Becoming a Writing Studio Instructor: Writing Studio Instructors can create and manage class pages -- and any writing teacher can ask to become a Writing Studio Instructor. If you would like to become a Writing Studio Instructor, please send an email message to Mike Palmquist at Mike.Palmquist@ColoState.edu.
Finding Writing Studio Help: When you are logged in as an instructor, you have access to the section of the Help system that is specifically for Writing Studio instructors. From any page in the Writing Studio, select "Site Help" from the top menu. In the left side table of contents menu, you’ll see a link for “Your Classes: Instructors” (this link only shows up if you are logged in and you are an instructor). Select this option and you can access the help materials for instructors, grouped into such topics as “Course Content” and “Appearance.”
As they learn their way around, you might also find it helpful to remind your students about the Writing Studio Online Help section. You might even want to ask them to read certain sections before they use a specific Writing Studio tool or feature to complete work for the course. For example, asking them to review the help section on the “Blog Tool” before they create a blog and start making entries as homework.
Creating a Class Site: On Your Writing Page, in your “Classes Taught” tab, select the “Create a New Class Page” option.
Selecting this option will take you to a page where you will enter the “Essential Information” required for your class: Course Number, Course Name, School or Organization, and the Year. Also you can enter the non-required “Essential Information”: Term, Location and Meeting Time. Finally, you can enter the “Optional Information” for the class: Course Description, Welcome Text, Alert Message, Office Hours, Office Location, Office Phone, Home Phone, and Other Information. When you are finished entering this information, click the “Create this Class” button at the bottom of the page.
Navigating Your Class Site Using the Class Menu: When you are in your class sites, you will notice an additional option in the top green bar menu (to the right of "Your Pages"): "Class." This drop down menu gives you access to all of your current class features from anywhere in your class site. So, for example, if you are in the File Folder, you can use this menu to go directly to the Discussion Forums, rather than having to return to the main page of the class to access the class feature links. This should make navigating your class sites much easier.
Managing Your Class: To access all your class management options, select the “Manage this Class” icon or link located on the main page of your class site. Or, from Your Writing Page in your “Classes Taught” section, click on the “Manage” link to the right of the class you’d like to work with. Or, hover your mouse over the “Class” section of the top green bar menu and select “Manage Class.”
Class management options are grouped into the following categories: “Course Content,” “Communication Tools,” “Students/Co-Instructors,” “Appearance,” “Clone/Import,” and “Custom Login.” Click on any of these tabs and you’ll find a list of links that will take you directly to specific class management options.
Building Your Class Roster: To build your Writing Studio class roster, (thusly allowing students to access your class site), go to the Class Roster page and click on the "Invite a New Student" link.
Using "Option 1," (search using the student's last name), or "Option 2," (search using the student's email address), search to see if the student already has a Writing Studio Account, and send an invitation to join your class roster by clicking on the "Invite" link.
If the student doesn’t already have an account, you can create a Writing Studio account for her/him using "Option 3," (or, if you’d rather, you could ask them to create their own account), and invite him/her to join your class roster.
In either case, the writer will get an email invitation with a link that once followed will complete the process of allowing the writer access to your class.
Even if for some reason the student doesn’t get the email invitation, the next time she/he logs in to the Writing Studio, in the "Your Classes" section of his/her "Your Writing Page," the writer will see a place where she/he can click an "Accept" link to get on your class roster.
Customizing the Appearance of Your Class Site: As the instructor of a Writing Studio class, you have lots of options in terms of the look and layout of your class main page. You can choose from preset themes or individually customize the layout, background image, background color, overall color scheme, font scheme, and class banner.
You can further customize your class by hiding or showing certain elements or features. These options can be accessed by clicking on the links located in the “Appearance” section of the main class management page. As there are so many available features in a Writing Studio class, it’s best to only show the ones that you are currently using.
Emailing Students: You can send an email to anyone on your Writing Studio class roster using the class email tool. On your class main page, click on the “Email List” icon or link. This will take you to a page with the email form. Here you can select exactly who to send your email to; the instructor, the entire class, or individual students or members of class groups; using the drop down menu on the “To” line. The “From” line is set to use the email address associated with your Writing Studio account. You can also send copies of the email to other users if you’d like by filling in their addresses in the “CC” line. Just like most other email programs, type in your email title in the “Subject” line and type your message in the text box. If you’d like to include an attachment with your email, click the “browse” button and locate that file. When you are finished composing your email, click on the “Send” button.
Classmates Pages: Students can use this feature of the class site to connect with other students in the class. When they select the “Classmates” option, they are taken to a main page that lists all their classmates, along with pictures (if the students have included them) and a link to each classmate’s writing page.
These pages include the student’s email address, along with a picture and description (if the student added them), as well as a list of the options students have to connect with each other: by asking for comments on their work; sharing a blog, eportfolio, or file; or sending an email.