Quick Guide to My Site for Students
Quick Guide to My Site for Students
A My Site is a personal web space you can use for your studies. It provides a central
location where you can manage your documents, tasks, links, calendars, colleagues
and other personal information.
You will be able to search your Programme site, module site, all learning and
teaching sites or archive materials.
Access to your electronic learning and teaching materials will be through Programme
sites. A link to the appropriate Programme site(s) will appear on your My Site
homepage.
The Programme site will list all module sites associated with it, presenting a
personalised view highlighting the specific module you are enrolled on.
Student access will be provided automatically based on registration information taken
from the Student Record System.
Note: Members of staff will not be getting a My Site until the RAE (Research
Assessment Exercise) is finished in 2008.
Note: If you have multiple roles e.g. you also work as a part time member of
staff for the University (e.g. shelver in the Library) you are treated as a member
of staff and therefore will not have access to a My Site until after the RAE.
Your My Site enables you to:
 Store your documents, images and presentations
 Manage your personal information and contacts in the University
 Use Wikis to create shared web pages for your project work
 Use Blogs for reflective learning
 Use RSS feeds to keep up to date with the latest news in your subject area
 Set up discussions or chat online with your lecturers and fellow students
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Accessing your My Site
 Now Do This …
1. If you are using a computer in the University, login to the workstation and double-
click on the Student Portal icon on the desktop.
2. Or, if you are accessing the service outside the university, launch your internet
browser, click in the Address field and type http://student.plymouth.ac.uk/. Click
Go.
3. Enter your university Username and Password and press Enter.
4. You will then have access to your Student Portal Homepage – click on the link to
your My Site. When you first enter your My Site you will see the University
copyright consent statement. You will need to read the Copyright consent
statement, check the box and click on Submit to continue.
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Your My Site
Each My Site has two views – Public and Private.
Public View
The public view of your personal site provides information about you and your work
that is shared with other people in the University.
The design & layout on the public view cannot be personalised. They are designed to
look consistent across the organisation.
Private View
The private view provides a personalised view of your My Site which contains content
targeted to you.
From the private view, you can also organise and access your documents, manage
your personal information and link to information etc
Editing your Profile
 Now Do This …
1. Your My Site opens on your My Home page (your private page). To switch to
your My Profile page (your public page), click the My Profile tab.
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2. Click on the Edit Details button
3. On the Edit Profile page you can type descriptive text about yourself, add a
photograph of and other information about yourself - the more you share with
everyone, the easier it becomes for others to network with you.
4. When you are finished, click Save and Close.
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Programme and Module sites
Access to your electronic learning and teaching materials will be through Programme
sites which will list all module sites associated with it, presenting a personalised view
and highlighting the specific modules you are enrolled on.
Accessing your Programme and Module sites
 Now Do This …
1. Click on a programme under My Programme(s) on your My Site.
2. The Programme site will appear. This contains information relevant to the
Programme. On the right hand side you can see the list of modules. Your core
modules will be listed. Click on +Optional to see your optional modules.
3. Click on a module link to go to the module site.
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My Site admin tools
Your My Site comes with a number of tools to help you publish information in your My
Site.
You can access these by clicking on the My Edesk menu, then My Site Tools.
Document Library
A Document Library is a collection of documents or other files that you want to share
and can be used to store documents, presentations etc.
They can contain MS Office documents, PDF files and media files. You can also
create sub folders to organise your documents.
Note: There is a 50MB individual file upload limit.
You will notice that there are two Document Libraries already created ready for you
to use.
 Important …
Personal documents will only be visible to you.
Shared documents will be displayed on your public home page and available to all
University users.
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Uploading documents
 Now Do This …
1. Click on Personal Documents. Click on down arrow next to Upload and click on
Upload Document.
2. Click on Browse.
2. Select the document you want to
upload and click Open.
3. The document name will be entered
in the dialogue box – Click OK.
4. The document will now be in your Personal Documents library.
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Create a sub folder to organise your documents
You can create sub folders to organise your documents and make them easier to
find.
 Now Do This …
1. Click on Personal Documents.
2. Click on the down arrow next to New, then click on New Folder.
3. In the dialogue box type in the folder name and click OK.
4. The folder now exists and you can put documents into it as shown in the
previous section.
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Picture Library
A Picture Library can be used to publish and share pictures. Picture libraries provide
special features for managing and displaying your pictures such as thumbnails,
download options and a slide show.
Note: Anything that you load into Shared Pictures is available to all University users.
Uploading Pictures
 Now Do This …
1. Click on Shared Pictures link on the Quick Launch menu on the left. Click on
the drop down arrow next to Upload, click on Upload Picture.
2. Browse to the picture you want to upload, highlight it and click on Open.
3. Click OK.
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4. The picture will now show in your Shared Pictures library. You can also use this
picture throughout your site.
Organising links using My Links
The My Links page allows you to keep track of your favourite Web links. When you
log on, My Links appears in the upper-right corner on every site. By using the My
Links menu, you can easily add new links, reorganise your links, access sites where
you are a member, and click links to save them to your My Links list.
Adding a link
You can add a link to your My Links when you are browsing. You may wish to add a
link to your Programme or Module site.
 Now Do This …
1. Click on the My Links drop down menu.
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2. Click on Add to My Links
3. In the next dialogue box enter the title of the address, the web address and
group etc. and click OK.
4. The link will now show in the My
Links drop down menu.
Managing your Links
You can edit and delete any links you add to My Links.
 Now Do This …
1. Click on the My Links drop down menu.
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2. Click on Manage Links.
3. In the next dialogue box you can Add, Edit or Delete your links.
4. When you are sure that you have set the correct information click OK.
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RSS Feeds
RSS Feeds, often called news feeds enable you to bring up to date information from
other sites and make it visible on yours.
News agencies and other dynamic sites now offer this service. RSS Feeds can feed
or download information such as top headlines, current travel discounts, sports
scores, and other timely content throughout the day to subscribers.
When someone publishes learning materials in a Programme or Module site a RSS
feed is automatically generated. You can subscribe to any of these feeds from your
My Site so that you can see the latest updates in a particular Programme or Module.
Other web sites usually indicate if they offer RSS or a newsfeed service. They
usually show the symbol .
Updating the external RSS feed
By default you will notice that you have the BBC news feed on the homepage of your
My Site. You can change this to any external news feed.
 Now Do This …
1. Click on the drop down arrow next to RSS viewer.
2. Click on Modify Shared Web Part.
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3. Under RSS Feed URL type the new address of the news feed.
4. Click on OK.
Adding a University of Plymouth Programme or Module site
RSS feed
RSS feeds are automatically created when information is published in a Programme
or Module site. You can subscribe to any of these feeds on your My Site to keep up
to date with the latest updates and changes. An example could be to automatically
see when documents have been added to the Lecture Notes and Presentations area.
Finding the address of the Programme or Module RSS feed
 Now Do This …
1. On the Programme or Module site browse to the area you would like to get
updates on e.g. Lecture Notes and Presentations.
2. Click on the Actions menu, then View RSS Feed.
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3. The RSS page will appear.
4. Click in the Address Box and select the RSS feed address. Press <CTRL>+<C>
to copy the address.
Note: When you are using Internet Explorer 7 the News Feeds icon lights up to
indicate there is a feed available on a web page. If you click on the icon it will
take you to the same page as in step 3 above.
Adding the Programme or Module site RSS feed to your page
 Now Do This …
1. Click on Site Actions, then Edit Page.
2. Click in the Zone you want to add the RSS
feed to and click on Add a Web Part
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3. Browse through the list and scroll down and
check the box next to Uop RSSReader Web
Part and click on Add.
4. Click on Edit then Modify Web Part set the
RSS feed address. You can also set the
number of items you want to display.
5. Press <CTRL>+<V> to paste the address and click Apply.
6. Click on Exit Edit Mode button
7. The RSS feed will appear on your page.
Creating a Blog
A Blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in reverse
chronological order. Examples of use include reflective journals, placement journal
and personal work diary.
They often provide commentary or news on a particular subject. A typical Blog
combines text, images and links to other blogs, web pages etc.
Blog owner posts and other users can comment. Posts are automatically added to
RSS feed. You can also post entries directly from Word 2007.
You may wish to use a Blog to:
 Maintain a personal diary
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 Keep a reflective log for a field trip
 Keep a record of a practical session, recording thoughts, steps, outcomes etc.
You can create a Blog by clicking on Create Blog link on the right hand side of your
My Site homepage.
Create a Blog
 Now Do This …
5. Click on the Create Blog link on your My Site interface
6. Click on Create a post.
7. Enter the Title of your Blog and the blog dialogue.
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8. When you are happy with the contents, click Publish.
Getting Help
The Student Portal has a comprehensive built-in Help system. You can access it
from:
http://training.plymouth.ac.uk/training/onlinehelp
Accessibility for All Students
Every effort has been made to ensure students with disabilities or special learning
needs can use the student portal. If you are experiencing difficulties regarding your
disability, you can contact the university's Disability Assist Services either by email at
DAS@plymouth.ac.uk or by telephone on (01752) 232278. You can also visit them
in Room 8, Babbage Building, Plymouth.
Supporting documentation is available in paper and electronic (Microsoft Word)
format.
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