Help

Questions not answered here? Ask Jim.

What is this thing?

It's a "course management system". See the about page for the details.

Who can use this?

The software itself is open source - check out the about page.

Much of the course content here is visible to anyone, however, page editing is restricted to faculty and students.

How do I log in?

If you are or were enrolled in a course, then your faculty member or site admin (that's Jim at Bennington) should have set you up with an account. Click the "log in" button at the top right of the window.

Logins used to use Bennington google/email credentials but now use passwords. If you were in a course and now want a password, email Jim (jim@mahoney.cc) and ask him to set one for you.

What can I do once I'm logged in?

That depends on which course and page you're visiting, and whether you're a student or faculty in that course.

• Anyone can
  • Read open pages like this one, including much of the course content.
  • Create and edit pages that have been given anonymous access. (None by default.)
• Students can
  • Read course pages such as syllabus and notes.
  • Read the list of assignments.
  • Submit work for each assignment.
  • See the class roster.
  • See a table of their grades with links to submitted work and faculty comments.
  • Create and edit pages within some folders
  • Upload attachments to the pages they can edit
  • Revert pages to previous versions.
• Faculty can
  • Register students and other faculty in their class.
  • See the roster and send email to everyone.
  • Create and edit folders and pages anywhere within their course directory.
  • Assign read/write privileges for students or specific users by directory.
  • See and restore previous versions of a page.
  • Upload attachments to pages.
  • Edit the list of assignments.
  • See and edit a grid of all grades.
  • Comment on and grade student work pages.
  • Edit the navigation menu for the course.
• Administrators can
  • Create courses.
  • Create user accounts.

How do I edit a page?

If you have the rights to modify a page, you'll see an "edit" tab near the top of the window.

What you can type after you click "edit" is described on the markdown syntax help page.

Once you're editing a file, you can drag files from your desktop onto its "drop files here to upload" region to upload attachments, which are placed into a nearby folder. If the page is named "foo.md", then its attachments will be pladed in "foo.attachments".

What's with these folders?

The files for each course are in a hierarchy of folders, just as they are on your computer. Visiting the url of a folder shows you the files in that folder, unless an index.html or index.md file hides the listing.

If you have the rights to edit that folder, then clicking the "edit" tab allows you to upload files to the folder and create subfolders. Faculty can also set access rights.

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If in doubt, ask Jim. :)

The old help pages might also be of some use.