Personal Workspace: Personal and shared resources

Personal and shared resources - introduction

Under Personal and Shared Resources, you can store your materials ("resources"). These include your certificates, links, and files. Blogs can be created as a special object type.

The materials are not accessible to others at first. Conversely, you can also view and copy objects shared by others via the Resources tab.

In the tab My Repository Objects, you can also view and manage all objects you have created yourself in ILIAS.

Which resource do I need for what?
We would like to briefly introduce the functions of the different resources under Personal and Shared Resources and their possible uses here:

• Blog: The blog in the workspace is initially only accessible to you. So you can use it as a private learning diary. It is possible to share the blog in the workspace with other users.
• File: Collect files you need for learning or research. Share them if you wish or move them to the repository where other users can freely work with them.
• Folder: Used to structure your resources in the workspace.
• Web Link: Create links or collections of links. These can also be moved to the repository if desired.
• Certificates: An overview of ALL your certificates can be found in the Personal Desktop under Learning Achievements. If you have received a lot of certificates, you can upload a selection in the workspace. You can then use these to include them in portfolios, for example, quickly.

Working with resources

Create new resource

You want to create a new resource under Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open Personal and shared resources.
2. Click on the Add new object button.
3. ILIAS opens a selection menu.
4. Click on the object you want to create.
   Blog: Can be used, for example, as a learning diary to reflect on learning processes.
   File: Upload single or multiple files.
   Folder: Allows you to sort better and structure your resources. Your folder structure is displayed in the left column.
   Web link: Link collection with links to ILIAS content or resources on the Internet.
   Certificate Course/SCORM/Test/Exercise: Certificates in PDF format that certify successful participation in a course, SCORM learning module, test, or exercise.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to create the desired objects.

Note: If you are not shown all object types, they have been turned off. Contact your ILIAS administration to have the desired object unlocked.

Move resources

You want to move an object to another folder.

1. Open Personal and Shared Resources.
2. Open the ▼ menu to the right of the desired object.
3. Select the Move entry.
4. ILIAS opens a new page with the tree structure of your workspace.
5. Activate the radio button in front of the folder to which the object is to be moved.
6. Click on the Insert button.
7. ILIAS moves the object and reports, "Object(s) moved."

Note: This is how you can move resources within Personal and Shared Resources and from Personal and Shared Resources to Repository.

Blog in personal and shared resources

Blog - Introduction

The term "blog" is the abbreviation of weblog and is derived from the terms World Wide Web and log. So meaning a blog is a logbook that can be created on the Internet and made available to other users.

A blog is a chronologically sorted list of posts - the most recent post is always at the top. Posts can contain text, images, videos, or attached files.

To write and publish posts, you can create a blog in Personal and Shared Resources.

Blogs are a personal resource. The content you create in your blog is not visible to other users. However, you can share your blog with other users. If you want, these users can comment on and rate your posts.

Among other things, blogs are suitable as online diaries: for example, you can document your progress on working on a topic and record it for yourself or share it with others. A blog can thus be used as a learning diary or project report.

In addition, blogs that you have created in Personal and Shared Resources can be integrated into a portfolio. In this way, for example, a project outline can be illustrated by a report.

Creating a blog in Personal and Shared Resources

Creating a new blog

You want to create a new blog.

Prerequisite: You are in Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open the Add new object drop-down menu.
2. Select the entry Blog.
3. ILIAS opens a new page.
4. Select Option 1: Create a new blog.
5. Give the blog a title.
   Optional: Enter a description.
6. Click the Create Blog button.
7. ILIAS creates the blog and reports "Object added".

Copying or moving a blog

You want to copy or move a blog within Personal and Shared Resources.

Prerequisite: You are in Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open the ▼ menu next to the blog you want to copy or move.
2. Select the Copy or Move entry.
3. ILIAS opens a new page.
4. Select the desired destination and click the Paste button.
5. ILIAS copies or moves the blog and displays a success message.

Export blog to display it outside ILIAS

Export blog

You want to export your blog to display it outside ILIAS.

Prerequisite: your blog is located in Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open the ▼ menu next to the desired blog title.
2. Select the Export as HTML file entry.
3. ILIAS offers a ZIP file with your blog content for download.
4. Unzip the ZIP file. You can now open the "index.html" file in any browser and read the blog even if you are not connected to the Internet.

Creating posts on the blog

Open blog in edit mode

You want to open the edit mode of a blog.

Variant 1

1. Open the ▼ menu of the corresponding blog and select the Edit entry.
2. ILIAS opens the blog in edit mode.

Variant 2

1. Click on the title of the blog.
2. ILIAS opens the blog in the presentation view.
3. Open the Actions menu and select the entry Edit blog.
4. ILIAS opens the blog in edit mode.

Create new post

You want to create a new post for your blog.

Prerequisite: You are in the Content tab in the edit mode of the blog.

1. Enter a title for your post in the Title text entry field and click the Add Post button.
2. ILIAS opens the page editor where you can edit the post.
   Note: For more detailed information and instructions on each option, click the Help button again in the Page Editor.
3. To add content, click the light gray area with the "+" sign.
4. Select the desired content (e.g., text, image/audio/video).
5. ILIAS opens a new page where you can insert the selected content.
6. Compose your contribution in this way bit by bit. Click the Save and return button at the top of the screen after each change.
7. ILIAS will save your post.
   Note: Your blog post is not yet published. However, it is available as a draft for further editing or publication.
   If you want to publish the post directly, click the Publish Post button.

Publish post

You want to publish a previously created post on your blog.

Prerequisite: You are in the Content tab in the edit mode of the blog.
Note: Posts that have not been published are outlined in edit mode with a red dashed line.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the entry Publish post.
3. ILIAS publishes the post.
   Note: The first text block is used as an excerpt in the list of posts.

Undoing the publication of a contribution

You want to retract a previously published post on your blog.

Prerequisite: You are in the edit mode of the blog.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the entry Undo publication.
3. ILIAS takes back the publication and reports: "The content of this post is visible as a draft only for you".
   Note: Posts that have not yet been published are outlined with a dashed line.

Rename contribution

You want to rename an already created contribution.

Prerequisite: You are in the Content tab in the edit mode of the blog.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the Rename entry.
3. ILIAS opens a new page.
4. Enter a new title for the post.
5. Click the Save button.
6. ILIAS applies your changes and reports, "The settings have been saved".

Add keywords

You want to create or edit keywords for your blog post.

Prerequisite: You are in the edit mode of the blog. If necessary, switch to the Content tab.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the entry Edit keywords.
3. ILIAS opens a new page.
4. To add or remove keywords, use the +/- icons.
5. After you have finished editing, click the Save button.
6. ILIAS will save the keywords you created.

Changing the date of a post

You want to edit the date of your already created blog post.

Prerequisite: You are in the edit mode of the blog. If necessary, switch to the Content tab.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the Edit date entry.
3. ILIAS opens a new page.
4. Edit the date according to your wishes.
   Note: The status of the publication does not depend on this date: the post will not be published automatically just because the date is reached. So you always have to publish each post manually!
5. After you have finished editing, click the Save button.
6. ILIAS saves your changes and reports, "The settings have been saved".

Delete post

You want to delete your blog post.

Prerequisite: You are in the Content tab in the edit mode of the blog.
Note: Posts that have not yet been published are outlined here with a red dashed line.

1. Open the Actions menu of the desired post.
2. Select the entry Delete.
3. ILIAS will ask if you really want to delete the post.
4. Click on the Delete button.
5. ILIAS removes the post and reports, "The post has been deleted".

Edit settings of the blog

Changing the basic settings of the blog

You want to edit the settings of your blog.

1. Open the Settings tab of your blog.
2. ILIAS opens the settings in the Blog Properties sub-tab.
3. Change the title and, if necessary, the description.
4. Activate the Public comments checkbox if you want readers of your blog to be able to leave comments on your posts.
5. Check the Enable RSS checkbox to offer an RSS feed for your blog. It is then possible to subscribe to your blog in a feed reader.
   Note: The RSS feed of a blog is always public if the address is known! The publication happens independently of any blog shares or user rights.
6. Click on the Save button.
7. ILIAS applies the settings and reports "Changes saved".

Customize the sidebar in the blog

All settings for the sidebar can be found in the Navigation section. There you can use the following options:

Month-by-month navigation:

Activate the checkbox Determine contents of the side block if you want the side block to display a list of months. For this, you can:

1. Determine the total number of months displayed. Months are displayed by default only with the number of their posts.
2. Set the number of months with links to all posts. For this number of current months, links to all posts are displayed in the page block.
3. Activate the checkbox Page block automatically with a month dropdown if the page block should offer a dropdown of all months for selection. All posts for the selected month will be listed.
4. Assign keywords: Check this checkbox to display all keywords of your blog in the sidebar. Blog visitors can then click on a keyword to view all related posts.
5. Page block order: Determine the order of the navigation elements in the sidebar by clicking on the arrows.
6. Make the desired settings.
7. Click on the Save button.
8. ILIAS saves your settings. You can view the result under the Preview link.

Customizing the appearance of the blog

You want to customize the appearance of your blog.

Prerequisite: You are in the Appearance section of the settings.

• Show profile image: If you select this option, the image you have stored in your profile will also be displayed in the blog header.
• Banner: To display any image in the blog header, upload the desired image as a banner.

Note: Ensure the dimension is 1370 x 100 pixels to achieve an undistorted display. Only the following file types can be used: .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif.

1. Make the desired settings.
2. Click the Save button.
3. ILIAS will save your settings. You can view the result under the Preview link.

Set the overview of the blog.

The overview is the display that blog visitors see when they call the blog. Here the latest posts are displayed - if necessary, only as an excerpt and, if desired, with a picture.

Prerequisite: You are in the Presentation of posts section of the settings.

You want to define how the overview of your blog should be displayed.

The number of posts in the initial overview: Specify here how many posts should be displayed in the overview of your blog.

• Note: This setting is used if no specific month is selected.
• Show only the beginning of the post: This option limits the maximum length of the excerpt of a post. Enter the maximum number of characters you want an excerpt to contain in the input field.
• Show the first image: Displays the first image of a post in the overview in a reduced size. Specify the width and height of the image in the two input fields.

1. Make the desired settings.
2. Click the Save button.
3. ILIAS saves your settings. You can view the result under the Preview link.

Being notified about new posts and comments on the blog

Start e-mail notification for a blog

You want to be notified by email when the blog has been updated.

Prerequisites:

• Notifications and mail forwarding are enabled on your ILIAS installation. If this is not the case, please get in touch with your technical support and describe the problem.
• You are in the presentation view or preview of the blog. In edit mode, it is NOT possible to subscribe to notifications.

1. Open the Actions menu in the upper right corner next to the blog title.
2. ILIAS opens a selection menu.
3. Select the entry Activate change notification.
4. You can tell by the color of the small bell next to the Actions link that the notification is enabled. If the notification is not enabled, the bell is gray.

Stop email notifications for a blog.

You no longer want to be notified about blog updates.

1. Open the Actions menu at the top right of the blog's title.
2. ILIAS opens a selection menu.
3. Select the Disable change notification entry.
   Note: You can only (de)activate the notifications in the presentation view or the blog preview.
4. You can tell that the notification is disabled by the gray color of the small bell next to the Actions menu.

Sharing blogs and files with others

Sharing with other users

When you use blogs or files in Personal and Shared Resources, they are initially visible only to you personally. However, you can make them available to other users. You can freely choose whether you want to share your blogs and files with hand-picked users, all members of a course or group, all users of your learning platform, or even all visitors from the WWW.

If you have shared blogs or files, other users can access them by searching for them under Personal and Shared Resources in the Resources from Others tab. If you want visitors from the WWW to have access, give them the "Link to this page" found in the About tab of your blog or file.

You want to share a blog or file with other users.

Prerequisite: you are in Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open the ▼ menu next to the object you want to share.
2. Select the entry Sharing.
3. ILIAS opens the Sharing tab of the object.
4. In the drop-down menu, select the type of users you want to share the blog or file with and click the Add button.

Sharing for selected users

You want to share a blog or file with some hand-picked users.

1. Select Selected Users from the drop-down menu and click the Add button.
2. ILIAS opens a new page.
3. Enter the name of a user.
4. Click on the Search button.
5. ILIAS displays the search results.
6. Select the checkbox in front of the desired user and click the Share with Users button.
7. ILIAS displays who the blog or file is shared with.

Sharing with all members of a group

You want to share your blog or file with entire groups.

1. Select Group Members from the drop-down menu and click the Add button.
2. ILIAS will show you the available groups.
3. Activate the checkbox in front of the desired group.
   Note: You can also select multiple groups.
4. Select the Share with members entry in the drop-down menu and then click the Run button.
5. ILIAS displays who the blog or file is shared with.
   Note: Alternatively, select the Share with members entry in the Actions menu.

Sharing with all members of a course

You want to share your blog or file with entire courses.

1. Select the Course Members entry in the drop-down menu and click the Add button.
2. ILIAS will show you the available courses.
3. Select the checkbox in front of the desired course.
   Note: You can also select multiple courses.
4. Select the Share with members entry in the drop-down menu and then click the Run button.
5. ILIAS displays who the blog or file is shared with.
   Note: Alternatively, select Share with members in the Actions menu.

Release for individual group members

You want to share your blog or file only with individual members of a group.

1. Select the Group members entry in the drop-down menu and click the Add button.
2. ILIAS will show you the available groups.
3. Select the List Members entry in the drop-down menu and click the Run button.
4. ILIAS displays a list of the members.
5. Select the checkbox in front of the members you want to share your object with and click the Share with Members button.
6. ILIAS displays which members the blog or file is shared with.

Sharing for individual course members

You want to share your blog or file only with individual members of a course.

1. Select Course Members from the drop-down menu and click the Add button.
2. ILIAS will show you the available courses.
3. In the drop-down menu of a course, select List Members and click the Run button.
4. ILIAS will display a list of members.
5. Select the checkbox in front of the members you want to share your item with and click the Share with
6. Members button.
7. ILIAS displays which members the blog or file is shared with.

Share with all registered users.

You want to share your blog or file with all registered users of your learning platform.

1. Select the entry All registered users in the drop-down menu.
2. Click the Add button.
3. ILIAS displays who the blog or file is shared with and reports, "This object is shared with all registered users."

Sharing for the Internet

You want to share your blog or file with the Internet.

Note: If you select this option, your blog or file will be publicly accessible.

1. Select the Internet/WWW entry from the drop-down menu.
2. Click the Add button.
3. ILIAS displays who the blog or file is shared with and reports, "This object is visible to all users on the Internet."
4. You can now send interested parties the link to your blog or file (Info tab → Link to this page), and they will have access to it even if they do not have a user account on your learning platform.

Password protected sharing

You want to share your blog or file with the Internet in a password-protected manner.

Note: If you select this option, your blog or file will be accessible to all Internet users with access to the password.

1. Select Internet/WWW with password from the drop-down menu.
2. Click the Add button.
3. Please enter a password of your choice in the text field and type it again below.
4. Click on the Save button.
5. ILIAS shows for whom the blog or file is shared and reports: "After entering the password, this object is visible for all users on the Internet".
6. You can now send interested parties the link to your blog or file (Info tab → Link to this page), and they will be able to access it after entering the password, even if they do not have a user account on your learning platform.

End sharing

You want to stop sharing your blog or file.

Prerequisite: You are in the Sharing tab of the desired object.

1. ILIAS shows for whom the object is shared.
2. To end sharing for a user or user group, click the Remove link in the respective row under Actions.
3. ILIAS saves the changes and reports, "The entry has been deleted".

Using resources from others

Viewing and copying a shared object

You want to view and download a shared object of another user.

1. Open Personal and shared resources.
2. Click on the Resources from the others tab.
3. Filter the resources by at least one of the following criteria:
   - Username/Name (of the sharing user).
   - Title of the (shared) resource
   - (Date of) sharing from (a certain date)
   - (Object) type of the (shared) resource
   - Shared with (a specific type of audience, e.g., all users)
   - (Shared for) course/group members (of an object of which you are a member)
4. Click on the Search button.
5. ILIAS will create a list of all objects that meet the specified criteria.

Use the shared object:

In the Title column of the resource, click the name of the desired object to view it.

• You can now see the blog and related comments if the object is a blog.
• If the object is a file, ILIAS opens an information page about the file. There you can download the file directly.

Click the Copy link in the Action column to copy the object to your workspace.

• In the next step, select the desired destination folder in your workspace.

Overview of my objects

My Repository Objects - Introduction

The My Repository Objects tab gives you an overview of the objects you are the owner of. Normally, this means that you have created the object yourself. However, it is also possible to change the owner of an object afterward.

Under this tab, you can display all objects of one type (forum, file, glossary, etc.). Furthermore, you can move, export, delete learning objects, change the owner, and view the object using the Actions menu.

Show all my objects of a type.

You want to display all your objects that belong to a certain object type.

1. Open Personal and Shared Resources.
2. Click on the My Repository Objects tab.
3. Select the desired type from the drop-down menu.
4. Click on the OK button.
5. ILIAS will show you a list of all the objects of that type that it owns.

Using the Actions Menu

You want to perform specific actions with an object directly under Personal and Shared Resources.

1. Open Personal and Shared Resources.
2. Click on the My Repository Objects tab.
3. Select the desired type from the drop-down menu.
4. Click the OK button.
5. ILIAS displays all your objects that belong to the selected object type.
6. Open the Actions menu to the right of the desired object.
7. Select the action you want to perform:
   Show: Displays the object or its info tab directly.
   Move: Moves the object within the repository.
   Change Owner: Changes the owner. After a change, the object no longer appears in your "My Repository Objects" tab.
   Export: Exports the object, e.g., for use on another ILIAS installation.
   Delete: Deletes the object after another confirmation.

8. If necessary, follow further instructions to perform the desired action.