Permissions, Roles and Sites

Overview
Changing participant roles
Participant roles
Adding, editing, or deleting participants via Worksite Setup in My Workspace
Adding, editing, or removing participants via Site Info
Controlling access to your site
Creating/adding a project site
Editing a site
Deleting a site
Changing permissions for a tool in a subject or a project site

Additional materials

Open a pdf document containing step-by-step instructions with screen shots relating to:
Permissions and Roles
Project Site Creation
Adding CSU participants to your site
Adding a guest user (non-CSU) to your site

Overview

Permissions allow users to access certain features of a subject or project worksite, depending on their roles and on the decisions made by the site owner and the system administrator.

Roles are simply collections of permissions. Some roles allow the user to simply access or read content, while other roles allow for advanced changes, such as adding participants, editing the site's content, and changing permissions for other roles. All roles are not created equal.

When you create a worksite or when one is created for you, you then have the role with the most permissions and the broadest level of access. You can therefore choose (within the limits established by the system administrator and subject site requirements) which tools or functions (e.g., Modules, Calendar, Polls) you want the site to have. For each of these tools or functions, you can set permissions that allow or prevent users from seeing or performing certain tasks, depending on their roles.

For a summary of participant roles and how to find out what your role is, see Participant roles.

Key concepts

In general, the creator of a project site or the Subject Coordinator of a subject site has full permissions and can add or delete content within a worksite.

Users who join an existing site will have a more limited role. The permissions of this role allow for interaction in the site, such as creating Chat messages, but may not allow for more advanced tasks, such as uploading files into Resources or posting to the Calendar.

Things to remember

The availability of a tool in a worksite depends upon the site owner.
Default roles have default permissions; however, these defaults can be edited on the worksite level by anyone with full permissions to the site.
All users are assigned the broadest role in their respective My Workspaces; this gives a user edit control over his or her My Workspace. (back to top)

Changing participant roles

Note: To complete the procedures in this section, you must be assigned a role having the necessary permissions. To determine your role, see Participant roles in Permissions, Roles & Sites. For a basic understanding of roles and permissions, see Permissions, Roles & Sites: Overview.

To change participant roles, follow these steps:

In the menubar of the relevant subject site or project site, click Site Info.
Next to the participant(s) whose role(s) you want to change, select the appropriate role(s) from the drop-down menu(s) under "Role".
Click Update Participants.

For more information on which roles are available, see Participant roles. (back to top)

Participant roles

The following roles are available:

Subject sites

The default settings for each role within Subject sites is as described below, however these can be altered within each tool by those with a Subject Coordinator role.

Subject Coordinator
A 'Subject Coordinator' can read, create, edit and delete any content. It should be noted that if a staff member other than the one entered in the subject coordinators database requires management rights to the Forum, Evaluation, EASTS, or OASIS tools, they must log a Service Desk Request for this to be effected.

Other Staff
'Other staff' can read and create any content, as well as edit and delete their own content. If 'Other staff' require management rights to the Forum, Evaluation, EASTS, or OASIS tools, they must log a Service Desk Request for this to be effected.

Student
A 'Student' can read any content as well as create, edit, and delete content where tool permissions allow e.g. in a Wiki.

Read Only
Those with 'Read Only' access can read any content, but cannot create, edit, or delete any content on the site.

Extended Access
Site members with "Extended Acces" can read any content, as well as create, edit and delete content where appropriate permissions have been granted in each tool. This role ensures access to the site will continue after the site is closed until removed from this role or site is archived.

NOTE:

Participants added as "Other Staff" will not see the site until the site has been published (28 days before start of session). If staff are being allocated Subject Coordinator status, they will be able to see sites before the sites are published.
Any staff added to a subject site will not flow through to management of CSU tools, i.e. Forum, OASIS, Evaluation and EASTS. The substantive Subject Coordinator and enrolled students are the only subject site members who gain access to CSU tools automatically. Any staff who you have added to your site into any role (Subject Coordinator, Other Staff or Read Only) will need to log a Service Desk Request to gain management access to any CSU tools for your site.

Project sites

Maintain: The Maintain role has full permissions throughout the site, including the ability to publish the site and set its global access. The Maintain role can read, revise, delete, and add both content and participants to a site. This is the default role for the creator of a project site.
ProjectOwner: this role provides full permissions for each tool
ProjectMember: provides permissions for each tool between those of ProjectOwner and ProjectAccess roles. See individual tool permissions for details.
ProjectAccess: The ProjectAccess role can read content and add content to a site where appropriate.
Access: Do not use this role for project sites

Determining your role

To give an indication of what your role is, follow the instructions below:

From My Workspace, click Worksite Setup.
You will see a list of the sites to which you belong.
If there is not a box next to the name of the site, your role is limited to merely accessing and participating in the site; you do not have full permissions. While you are still a member of that site, you cannot change your role or that of others.
If there is a box next to the name of the site, you should be able to see your role in the site by going to Site Info within the particular site. (back to top)

Adding, editing, or deleting participants via Worksite Setup in My Workspace

From Worksite Setup in My Workspace, you can add, edit, or delete your site's participants. To do so, from the menubar in My Workspace, click Worksite Setup, and then tick the box next to the site in which you wish to add, edit, or delete participants.

Note: Although you are able to tick multiple boxes, you can only revise one site at a time.

Click Edit, and then follow the appropriate steps below:

Adding, editing or removing subject site participants

See relevant information on the Site Info Help page

Adding, editing or removing project site participants

See relevant information on the Site Info Help page

(back to top)

Adding, editing, or removing participants through Site Info

Adding, editing or removing subject site participants

See relevant information on the Site Info Help page

Adding, editing or removing project site participants

See relevant information on the Site Info Help page

(back to top)

Controlling access to your site

To control access to your site, follow these steps:

In your site's menubar, click Site Info.
Click Manage Access.
Under "Global Access", you may choose from the following:

For project sites only, you may choose to keep your site private (click the radio button next to Private ) or you may select Display my site in the directory, and share files I select.

If you wish to make your subject or project site broadly accessible, tick the box next to Can be joined by anyone with authorization to log in. Next to "Role for people that join site:", select the appropriate role for all the users who may join your site. For more information about roles, see Participant roles.

Click Update. (back to top)

Creating/adding a project site

To create a project site, follow these steps:

In your My Workspace menubar, click Worksite Setup.
At the top of the Worksite Setup page, click New.
Under "Creating a new site", click the radio button next to project website.
Click Continue.

If you choose to create a project site, continue with the following steps:

Under "Project Information", in the "Site Title:" field, type a title for your site.
In the corresponding fields, you have the option of typing a long and/or short description of your site. The long description will appear on your site's home page; the short description appears in the public list of all sites on the system.
If you'd like to use an icon image, provide its URL in the "Icon URL:" field.
In the "Site Contact Name:" and "Site Contact Email:" fields, enter the name and email address of the person whom participants can contact if they have problems or questions.
Click Continue.
Under "Tools", tick the boxes next to the tools you want to provide on your site, and click Continue.
You have the option of re-using material from other sites you own. Choose one of the following:

• No, thanks.
• Yes, from these sites: Use the scrolling menu to select the sites with the material you want to re-use.
Under "Set Site Access", select Publish site to make it available to site participants. If you don't want to publish your site at this time, you can do it later through Site Info. For instructions, see Publishing or unpublishing a site in Site Info.
To indicate who can access your site, choose from the following Global Access options:

• Private: Only the people you add as participants can see your site.
• Display my site in the directory, and share files I select: Anyone with authorization to log into the system can see your site in the site directory, and can access shared files.

Also, you can allow your site to be joined by anyone with authorization to log into the system. To do so, follow these steps:

Tick the box next to Can be joined by anyone with authorization to log in.
Use the drop-down list to select a role to assign people who join your site.
Click Continue.
Under "Confirm Your Site Setup", review the information about your site. If it's correct, click Create Site. If you need to make changes, click Back.

Your new site will be listed in My Workspace on the Worksite Setup page. (back to top)

Editing a site

To edit a site you created, follow these steps:

In your My Workspace menubar, click Worksite Setup.
Tick the box next to the site you want to edit. Then, at the top of the Worksite Setup page, click Edit.
Using the links near the top, select an option for editing your site:
To edit the site title, description, short description, icon URL, site contact name, or site contact email, click Edit Site Information. To add or remove tools from your site, click Edit Tools.
To change the publishing status of your site, modify who can see or join your site, and determine the default role for people who join, click Manage Access.
To add participants and assign them participant roles, click Add Participants.
To create an exact duplicate of your site that includes only material posted by the instructor, click Duplicate Site.
To add material from another site you own, click Import from Site. Note: You can re-use material only from other sites that you own. You can combine material from more than one site.
To import materials from a pre-existing file, click Import from File. (back to top)

Deleting a site

Project sites can be deleted by the site's owner. To do so:

Go to My Workspace > Worksite Setup
Tick the box next to the project site that you wish to delete, then choose "Delete" from the options at the top of the page
The following warning appears: "Deleting a site removes the entire site's content and is not recoverable - no one else will be able to access the deleted site. If you are trying to remove yourself from the site, use the Membership tool in your My Workspace to unjoin yourself from the site. "
If you wish to go ahead with the deletion, click Remove.

Subject sites cannot be deleted. The Subject Coordinator will retain access to subject sites for 18 months after the session finishes. Students will have access until 70 days after the end of session. Any site members in the Other Staff and Read Only roles will also have access until 70 days after the end of session. The Subject Coordinator will be notified by a system generated email 2 weeks prior to their site members' access being deactivated. (back to top)

Changing permissions for a tool in a subject or a project site

Permissions are granted for a tool rather than for a particular item created by using a tool. For example, permissions are set for the Announcements tool, rather than for individual announcements. Note: In Resources you can set permissions for all resources, and you can also set permissions for folders of resources.

To change permissions for a tool, follow the steps below:

Open the site by clicking its tab.
In the menubar, click the tool for which you want to set permissions.
Click the Permissions button along the top of the main window.
Tick or untick the boxes to grant the permissions.
Click Save. To change your selection, click Cancel.
Note: You must exit the permissions feature by clicking Save or Cancel before you can set permissions in another tool.

Be aware that each tool has a different set of available permissions. Tool-specific information regarding Permissions can be found under: