools). 1. Navigate to Tests & Quizzes in your course/project site, and on the initial page click Import. 4. A pop-up will show up asking you to confirm the download of an IMS QTI-compliant XML file. Click Download to finish. 2. Click Browse and search for your compatible XML or ZIP file. 3. Make sure to select the incoming format your document is in. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Test & Quizzes. Exporting an XML file. Tests & quizzes can be saved out of the Motiva platform as a backup copy for the instructor. 35

37 26. Web Content Placing a link to an external site. 1. First navigate to Site Info. 2. Click on Manage Tools. A custom link uses the Web Content tool to create a link on the left sidebar, where default tools such as Announcements, Calendar and Resources are located. This tool provides a useful way to link to site related websites and/or files located on the web. Motiva can either open a new window (default) or wrap external web content into the main frame. In doing so, users are not redirected out of the site, still having available the left sidebar at all times. Placing a link to one of our Resource folders. This tutorial will explain specifically how to link to a folder located in Resources. 1. First, go to Resources from the left sidebar. 3. Select Web Content from the list of tools to activate, and click Continue. 4. Fill in a Title and URL source for your new Web Content, when done click Continue. 2. Choose the folder to which you would like to link and click Actions selecting Make Web Content Link from the drop down menu. 5. Confirm your entry by clicking Finish. 3. Now set a Title, and click Add. 6. Choose your new Web Content from the left sidebar to see the results open on a new window. 4. Your new Web Content link will be available in the left sidebar. For more information visit Sakai 11 User Guide: Web Content. 36

38 27. Wiki 3. Enter the new page name in the page description, for example, we want to add a wiki entry for Motiva Platform, to describe it thoroughly. To this we write the new entry in brackets [Motiva Platform]. Click Save when done. The Wiki tool allows people to collaboratively author web pages, without the need for advanced web authoring skills. The Wiki tool was designed specifically for site participants to collaborate on documents, share information and create online materials within a course or project site. Users have the option to subscribe to the site Wiki and be notified about content updates. There is also the option to make wiki pages available to the outside world beyond the course if desired. The Wiki toolbar: 4. You will be taken to the view of the currently saved entry. Now, newly created wiki entries that have not been edited will appear with a question mark at the end (Motiva Platform? in our case). Click on the one you would like to edit. 6. Home: Links to the landing page of the Wiki tool, serves as an introductory page. 7. View: Shows the current page, as-is shown to noncreators. 8. Edit: Edits the current Wiki page. 9. Info: Shows Page permissions (who can edit the page), how it is linked to other pages (incoming and outgoing links), comments, and other relevant information. 10. History: Versioning for the current page. Motiva saves a version, or backup, for each change that occurs in the page. Users can revert to past page states at any time. 11. Watch: Activates or deactivates relevant notifications concerning the wiki tool. 5. When directed to the page, click on Edit on the toolbar, and give format to the new entry. By default, new pages are created with a Default template. Once this page is edited, its link on other pages will appear without the question mark at the end. Creating a new Wiki page. 1. Select the Wiki tool from the Tool Menu of your site. 2. While viewing an existing page, click the Edit button. 6. Finally select Save, and in the case it is a minor change, page collaborators/subscribers will not be notified. 37