Yes. Once sections are created for your course, you can use the Announcements tool to send an email to specific sections by doing the following:

1. Add a new announcement, then select “Display to selected groups” (under the announcement entry field). If you haven't created any sections, this option will not appear.
2. Select the section(s) for which you would like to post an announcement.
3. If you would also like to have the announcement emailed to the members of the section(s) you have selected, select one of the options from the “Email Notification” drop-down box.
4. Click Add Announcement.

Note: You can also email specific sections using the Mailtool. Click the Mailtool and then click Select Sections at the top of the page. If you do not have the Mailtool in your lefthand toolbar, you can add it by going to Site info > Edit Tools.

While all three tools facilitate email communication to the members of a bSpace site, you must log in to bSpace to post information with the Announcements tool or Mailtool but can send email through the Email Archive tool without logging in to bSpace first.

• In addition, the Announcements tool gives you the option of only posting to the bSpace site (without emailing), or posting to the site and sending email. Information posted with the Announcements tool appears in both the Home area of your site (in the Recent Announcements pane), and in the Announcements tool itself.
• The Email Archive tool, on the other hand, creates a listserv in your site, allowing you to send email to a specific email address that is then distributed to all the members of your site. You send this email without logging in to bSpace first. While email sent through the Email Archive tool is archived and searchable within the bSpace site, it is not posted in the Home area of the site.
• Mailtool is yet another option that is best used for emailing particular students or sections. A unique feature of the Mailtool is that it allows you to email any group of students, and the groups do not have to correspond to particular sections.

While both the Assignments tool and the Drop Box tool can be used to collect files from students, the Assignments tool allows for a much more structured approach to collecting assignments online.

In the Assignments tool, you can set an Open date (when the assignment appears to students), a Due date (after which submitted assignments will be marked late), and an Accept Until date (after which the assignment can no longer be submitted). You can easily keep track of which students have submitted the assignment, and you can comment on assignments and return them in bSpace, or download them for commenting and editing on your own computer.

The Drop Box tool is much less structured. Students can simply put files into their own Drop Box folder, and the instructor can open the folder to download the files. The Drop Box tool does not let you display assignment information to all students, set required submission dates, easily see which students have submitted new files, download all submissions at once, or comment on submissions right in bSpace. In short, it is a very simple way for instructors and students to pass files back and forth.

Yes. When you create/add an assignment to the Gradebook tool, you are not required to add a due date. However, when you create an assignment with the Assignments tool, you are required to select a due date. If the due date is not important for your class and the assignment need only be completed by the end of the semester, you can set the due date for months in the future or at the end of the term. This will allow the students to submit the assignment at any time during the semester.

No, not automatically.  When you add an assignment under the Grading section you will see radio buttons ( ) for Do not add assignment to Gradebook, Add Assignment to Gradebook, and Associate with Existing Gradebook Entry. These are your three options. You would associate the assignment with an existing Gradebook entry only if you already established the assignment in the Gradebook tool.

No. Currently, assignments added to the Gradebook tool do not automatically appear in the Assignments tool. If you want an assignment to appear in the Assignments tool, you must manually add it to the Assignments tool.

While both the Forums tool and the Chat Room tool allow members of a bSpace site to communicate with each other, communication through the Forums tool occurs asynchronously (i.e., not in "real time") and communication through the Chat Room tool occurs synchronously (in "real time"). In addition, the Forums tool allows for much more structured dialog than the Chat Room tool. In the Forums tool, you can organize discussions into forums and topics, such as "Weekly Readings" and "Lecture Reponses," where the associated discussion threads in the categories might be "Week 1 Reading Summaries" and "Lecture 1 Responses." You could also have only one forum that you fill with weekly topics. It is flexible in the way it is organized.

The Chat Room tool, on the other hand, allows for unstructured back-and-forth conversations in "real time," similar to online instant messaging services. Chat Room tool conversations are archived on the bSpace site and thus always available for review, but they cannot be organized in the same way as in the Forums tool.

Note: You can delete a particular topic or forum by clicking on Forum settings and Topic settings on the right hand side of the pane, scrolling to the bottom of the screen, and clicking Delete. Keep in mind that you will lose any messages in a topic or forum that you delete.

For more information on the Forums tool, please look at Changing Forum Permissions on our How-To page.

While both the Assignments tool and the Drop Box tool can be used to collect files from students, the Assignments tool allows for a much more structured approach to collecting assignments online.

In the Assignments tool, you can set an Open date (when the assignment appears to students), a Due date (after which submitted assignments will be marked late), and an Accept Until date (after which the assignment can no longer be submitted). You can easily keep track of which students have submitted the assignment, and you can comment on assignments and return them in bSpace, or download them for commenting and editing on your own computer.

The Drop Box tool is much less structured. Students can simply put files into their own Drop Box folder, and the instructor can open the folder to download the files. The Drop Box tool does not let you display assignment information to all students, set required submission dates, easily see which students have submitted new files, download all submissions at once, or comment on submissions right in bSpace. In short, it is a very simple way for instructors and students to pass files back and forth.

While all three tools facilitate email communication to the members of a bSpace site, you must log in to bSpace to post information with the Announcements tool or Mailtool but can send email through the Email Archive tool without logging in to bSpace first.

• In addition, the Announcements tool gives you the option of only posting to the bSpace site (without emailing), or posting to the site and sending email. Information posted with the Announcements tool appears in both the Home area of your site (in the Recent Announcements pane), and in the Announcements tool itself.
• The Email Archive tool, on the other hand, creates a listserv in your site, allowing you to send email to a specific email address that is then distributed to all the members of your site. You send this email without logging in to bSpace first. While email sent through the Email Archive tool is archived and searchable within the bSpace site, it is not posted in the Home area of the site.
• Mailtool is yet another option that is best used for emailing particular students or sections. A unique feature of the Mailtool is that it allows you to email any group of students, and the groups do not have to correspond to particular sections.

While both the Forums tool and the Chat Room tool allow members of a bSpace site to communicate with each other, communication through the Forums tool occurs asynchronously (i.e., not in "real time") and communication through the Chat Room tool occurs synchronously (in "real time"). In addition, the Forums tool allows for much more structured dialog than the Chat Room tool. In the Forums tool, you can organize discussions into forums and topics, such as "Weekly Readings" and "Lecture Reponses," where the associated discussion threads in the categories might be "Week 1 Reading Summaries" and "Lecture 1 Responses." You could also have only one forum that you fill with weekly topics. It is flexible in the way it is organized.

The Chat Room tool, on the other hand, allows for unstructured back-and-forth conversations in "real time," similar to online instant messaging services. Chat Room tool conversations are archived on the bSpace site and thus always available for review, but they cannot be organized in the same way as in the Forums tool.

Note: You can delete a particular topic or forum by clicking on Forum settings and Topic settings on the right hand side of the pane, scrolling to the bottom of the screen, and clicking Delete. Keep in mind that you will lose any messages in a topic or forum that you delete.

For more information on the Forums tool, please look at Changing Forum Permissions on our How-To page.

Click Organize at the top of the main Forums page. You can reorder the forums and topics by changing the numbers next to the numeric drop-down menus. Make sure that you click the Save Settings button when you are done.

No.  You are not able to email the Forums tool.  You need to login to bSpace to post to the Forums tool.

No.  You are not able to receive emails from the Forums tool. 

No. Students can only view their own grades.

No, not automatically.  When you add an assignment under the Grading section you will see radio buttons ( ) for Do not add assignment to Gradebook, Add Assignment to Gradebook, and Associate with Existing Gradebook Entry. These are your three options. You would associate the assignment with an existing Gradebook entry only if you already established the assignment in the Gradebook tool.

No. Currently, assignments added to the Gradebook tool do not automatically appear in the Assignments tool. If you want an assignment to appear in the Assignments tool, you must manually add it to the Assignments tool.

No. The point value of any Gradebook entry must be a number greater than or equal to 0.01.

The Gradebook is not connected to any database outside of bSpace. It allows you, the instructor, to calculate and track student grades, and allows students to monitor their own progress. Grades entered in bSpace are not official. However, at the end of the semester you can use the Gradebook tool to export a simple spreadsheet which you can edit and submit to e-Grades.

Students only see their own grades in the Gradebook, for assignments that have been graded and released to the students. Students cannot see other students' grades.

While all three tools facilitate email communication to the members of a bSpace site, you must log in to bSpace to post information with the Announcements tool or Mailtool but can send email through the Email Archive tool without logging in to bSpace first.

• In addition, the Announcements tool gives you the option of only posting to the bSpace site (without emailing), or posting to the site and sending email. Information posted with the Announcements tool appears in both the Home area of your site (in the Recent Announcements pane), and in the Announcements tool itself.
• The Email Archive tool, on the other hand, creates a listserv in your site, allowing you to send email to a specific email address that is then distributed to all the members of your site. You send this email without logging in to bSpace first. While email sent through the Email Archive tool is archived and searchable within the bSpace site, it is not posted in the Home area of the site.
• Mailtool is yet another option that is best used for emailing particular students or sections. A unique feature of the Mailtool is that it allows you to email any group of students, and the groups do not have to correspond to particular sections.

Go to the Roster tool and click Enrollment Status.  Click on the Status column heading to see which students are waitlisted.  You can now copy and paste their email addresses into your email.  Unfortunately at this time there is not an automated way to only email waitlisted students.

If you already have the Mailtool in your site and you are ready to upgrade to Messages, you should remove the Mailtool from your site to avoid confusion.

Remove Mailtool:

1. From Site Info, click Tool Order
2. click on the red "X" next to Mailtool
3. click Save.

If you already have the Mailtool in your site and you are ready to upgrade to Messages, you should remove the Mailtool from your site to avoid confusion.

Remove Mailtool:

1. From Site Info, click Tool Order
2. click on the red "X" next to Mailtool
3. click Save.

No.  The Polls tool randomizing them without any option to change the order.  If you want more control over answers create a survey in the Quiz & Survey tool.

The largest file you can place in Resources at one time is 50MB. Each site has a total space limitation of 1GB.

Each site has a total space limitation of 1GB. There is no limitation on the number of bSpace sites that you can create.

You can determine how much space you are currently using by enabling WebDAV and checking the "Properties" of the WebDAV folder for your site. The folder properties will tell you how much space the folder is taking up. To enable WebDAV, click the "Upload-Download Multiple Resources" button in the Resources tool, and follow the instructions.

Yes. Click Actions to the right of your main Resources folder (the folder named after your site name). Click Reorder. From this screen you can reorder your items in Resources.

You can't easily hide material only from students. When you click Hide for a resource, you hide the resource from everyone but yourself. However, if you establish a section or group, you can choose to display resources to that unique section or group. For example, you can set up a section only for your GSIs and post resources only for that section.

Large PDF files (greater than 5 MB) may not work with the Acrobat plug-in that allows you to view PDF files in your browser.  If you experience this problem, you must download PDF files directly to your computer.

For PC: Right-Click the file name and select the Save Link As option.

For Mac: ctrl-Click the file name and select the Save Link As option.

Yes.  You can download files from a bSpace Resources folder using
WebDAV ("Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning"). The
following steps will point you to the instructions for setting up
WebDAV, which is a file transfer protocol that allows you to drag and
drop files to a folder on your computer. 

You need to first have an empty folder on your desktop.  This is where you are going to drag the files.  You then need to setup a WebDAV folder (each individual bSpace site needs it own) to grab the files. 

Finding the WebDAV instructions:
1. Log in to bSpace and click the tab for the site you wish to access
2. Click the Resources button in the toolbar
3. At the top of the page, click the "Upload/Download Multiple files"
link. This will open a page of detailed instructions, which includes the
URL you need to use to set up your folder.
4. Follow the instructions listed on the page for the computer set-up
that matches your own (Windows XP, Mac OS X, etc.)
5. Once you have a folder set up on your computer (a new network place), you will be able to drag and drop files from the appropriate bSpace Resources folder. The user name and password you're prompted to enter is your CalNet ID & Passphrase.

You can now move Resources from a particular site into your desktop folder.

The student is probably new to Berkeley. New students, such as Freshmen and transfer students, may not yet have had their photographs taken for their CAL Student ID Card.

Go to the Roster tool and click Enrollment Status.  Click on the Status column heading to see which students are waitlisted.  You can now copy and paste their email addresses into your email.  Unfortunately at this time there is not an automated way to only email waitlisted students.

Yes. Once sections are created for your course, you can use the Announcements tool to send an email to specific sections by doing the following:

1. Add a new announcement, then select “Display to selected groups” (under the announcement entry field). If you haven't created any sections, this option will not appear.
2. Select the section(s) for which you would like to post an announcement.
3. If you would also like to have the announcement emailed to the members of the section(s) you have selected, select one of the options from the “Email Notification” drop-down box.
4. Click Add Announcement.

Note: You can also email specific sections using the Mailtool. Click the Mailtool and then click Select Sections at the top of the page. If you do not have the Mailtool in your lefthand toolbar, you can add it by going to Site info > Edit Tools.

For guest users, their username is their email address. Once you have enrolled them, they will be sent a bSpace password. This is an automatic email and occurs whether or not you choose to send them an email about being added to your site when creating  the account. They can then change the password and add their first and last name by going to their My Workspace Tab > Account > Modify Details.

No. You can copy and paste your syllabus or add it as an attachment. The difference between the two options is that with pasting, the syllabus will be entirely viewable in the Syllabus tool , whereas if you create an attachment, the syllabus will show up as an attachment that students click on to open up or save.

Once you create a page in the Wiki, you can never actually delete the page. You can remove any links referencing the page, effectively removing the ability to access the page. You can also delete the content on the page; however, the previous page content will still remain in the "History" of the page (via the "History" button at the top of the page).

By default, when new pages are created in the Wiki, they are readable by everyone in the site, but only editable by the instructor(s) and the person who created them. To allow students to edit a Wiki page that they cannot currently edit:

1. Go to the Wiki page in question.
2. Click the Info button at the top of the screen.
3. Mark the checkbox in the "Update" column and "Enable/Disable on this page" row.  Marking this checkbox should give students the ability to edit the page.

Alternatively, you can give students the ability to edit all pages so that you don't have to give permissions on a per-page basis. To do this:

1. Go to any Wiki page and click the Info button at the top of the screen.
2. To the right of the Save button, click the small link labeled "edit site permissions."
3. Mark the checkbox in the "Admin" column of the "Student" row.