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CSU Interact FAQs

Feel free to ask more questions in the wiki at the site 'ABOUT ICT Integration'. If you aren't already a member:

  1. Go to http://interact.csu.edu.au  
  2. Click on "Login" (if necessary)
  3. Select "Membership"
  4. Then "Joinable sites" and
  5. Join "ABOUT ICT Integration".
  6. Select the site "ABOUT ICT Integration" at the top of the page. 

The following FAQs have been organised into 3 groups:

About CSU Interact Using CSU Interact Integrating the old and the new

About CSU Interact

1. How do I stay abreast of CSU Interact developments?
*See the Wiki in the site "ABOUT ICT Integration" (see above). Also set your Preferences in My Workspace so that you are notified of changes to the site. Regularly visit http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/interact

2. What advantages does CSU Interact offer?

3. Why was Sakai selected and not other systems like Moodle, Blackboard or WebCT?
The full rationale and selection process is described in the What's New notices on the L&T website.

4. Which tools will be available?
The tools that will be available are listed on the L&T website.

5. How can an academic pilot other than the fixed and elective tools in 2009?
 Opportunities for academics to pilot tools will be announced in the site "ABOUT ICT Integration". See instructions at the top of this page if you aren't already a member of this site.

6. Are students able to create sites?
Students are able to create project sites.

7. What are the default permissions for students in their subject sites?
Default setting allow students to:

Subject coordinators are able to change the default permissions. See the Changing Permissions for a Tool entry on the Permissions, Roles and Sites page of the CSU Interact Help website for more information.

8. What evaluation is planned so that we know how students are experiencing CSU Interact?
The subject online evaluation system allows for a number of additional questions that can be used to evaluate student use of learning technologies. Items pertinent to CSU Interact and its tools are available in the categorised item bank. Additional specific questions can be recommended to Derek Sequeira, Coordinator, Evaluation Services. Further, it is the prerogative of the academic to do any additional evaluations as they see fit. The intention is to add a list of appropriate survey items for the Interact system in general as well as developing items that are more pertinent to each of the tools. These will be informed by items included in the various pilot sessions as well as from academics and EDs who are actively involved in the use of these tools. One governing determinant in the selection of these items would be the extent to which they elicit feedback that is directly actionable. This would positively contribute to the enhancement of CSU Interact and its suite of tools to facilitate learning and teaching. The outcome would be a suite of online survey items located in the OES categorised item bank under Interact (generic), and the various tools such as ePortfolio, Modules, etc.

9. After the HECS census date, will students that withdraw drop out of subject sites automatically?
Yes. There will be regular sweeps of the student enrolment information that will automate the adding and deletion of subject site participants.

10. What information have students been given about CSU Interact?
Student Services have developed a comprehensive website for students (http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/online/) which is linked from the “Support for Students” link in each CSU Interact site, from the main CSU Interact Help page (http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/interact/help/index.html), and from my.csu. The student site includes advice regarding online learning skills, Interact sites & tools, as well as computer specifications (http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/online/faqs/student-computers.htm)

11. What kind of computers should students have to access CSU Interact? See the "Specifications for Student Computers" page http://www.csu.edu.au/division/studserv/online/faqs/student-computers.htm

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Using CSU Interact

1. What browser do I need to view and operate CSU Interact correctly?
Windows: Internet Explorer 7 or newer, Mozilla Firefox 2.0
Macintosh: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or newer
Other platforms: Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or newer

2. Who is going to teach academics how to use CSU Interact in their teaching?
A comprehensive ongoing professional development program will be run in each school by the DLTS Educational Designer, supported by the DLTS professional development team.

3. Who is going to help my DE/internal students to learn how to use CSU Interact?
The Help files within CSU Interact are available to the students. Student Services has a number of strategies to introduce students to CSU Interact through immersion within the environment and the provision of various help materials. The Student Support help desk, now called Support Central will further be available to support your students.

4. What are my options for communicating with my students? Which one is best?
The options include Announcements (one-way to all), email archive (group email to all) and the CSU Forum (asynchronous discussion). The chat tool allows for synchronous discussion, but will work best if times and purpose are advertised. No one tool is best - it will depend on the nature of the communication. Be clear to your students about which tools you will use and how you will use them. See the Support for Staff site for more ideas.

5. Are there any guidelines around assessment and appropriate use of the different CSU Interact tools for assessment? Is there a University online assessment policy?
The principles of good summative and formative assessment need to be applied to all assessment, including online assessment. The university assessment policy can be found within the Academic Manual: http://www.csu.edu.au/acad_sec/academic-manual/gcontm.htm

6. My Subject site has been created, but a message tells me that it is unpublished and that I should use Site Info...Manage Access to publish it. There is no Manage Access link from Site Info within my subject site.
This is not an error. Sites are supposed to be unpublished (ie, only subject coordinators can see them) until start of session -28 days or they make a tool available to all and the next day it becomes published. Also, the 'Manage Access' function has been removed from Subject Sites as per the Business requirements.

7. Is there an area where I can create my own site and have a play?
Yes - simply create a project site for yourself in the CSU Interact environment. See Creating/adding a project site for more information.

8. As 'Other teaching staff' in a subject, am I automatically added as a participant in subject sites in Interact or does the Subject Coordinator have to add me? The Subject Coordinator has to add you. (See http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/interact/help/siteinfo.htm#5a for instructions) The only automatic additions are the Subject Coordinator and the HOS (read only).

9. Can I change the order in which the sites are listed?
Yes. In My Workspace, Preferences, Customize tabs.

10. Am I able to order the tools in the tool navigation bar?
No. The tools are listed in alphabetical order, excluding Home that is listed first and Help that is listed last.

11. Can I include people outside CSU in a group? I have tried using their email address but they don't seem to get the message to say they are in it. I want to be able to share files - is this possible?
Yes. There is a simple process and form to be completed. For instructions download this document: http://www.csu.edu.au/division/landt/interact/help/documents/guest_user.pdf

12. Is “My Workspace” session bound?
No.

13. Can I clone sites?
Project sites can be duplicated - however, subject sites cannot. Use the Duplicate site option in Site info. Note that participants are not added to the duplicate site.

14. Can one import from a project to a subject site and vice versa within CSU Interact?
Yes. The Import from Site function works between sites of different types as long as you have an ownership role in both. The tool that is to have content imported must be turned on in each site. See Importing material from another site for more information.

15. For how long will subject sites be accessible following a session?
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. See the subject life-cycle pdf for more information.

16. What will be the process for accessing archived sites?
DIT will automatically archive sites after 18 months - system generated emails will notify site owners 30 days prior to archival so as to allow you time to reuse site content or request an extension of the site's life via the Service Desk to accommodate a multi-session subject. Site owners will also be notified by email when the site has been archived. Access to archived sites will occur through the Service Desk and will involve an approval process.

17. Who will have access to subject sites beyond the Subject Coordinator?
Students enrolled in the subject and HoS will have automatic access. Educational Designers, QA staff and Copyright staff can be added by the Subject Coordinator or via the Service Desk. In the future this process will become fully automatic.

18. When will students access the sites/tools? Students are granted automatic access to their subject site and ‘fixed informational' tools (i.e. Subject Outline, Contact, Announcements, EASTS, Evaluation) 28 days before the start of session. A second set of tools, ‘fixed activity' tools (i.e. Forum, Resources) are automatically released 3 working days before the start of session. The Subject Coordinator may choose to release tools to students at any time between 60 days and their scheduled automatic release by using the Edit Tools function within Site Info.

19. What DIT Service Desk Requests need to be made through a Head of School?
DIT Service Desk requests re CSU Interact need to be made via a Head of School in the following instances:

20. Are academics able to change permissions so that students can upload/add documents/files to Resources? How is this done?
The academic could change Permissions settings for the Resources tool to allow students to upload to resources if they wished. Anyone with Instructor rights (in a subject site) or Project Owner rights (Project site) can change the Permission settings for Resources (& other tools). Go to Resources…Permissions & tick “New” for students. This should be the only new tick required - academics will need to be aware of the implications of granting other rights to students. See Default permissions for the Resources tool on the CSU Interact Help website for more information.

21. Are academics able to merge cohorts?
 Yes, but It is advisable that an all-of-school approach is followed when merging of cohorts is considered. See the Merge Cohorts Help page for more information.

22. Is there be a way to create sub or group sites?
Yes, via the creation of Project sites. There will, however, not be any logical link between the project sites and the subject site. Students will have to be added manually to the project sites.

23. For academics who access their P drive through Thin Client will they be able to use CSU Interact and particularly the resources folder of Interact the same as if they were not using Thin Client? If not, how will it work for them?
Yes they will be able to use CSU Interact via Thin Client and yes they will be able to import files from their P drive into the Resources tool.

24. Are students able to see the ‘author manage & preferences' options in the Modules tool?
These functions are invisible to students in subject sites.

25. Is it possible to combine forums without merging Interact sites?
Yes, however as this is a manual workaround you will need to monitor students that join and/or leave your subject so that the forum participant list remains up to date. To obtain the list of participants go to the management section of the forum that you wish to make redundant, highlight and copy the user list - this will pick up both the students' user name and name. Copy these into a spreadsheet. Having done this, highlight/select the username column in the spreadsheet then paste the user names into the forum that you wish to combine.

Having done this, make a link from the Interact site with the redundant forum to the combined forum using the Web Content tool. It is recommended that a message/post be placed on the redundant forum explaining what has been done and provide a link to the new forum there also.

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Integrating the old and the new

1. Will the forums be replaced by a new tool?
CSU Forums will continue to be used by staff and students. Subject Coordinators and enrolled students will gain access to the Forum automatically - however, a Service Desk Request must be logged by a subject coordinator to give any additional subject site members access to their Forum. All site members who have access to the Forum can link to it via the navigation menu in their CSU Interact subject site.

2. What will happen to our old subject outlines? Will students have to go to two separate places?
No. There will be a link from within the CSU Interact subject offering site to the subject outline. All staff can continue to search for and access Subject Outlines here: https://online.csu.edu.au/cgi-bin/outlines.cgi

3. Will EASTS be available to cohorts other than DE and internal?
Not for 2008. The OSAM project will scope this work in 2008. EASTS is not currently available for internal cohorts - only for DE.

4. Can EASTS be turned off for some DE subjects? The integration of EASTS into CSU Interact is a project to be completed in 2008. This need could be considered for this project.

5. Will there be access to Mandatory Subject Information (which is currently known as the Subject Outline) as there is to Subject Outlines?
The MSI project is in development. Until it is in operation, there will be a link to the Subject Outline from within Interact subject sites.

6. How will CSU Interact handle year-long subjects? Will there still be issues with the forums not automatically carrying over to the second half of the subject?
A subject site will be created for each session. Forum ‘life' extensions need to be requested via an IT Service Desk Request.

7. What will happen in the case of merged sites with the EASTS tool or subject Outlines for example with the case of an OT and DE, or DE and Internal site merging?
The system will identify the mode of the user via their login, and will then provide the appropriate response when and if they click on the Subject Outline or EASTS link. With regards EASTS: for DE students a new window will open up and the EASTS site will load, for internal or OT students a message will be displayed indicating that EASTS is not available.

8. What subject outline will students see if sites for a DE and internal subject are merged?
As access to the site requires the student to login, their study mode will determine which outline they see i.e. the internal students should see the internal outline and vice versa.

9. How can students log in to CSU Interact?
Students have a direct link to their CSU Interact subject sites from their My Subjects window in my.csu.

10. Can I import a list of students from a Forum into a CSU Interact project site?
In the management section of the forum highlight and copy the participant list - this will pick up both the students' user name and name. Copy these into a spreadsheet. Having done this, highlight/select the username column in the spreadsheet then paste the user names into the CSU Interact project site. (Site Info - Add participants - paste into Usernames window/box). Note that students do not need to be added by the Subject Coordinator to a subject site; their membership is automatically derived from the student enrolment database.

11. Can I have OASIS or a Forum in a Project site? OASIS and Forum tools are not available for automatic inclusion in project sites. This means users will not see OASIS or Forums as “selectable” tools in project sites.

However, this does not prevent the manual inclusion of either OASIS or Forums through use of the Web Content tool. First create the OASIS test or Forum, then use the URL of the OASIS test or the Forum in the Web Content tool.

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