ITaP Confluence Guide. Instructions for Getting Started with Confluence a Purdue

Transcription

1 ITaP Confluence Guide Instructions for Getting Started with Confluence a Purdue

2 This instruction set was developed by ITaP for instructor and student use. For comments, suggestions, correction, etc. please contact us at:

3 Contents What is Confluence?... 4 Best Practices... 4 User Resources... 5 Access to a Confluence Wiki Space... 5 Login:... 5 Dashboard... 6 Editing a Confluence Wiki Space... 9 Edit Link:... 9 Add Dropdown Menu: Tools Dropdown Menu: Online Tutorials Instructor Resources How to Request a Confluence Wiki Space Best Practices for Using Wikis in Education Examples of Classroom Use How to Administrate a Confluence Wiki Space Editing Space Details: Managing Page Hierarchy: Page History: Managing Users: Using Themes: Color Scheme: Additional Resources / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 3 P a g e

4 What is Confluence? This guide is for faculty and students to get started using Confluence. Confluence is a wiki tool, similar to the format of Wikipedia, which allows users to create web spaces for communication and collaboration. Within a wiki space a user can upload files for others to see and create discussions through commenting and blogging. Confluence is an organizational system that makes it easy to keep content in one place allowing it to be viewable from anywhere in the world. Confluence is an enterprise level tool used by many businesses, but also demonstrates a strong educational value. The tool allows for many types of instructional collaboration including site linking, attaching offline/online work, commenting, and blogging. Confluence pages can be directly exported to Microsoft Office and the tool s functionality is expandable through the addition of plug-ins. Additionally, Confluence allows for page versioning and its content is fully searchable. Best Practices Site administrators can control who can view as well as who can add to a Confluence wiki site. This access can be controlled at various levels, so an administrator can provided edit access to one page and view-only access on another. Anonymous access will allow people outside of Purdue to access the wiki. For those who can administer a space, the use of Anonymous access should be limited. By default when a wiki space is created in Confluence, Anonymous access is turned off; thereby only allowing users within the Purdue community to view a space. However a Space Administrator can turn this option on. If this is done, NO MORE THAN permissions for View, Add Blog, and Add Comments should ever be activated for anonymous access. It is recommended that only permissions for View be allowed. Page Restrictions should be used sparingly in Confluence and applied appropriately. Only the users or groups selected for View and Edit will be able to perform those functions in relation to the assigned page (note both options have restriction applied individually). Also a Home page should never be restricted, as all child pages will be restricted as well. It is highly 4 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

5 recommended that only child pages with limited or no children of their own ever be restricted. See graphic on next page. User Resources This section of the guide is for use by all users of Confluence and will provide useful information for accessing and edited site content. Access to a Confluence Wiki Space Login: Access to a Confluence wiki space is granted to all Purdue faculty, staff, and students via CAS authentication. To access the Purdue Confluence dashboard online, go to: You can use your Purdue Career Account and password to login to the tool in the upper right. After a user logs in, a dashboard will allow them to access all wiki spaces associated with their account. This may include course, research, or general access spaces. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 5 P a g e

6 For user issues with logging in, go to: Dashboard The main dashboard has four sections: (A) menu, (B) tools, (C) spaces, and (D) community tracking. A. Unless the menu has been modified by a Space Administrator (see Instructor Resources), the Dashboard breadcrumb is located to the left-hand side of the menu bar. Users can always return to their dashboard by clicking on this link. Besides the breadcrumbs, the menu bar contains the top level navigation for Confluence, which includes the Browse and User dropdown menus as well as the Search dialog box. The Browse dropdown menu will let a user obtain access to a more global view of a specific Confluence space as well as any directories, shortcuts, or advance permissions that the user may have. The menu choices on this dropdown may change from space to space within Confluence. 6 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

7 The User dropdown menu (represented by the user s name) contains all of the user specific features. Some of these include user profile, status updates, pages that a user is watching, personal labels, and view history. Additionally, this dropdown is where all users log out of Confluence. The Search dialog box in the menu bar is where a user can search for content from all spaces that they have access to in Confluence. B. The tools section of a Confluence page is near the upper right of the page and will have different tools depending on what level of permissions a user has. On the dashboard, the only two tools available to a user are Add Page and Add Blog Post. Selecting either of these tools will prompt a user for what space (only spaces that a user has access to will be selectable) the want to add a page or blog post. Inside an individual wiki space, tool choices will be different and may look like the following image; where a user can view attached images, view page history, watch a page, and restrict a page, amongst other options. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 7 P a g e

8 C. On the main dashboard, the Spaces section has two tabs: Favorite and Global. These two tabbed areas contain links to every wiki space accessible by the user. The Global tab displays all wiki space that the user can view, where as the Favorite tab will limit the display of wiki space to only those that have a gold star selected next to them. A user can select/deselect a favorite space by clicking on the star icon next to its name at the right. D. The community tracking section of the dashboard is where a user can see activity in all spaces that are accessible to them. The list displays the name of the user who made a change or added a file and also provides a link to go directly to the edited page or document. The + and - icons on the right-hand side of this section allow for the user to display more or fewer items in the list. A video that covers logging in and the dashboard is available online (note you will need Shockwave player installed for your browser: 8 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

9 Editing a Confluence Wiki Space To edit a Confluence space the user needs to have permissions to do so (see Instructor Resources). Pages can only be edited if the space administrator allows this option; the dropdown menus or links that allow for editing are Edit, Add, and Tools pictured on the sample page below. Edit Link: By selecting the Edit link in the upper right of the screen, the user opens the page editing window. This is where all content for a given page can be modified. In this window the user can (if allowed) (A) edit the title, (B) edit the page text, (C) choose whether it is a minor change, (D) change the page hierarchy, (E) add restrictions, (F) add/remove labels, and (G) Save or Cancel all edits made. Additionally there is a link to the wiki mark-up full notation guide, which the user can access here: 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 9 P a g e

10 A. To edit the title for the page the user just needs type in a new name in the text field. The lager heading font will automatically be applied to the page when it is saved. B. The large text box is where a user can edit the page content. There are three view tabs to choose from for editing the content: Rich Text, Wiki Markup and Preview. The Rich Text tab allows for the editing of page content in much the same manner as Microsoft Word. It has a WYSIWYG tool bar with all the options for adding formatted text, images, links, and document attachments to a page. The Wiki Markup tab allows for the user to implement markup coding toedit the page content. The Full notation guide can be found here: The Preview tab give the use a sneak-peek of what their content edits will look like to the viewers of the page before the edits are saved. C. If you want to make only a minor change,, select the Minor Change box. By selecting this box, no notifications will be sent to any people watching the page and update will not be recorded on the dashboard. However, the update will still be tracked in the History and can always be reverted. 10 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

11 D. By clicking on the Edit link next to the Location section of the page editing window, a user can change the page hierarchy (if allowed) by selecting a new parent page within the space or even selecting a new space altogether. (Note the user will need to have permissions to access a space in order to transfer a page to it.) E. The Restrictions section of the page editing window is where a user can limit (if allowed) those who can View and Edit a page at a more granular level than using Permissions (covered later under Instructor Resources). Only the users selected for View and Edit will be able to perform those functions in relation to the assigned page (Note: caution is advised when using this feature since it can severely limit access to a page - see Best Practices for recommended usage of this feature). F. Adding Labels to a wiki space allow for the Search feature in Confluence to more closely relate your space content with certain topics. G. The Save or Cancel buttons allow the user to save or cancel all edits made to the page in the current session. A video that covers editing a Confluence space is available online (note you will need Shockwave player installed for your browser: Add Dropdown Menu: The Add dropdown menu allows the user to (A) add pages, (B) add comments, (C) add a blog post, and (D) add an attachment to their wiki space. Also this menu is where a user can add a bookmark for a given page to their Confluence bookmarks list. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 11 P a g e

12 A. Adding a Page creates a new child page for the currently selected page. By selecting this option a new page is created and the page editing window automatically opens. B. By selecting the Comment option in the dropdown menu, a new comment text box opens at the bottom of the current page. This box allows for editing via Rich Text or Wiki Markup, similar to the page editing window. The user can also select the check box for Watch this page, which will allow them to receive update notifications if they choose. After the comment has been written, the user just needs to click to the Post button to add the comment to the bottom of the page. C. Adding a Blog Post creates a new blog page and the page editing window automatically opens. Again the user can edit via Rich Text or Wiki Markup and can add labels to their post. After the blog post is saved, the user will be taken to the blog page that has a listing of all blogs associated with the wiki space. The blog has its own Search feature and date tracking system by month. On subsequent visits, users can accesses the blog on a space by the Browse dropdown menu in the upper right of the page. 12 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

13 D. To add a file attachment to the current page, a. selects Attachment from the Add dropdown menu. A window will open b. browse their desktop for a file or drag-and drop a file onto the page (see graphic on next page.). c. click the Attach button to upload the file to the page. The file name will then appear in the Attached Files section of the window d. add any additional files in the same manner (note: links to attached files will not appear in the page content until they are added via the page editing window see Edit Link section B above ). e. select the View link in the upper right to return. f. Word Documents, Adobe PDFs, and PowerPoint files can be embedded into a page directly. View how to do this online at: under Embedding Files. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 13 P a g e

14 Tools Dropdown Menu: Depending on the level of access a user has for an individual wiki space, tool choices will be different and may look like the following image; where a user can view attached images, view page history, watch a page, favorites a page, and restrict a page, amongst other options. Online Tutorials ITaP has several online tutorials to help users get started using Confluence as well as other tools supported at the University. These can be found online at: 14 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

15 Instructor Resources This section of the guide is for use by Instructors with administrative access to Confluence and will provide useful information such as requesting the setup of a wiki space and managing access to a wiki space. How to Request a Confluence Wiki Space Purdue faculty can get started by requesting a course wiki space for their course at All students enrolled in the course will automatically be added as users to the course wiki space. 1. Login with your Career account 2. Select your Campus/Institution for the list 3. Select Academic Term 4. Enter your Career account login 5. Select your Blackboard sections Additionally, faculty can request a research wiki space not tied to any specific course by going to: Best Practices for Using Wikis in Education Before you create a wiki, you may want to look at the wikis available to you in Confluence to get a feel for different approaches. Develop clear objectives for your use of the wiki that build upon the potential of the tool Decide upon who should be able to see/edit the wiki - Classroom versus the world Demonstrate using the wiki and provide space/time for students to practice o Start with a low-stakes activity o Convey that practice is for comfort with tool, not because it is hard o Give your students a copy of the student user guided 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 15 P a g e

16 Develop standards for the wiki (could be student-generated) o Accuracy (citations) o Formatting (text breaks) o Language (grammar, spelling, tone) o Respect for differing styles, points of view Create a culture of trust within the wiki Model collaboration Identify and define student roles, especially for large projects o Helps prevent losing a student in a collaborative project o Provides a way for students to assess their own contribution o Keys students to important functions of the project Create incremental deadlines o Forces students to keep up with assignment/project o Helps students self-monitor progress Assign meaningful activities with a common goal Examples of Classroom Use There are many way to use a wiki in the classroom from just content dissemination to interactive collaboration. Below is a list of possible uses: Course site with ongoing content updates o Shared resources (links, videos, images, etc.) for weekly discussions o Student-generated glossary Place to develop writing skills Student collaboration space o Group pages o Project planning o File Storage o Publishing Work o Example: INSITE Project (accessible at ) To View a sample course site go to: To View a sample student project page go to: 16 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

17 How to Administrate a Confluence Wiki Space For the information in this section of the guide, a user will need to elevate their access to Space Admin in order to access the tools and features below. If a user has administrative privileges for a space, they can access the Space Admin role by doing the following: 1. In Confluence, go to the Browse dropdown menu and select Space Admin. 2. The page view will change to Edit Space Details and the Space Admin tab will be active. 3. This page is where a user with administrative privileges can get access to all of the tabs related to administration of the wiki space. Note: some of the features in the left hand navigation bar will require a double level of authentication, where an administrator will have to provide their login and password again to gain access. These sections are Security and Mail (note mail is disabled in ITaP s build of Confluence). 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 17 P a g e

18 Editing Space Details: Edit Space Details is where an administrator can change the name of their wiki space, add a public description of their space, and control which page is their home page. The Name is chosen initially when the space is created, but can be changed here. By default, Description is left blank when the space is created; however it is a best practice to provide a description of a space so other users can discern content from the Dashboard. Managing Page Hierarchy: Under the Pages tab is where the administrator can reorganize the hierarchal structure of their space or navigate through their space pages directly. By selecting the Tree option in the links menu below the tabs, the administrator can see entire parent and child hierarchy of their space. By selecting the document icon next to a page in the list, the administrator can drag-and-drop a page to change it s order. If a child page is moved to different parent page, then the new designation will be noted on the parent page (Note: any internal links to moved pages within your space will not be broken Confluence makes the adjustments automatically). View Page History: Access to view and restore a page history is located under the Tools dropdown for a given page (see above: Tools Dropdown Menu under Editing a Confluence Wiki Space). This feature allows for an administrator to restore a previous version of a page if needed and provides an edit by edit record of the entire page creation. 18 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

19 The Page History feature allows a user (with page editing permissions) and an administrator to compare selected versions of a page. Removed items are highlighted in red and added items are highlighted in green. Managing Users: One of the strengths of Confluence is that allows for a space administrator to manage individual users. Users can be added and removed and granted various levels of permissions to the space. Anonymous user access can also be grated if the space needs to be open to the world (see above: Best Practices on how to use anonymous access properly). 1. To edit permissions for a space, on the Space Admin tab select Permissions under the Security section of the left-hand navigation bar. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 19 P a g e

20 2. Confluence will ask the administrator to authenticate again since this feature is part of Security for the tool. Enter a Purdue ID and password again. 3. The View Space Permissions page will appear. Here an administrator can add or remove permissions for Groups, Individual Users, or Anonymous Access. 4. To edit permissions, click on the Edit Permissions button under any of the three sections (all sections can be edited when the button is clicked). 5. To add an individual user, type in the user s id into the text field under the appropriate section and then click the Add button. All users have to be part of the Purdue authentication system, or added in manually by a Confluence Administrator (requested at: 20 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

21 have to also be created by a Confluence Administrator, and once created can be added by the space administrator. Anonymous user access can also be grated if the space needs to be open to the world (see above: Best Practices on how to use anonymous access properly). 6. After all users have been added, click the check boxes for which permissions should be granted to each user (note the gear icon to the right of each user s row will allow for the selection or de-selection of all checkboxes in that row). 7. After all desired users and groups have been added to the space, click on the Save All button at the lower right of the screen. Using Themes: ITaP s build of Confluence has four Themes that can be applied to a space layout. Global Look and Feel: The globally configured look and feel. You can customize color-schemes and layouts manually. This is the default theme for a new space. 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 21 P a g e

22 Easy Reader Theme: This is a fixed-width variation of the default Confluence theme. Its larger fonts, smooth gradient background and comfortable line length make it ideal for displaying and reading longer documents. Documentation Theme: This theme is well suited for structured content, such as documentation. It features a table of contents (page tree) on the left, making it easier to see the structure of a space and move from page to page. You can customize the left-hand panel, page header and page footer. This theme supports Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer 7+, but is not as Accessible as the other themes in Confluence. Adaptavist Theme Builder: This theme has one preset layout for administrators to use. It allows for the design of custom layouts, but design access will need to be requested from a Confluence Administrator (requested at: After selecting the theme, click "Configure theme" to choose a layout. Some layouts also allow you to customize colors using the "Color Scheme" link to the left. For more information see 1. To change the theme for a space, click on Themes in the left hand menu on the Space Admin tab page. 22 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

23 2. Select the desired theme from the list and then click on the Confirm button in the lower left of the page. 3. The theme will immediately be applied to all pages within the space. Color Scheme: The overall color scheme of a space can also be customized. 1. To change the color scheme of a space, click on Colour Scheme in the left hand menu on the Space Admin tab page. 2. Select Edit under the Custom Colour Scheme section of the page. 3. Change the hexadecimal values for each feature needing customization (clicking on the square icon to the right side of each row will open a color picker window). 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 23 P a g e

24 4. Click on the Save button to save your changes or the Cancel button to remove your changes (note: the Reset button will reset all hexadecimal values to default). 24 P a g e 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M

25 Additional Resources ITaP Confluence Showcase: Confluence Video Tutorials: Confluence New Possibilities for Teaching and Learning: Confluence Notation Guide: Confluence 3.4.x Users Guide: Atlassian Q&A Community: Request ITaP assistance with Confluence: This instruction set was developed by ITaP for instructor and student use. For comments, suggestions, correction, etc. please contact us at: 3 / 1 9 / : 5 0 P M 25 P a g e