Y520 Course conference

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SSF problem report form (This goes to the IU SSF support team, not to your instructor.)

General information

An electronic conference is a way for us to carry on discussions about various Y520 topics. This is where you will post your responses to most of the learning activities assigned in the course.

The conferencing system we are using is called SiteScape Forum--SSF, for short. (SSF was formerly known as AltaVista Forum, or AVF, so you may see an occasional stray reference to it under that name.) SSF is organized into a hierarchical set of "forums", "folders", "entries", and "replies". I have created a forum for the current semester of Y520. Within that forum, I will create a series of folders representing various course units or topics. You will make entries in those folders, to which your classmates and I can post replies.

When you first connect to SSF, you will be prompted for your SSF username and password. Initially, both your username and password will be your last name--all lower case. Once you are connected to SSF, you should change your password to something that only you (and the system administrator) will know.

Note: It may take two to three days from the time I receive your email username until I can arrange to activate your SSF username and password.

Unlike the rest of the Y520 web site, the course conference will be available only to registered students, me, and a necessary system administrator or two.

When you connect to SSF for the first time, a good place to start is the "Practice Forum". This is designed to help new users figure out how to navigate the system. You can also make use of the online HELP function in SSF. It provides a detailed description of how the system works.

Note: To return to the Y520 web site after using SSF, use the "back" button on your Web browser, or use your bookmark function.

Step-by-step instructions for first-time SSF users

To get you started, here are some detailed instructions for doing three things on SSF:

• Connecting for the first time.
• Changing your password to something that only you know.
• Completing the first SSF exercise.

Hint: You may want to print out this page, or open a second browser window, so you can have access to the directions and SSF at the same time.

1. Click on the link to SSF at the top or bottom of this page. This will take you to a login screen. Enter your SSF username and password that I have assigned you. Once you've entered these in the appropriate boxes, click on OK.

2. You should then see a SiteScape Forum screen. At about the middle of the screen, you will see the words, "Welcome (your name)". Click on your name to go to your User Profile screen.

3. Click on the Modify icon (the pencil) at the top of the User Profile screen. This takes you to the Modify User Screen. Here you should change your password to something only you know. You do this by entering it twice in the appropriate boxes (near the top of the page). Just be sure you remember your password!

4. You can ignore all of the other information on this screen (unless you want to be brave). Just scroll all the way to the bottom and click on OK. In a few seconds (or longer), this will return you to your User Profile page. Scroll to the bottom and click on Close. This brings you back to the first page.

5. Now, you can see that you are registered for two forums: the Y520 forum for the current semester, and the Practice forum. You can play around in the Practice forum if you like. Just be aware that it has lots of potential users who are not in Y520. (Students in subsequent semesters will see a listing for an older Y520 forum, but you will not be able to access it. Make sure you are connecting to the current one.)

6. To complete the first Y520 assignment on SSF, click on the Y520 current semester forum. You'll then see a folder labeled Course Orientation. Click on the text "Course Orientation".

7. Read the bio I have posted, and any others that have been added by your classmates.

8. When you're ready to add your own, scroll back to the top of this page. Near the upper right corner you'll see the "Tools Menu". Click on this and drag down to select "Add Discussion Topic". This screen will provide boxes for a title and the text of your message. I'd suggest that you compose your response in a word processor, then copy and paste it into the SSF box, but you can type right into the box if you want.

9. When you've finished entering your text, click OK at the bottom of the screen. After a few seconds, you should see that your message has been added. Note: If you just click on your browser's Back button without clicking OK, your message will not be posted. Anytime you enter something in SSF, you need to click on a button (usually OK) at the bottom of the screen for your action to take effect.

Note: If you are using SSF at a computer shared by others, you should log out when you are finished working. You must return to the Summit page to do this.

Browser settings for best SSF performance

IU's SSF support team offers the following advice to avoid problems with SSF. All but the first pertain to the preferences (Netscape term) or settings (Internet Explorer term) in your browser software. If this is totally undecipherable to you, you may want to ask a colleague or your Internet service provider for help.

• Is the browser you are using at least Internet Explorer 3.0 or Netscape 3.0?
• Make sure that you have Java enabled
• Make sure that Disk Cache is at least 7680 Kbytes and Memory Cache is 1024KB
• Make sure that documents in cache are compared to documents on network: "Every time"
• Make sure that your browser is set to accept "cookies"

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