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Student Guide

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Key Concepts:

General Information

Logging in

My Workspace

How to Use Common Site Tools

GENERAL INFORMATION
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Before you begin…You must have a Texas State Net ID (username) and password. This is the same ID and password you use for Texas State Bobcatmail; e.g.: az90.

IF you do not have a Net ID and/or password…THEN contact ITAC at 245.4822.

Supported Browsers, Navigation, and Screen Resolution:
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TRACS is Web-based, so you use a Web browser to access it. The following supported browsers work best with TRACS.

To determine what version of a browser you currently have, open the browser and go to the menu Help>About IE; Help>About Mozilla Firefox; etc.

Windows

Internet Explorer 6.0 and newer

Mozilla Firefox 3.x

Macintosh

Mozilla Firefox 3.x

Other platforms

Mozilla Firefox 3.x

Some functions in TRACS will not work well, or will not work at all in the following browsers. (The WYSIWYG editor may not work at all).

Safari

Macintosh Internet Explorer

Camino 0.7

Netscape 7.0 or older

Opera

Navigation in TRACS:
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Although you use a browser to access TRACS, TRACS has its own dedicated navigation system which you must use while in TRACS.

On most screens, the [Cancel] or [Back] button at the bottom of the screen will take you back one page.

DO NOT use the browser [Back] or [Forward] buttons while in TRACS as this can cause unpredictable behavior.

NOTE: With some tools in TRACS, you must click your browser [Refresh] button in order to see changes you have made.

Course and project sites in which you are enrolled appear as tabs across the top of the screen. Click a tab to go to the corresponding site. When you have more tabs than can fit across the top, a drop-down box appears with links to the rest of your courses.

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The preferred screen resolution for viewing TRACS is 1024 by 768 or higher.

With a screen resolution of 800x600, you will have to scroll repeatedly within your Web browser window to see the entire page.

Logging In:
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Step 1: Go to the site at https://tracs.txstate.edu/portal/login

Step 2: Enter your Texas State Net ID (username) and password.

Click on the [Login] button and a new screen will appear. This screen is your Workspace.

IF your login fails and you need help with your Net ID or password, THEN contact ITAC at 245.4822.

My Workspace
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My Workspace is your own individual online worksite which functions as a private workspace. This is the screen you see when you log in. To return to your workspace after visiting other sites, click the My Workspace tab in the upper left corner of the screen.

What is in My Workspace?

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Your workspace has features common to course and project sites, including Announcements, Resources, Calendar, and Help. It also has features found only in My Workspace such as Account, Membership, Preferences, Profile and Worksite Setup.

The upper portion of the screen in My Workspace displays the TRACS welcome message. Below that is My Workspace Information. By default, these spaces contain announcements and information from the TRACS system administrator.

These are tools found ONLY in My Workspace:

Account:
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This is a feature found in My Workspace, which contains basic information on you, including your name and email address.

NOTE: Texas State Users account information cannot be changed here. Texas State users must change their information through the Email Toolkit located in Bobcat Mail.

Membership:
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The Membership tool in your workspace allows you to join and un-join sites. It provides a list of sites of which you are a member, and a list of other sites that have allowed global access, and are therefore joinable.

Click the [Membership] link in the menubar to see the sites to which you belong. These are sites you are enrolled in, or that you have chosen to join.

Click [Joinable Sites] at the top of the screen, to see a list of other sites you can join (sites that have granted Global Access). Click [Join] to join a site on the list. The site you join will be added to your tabs, or appear in the drop-down box on the tab bar.

Click [My Current Sites] at the top of the screen, to return to your membership list.

To remove a site you joined, click [Un-join] below the site title and the site will be removed from your site tabs.

Preferences:
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The Preferences tool found in My Workspace allows you to choose how you would like to receive emails to your course and/or project site(s), and email notifications of new announcements, documents and emails. For example, you can choose to block low-priority notifications, to receive notifications when they are sent, and to receive a daily digest of emails all at one time.

NOTE: You cannot adjust your preferences for individual sites. For example, if you change your email notification to daily digest, you will get a daily email message from all sites to which you belong. Or, if you choose to block announcements, notifications about posted announcements will be blocked for all sites. Also, you cannot block receipt of high priority notifications.

Notification Methods:
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Choose one of three notification methods for these four tools: Announcements, Email Archive, Resources and Syllabus.

Send me each notification separately: You receive email notification each time that an announcement is posted, a document or syllabus item is added, and an email is sent.

Send me one email per day: Individual announcements, documents/syllabus items, and/or mail messages are bundled into a single email message and sent to you daily.

Do not send me low priority: You receive no notification regarding low priority site activity.

To set your preferences, click the radio button to indicate your choice for each tool.

Click [Update Preferences]. Click [Cancel Changes] to return to the previous page without making a change.

Customize Tabs:
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By default in My Workspace, you will see a tab for each site to which you belong.

To change which tabs are visible, click [Customize Tabs].To add a site or remove a site from the Sites Visible in Tabs list box, select the site and click [Move Selected] or [Remove Selected] to move the site to the Sites Not Visible in Tabs list box.

To reorder sites in the Sites Visible in Tabs list box, select a site in the list and use the up and down arrows to change the order of the site displayed in My Workspace.

Click [Update Preferences]. Click [Cancel Changes] to return to the previous page without making a change.

Profile:
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Your profile, found in My Workspace, includes information you can enter about yourself, such as your name, your position, your department, phone number, location and a picture

Click the [Profile] link in the menubar to see the information entered in your Profile. Click [Edit My Profile] to make changes.

You can choose to hide your profile, or only hide personal information by clicking a checkbox.

Make your changes, then click [Save]. Click [Cancel] to return to the previous page without making a change.

Worksite Setup:
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The Worksite Setup tool displays your project and course websites. This tool is found only in My Workspace.

You can choose to view only course, or only project sites, by clicking the View: All My Sites dropdown list and selecting Course sites or Project sites.

From this screen you can:
Click [Edit] to make changes to project sites you may have created.

Click [New] to create a project site. Follow the directions on the screens to create the site.

My Workspace Resources:
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The Resources tool allows you to add your own personal documents such as PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, HTML pages, and various other document types. The documents you keep in your My Workspace Resources tool will only be available to you. You can access your personal documents from any computer with Internet access.

To learn more about the Resources tool and learn how to upload documents, please view the help document called “Resources”.

Calendar:
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You can post personal items in the Calendar tool in your My Workspace. The calendar has day, week, monthly, year, and a flat list views. Many instructors use the calendar tool to post readings for each class on the day they are due to be read, so it is best to check the Calendar for your courses frequently. Research, groups, individuals, and department projects may use the schedule tool to post group deadlines.

For more information on the Calendar tool please see the help document called “Calendar”.

How to Use Common Site Tools:

Announcements:
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To see announcements from a course or project site in which you are enrolled, click on the site tab for the site you for which you want to view announcements.

Step 1: Click an announcement title to see the full text.

Step 2: Click the [Next] or [Previous] buttons to navigate through all announcements or click [Return to List].

You can sort announcements by subject, author, originating site and date in your My Workspace by clicking the header titles: Subject, From, Site, Date.

Assignments:
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To see assignments in a course site in which you are enrolled, navigate to the course in which you need to submit you’re assignment and click [Assignments] in the menubar. Assignments from your course sites are displayed in the order they are due.

To complete an assignment:

Step 1: Click the assignment title.

Step 2: Follow the directions.

Step 3: To add an attachment, click the [Add Attachments] button. Then choose the type of attachment to add. Your choices are to browse for a Local File, to enter a website URL or to select from a folder or a file from Resources in the course site.

Follow the directions for each type of attachment. In each case, you will click [Attach], then [Save].

The attachment(s) will be listed in the order they were entered.

You can click [Save Draft] to save your work without submitting it. You can then return later to complete it.

Alternatively, you may be allowed to submit your answer via the in-line text box provided. Simply type your answer and format it how you’d like.

Step 4: Click [Preview] to see how the assignment will look. Click [Submit] when you are done. Once you have submitted the assignment, you can view it later, but you cannot modify it.

NOTE: If your instructor requires an Honor Pledge stating you have not received outside help with the assignment, you must click the checkbox before submitting the assignment.

Calendar:
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Viewing calendar events:

Step 1: Log in to TRACS.

Step 2: Click on the site’s tab in which you want to view calendar events.

Step 3: Click [Calendar] on the menubar.

Drop Box:
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The Drop Box allows you to share documents with the instructor. To add an item to your Drop Box in a course or project site:

Step 1: Click [Drop Box] in the menubar of the site.

Step 2: Next drop box folder, click [Add].

Step 3: From the drop-down list, choose the type of item you wish to add. Your choices are:

Empty Folder

File Upload

URL link to website

HTML Page

Simple Text Document

Depending on your choice, do one of the following: Browse for the file on your computer, enter the URL for the website, or enter information for the HTML page or text document, or create the new folder.

Step 4: Click [Add]. The item is added.

Gradebook:
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The gradebook tool allows you to view and print your course grades. You will only see grades once the instructor has made them available.

Viewing grades in the gradebook:

Step 1: Log in to TRACS

Step 2: Click on a course tab, and click [Gradebook] in the menubar. Any grades your instructor has made available will be displayed.

NOTE: You may not always see your calculated course grade as this is a setting the instructor chooses to display.

Syllabus:
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The syllabus tool allows you to access the course syllabus.

Step 1: Log in to TRACS.

Step 2: Click on a course tab and click [Syllabus] in the menubar. Depending on how the syllabus is entered you may either view or print it. You will have the option to save the file where you’d like.

Step 3: (Optional) Click the print icon displayed on the page.

Resources:
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The resources tool allows you to download any course material the site administrator has added.

Step 1: Log in to TRACS.

Step 2: Click on a course tab and click [Resources] in the menubar.

Step 3: Click the resource and either save it to your local computer or open it for viewing.

Chat Room:
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The Chat Room tool allows real-time, unstructured conversations among site participants who are signed on to the site at the same time.

Chat messages are saved and visible to all users so that all site participants can benefit from conversations and questions and answers. By default, all Chat messages are shown for at least three days. The Chat Room tool does not provide a way to chat privately.

The Chat Room tool alerts users to the other participants who are also logged into the site and the chat room, so that you know who is available to talk.

To read messages in the Chat Room:

Step 1: Log in to TRACS and click [Chat Room] in the left side menubar.

Posted messages appear in chronological order, with the most recent at the bottom. Messages always identify the sender.

To see who is presently in the Chat Room, look under Users in Chat on the right side of the screen.

Step 2: To see the date or time messages were posted, select the appropriate option from the View drop-down list. Choices are Time Only, Date and Time, Date Only, Neither Date or Time, or ID Only.

Step 3: To limit the list to messages to those from the past three days, select Past 3 Days. To see all messages, select All Messages.

To post a Chat Room message:

Step 1: Click [Chat Room] in the menubar.

Step 2: In the text box at the bottom of the window, type your message. Then click [Add message].

Step 3: Click [Add message] to display your message. Once a message is added, it cannot be changed or deleted. Only an instructor or someone with maintain access can delete the message.

Step 4: To discard a message that you haven’t sent yet, click [Clear].

Assessments:
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To take an assessment:

Step 1: Navigate to the site where the assessment is posted. In the menubar of the site, click [Assessments].

Step 2: Underneath Take an assessment, you will see a list of available assessments. Click an assessment’s title to see information about the assessment, such as the date due, whether or not there is a time limit, and whether or not the assessment will automatically be submitted if the time limit expires.

Step 3: Click [Begin Assessment] to take the assessment, or [Cancel] to abort.

Depending on how the assessment has been set up, you may have the option during the assessment to save your work and continue, to submit it, and to return to previous sections or questions.

To move to the next question, click [Save and Continue].

Depending on how the instructor set up the assessment, you may have the option to return to a previous question. To do so click [Previous]

You may also mark a question for review. This allows you to review any question you may be unsure of. To view a list of questions you’ve marked for review, click the table of contents link.

Table of contents:
The Table of contents link will display a list of all questions and parts associated with an assessment, as well as any questions you’ve marked for review. The table of contents link will only be visible if the instructor has chosen this option.

Step 4: When you are finished with the assessment click [Submit for Grading].

NOTE: [Save and exit] will NOT submit your test. Saving and exiting only allows you to exit a test and return to it at a later time. If the assessment is timed, the timer will continue to run until it expires.

To resume taking a saved assessment, follow these steps:

Step 1: In the menubar of the course site, click [Assessments].

Step 2: Under Take an assessment, click the title of the assessment you wish to work on.

Step 3: Click [Begin Assessment] and then resume your work.

Step 4: When you have finished, click [Submit for Grading]. You will receive a confirmation number that you should keep.

Polls:
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Vote in a poll:

Step 1: Navigate to the site where the poll is located and click [Polls] in the menubar.

Step 2: Click on the poll title you wish to vote for and cast your vote.

Step 3: Click [Vote!] to save your changes and vote in the poll.

Viewing Poll Results:
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Step 1: Click [Results] next to the poll you wish to view.

Step 2: View the results per option you added with the total number of votes per option or as a percentage view.

Step 3: Click [Back] to return to the poll.

Podcast:
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Subscribe to a TRACS Podcast:

Your podcast has a static URL which your participants can use to subscribe to and receive the latest updates.

Step 1: Highlight the URL and copy it to your clipboard. The URL will look something like this: http://tracs.txstate.edu/podcasts/site/yoursiteid.

Step 2: Open your podcatcher (such as Apple iTunes) and paste this URL into its appropriate area. Follow your podcatcher’s directions for specifics as they all work differently.

Step 3: All content from TRACS podcasts will appear in your podcatcher for downloading.

Learning Modules:
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The Learning Modules tool allows instructors to set up lessons in a linear format. To view the lesson click on [Learning Modules] and click on the section you would like to view. Click [Next] to go to the next content section, or click [Previous] to go back one section. You may also click the [Table of Contents] button to view a list of all modules and sections available in the Learning Modules tool.

Signup:
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Step 1: Click on the site tab to enter the site and click [Signup].

Step 2: Click the meeting title you wish to view.

Step 3: Click the [Sign-up] button for the time slot you wish to sign up for.

Step 4: Add comments that will be sent to the site maintainer if you wish.

Step 5: Click [Finish].

For questions, contact ETC Support at 245.5566. You can also email us at tracs@txstate.edu

For the TRACS website home page, go to: http://tracs.txstate.edu/portal/login

If your login fails and you need help with your Net ID or password, contact ITAC at 245.4822.

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