Course iSite Administration | Adding Pages | Adding Topic Boxes | Changing Page Layout | Setting Permissions
This page describes basic ways for an instructor to edit a Course iSite. For instructions on how to access a Course iSite, see Getting Started. For complete documentation, see the Course iSites Help Center (HUID Authentication Required).
Sample Course iSite page
If you are the course instructor, the Course Site Admin link will appear near the top left of your Course iSite once you have logged in. From the Course Site Admin link, you can create new pages, send email to your class, and decide who can view which area of your course. For complete documentation on the Course Site Admin page, see the Course iSites Help Center's "Course Administration Overview" (HUID Authentication Required) section.
Sample Course Site Admin page
To add a page to your Course iSite, click "Manage the pages of this site" under the Site Content section. You will see a list of the current pages that exist within your Course iSite. Select "Add Page" and type the name for your new page. You have just created a new page in which you could populate with any number of available tools (or "Topic Boxes" as they are commonly referred). To exit the the administrative area, simply click on the "Exit Course Site Admin" link near the top left, your new page will be listed along the left-hand side of the Course iSite.
All content within each Course iSite page exists in tools commonly referred to as "Topic Boxes." Topic Boxes are modular areas that can display different kinds of information, can be rearranged on a page, and can be shared across pages or even across different Course iSites. For complete documentation on Topic Boxes, see the Course iSites Help Center's "Type of Topic Boxes" (HUID Authentication Required) section.
To add a new Topic Box to a page, first the page you want to add your Topic Box. Click the "Modify This Page" link at the upper right corner. The Design View palette will appear, and you will see a list of new Topic Boxes you can add to your page. After adding a new Topic Box, you can configure/edit it by clicking on the pencil icon 
at the top right corner of each available Topic Box.
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Announcements: posts an announcement to your class for a specified amount of time. |
| Blog: allows students and teaching staff to comment on the course and on each other's comments. | |
| Course Documents: allows you to upload different kinds of files for students in your class to view. | |
| Course Information: displays course information from the GSD registrar's database. | |
| Discussions: allows students and teaching staff to discuss course-related questions. | |
| Dropbox: allows students to turn in assignments electronically by a specified due date. Instructors can also grade and return the assignments with comments and attachments. | |
| Emailbag: lists the emails that you have sent to your students. (You can send emails to all registered students through the "E-mail" section of the Course Site Admin page.) | |
| Embedded Video : allows you to add streaming video to your Course iSite. The tool accepts Quicktime and Real Media URLs and Google and YouTube embed code. | |
| iFrame: embeds an external website or document into the Course iSites page. | |
| News Reader(RSS): displays news gathered automatically from specified online sources. | |
| Podcast: publishes audio and video content that can be viewed on iPods. | |
Design View palette |
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| Quick Survey : allows you to create a survey for students and to publish the results for various purposes. | |
| Reserve Reading List: allows you to place course-related materials on reserve in Harvard libraries. | |
| Shared Document Area: allows teaching staff and students to upload and view course-related files. | |
Sign Up Tool: creates a calendar for students to reserve a spot for different events set by teaching staff. |
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| Slides: displays images with titles and captions. | |
| Teaching Staff: displays the teaching staff for your course. | |
| Text Area: displays a block of formatted text. | |
| Text Area - Multipage: allows you to link to several pages from within the same Topic Box, simulating a limited website environment. | |
Video Publishing Tool: allows you to create a short video and publisht it. |
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Web Links: inserts a list of links to other web pages organized by category. You can also import your own bookmarks. |
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| Wiki: a collaborative authoring tool that allows users to add, remove, and edit content. |
Changing Page Layout
To rearrange the order of each Topic Box within a page, click the Layout tab at the top of the Design View palette. You can change the layout of the page as a whole by clicking on the icons in the palette, and you can rearrange individual Topic Boxes by clicking and dragging on the green arrow navigation icon  that appear at the top right of each Topic Box. |
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Page layout tray |
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By default, only the "Home" page on your Course iSite can be viewed by anyone. The other four default template pages are restricted to official enrollees only. To change access permissions for a specific page, navigate to that page first and then click on the "Modify this Page" link located at the top right corner to bring up the Design View Palette. Click on the Access tab and select the permission level appropriate for that page's content. Levels of permission include: class list only; teaching staff only; those with Harvard IDs only; everyone (world-viewable); customized permissions to specify groups you have identified; and hidden (the page is hidden from everyone except to Course iSites administrators).. To change access permissions for a single Topic Box, click the pencil icon To change access permissions for the complete Course iSite, enter the Course Site Admin page and click "Set global access permissions for this site". (It is recommended that you avoid doing this - the best practice is to restrict the individual pages instead.) |
Page permissions tray |