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Description
Video Tutorial: Creating a site
Creating a site - Getting started
Publishing a site while you are creating it
Publishing a site after you have created it
Unpublishing a site
Adding participants to a site
Adding participants who have Friend Accounts
Making a site joinable (<--Special note for instructors here.)
Joining a site
UM Information Technology Policies and Guidelines
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If you would like to see an ultra-simple outline of the site setup process, click the Simple Outline of the Process link under "Creating a Site" in the left-hand menubar of this Online Help Guide.

Description

Please note that only UM instructors can create Official Course Sites. Instructors, researchers and students can create Project Sites.

Certain commands that are found in the Worksite Setup tool and are described below are also available in the Site Info tool, which appears in the left-hand menubar of every course and project site. With the Site Info tool, you can revise participant lists, change participant roles, change the tools in a site, change information about a site, and more.

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Watch a video tutorial on creating a site in CTools:

Video Tutorial: Creating a Site

Step 1 - Creating a new site - Getting Started

A... Open CTools:

http://ctools.umich.edu

B... Click the Login button in the upper-right corner of the window and log in.

C... Open your workspace. (If it is not already open, click the My Workspace tab.)

D... Click Worksite Setup in the menubar.

E... Click New... in the upper left corner of the main window.

A... Choose the type of site you want to create by clicking the radio button.

- Course website -- For a website that will be used for a UM course. (You'll also need to pull down the menu and choose the term)

Note to students: If you don't automatically see a tab for your class when you login to CTools, please do not try to create an official course website. Contact your instructor for information about when your course site will be available.

- Project website -- For a website for a project.

B... .Cick Continue.

Step 3

If you are creating a course website, you will need to specify the course.

If you are creating a project website, skip to Step 4 1/2.

1... There are two ways to specify the course for your site. You can pick one or the other but not both.

- If you are listed as the instructor of record for courses in the course catalog, these courses, and their sections, will be listed. "CL" indicates a cross-listed course. If you select one or more sections of a course from that list, a course site will be set up for you now, and the rosters you have selected will be added.

- If you are not listed as the instructor of record for a course, you can manually enter the course information on the next screen.  Be sure to fill out the authorization request form to ensure that the roster will be attached to your course site

2... You can optionally add special instructions that may help t he support staff authorize the site request. (This is not for approving or denying the creation of the site, but instead for approving or denying the linking of a roster to a site.)

3... Click Continue.

If you are creating a Course Site, continue with Step 4, below.

If you are creating a Project Site, skip to Step 4 1/2, below.

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(For Course Sites only)

1... In the next screen you have the option of adding a description and a short description of the site.

The long description appears on your site's homepage; the short description appears in the public list of sites in the CTools gateway, which is viewable by anyone.

2... Pull down the Appearance menu and choose your department.

3... Click Continue. (And continue with Step 5.)

(For Project Sites only)

1... In the form that appears, type a title for the project site.

2... You have the option of adding a long description and a short description of the site.

The long description appears on your site's homepage; the shorter description appears in the public list of sites in the CTools gateway, which is viewable by anyone.

3. You can type in the URL for a specific icon to appear in the upper left corner of the site.

4... Click Continue. (And continue with Step 5.)

Step 5

1.... In the Worksite Setup window that appears, check the boxes next to the tools and features you would like for your site.

(You can also add or remove features after you have created your site as follows: In your My Workspace, click Worksite Setup . Then click the box next to the site in your list of sites, and click the Revise button.)

2... You have the option to reuse material from other sites you own.

If you would like to do this, click the radio button next to "Yes, from these sites:" and select the site or sites in the list .

To select more than item, hold down the CTRL key (Windows) or the Apple key (Mac) and click your selections.

Note that in order to transfer resources from one site to another, you must have the appropriate tools in the "destination site," i.e., if you want to transfer assignments from a previous site to a current site, you must include the assignment tool in the new site. 

3. Click Continue.

4... If you checked the Web Content, News, or Email Archive boxes, after you click Continue on the Tool Selection page, you will see a form for more information.

If you chose Email Archive, you will need to specify an email address. This provides an easier-to-remember email address to use for sending email that to be archived.

If you chose Web Content or News, type a title for the left menu button for your Web Content or News window. For example, if you want the Web Content window to contain a weather website, you can give the button the name Weather.

If you leave "Web Content" or "News" as the title or if you leave the box blank, the button will be named "Web Content" or "News." (You can change the button name later using the Edit Tools tool, which can be accessed by clicking Site Info in the menubar of every site.

5... Click Continue.

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Step 6 - Publishing your site and making it joinable

Publishing your site makes it available to the site participants. Global access settings allow you to decide who has access to your published site.

1... To publish your site, the box next to Publish site must be checked. (You can also go back to your site at a later time and publish it. See the section below.)

When a site is unpublished, you can still access it, add documents to it, etc.  Publishing the site makes viewable to all site participants. 

2... Choose what type of access you want. You can make your site private (for you and the participants) or if it is a project site, accessible to anyone who can log in to UM's web environment. In the latter case your project site will be displayed in the public list of sites in the CTools gateway (the page people see when they first log on to ctools.umich.edu.)

3. For project sites only (not for course sites): If you would like your site to be joinable by anyone with authorization to log in, check the box. You can then specify the role for those who join. For more information about CTools roles, see the section on adding participants, below.

Special Note: It is not possible to make course sites joinable. When you create a site for an official course, the students registered for that course will automatically become members of the site. (At times, you may need to "manually" add a student, but you do not need to make the site joinable for this.)

4... Click Continue.

Step 7

1... Confirm the information for your site in the window that appears.

2... If you need to make a change, click the Back button on the Ctools screen (not your browser's back button).

3... When all the information is correct, click Create Site. When it is processed, your new site will be listed in your site list in My Workspace under Worksite Setup.

Are you finding what you're looking for? Please send feedback about this online help guide to ctools-doc-comments@umich.edu Thanks! (For questions about using CTools, send email to ctools-support@umich.edu)

Publishing a site after the site has been created

Publishing your site makes it available to site participants. You may already have published your site as described in Step 5, above. If not, you can follow the steps below after you site is created to publish your site. (Note: You can also publish a site using the Site Info tool, which you can access from the Site Info button in the left-hand menubar of each site. You must first go to the unpublished site before publishing it using this method.)

1... Open your workspace by clicking the My Workspace tab.

2... Click Worksite Setup in the menubar.

3... Check the box next to the site you would like to publish.

4... Click Revise.

5... Click the Manage Access button.

6... Click the radio button next to Publish site.

7... Then choose what type of access you want.

You can make your site private, available to anyone you add as participants, or available to anyone, in which case your site will be displayed in the public list of sites in the CTools gateway (the page people see when they first log on to ctools.umich.edu).

8... When you have finished, click Update.

Note: You can also publish a site using the Site Info tool, which you can access from the Site Info button in the left-hand menubar of each site. You must first go to the unpublished site before publishing it using this method.  

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Unpublishing a site

Unpublishing a site makes it unavailable to the site's participants.

1... To unpublish a site, first open the site.

2... Click Site Info in the left-hand menubar.

3... Click the Manage Access link along the top of the window.

4... Uncheck the box next to "Publish Site" by clicking on the box.

5... Click Update.

Adding participants to a site

If you are creating a course site, the students will automatically be added to your site when they register. At times, you may need to add students as described below.

Clicking the Update button at the bottom of the roster in the Site Info page will also usually update the list, taking out students who have dropped the course, as well as adding students who may have registered late.  Keep in mind that students automatically added via a roster attachment cannot be deleted manually, but must be taken out using the Update button at the bottom of the roster list.   

For project sites, publishing a site makes it available to participants. Whether you have published your site or not, you can add participants as described below.

If you would like to add a participant who does not have a UM uniqname, you can add a Friend account for them. See the next section for information about setting up and using Friend accounts.

1... Click Worksite Setup in your workspace. You will see a list of sites you have created and sites to which you have access.

2... Check the box next to the site to which you would like to add one or more participants (or students).

3... Click Revise.

4... Click Add Participants.

5... Type the participant's uniqname. You can type more than one uniqname in the box.

6... Choose whether to give all your newly adde d participants the same role or different roles.

7... Click Continue.

8... In the next window, if you chose to give all your participants the same role, pull down the menu by each uniqname and choose either:

For course websites:

Affiliate - Can read, add, and revise content on sites in a particular department.

Assistant - Can read, add, and revise most content on the site.

Instructor - Can read, revise, delete and add both content and participants to a site.

Observer - Can read content on the site.

Owner - Can read, revise, delete and add both content and participants to a site.

Student - Can read content, and add content ot a site where appropriate.

For project websites:

Member - Can read, revise, delete, and add their own content to a site.

Observer - Can read content on the site.

Organizer -Can read, revise, delete and add both content and participants to a site

Owner - Can read, revise, delete and add both content and participants to a site.

9 ... Click Continue.

10 ... On the next page, you have the option to automatically send email to the newly-added participants notifying them of the site's availability.

11 ... Click Continue.

12 ... Click Finish.

Adding participants who have Friend Accounts

Friend accounts are available for users who do not have a UM uniqname.

If you would like to add a participant who does not have a UM uniqname, you can add a Friend account for them.  Friend accounts allow non-UM affiliated students and professors access to CTools sites.  Adding a Friend account is a multi-person process.

If you would like to see a video tutorial on adding a friend account to a site, click here:

Video Tutorial: Adding a Friend Account

For the person adding a friend account to the site:

1. You must have an email address from the individual you want to add.  They will use this same email address to create their Friend account.  Please make sure that this is an email address that they regularly use and can remember easily.

2. Add the email address in the same way you would add a participant's uniqname, except add it to the box labeled "email addresses" below the uniqname box.

3. Assign the user the desired role as described in the section above, and click Finish to complete the process.

For the person being added to the site using a Friend account:

1. Go to the UM Friend account setup page at: https://friend.weblogin.umich.edu/friend/

2. Enter an email address.  Be sure this is the same email address that was added for you at the CTools site. 

3. The UMICH system will send you an email to that email address.  Open that email and follow the instructions to set a Friend account password.

4. Once your password is set, you can log into CTools using your email address as your Login ID, and the password you just created. 

NOTE: This same process will work when adding individuals without a uniqname to project sites.

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Making a site joinable after the site has been published

Special Note: It is not possible to make a course site joinable. When you create a site for an official course, the students registered for that course will automatically become members of the site.

You can make project sites joinable after they have been published.

Making a site joinable gives users the option of joining your site. You can make a site joinable after the site has been created and published, or during the site creation process.

1... While you have your workspace open, click Worksite Setup.

2... Check the box next to the site you would like to make joinable.

3... Click Revise.

4... Click Manage Access...

5... Under Global access, choose an option -- you can have the site joinable by anyone with authorization to login or only to those you add.

If you make it joinable to anyone with authorization to login, you will need to also choose the role to assign to these users.

6... Click Update.

Note: You can also make a site joinable using the Site Info tool which you can access from the Site Info button in the left-hand menubar of each site.

Joining a site

When you open My Workspace and click Membership , a list of sites that you are a member of will appear, followed by a list of sites that you can join.

To join a site, click a box next to the site's name and click the Join button, which is located at the very end of the list.

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UM Information Technology Policies and Guidelines

This web site features the University of Michigan's most relevant information technology policies and guidelines.

http://www.umich.edu/~policies/

Key Deer

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