Quick Start Guide

Portfolios Help

What is O-Space?
O-Space is Otis' Learning Management System. Through it, a web space is automatically created for every class offered. Students and faculty will automatically be able to view their classes. Features include: discussion boards, assignment posting and uploads, email communication. Committees, clubs, and communities may also create space. Faculty may create their own. Students must find a faculty sponsor to create the group for them.

Why can't I get ALL my course readings through O-Space?
It is the policy of Otis College of Art & Design to follow the US Copyright Law. Course Readers should be used when possible. In no case should more than 20% of required course content be made available through O-Space. Your login acknowledges your acceptance of this policy.

How do I learn O-Space?
O-Space software is actually very intuitive. However, if you need assistance, there is help available through the Library, the SRC, and (for faculty) the TLC.

What are the System Requirements?
OSpace works on the following browsers and operating systems:

Windows 98 and up:
Internet Explorer 6.0 +
Netscape 7.0 +
Mac OSX and up:
Internet Explorer 6.0 +
Netscape 7.0 +
Safari 1.0 +

What is a Post?
Posting is the most widely used tool on OSpace. To "post" something on OSpace is to add information to the course. This can mean submitting a syllabus for the class to review, responding to a point someone else made in a discussion making class announcements etc... In many cases a post will be automatically emailed to everyone in the class unless the author specifies otherwise.

How do I Login?
To login use your Xnumber and PIN. if you don't have this information, you will need to go to the Registration Office.

What is the Search Feature?
You may search for a topic inside a course. To begin enter the information in one of the search fields under "Author", "Title", "Post Title" and click search.

What is the User Directory?
Every member of an OSpace course is provided with a profile which will display some general information about the user. To access user profiles click on the "People" link at the top of the page and select the desired user by clicking on his/her name.

What is the deal about subscriptions?
Users can "subscribe" to topics in courses and communities. Once a user has "subscribed", they will be automatically emailed every time new content is added to that topic, that topic is modified, or new replies to the topic are posted.

To Subscribe simply click on the Subscribe link.

To Unsubscribe click on the Unscribe link.

What do I do if I need more Help?
People in the Library, SRC, and the TLC are happy to answer questions. There are also workshops available for Faculty who wish to learn advanced features.

My Courses
OSpace provides the user with the capability to be involved in more than one course at a time. Each course runs independently of the other ones with different users and customizable capabilities. To select a course click the "home" button at the top of the page and then select the desired course in the courses column by clicking on the course title.

How do I create a new Course or Community?
Only teachers and administrators can creating a new Course or Community. To create a new Course or Community, click the "create new" button in the Home page after login. From the "Create New" page you will be asked to fill out a simple form with some relevant information pertaining to the Course or Community.

How do I notify students that something new is posted?
When creating a topic the user has the option to "notify all". If this option is selected a notification will be sent by email to all participants in the class. If this option is not selected students must either check manually or subscribe to the topic. By subscribing to the topic the student will be emailed every time new content is added to that topic. Teachers also have the capability to create groups of students. A teacher can opt to make certain posts visible to certain groups only.

How to Attach Files to Topics or Replies?
File Attachments can be a great way to share resources with students and peers. Some teachers may require students to submit assignments as file attachments.

File attachments that are less than 5 MB including text files, image files, small sound files, small movie files, animations, and presentations can be uploaded by students and faculty in Topics and Replies.

There are no constraints on the file types that can be submitted. However, some file types will display inline with the post, while others will display as a link to the file so that it can be downloaded to a user's computer for viewing. (.jpgs, and .gifs are displayed inline with text.)

To add a file attachment, click on the Attachment Tab when Submitting a Reply or creating a Topic. Click the Browse button to locate the file on your local computer. Select the file in the File Upload window, and click "Open".

When you have chosen a file from the File Upload dialog box, click the Upload Files button to add the file to your Topic or Reply.

Note: If you do not click the Upload Files button to add the file before saving your Topic or Reply, the attachment will not be saved.

When a file has been added to a Topic or Reply, the file name will be listed below your Message. You have the option to remove the file from your Topic or Reply by clicking the Delete button.

If you wish, you may also add a short note for each file, such as Acrobat Reader is Required to View PDFs.

When all files have been added to the Topic or Reply, click the Back to Content button to return to editing.

How do Attachments Display?
Certain attachments display in line with the Topic or Reply message. (Attachments will display inline if they are .jpgs, .gifs, or .pdfs- other formats will display as links only).

The name of the file displays as a link. Clicking on this link will open or download the file onto your local computer.

The Short Note, if entered, can give the user a little more information about the file.

How do I track Attendance?
Faculty can use OSpace Easily keep track of student attendance. You will need to add columns for every day for which recording attendance. To mark the student's status (present, late, excused, or unexcused) you can select an option from the drop-down menu corresponding with each student, or use keyboard shortcuts (p, l, e or u). Use the Tab key to move from cell to cell.

Administration
The Administration section gives teachers and administrators access to important administrative features for their course or community including User Access, Attendance, Grades, and Settings.

Colors
Administrators of a course or community can change the color scheme by clicking on the colors link in the settings section. You can choose to create your own color schemes or simply choose from one of the pre-built schemes in the drop down menu. The color scheme you have selected will be viewable by all those who have access to your course or community.

Adding Users to Your Course
To add new users into your course or community click on the "User Access" button under Administration.

Search for a user to be added. Try using last names only and then pick from the list using the + sign.

Groups
Teachers can create topics that are only viewable to a certain group of users. There is a group manager for creating groups, and adding and removing users from groups as needed. To create a group click the "Settings" button under Administration on the left and then click Groups. Type in a group name and click the "add" button. Now you can begin adding users into the group by click the "+" button next the the users name.

Links
Links are added to the left hand menu of any course or community as Quick Links. These links provide quick access to websites of your choosing to all those who have access to your course or community.

Grade Settings
OSpace provides teachers with an effective and convenient way to keep track of grades online. A teacher can either enter grades as percentages or as letters. To custom tailor the grade settings click on the "Grade Settings" button in the settings field. Now click on the "Edit" button at the bottom of the list. From this page you will be able to alter the correlation between letters and percentages and visa versa. If you choose to add grades as letters and have the system convert to percentages the system will enter the percentage as the midpoint number entered by the teacher. For example; if a teacher enters a student's grade as a B and a B is between 80% and 90% than that students grade will show up as 85 percent.

Calendar
The Calendar allows you to organize events and create tasks for the courses you are in. Setting one of the courses to Hide by default will stop Calendar posts from that course from showing up. On the right side of the calendar you are able to create tasks that only you can see, a to do list. By clicking the "T" you will toggle it to "C" this allows you to create a category. They can be used to arrange your tasks in separate categories.

Contact Information
OSpace uses your Otis email address only.

What is Digication?
Digication is the company that created the software which we call OSpace at Otis. The company is owned by people who are on faculty at RISD and it was created first for them.