Starter Strategies

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Instructor Starter Strategies

Link to indexed pdf document of this article

What is CLEW?

Welcome to the world of CLEW!

You are now joining a global network of educators using open-source software called Sakai, otherwise known as a Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE). Sakai can be used beyond the classroom as free, open-source software, which offers the ultimate in flexibility, avoids the risks of vendor lock-in and escalating license costs, and can be customized. Also, institutions can join the Sakai environment with other well-known partners like Stanford, Indiana, Yale, Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, and the list goes on! The University of Windsor is one of the first Canadian partners on the Sakai team.

CLEW (Collaboration and Learning Environment Windsor) is the University of Windsor’s version of Sakai, and its learning management system. It is completely web-based: simply, you need a computer, browser, and Internet connection to get started.

Requesting a CLEW Site

Course Sites

All instructors and/or departmental support staff must request a new CLEW course site every semester. To access the Request a Site form, visit New CLEW, or the CLEW Portal Gateway at CLEW.

Once at the CLEW Portal Gateway screen, you can request a completely new CLEW site, import materials from a previously existing site, or if you had a course site in the University’s previous learning management system ViCKi, you can transfer your site over to CLEW. To initiate either of these requests, you will need to have, on hand:

Gateway Login

Project Sites

Project Sites are collaborative sites not associated with a course number or roster of students and can be requested separately at clew@uwindsor.ca. Please provide the following information in the email:

These sites can facilitate research on campus and abroad, or facilitate group and committee work by providing the same collaborative tools that are available within a CLEW course site. Participants must be added manually to the Project Site. Non-University of Windsor participants can also be added, but they need to have a Friend Account (see below for External Users) sponsored by a University staff or faculty member.

Project Sites can be used in conjunction with Course Sites. For example, an instructor can request a Project Site for their students’ group projects. Participants can be added manually by the instructor or by the LMS Administrator if a list is provided in advance.

For External Users

Non-University of Windsor Users

If you are external to the University of Windsor, the Department with whom you will be working will need to request a course site for you. They can also sponsor a Friend Account for you, which will allow you access to your CLEW site for up to two years. When you obtain a "Friend Account," you can request a course site at New CLEW. Once your account has been activated, you will use your email address and password you supplied in lieu of the UWin ID and password to access your site.

More information on obtaining a UWin ID, including Friend Accounts can found at UWin ID.

Only those with Instructor, Co-Instructor, Organizer, Co-Organizer, Departmental Support, Technical Support, Lead TA, or Site Management privileges can add participants to CLEW sites. Information about CLEW roles can be found on each site’s Site Editor page.

Getting Help

If you experience difficulties, or have troubleshooting questions while using CLEW, there are many resources available to help you every step of the way, including:

Self-Study Material

This is available for those of you who prefer to learn by reading or viewing step-by-step instructions on your own time instead of or in addition to attending a workshop. You can find instructions for editing, deleting, and organizing your material, as well as an array of other functions available to help you get the most out of your course site, at CLEW-HowTo.

Inline CLEW Help Files

This is available inline by clicking the blue question mark within most tools or the Help link found at the bottom of the left-hand menu on each CLEW webpage. More in-depth help is found at www.uwindsor.ca/clewhowto.

Workshops

The Centre for Teaching and Learning offers in-person workshops, from the basics, to more sophisticated use of the tools, to accompany pedagogical issues. To find out what is available, log into CLEW Workshops.

Help Desk

If you can’t find what you need on the CLEW Information site or in the CLEW Help files, call the University HelpDesk at 519-253-3000 ext. 4440 or email helpdesk@uwindsor.ca. They will be able to answer your questions directly during HelpDesk hours, or refer you to someone who can.

Supported and Unsupported Browsers

Supported Browsers for CLEW

Some Web browsers work better with CLEW than others.

Note: To determine which browser version you're running, on a Windows computer, click Help, and then click About Internet Explorer or About Mozilla Firefox. On a Mac, from the Firefox menu, select About Mozilla Firefox.

Below are the tested web browsers for different Operation Systems:

Windows

  • Internet Explorer 6.0 and newer
  • Mozilla Firefox

Macintosh

  • Mozilla Firefox

Other platforms

  • Mozilla Firefox

Known Issues
Check the Known Issues page for current issues reported.

Other Considerations
Note: You may get unexpected results if you use two browser windows to access the same tool at the same time or use multiple tabs. For best results, use only one browser window to work in the application.

Some browsers work better with CLEW than others. Please make sure you are using one of the supported web browsers (see inset at right).

Accessing Your Course or Project Site

Now that you know there is help every step of the way, log into your course site and have a look around. Here’s how to do it:

My Workspace page

your course and project sites listed on the My Active Sites page. Click on the course number of the course you want to open. Tip: You can customize the display of the tabs in “My Workspace” by selecting Preferences, Customize Tabs.

Find My Course

Uploading Materials to Your Course or Project Site

To get a course started, most instructors use 4 tools:

Tips for CLEW Tools

Pasting Text in the Rich Text Editor from MS Word

To avoid formatting errors when copying text from a Word document into the text editor, be sure to use the Paste from MS Word icon in the toolbar, which is activated once you have copied material onto the clipboard (See the diagram below). If you try to save your work without using this function, you will get an error from the system, and the text will be in red font. This is common across CLEW when using the online text editor. Other tools that are affected by this are the Assignments, Announcements, Calendar, Discussions, Glossary, Forums, Lessons, Syllabus, Polls, and Resources (creating web pages) tools. Also, remember to use one of the supported browsers mentioned earlier in the document to avoid problems.

Tools and Paste From Word

Changing Email Notification Options

Many tools have the ability to notify participants about events triggered within the tool, for example, the listing of a new resource, an announcement, a syllabus item, or about an email sent through the site mailing list. You can set the type of notifications they would like to receive in the Preferences section of My Workspace. When entering Preferences, you will see options for Notifications, Customize Tabs, Time Zone, and Language. Select the Notifications link to adjust accordingly. The options available are:

Remember to select Update Preferences to save your selection. The default setting is “Send me each notification separately” which means that unless you change these settings, you will receive an email when an instructor or administrator uses the Email Notification option within a tool. High priority notifications cannot be blocked. If an instructor sends a high priority notification, it is delivered immediately to all of your site's participants.

Spell Checking in CLEW

Currently, CLEW does not have a spell checking feature from within the software. There are free features from various web browsers that are available as either plug-ins, or come with the browser. Entering “free spell check for (your browser name)” into a search engine like Google will reveal many options that are available. Also, you may work in a word processor like MS Word, and use the spell checking feature available in that software, and then paste the text into CLEW. Remember to use the Paste from MS Word feature as defined above.

Hiding Items from Students

Some tools will enable you to hide items, or not display them until a specified date. If this is the case, the hidden item will appear to be grey in your browser, and not the familiar blue hyperlink. To change the hidden status, edit the item and adjust the dates for display or select/deselect the hide option.

Unlaunched Sites

Students will not receive emails, see announcements, or have access to your site until it has been “Launched.” Please see the section Launching Your Course Site.

Syllabus Tool

Posting Your Syllabus

The Syllabus tool will allow you to upload one or more documents including your Course Outline or, by using CLEW’s interface, create and display a topic-based webpage outline of your course. The topic is defined by you, and becomes the title for the material following. You can use embedded features for example, links, graphics, or other formatting available through the online editor. You can also make your syllabus public so interested students can preview class requirements before registering. Course Description, Schedule, Office Hours, Grading, Policies, etc. can be listed as separate topics within the Syllabus tool.

Add Item

Adding a Syllabus Item

Create Edit

Displaying Syllabus Item(s)

Display Public or Site Only

You may make syllabus items accessible for students who have not yet registered for your course, and for others who are not members of your site. To do so, select Public View. A search for your site on the CLEW Gateway Search Public Courses and Projects link will display publicly available material. If you only want those who are registered for your course or who are members of your site to be able to access this item, leave Only for Site selected. Another option available in Syllabus, is to have a draft copy you can work on without work being displayed to the site. Select Save Draft when creating a section and the material will be available for your eyes only. It will appear in the instructor view with red text identifying (Draft/Hidden) but will not appear when your participants view the Syllabus.

Adding a Syllabus Attachment

Add Attachment.
  1. If you want to attach a document from your computer instead of typing in your syllabus items, select Add attachments.
  2. Select Browse to choose your file, link to a website or select a file from Resources.
  3. Locate the file you want to upload from your computer and double click on it.
  4. Instead of adding an attachment from your computer hard drive or portable drive, you may select one of the other attachment options: a URL to link to a website; a resource already in your "Resources" tool; or a resource from another site. Note: If you should choose to attach a file from another site, please ensure that your students have at least “read” access to these files. See Actions -> Edit Details when selecting that resource item to adjust if necessary.
  5. Select Continue to add the attachment.

Sending Syllabus Update Emails

Email Notifications
  1. (Optional) If you want to send an email notification to participants, choose High – All participants from the drop-down menu. The default option on this feature is set not to notify participants. The email will include the contents of the text box (see “Adding a Syllabus,” #4) and links to the attachments. An email will be sent to students only if the site is “launched.”
  2. Select Post to post this syllabus item to the syllabus list, or Save Draft to work on later.
  3. To see the syllabus as your students will, select Preview or select the blue refresh icon

Announcements Tool

Announcements Basics

Adding and Editing Announcements

The Announcements tool allows you to inform site participants about items of interest, deadlines, events, or activities, and is a useful tool when posting a notice about important changes in meeting times, deadlines, or meeting locations. Announcements appear on the Home page of your course or project site. You can also choose to have an announcement automatically sent via email to all site participants (available when the course site is launched only).

Note: To post an announcement, be sure you have selected the correct course or project site tab. The active tab will have a white background.

Active Tab
Add Announcement

Displaying an Announcement

  1. Under Access, select how to display your announcement by choosing from these options:
    1. Display to public: Visible to members of other sites
    2. Display to site: Visible to site participants only
    3. Display to selected groups: Visible only to certain sections or groups. Use the checkboxes to choose which groups or sections can view the announcement. Note: If you don't see the Display to selected groups option, no groups or sections are associated with your site.
  2. Under Availability, you will see Show selected, which means this announcement can be immediately viewed when created. You may change this selection to Hide this announcement from your students (if you need to finish it at a later time), or you may choose to set a start and/or a stop date to when this announcement will be viewable.
  3. The most recent announcements will be displayed on the site’s home page in chronological order. The most recent announcements for all the sites to which you belong will appear in your My Workspace. To add, edit, or delete announcements, use the Announcements tool. Some customization of how Announcements appear is available by selecting Options.

Adding or Linking an Attachment

  1. (Optional) To add one or more attachments to an announcement, select Attachments, Browse to choose your file, and double click the filename you want to upload from your computer. Then select Continue to add the attachment.
  2. Instead of adding an attachment from your computer hard drive or portable drive, you may select one of the other attachment options: a URL to link to a website; a resource already in your Resources tool; or a resource from another site. Note: If you should choose to attach a file from another site, please ensure that your students have at least “read” access to these files on that site. See Actions -> Edit Details when selecting that resource item to adjust if necessary.
  3. Select Continue to add the attachment(s).

Sending Announcement Update Emails

  1. (Optional) If you want to send an email notification to all site participants, choose High – All participants from the Email Notification drop-down menu. This option ignores user notification preferences and sends the email to all participants of the site. Select Low – Only participants who have opted in if the announcement does not need to be emailed to those who have opted out of receiving “low priority” email notifications. The default position for email notification is set to None – no notification, so you must change that if you wish the message to go to your students.
Announcement Email Notification

See the section on Changing Email Notification Options for more information about settings your participants may have enabled.

  1. If you choose to specify dates as mentioned in the “Displaying an Announcement” section, the notification will be emailed on the specified date.
  2. Select Add Announcement to post your announcement. You will be returned to the Announcements home page.
  3. If specific groups are enabled on the site, an Announcement will be visible and can be sent to the specific group and the maintainers of the site.

An email will be sent to students only if the site is “launched .” Announcements that have been hidden from students will appear in a grey font to instructors.

Edit an Announcement

To edit an announcement:

  1. In the left-menu of the relevant course or project site, click Announcements.
  2. Under your announcement's subject, click Edit.
    Note: If you don't have sufficient rights to edit a particular announcement, you will not see the option to revise it. Also, you can edit only one announcement at a time.
  3. Make the desired changes to your announcement.
  4. After editing, click Save Changes to save your changes, Preview to preview your announcement, or Cancel to cancel your changes.


Adding Files for Students

Add Resource File

Using the Resources tool, you can post files created in MS Word, PowerPoint, PDFs, links to other websites, webpage documents that can be created and displayed right on the CLEW screen, and citations which can link directly to research document locations. You can use folders and subfolders to organize your material (just like you can on your own computer hard drive), and you can control which groups or types of users can access and add to different folders through the Permissions and Roles link. You can show or hide an item at any time, and set a start and/or end time for its availability.

Content Viewer is another interface tool to view, add and delete resources on CLEW but is not available to add directly through the Site Editor tool. For more information, please see the section entitled "Content Viewer" following the section on “Resources”.

Resources Tool

Resources Basics

Adding a Resources Folder

Create Folder

In the left-hand menu, select Resources. By default, the “Resources” tool has one root folder. This folder’s title is the same as your course’s title. Creating sub-folders to the main folder may be useful for both you and your students in order to help organize materials into categories such as “Lecture Notes,” “Readings,” “Week 1 Materials,” etc.

  1. Select the Add link to the right of the folder to which you want to upload a file.
  2. From the drop-down list, select Create Folders.
  3. Enter a name for your folder.

(See the Creating a Student Folder in Resources article to find out how you can designate and enable a specific folder for your students to add content to).

Unsupported Characters

When naming an item such as a file, folder, discussion forum, or wiki page, avoid using either foreign characters or the unsupported characters below, as any of these characters can cause an error.

Important Note: Even if the file appears to load correctly, it will not display if you include such symbols in the filename. It's possible that you could use one of these symbols and not receive an error while uploading; however, when others try to access the file, they will receive an error.

Unsupported Character List

Back slash \
Forward slash /
Question mark ?
Asterisk *
Quotation mark “
Colon :
Less than <
Greater than >
Hash mark #
Percent sign %

Adding a File for Viewing or Downloading

Add Resource File
  1. Select the Add link to the right of the folder to which you want to upload a file.
  2. From the drop-down list, select Upload Files.
  3. To choose your file, select Browse and then click Open.
  4. Locate the file you want to upload from your computer and double click on it.
  5. Enter a Display Name. Display Names are shown on the Resources home page. By default, CLEW enters the filename as the file’s Display Name, which you may keep or change. It is recommended to make the Display Name as meaningful as possible.
    • To upload large files or multiple files, you may want to consider using WebDAV to be able to drag and drop files from your computer to the server.
  6. Copyright Status Please check the copyright status for materials you've linked to or uploaded to ensure that the copyright information is accurate and you have appropriate permissions to post materials on your site. Selecting this status is mandatory.

For more information on copyright, visit Campus Copyright Information.

New.png

New for 2.7.X

Copyright Mandatory

Setting Access and Display Options for Resources Files

  1. (Optional) To add a description or any other details, such as who can access the file or when it should be visible, select Add details for this item beside the file name. (See the Availability and Access article for more information).
  2. (Optional) To upload a second file at the same time, select the Add Another File link. You can then select another file to upload by repeating the steps above.
Add Another File

Sending Resources Update Emails

  1. If you want to send an email notification to all students, choose Email Notification from the drop-down menu. Selecting High - All participants will send an email to all participants in the site. Selecting Low – Only participants who have opted in will send an email to those who have enabled low-priority emails to be sent to them in their individual preferences (found in My Workspace -> Preferences -> Notifications). The default option is None – No notification so if you do want an email to go out, you need to select the correct option. These options are consistent throughout other tools in CLEW with emailing options. Emails will be sent to students only if the site is “launched .”
  2. Select Upload Files Now to finish uploading the file. You will be returned to the Resources home page, or the folder you were working in.
Email Notifications

Uploading or Downloading Multiple or Large Files

Using WebDAV, AnyClient or CyberDuck

Maximum size file limits for upload are displayed on the Upload Files screen. Currently you can upload only 50 MB at a time. To upload more than 50 MB at a time, use the Upload-Download Multiple Resources link and follow the instructions. This will enable you to use a program called WebDAV, which allows you to map and transfer your files from your hard drive directory to your CLEW site or vice versa. Mac users may want to try Cyberduck(open source software), which will provide the same functionality. Another free file transfer software program that some report is helpful, is called AnyClient. Those using Windows 7 might benefit from this utility program. More detailed instructions are available in the WebDAV article.

See the Resources article for complete instructions on how to edit, delete, copy, and reorder resource items and many other functions of the tool.

Content Viewer

If the Content Viewer tool has been enabled on the site, students usually won’t see the Resources tool. You may see this option if you are inheriting a site from another instructor or if the site has been converted from the previous ViCKi learning management system.

You may either post material through the “Content Viewer” tool or the Resources tool, and it will be visible to you in either tool. Students however, will only see the material through the “Content Viewer” tool.

“Content Viewer” is not available for you to add or remove from your site using the Site Editor – Edit Tools option but it can still be added and removed from your site. To add or remove the “Content Viewer” tool from your site, send an email to clew@uwindsor.ca with the request. Please be sure to include the course number.

The “Content Viewer” tool does NOT have the following features:

Calendar Tool

Using the Calendar tool

The Calendar tool allows instructors and site organizers to post information in calendar format on a course or project site. Common items that appear on the calendar are deadlines, quiz or exam dates, guest speakers, lab times, meetings, and office hours, and there are a variety of icons available to distinguish the different types of events visually. You can also use the “Calendar” tool to post class readings, as “Calendar” items can contain multiple attachments. You can print an Adobe PDF file of any view in the “Calendar”. All the calendar items included in your “Calendar” tool will appear as part of the student’s and your My Workspace calendar. If the “Calendar” tool is active on your site and appears in the left-hand main menu, you will also see an item on your site’s Home page, on the right side of the screen, titled "Calendar". This is a quick view of all the items that exist in your calendar.

Another helpful feature available in the "Calendar" tool, is the ability to subscribe to the Institutional Academic calendar by semester, which includes important academic dates on campus. To do this, select Subscriptions and put a check-box beside the semester you wish to include in your course site. Note, you cannot delete individual entries in the subscription, so if you don't want certain events to appear, you'll need to unsubscribe from that calendar option.

Getting Started

To get started, click Calendar in the left-hand tool menu. If you don’t see it in the menu, you will need to add it to your site using the Site Editor tool. The calendar has day, week, month, year, and flat list views.

Calendar Basics

Navigating

The calendar can be viewed by day, week, month, or year, but opens as a default to the Calendar by Week screen. To change your view, use the View drop-down list to select from the following options: Calendar by Day, Calendar by Week, Calendar by Month, or Calendar by Year. If you change settings however, the preferences are not saved.

To display the calendar for an earlier or later period (week, month, etc.), select the Previous Day/Previous Week/ Previous Month/ Previous Year, or Next Day/Next Week/Next Month/Next Year link(s). To view all of your scheduled activities in a list, select List of Events.

When viewed by day or week, the calendar will display a time range of 10 hours. To adjust the range so that it displays hours that are earlier or later in the day, click the links at the top Earlier or bottom Later of the calendar.

Add Screen
Add Screen

Adding a New Item

Add Event
Add Event
  1. On the Calendar tool home page, click Add from the menu bar.
  2. Enter the required information:
    1. Title: A name for the event. (Note: Since all events are aggregated to your students’ My Workspace Calendar, be sure to make meaningful titles to distinguish yours from other courses. For example, instead of “Office Hours,” “Prof. Smith’s Office Hours” would be more useful.)
    2. Date: Select the date of the event by using the drop-down lists or by clicking on the calendar icon to select the appropriate day.
    3. Start Time: Enter the time the event begins.
    4. Duration: Select the length of time for the event. The default time is one hour. When you change the duration, CLEW adjusts the end time automatically.
    5. End Time: Select the time the event ends. When you change the end time, CLEW adjusts the duration automatically.
  3. (Optional) Message: Enter any message or description you want to appear with this event. Use the icons and drop-down lists of the Rich Text Editor to format the text as necessary, and if you are pasting text into the editor from MS Word, remember to use the Paste from Word Calendar PasteFromWord Icon.png icon.


Displaying Entries to Groups
Displaying Entries to Groups

Displaying Entries to Groups

Frequency of the Event
Frequency of the Event


Setting the Frequency of the Event


Setting the Event Type and Location

Event Type and Location
Event Type and Location

Select Continue to add the attachment(s) or Cancel to exit to the event without adding the attachment(s).

Note: When you create an assignment using the Assignments tool, you are given the option to add the due date automatically to the calendar for groups if the calendar tool exists. You must have the "Calendar" tool enabled on the site for this option to work.

Launching Your Course Site

Launch This Site link

When your course site is ready for students to view, click on LAUNCH THIS SITE (found in the left-hand menu of your course site).

This opens your course to your students, populates the Roster tool with your list of students, and places the URL for your course into Class Notes (list that show all of the course sites available).

Note: There may be a lag time of up to a half hour (possibly 1½ hours on an extremely busy day) before students will be able to access your course through "Course Notes". Access to your site is usually instantaneous. The LAUNCH THIS SITE menu item usually disappears within minutes after being activated.

Site Management

Customizing the Home Page

Options

  1. Select the Options link, which can be found beneath the course title and above the course description.
  2. (Optional) To change the name of the course as it appears on this Home page, enter the new name in the Title text box.
  3. Change, add, or delete any of the text found in the text box of the Rich Text Editor. Use the icons, drop-down menus, and other formatting options to format the text as desired.
  4. When you are finished making your changes, select the Update Options link. You may have to scroll down to see this link. If you do not want to make or save any changes, select the Cancel link to return to the regular view of the "Home" page.

What is the My Workspace Site for?

My Workspace is an individual online worksite that functions as a private workspace for each user. When you log in through the portal (http://clew.uwindsor.ca), CLEW will default to open at My Workspace (unless you’ve been directed to a specific link either through an email or Class Notes link). "My Workspace" will display the Message of the Day and My Workspace Information boxes. By default, these boxes contain announcements and information from the system administrator. A site owner can revise what appears in the My Workspace Information box by clicking Options. Only a system administrator can modify the contents of the Message of the Day box, but a site owner can select Options to customize how announcements will display in the window.

The "My Workspace" area of CLEW is your own personal online worksite that only you can access. On your "My Workspace", you will see:

Edit Tools Basics

Adding or Removing Tools from your Site

Select Site Editor

You can add and remove tools from the left-hand menu to customize your course site. For example, if you will not be using the Lessons tool, you can remove it from your course site. But if you want to use the Polls tool, you can easily add it to your site. It is recommended that you remove unused tools from your site to avoid confusing your students.

Edit Tools


Note: The three tools which appear in the Site Management box should never be removed from your site (as seen in the image on the left). These three tools are “Instructor only” tools and are not viewable by students. They are also important tools to the CLEW Administrator if he/she should ever need to troubleshoot an issue on your site. In some sites, some of the Site Management tools such as "Site Editor" and Roster tool names will appear in the student interface. The contents will not be available to the students however, so rest assured, they won't be seeing the class list or be able to make changes to your site.

Viewing Your Roster

The Roster tool allows you to view the names and profiles of your students as well as export your class list to a .csv spreadsheet (which is a specific format that CLEW will recognize). A count of site participants is also displayed. The "Roster" is only available to those with permission; students cannot see the "Roster".

Once in the "Roster" tool, you can see your class list. In course sites, this list is populated and updated automatically by the University’s Student Information System (SIS), so you don’t have to delete students who have dropped your class.

Note: Your site must be launched (opened to students) in order to be able to see your class list using the "Roster" tool. Once you have launched your site, check that your class list appears in the "Roster" tool prior to sending any email notifications.

Downloading a Student List

There are a few different ways to download a student list for use when grading:

From Roster

  1. Select Student Numbers from the Roster tool menu bar. You will see a list of your students’ UWin IDs, Names, and Student Numbers.
  2. Select the Download for Excel link, and save the file in a convenient location on your hard drive.

From Gradebook

  1. Select Import Grades from the Gradebook tool menu and select the Download Spreadsheet Template.
  2. Save the “Gradebook” sheet (in .csv formatting by default) to a preferred location on your hard drive.
  3. Open Excel or another spreadsheet program to enter the grades where noted in the template. For more detailed instructions on uploading and formatting procedures for “Gradebook” or Feedback, use the search function on the left-hand side of this wiki to locate further information.

Note: The “Gradebook” tool must be enabled from Site Editor -> Edit Tools in order for this option to be visible.

Formatting the Files for Grading

  1. Files downloaded using the Roster or “Gradebook” (after formatting and editing) tool can be uploaded with the “Feedback” or “Gradebook” tool so that each student is able to only see his/her grade. To use the file in this way, it must:

Additional Details for file use in Gradebook

In addition to the points mentioned above, “Gradebook” file formatting must meet the following conditions:

For more detailed instructions on creating “Gradebook” items and uploading files to “Gradebook”, use the search function on the left-hand side of this wiki to locate further information.

Frequently Asked Questions

I have a Project Site called CLEW Collaboration. What is this?

Once you become an instructor with a CLEW course site or project site, you are automatically added as a member of the CLEW Collaboration site. It is a project site that you may use to collaborate with and seek help from other instructors. The CLEW Support team uses this site to send you important notices or information tips relating to CLEW. For more information about Project Sites, please see the section entitled “Project Sites.”

What is a Sandbox site?

When you request your first course site, a Sandbox site is established for you by the LMS Administrator. This site is to learn about, test and play with the functions and tools available in CLEW. Nobody else can see the work you are doing in that site, unless you manually add them to your Sandbox using the Site Editor, Add Participants link and enter a username into the text field. All CLEW training sessions will use this site to learn about tools used in the workshop. You will continue to have your Sandbox site, which may be visible in the My Active Sites tab until you request its removal. The Sandbox site has no expiry date. It is recommended to keep your Sandbox site, as you can continue to experiment with the tools available in CLEW. It is identified by a number that looks like this “99-XX-XXX-SB CLEW” where the X is replaced by a number.

How do I change the view of recent announcements on the Home page?

On the right side of your course Home page, the most recent announcements you have created in this site appear in descending order. This is the same way your students will view the announcements you post to this site.

You can change how these announcements are displayed to you and your students.

Right under the title Announcements, there is a grey bar with the word Options in it. Select Options.

You can select to display announcements in their entirety or only titles, and you can limit how many announcements appear on the Home page. Make your selections as desired.

Select Update to save your selections or select Cancel to exit to the "Home" page without saving.

Note: To post an announcement to your site, use the Announcements tool by selecting Announcements in the left-hand menu and following the steps found by using the search function on the left-hand side of this wiki to locate further information on the "Announcements" tool. Your announcement will appear on your course "Home" page, in the Recent Announcements section of My Workspace, and in the "Announcements" tool.

How Do I Know I’m Ready To Start The New Semester In CLEW?

Checklist for Starting a Semester

We look forward to working with you on your CLEW sites each term. Following the suggestions below will ensure that your CLEW sites are ready for use when the semester begins.

Request a Course Site

All instructors wishing to use CLEW must request a course site each term. Although sites from previous semesters can be copied for the upcoming semester, course sites must be renewed for each new class. You may request a site at http://www.uwindsor.ca/newclew or on the CLEW Gateway page http://clew.uwindsor.ca at the Instructor Request a New Site link.

Launch This Site

New course sites are activated by clicking the link, "LAUNCH THIS SITE," which is visible in the upper left menu of the site. Its purpose is to enable an instructor time to prepare a course site before students have access. When the site is ready, instructors are to click the link "LAUNCH THIS SITE" to publish the site. This makes it visible to students, creates a link to the course in Class Notes, and couples the class list from the Student Information System to the site. Students who are then registered in the course will then appear in the Site Editor and Roster tools. If students withdraw from the course, they will not be visible in the site (except in the Drop Box and Discussions tools).

End of Student Access to Site

Student access to course sites ends on the first day of the following semester. Important dates for campus, including the first day of classes, are listed at http://www.uwindsor.ca/registrar under Important Dates. If you require your course site to remain open to students for two or three weeks longer, please contact clew@uwindsor.ca.

Clean-up Tool List in Site

Are there tools in the left-hand menu of your course site that you do not intend to use this semester? Use the Site Editor tool in the left-hand menu to remove tools from your site. (It's a good idea to leave Roster and Site Stats as students do not see these tools but they are very handy for instructors, site owners, and the CLEW Administrator.) Remember to include your contact information in your Syllabus, and consider using the Email Instructor tool in your site, so your students will be able to contact you in a consistent and predictable way.

Navigate Through CLEW

Please use the navigation buttons within CLEW to move through your site, or activate/cancel the features within the tools. If you use the web browser tools, such as the back button or the refresh button, you may lose all the hard work you've just entered into your CLEW site!

For quick help at any time, use the search function in this wiki for your topic, contact the HelpDesk at helpdesk@uwindsor.ca or at ext. 4440.

You can contact clew@uwindsor.ca whenever you need one-on-one help, training, ideas, or are unsure of how CLEW might better meet your teaching and learning needs. We encourage your questions and feedback.

Online Classroom Database

Also, don’t forget to check out your classroom at http://apps.medialab.uwindsor.ca/classrooms/. This site will give you information about seating capacity, accessibility options, available audio visual equipment, and much more!

Checklist for Starting a Course

If You are Starting a New Site

  1. Check your Site Information to ensure it is correct. To edit, select the Site Editor link on the left-menu of your site, and select the Edit Site Information link to edit accordingly. When you request your site, the information from the University Calendar is imported into your site (Title, Description) so you shouldn't need to do much, but in the event you do want to edit information appearing, this is the way to do it.
  2. Add your syllabus or course outline to your site using the Syllabus tool.
  3. Upload materials to your site. Most instructors use the Resources or Lessons tool for the majority of their content.
  4. Other tools that enable uploads and attachments include Forums, Discussions, Calendar, Drop Box, Assignments so you may need to set them up as well.
  5. Add TAs and GAs to your site by selecting the Site Editor tool and click the Add Participants link. Only enter their UWin ID before the @uwindsor.ca part of their email address. Select the role you'd like them to have in your course. Check the Permissions and Roles page for further details.
  6. Set up Gradebook and / or the Feedback tool if you are planning on using these for tracking grading.
  7. Copy materials from other CLEW sites you might want to use by selecting the Site Editor tool and selecting the Import from Site option. Review the methods available and determine what applies to you. Then select that link, select the site you wish to import material from, and finally select which tool(s) you want material to import from. Complete by clicking Finish. Note: this method will bring in all the materials from that tool. You cannot select specific files, assignments, Gradebook Items, etc. unfortunately.
  8. Remember to disable any tools you do not plan on using in the semester by selecting the Site Editor tool and click the Edit Tools link to display a checklist of tools in your site. Deselect those that aren't required, and click Continue and then Finish.
  9. Once you are done setting up your site, click the LAUNCH THIS SITE link in the upper left menu. This will enable students who are registered in your course to enter the course site automatically. It may take a few hours for the site to become active. This will also publish a link in the Courses website for the university.
  10. Preview your site to see what your students are viewing by selecting the Enter Student View option in the upper right corner. To return to the instructor view, select the Exit Student View link and the interface will return you back to the instructor view.
  11. Consider sending out a welcoming Announcement to your students. Perhaps you might want to give tell them a bit about the course, introduce yourself, and share some tips about using your site or where you want them to start.
    • A helpful place for students to get started using CLEW is available on the main page of this wiki. You can visit the Wiki Main page, right click on the link that you think would be most useful to them, select the copy option for your browser, and then in your editor for Announcements, select the link tool (looks like a globe with a chain in front of it) and paste in that link. Check that it works by previewing the announcement before you send. Remember under the Email Notification option to select High-All Participants or your students won't get your announcement.

If Duplicated from a Previous Semester

Once you have access to your new site, look through for the following:

  1. Review all the content in areas like Resources, Forums, Assignments, Discussions, Quizzes & Tests, Wiki, and Calendar
    • Look for:
      1. Correct Dates in:
        1. Assignments
        2. Quizzes & Tests if they need to be adjusted contact the LMS Administrator at clew@uwindsor.ca
        3. Calendar - Some entries that get updated in Assignments will be reflected in the Calendar. Add additional relevant dates or subscribe to the Academic Calendar dates.
      2. Correct Information
      3. Links are valid and working
      4. Confirm that the information is relevant
      5. Update the copyright status of Resources you've posted or contents within the Lessons tool and confirm you have permission to use the resource for the current semester with the copyright holder. More information is available at the Library hosted Copyright pages.
  2. Update/create your own personal introduction in the Resources, Forums or Discussions tool if you desire.
  3. Check that all assignments that correspond with course outline are present and have proper grading scheme
  4. Send a welcome Announcement
  5. Publish any "DRAFT" Forums/Topics in Forums or check to see there aren't any locked Discussions forums or topics or ones that need to have the visible date altered, or check publish dates in Lessons (if you are using those tools.)

For more in-depth instructions and to learn more about the many functions of CLEW, use the search function of this wiki to locate further information. Feel free direct any further questions to clew@uwindsor.ca or ext. 3050. For some extra free tools that instructors can use online, please see a collection in the Cool Free Tools article. Please note, that the University of Windsor and the CLEW Team do not endorse or support the tools listed in the article, so use at your discretion, only after testing for your purposes first.

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We are constantly trying to improve the information in this Wiki.
If you notice any errors or omissions with this material, please advise the CLEW Team.

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Other articles about Sakai tools and how instructors can use them:

Core Tools: Announcements | Assignments | Email Instructor | Forums | Gradebook | Quizzes & Tests | Resources | Site Editor | Syllabus

More Tools: Polls | Chat | Drop Box | Home | Discussions | News | Feedback | Sections | Lessons | Site Stats | Web Content | Wiki

Related articles: How to add tools to CLEW | Using the Text Editor | Manage Groups | Permissions and Roles | Contact the CTL for help

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