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Resources: Overview

What it does

Using the "Resources" tool, you can share many kinds of material securely with members of your site, or make them available to the public. You also have your own private "Resources" area in your My Workspace.

You can upload files (e.g., word processing documents, spreadsheets, slide presentations, and videos), as well as create and post HTML (web) pages and simple text documents, and share links to useful web sites.

You can organize your Resources items into folders, and you can control which groups or types of users can access and add to different folders.

Also, you can show or hide an item at any time, and set a start and/or end time for its availability.

Key Concepts

Viewing items: When you click Resources in a site's menu, you will see a list of that site's "Resources" items. Click the title of an item to open it.

View contents of a folder: To view the contents of a folder, click the folder's name to enter it, or click the folder icon to expand its contents in the list. To expand or collapse all folders, at the top, next to Title, click the black double arrow.

Sort items: You can sort items by title, size, resource creator, and last modified date. Site leaders can customize the order in which items appear.

Adding items: To add an item, from the Add menu next to the folder where you want to store the item, choose the type of item to add.

Organizing items: Site leaders can organize items into folders and subfolders, and customize the order in which items appear. To reorder items, from the Actions menu, select Reorder.

Sharing resources: Each item is available via a URL, which you can share with site participants.

Drag and drop: You can drag and drop files to and from your desktop using WebDAV. For more information, see the WebDAV article. Find out how to upload files to Resources or Drop Box with Windows or Cyberduck with Mac OS X. Other operating systems are mentioned in the article also, along with considerations for the process.

Group spaces: You can share items with pre-defined groups, which gives you more control over who has access to "Resources" items.

Controlling access: Using the Permissions and Roles feature, site owners can control which types of users can read, post, revise, and/or delete files in specific folders. Site owners and instructors can make a resource available to anyone by choosing to post it with the public view setting checked.

Things to Consider

Many classes post weekly readings in their "Resources". These can include links to web sites as well as to other kinds of documents, like Adobe PDF files. Some classes also post presentations or slides used in lectures.
By setting folder permissions, a large collaboration site can use one folder in "Resources" as a space to archive important documents, and allow only certain site participants to modify those documents.

Resources Basics

Adding a Resources Folder

In the left-hand menu, select Resources. By default, the “Resources” tool has one root folder. This folder’s title is the same as your course’s title. Creating sub-folders to the main folder may be useful for both you and your students in order to help organize materials into categories such as “Lecture Notes,” “Readings,” “Week 1 Materials,” etc.

Select the Add link to the right of the folder to which you want to upload a file.
From the drop-down list, select Create Folders.
Enter a name for your folder.

(See the Creating a Student Folder in Resources article to find out how you can designate and enable a specific folder for your students to add content to).

Unsupported Characters

When naming an item such as a file, folder, discussion forum, or wiki page, avoid using either foreign characters or the unsupported characters below, as any of these characters can cause an error.

Important Note: Even if the file appears to load correctly, it will not display if you include such symbols in the filename. It's possible that you could use one of these symbols and not receive an error while uploading; however, when others try to access the file, they will receive an error.

Unsupported Character List

Back slash \

Forward slash /

Question mark ?

Asterisk *

Quotation mark “

Colon :

Less than <

Greater than >

Hash mark #

Percent sign %

You can create more folders by selecting Add Another Folder.

Adding a File for Viewing or Downloading

Select the Add link to the right of the folder to which you want to upload a file.
From the drop-down list, select Upload Files.
To choose your file, select Browse and then click Open.
Locate the file you want to upload from your computer and double click on it.
Enter a Display Name. Display Names are shown on the Resources home page. By default, CLEW enters the filename as the file’s Display Name, which you may keep or change. It is recommended to make the Display Name as meaningful as possible.
- To upload large files or multiple files, you may want to consider using WebDAV to be able to drag and drop files from your computer to the server.
Copyright Status Please check the copyright status for materials you've linked to or uploaded to ensure that the copyright information is accurate and you have appropriate permissions to post materials on your site. Selecting this status is mandatory (see image below).

For more information on copyright, visit Campus Copyright Information.

Included in 2.7.X upgrade

Setting Access and Display Options for Resources Files

(Optional) To add a description or any other details, such as who can access the file or when it should be visible, select Add details for this item beside the file name. (See the Availability and Access article for more information).
(Optional) To upload a second file at the same time, select the Add Another File link. You can then select another file to upload by repeating the steps above.

Sending Resources Update Emails

If you want to send an email notification to all students, choose Email Notification from the drop-down menu. Selecting High - All participants will send an email to all participants in the site. Selecting Low – Only participants who have opted in will send an email to those who have enabled low-priority emails to be sent to them in their individual preferences (found in My Workspace -> Preferences -> Notifications). The default option is None – No notification so if you do want an email to go out, you need to select the correct option. These options are consistent throughout other tools in CLEW with emailing options. Emails will be sent to students only if the site is “launched .”
Select Upload Files Now to finish uploading the file. You will be returned to the Resources home page, or the folder you were working in.

Uploading or Downloading Multiple or Large Files

Using WebDAV, AnyClient or CyberDuck

Maximum size file limits for upload are displayed on the Upload Files screen. Currently you can upload only 50 MB at a time. To upload more than 50 MB at a time, use the Upload-Download Multiple Resources link and follow the instructions. This will enable you to use a program called WebDAV, which allows you to map and transfer your files from your hard drive directory to your CLEW site or vice versa. Mac users may want to try Cyberduck(open source software), which will provide the same functionality. Another free file transfer software program that some report is helpful, is called AnyClient. Those using Windows 7 might benefit from this utility program. More detailed instructions are available in the WebDAV article.

See the Resources article for complete instructions on how to edit, delete, copy, and reorder resource items and many other functions of the tool.

Setting an Alias for the SiteID

You can set an easy-to-remember alias for the Site ID of any site you own (useful when using WebDAV:

In your site's left menu, click Site Editor.
Click Edit Site Information.
Next to "Site URL Alias", you'll see the part of the site "URL" common to all sites, followed by a text box. Enter the text you'd like to use in place of your SiteID in the text box.
At the bottom of the page, click Continue.
Review your changes, and then click Finish.

Viewing and Opening Items in Resources

When you click "Resources" in your site's left menu, you will see a list of items and folders. The following functions are available:

To open or view an item, click its name. You may need to agree to a copyright statement before viewing some material.
To see the contents of a folder, either click its name to enter the folder, or click the folder icon to expand the folder and display its contents in the current list. To expand all folders, click the black arrows to the left of Title.
Once a folder contains more than 256 items, you cannot expand it by clicking the folder icon. Instead, to view and access its contents, you must click the folder's name. When a folder contains more than 256 items, its icon will change to display an arrow instead of a + (plus sign).
You can navigate between folders using the Location: path above the "Resources" list; simply click a folder name in the path to go to that folder. You can also click the icon of a folder with an arrow in it to go up one level.
You can sort the resources by title (click Title), resource creator (click Created by), date last modified (click Modified), or size (click Size). To reverse the order, click any of these links again.

Navigation through clicking on links beside Location:

Editing a Folder

To edit the name, description, availability, access settings, or optional properties for a folder: *From the Actions menu, choose Edit Details.

Make your changes, and then click Update to save them.

Reordering folder contents

To reorder the contents of a folder, see Reordering Items in Resources.

Working with Files

To add a new file for uploading or viewing, see Adding a File for Viewing or Downloading.

Editing a File's Details

To edit the name, description, availability, access settings, or optional properties for a file, from the Actions menu next to your file's name, click Edit Details. Make your changes, and then click Update to save them.

Updating a File's Contents

Whenever you open a file from "Resources", such as a Word document, your computer creates a temporary copy and displays it, while the original file stays on the server. If you make any changes to the temporary copy, they are not saved automatically to the original. If you want to change the contents of the original, you will need to open it, make and save your changes, and then replace the original version with your updated version.

To replace a Resources file with an updated version from your computer, from the Actions menu next to your file's name, click Upload New Version.
Click Browse to select the updated file from your computer.
Then click Upload New Version Now.

Working with Web Links in Resources

You can connect to web addresses in your course or project site easily and keep all of the most important information for your participants a click away using the Resources tool. See the Working with Web Links in Resources article for more details.

Create HTML Pages

Resources and Drop Box have a Create HTML Page option that allows you to create your own web page, using a WYSIWYG editor. See the Create HTML Page article to find out how.

Creating an Online Text Document

Adding a Text document

To create and display an online text document in your "Resources" area:

Next to the folder to which you want to add the text document, from the Add menu, choose Create Text Document.
Type the content of your text document, and then click Continue.
Enter a title and an optional description in the text areas provided.
Complete the Availability and Access and Optional properties options as desired.
Select the Email Notification options as desired.
Next to Email Notification, specify whether you want to have members of the site notified automatically via email when the resource is available. (This option does not appear when you're adding an item to "Resources" in "My Workspace".)
Click Finish when done.

Editing a text document's details

Edit Details options

To edit the name, description, copyright status, availability, access settings, or optional properties for a text document:

From the Actions menu next to the document's title, choose Edit Details.
Make your changes, and then click Update to save them.

Updating a text document

To update the content of a text document:

From the Actions menu next to the document's title, choose Edit Content.
Make your change, and then click Continue.

Working with Citation Lists

The Citation List feature allows you to search library resources as well as create and manage citations and persistent links to articles and other online items. You can use Google Scholar too to find relevant citations. Citations contain links to retrieve the full text or physical location of the information. You can attach copies of these citation lists to other items (e.g. assignments, forum postings, calendar items) within your worksite, as well as export citations to bibliographic management tools, such as EndNote and Reference Manager. See the Citation List article for further details and a link to a video explaining the process.

Making your Resources Items Publicly Accessible

When you use the "Resources" tool to upload an item, you can choose to keep that item accessible only to members of your site, or you can choose to make the item publicly viewable (i.e., available on the World Wide Web). The latter option allows you to share an item with the participants of another site.

To allow people outside your site to see an item in your "Resources":

Click My Workspace to access your personal items, or click a site tab to access items there.
In the left menu, click Resources.

Next to the folder or file you wish to make public, from the Actions menu, choose Edit Details.

Under Availability and Access, select This file is publicly viewable or, for folders, This folder and its contents are publicly viewable.

Click Update.

After you've made your files publicly viewable, you can access and share them via the web. To find the public URL for a file in "Resources", see Finding the URL of a Resources item.

Finding the URL of a Resources item

The "Resources" tool allows you to store your files in a central location and make them available to other people by referencing the URL.

To find and share the URL of an item in "Resources":

In the menubar, click Resources.
Next to the item to which you want to link, from the Actions menu, click Edit Details.
Under File Details, next to Web Address (URL), highlight the URL of the item. Press +c on Windows, +c on a Mac to copy the URL.

Paste the URL wherever you need it by pressing Ctrl-v +v on Windows, +v on a Mac

Note: To make a URL visible to users outside your site, see Making your Resources Items Publicly Accessible.

Moving an item in Resources

To move an item to another location within "Resources":

In the left menu of the relevant site, click Resources.
Next to the file you wish to move, from the Actions menu, click Move. To move several items at a time, check their corresponding boxes, and then, above the list of items, click Move.
Navigate to the location where you wish to move the file, and then click the Paste copied items icon. To move the item to another site, click the arrow next to Show other sites; this will display folders in the sites (including My Workspace) to which you have access.

Note: To cancel the move, click the reset button. Note: If you have linked to an item from another tool (e.g., Wiki or Podcasts), that link will no longer work when you move the item.

Renaming a File in Resources

In "Resources", to change a file's display name (i.e., the name that appears in your list of resource items):

In your list of resource items, find the file you want to rename, and from the Actions menu, choose Edit Details.
In the field next to Name, type a new display name for the file.
At the bottom of the screen, click Update.

Note: This will change the file's display name only, and will not affect the true filename (i.e., the filename at the end of the URL associated with the item, or the filename listed in the WebDAV connection to your site's "Resources").

To change the true filename of an item in your site's "Resources", download the item to your computer, save it under a new name, and then upload the renamed file to "Resources".

Alternatively, if you have a WebDAV connection to your site's "Resources", you can change the filename there.

Deleting a Resources item

Remove Multiple Resources

To remove an item from "Resources":

To delete one item at a time, from the Actions menu next to the resource item, choose Remove. To delete several items at a time, check the items to be removed, and then, above the list of items, click Remove.
To delete the item(s) listed, click Remove.

Note: You can delete a folder containing items. To keep the folder's files, first move or copy its contents into another folder.

Reorder Items in Resources

Starting the reorder process in Resources

Reorder screen in Resources

To reorder items in "Resources":

From the Actions menu next to the appropriate folder, choose Reorder.
On the Reorder page, move an item within the folder by clicking the up or down arrow next to it.
Alternatively, you can use the Position drop-down list at the far right.
To save your changes, click Save.

Creating Group Folders using the Resources Tool

The Resources tool allows you to create folders accessible only by a specified group.

Creating a Group

To create a group folder, you must first create a group. For help, see Manage Groups or Sections.

Creating a Group Folder

To create a group folder:

Next to the folder in which you want to create a new group folder, from the Add menu, choose Create Folders.
Enter a title.
Click Add details for this item.
Under Availability and Access, select Display this file to selected groups only. Check the groups you wish to allow access to, and then click Create Folders Now.

Note: If you don't see any choices under Availability and Access, you may need to adjust the permissions for the parent folder.

Changing an Existing Folder to a Group Folder

To a change an existing folder to a group folder:

Next to the folder that you want to change to a group folder, from the Actions menu,

choose Edit Details.

Under Availability and Access, select Display this file to selected groups only.
Check the groups you wish to allow access to, and then click Update.

Managing Permissions for Group Folders

Once you have created a group folder, you may need to manage permissions in order to adjust the level of access for site participants. For detailed instructions, see Changing the Permissions for a Folder in Resources.

Changing the permissions for a folder in Resources

To change permissions for a folder in "Resources":

In your site's menubar, click Resources.
Next to the folder in which you want to manage permissions, from the Actions menu, choose Edit Folder Permissions.
Check or uncheck the boxes to grant the permissions based on participant role. Options for permissions include:
Create resources
Read resources
Edit any resource
Edit own resources
Delete any resource
Delete own resources
Access/create group resources
Read hidden resources

Click Save. To change your selection, click Cancel.

Note: You can also set comprehensive permissions for all resources in the "Resources" tool. For instructions, see Permissions and Roles.

Resources Permissions

Make a Resources Item Visible Again

You can set beginning and ending dates for items in your site's "Resources". If an item with an ending date is no longer visible and you'd like to make it available again. See the Availability and Access article for more details.

FAQ – Resources

How do I . . .?

Expand and collapse folders?

In Resources you can open all folders at once to scan the contents.

To do so, click the black diamond shaped Expand All button on the grey menu bar at the top of the screen. This button appears to the left of the Title button.

To collapse all folders, click the hour glass shaped Collapse All button.

This function is also available in the Lessons and Drop Box tools.

Organize Resources?

Items placed in the Resources section are listed alphabetically by default. This means that the most important items may not be at the top of the list or in any useful order, making it difficult for you and your students to find the files you are looking for.

If an alphabetical listing makes files difficult to find, you can rearrange the items to appear in a more logical order.

On the “Resources” home page, click the arrow on the Actions link next to the folder you want to reorder and click Reorder.
Use the arrows on the right side to move items up and down. Continue to click the up or down arrow until you have reordered the resources to your satisfaction.
1. You may reorder the resources in the folder by using the Position column on the right hand side. Click on the drop-down arrow of the Position number beside the resource you want to move. Select the desired number. The resource moves to occupy that position in the list.
Click Save to finish or Cancel to return to the “Resources” list without saving any changes.

How do I reorder the contents in my Resources tool?

In the "Resources" tool, files are listed in alphabetical order by default. This means that the most important items may not be at the top of the list or in any useful order, making it difficult for you and your students to find the files you want.

Here's how to change the default order of your "Resources":

On the Resources home page, mouse over the Actions link next to the folder in which you want to reorder the contents and click Reorder.
Use the arrows on the right side to move items up and down one. Continue to click the up or down arrows until you have the resource where you want it.
You may also reorder the resources in the folder by using the Position column on the right hand side. Click on the drop-down arrow of the position number beside the resource you want to move. Select the desired number. The resource moves to occupy that position in the list.
Click Save to finish or Cancel to return to the "Resources" list without saving any changes.

Resources