Access Permissions Instructions by Virginia Montecino [Townhall is a Web-based asynchronous "bulletin board" with synchronous
chat capability]
Also see: Instructions for participants in Townhall These instructions primary
deal with host privileges. See the Townhall tutorial
To request a Townhall site for your course go to this Web address: http://www.irc.gmu.edu/requestacct/townhall.cfm Explanation of access options: If you do not select access options for your class, anyone registered with Townhall can post messages to your class or program meeting place. (That may or may not be desirable, depending upon the type of forum and purpose.) An access list lets you restrict entry to a folder or discussion. Access permissions may be specified for a user or for a group of users. For example, you could restrict access to only members of a particular course, and within the course forum you could have small group forums for students working on specific projects. The restricted access folders will not even appear on non-participants' computer screens. If a folder or discussion does not have an access list, it uses the access list of its parent folder. The system operator always has access to your Townhall site to troubleshoot, if necessary. Access rights: Hosts/ * moderators can:
Participants - can have access to various folders , post messages and engage in chat. If given permission by the host, they can create folders and sub-folders. The host can set different permissions for different folders and discussions. Restricted access: Read-only - access allows participants to view material, but does not allow participants to start new folders or discussions, or post messages in particular folders. [For example, a professor may want to post a syllabus or announcements and not invite discussion in that folder.] No access - completely prevents a user from viewing or posting. [For example, a professor might want to establish some small group forums within the larger class forum. Each small group forum would only allow access to those students.] Creating an Access List: [To add members to a restricted class or forum list, users must first have registered with Townhall.] Menu choices for hosts:
Select "Access List" to create a restricted list of users for your Townhall site. Once a host establishes a restricted access list, this negates the "all registered users" option and only members of the list have access. Facsimile of the Access "window" with access levels : [To set access permissions,
click in the circle under the category you select for each participant.]
To enter names in the
access list, scroll down until you come to a "window" to enter the
text, then type or copy and paste log on names of the users. To add a user
or group, as a host, participant, moderated user, reader-only user or deny
access, select the appropriate category. Insert new users single file,
with the email name, NO COMMAS. (Suggestion: Keep a list of the participants
Townhall names in the appropriate registration format to copy and paste
into the access list window.)
Select "Update" to add to your list of participants. "Clear" will delete all entries. Select "OK" after creating or updating the Access List. Return to the Access List and select the appropriate access permissions. Select "OK" again after updating the permissions for new members. You may be prompted to login again. Other options: To see all registered Townhall participants, select "Show All.". Select "Show Access List Only" to see list of restricted access users. Select "Following Users" if only a partial list of participants appears in the "Show Access List Only" "window." Select "Show User Groups" to add members to groups. ----------------- Prepared by Virginia
Montecino- montecin@gmu.edu;
http://mason.gmu.edu/~montecin
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