University of Southern California Academic Information Services. The New MyMarshall Portal Launching Fall 2009

Transcription

1 University of Southern California Academic Information Services The New MyMarshall Portal Launching Fall 2009 About MyMarshall MyMarshall is your personalized portal to information, events, and systems used by the Marshall School of Business, USC, and the outside world. Through it, you can access systems such as Blackboard, , calendars, room reservations, and community groups to name a few. Further, because it is customizable, you can add your own web links, read the news through RSS feeds, and even change your layout and color scheme. Accessing MyMarshall MyMarshall is web based and can be accessed from a computer connected to the internet using one of the following browsers: Internet Explorer 7 & 8, Firefox 3 & 3.5, or Safari 3 & 4. The address to MyMarshall is: The Landing Page When you arrive at MyMarshall you will be on the landing page. The landing page contains general information that might be of interest to the Marshall community but does not require a login. Note that because you are not yet logged in, any changes you make to the landing page cannot be saved. Switch to MyMarshall Classic If you are having problems with the new MyMarshall, click switch to MyMarshall classic to use the previous version. Logging In Once you are logged into MyMarshall, you will see more content and be able to customize your environment and save your changes. To login to MyMarshall, click the LOGIN button located in the upper right. Your username is the same one you use for such apps as Blackboard and Marshall Outlook . Your password is your Marshall password. If you have forgotten your Marshall password, username or are an alumni or new student in need of assistance, click the appropriate link to the right or contact the Marshall Help Desk at (213) Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 1 of 8

2 Navigating MyMarshall Once you are logged into MyMarshall, you will see a screen similar to the one below. MyMarshall is made up of content windows known as Widgets, the Marshall Explorer which is its navigation system/search engine, and the tabs in the upper right which allow customization and account administration. Add Content Use to unhide existing widgets and add RSS feeds. Change Look Use to change themes and layout (# of columns). Logout Returns you to the landing page. My Account Use to change your password, secret questions, contact info, etc.? Opens Help. Marshall Explorer - Navigation & Search Engine Use one of the three options shown below to locate Marshall services, links, applications, etc. Clear the Search Box Click the X to begin a new search. Menu Browsing a) Click a menu name to expand or contract a menu choice. b) Click a link to access an item. Search for Links within Menus As you type within the Search Marshall box, any partially matching links will appear. You can then click the item you wish to access. Marshall or Google Search Web Page Content Search This allows you to search web pages for content. Clicking Marshall will search only Marshall pages while clicking Google will search all web pages. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 2 of 8

3 Coming Soon - The Announcements Widget The Announcements Widget in the new MyMarshall will allow you to view announcements from all of the Marshall groups you belong to from a single location. It will be located on the landing page once you login. The image to the left shows the Announcements widget. Click More expand the synopsis to the full article within the window. Click a group s name to go to their community site. Coming Soon - The Calendar Reader Widget The Calendar Reader Widget in the new MyMarshall will allow you to view calendar events from all of the Marshall groups you belong to from a single calendar. It will be located on the landing page once you login. The image to the left shows the Calendar Reader widget. A date with a dot indicates that there are events on that day and if you click a day, its events will be listed below. If you click an event, its details will appear below the calendar. If you click the name of a site, you will be taken to its community site. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 3 of 8

4 Manipulating Widgets This section covers how to move, minimize, hide, and unhide widgets. Move a Widget To move a widget, place the mouse on the title bar until the directional arrows appear and then drag to the new location. Show Options Use this to access the widgets options and settings. Refresh Updates the widget s content since the last load. Minimize Content Hides the widget s contents but not the title bar. Click its Restore button to unhide the content. Hide Widget Removes the widget from your page. You can unhide a widget through the Add Content tab. Content Links Most widgets contain clickable links that typically launch systems, applications, or pages. Restore Hidden Widgets To place a hidden widget back in your desktop, follow these steps. 1. Click the Add Content tab. 2. Click the All Widgets link. 3. Use the scroll arrows to locate the widget you wish to unhide. 4. Drag the desired widget to your desktop. 5. Click Close Panel. Reset Widgets to the Default To return your desktop to its default widgets, follow the steps below. Note that this will hide any custom widgets you have created. 1. Click the Add Content tab. 2. Click Reset Widgets to Default. 3. Click Yes, Reset my Widgets to confirm. 4. Click Close Panel. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 4 of 8

5 Changing your Layout and Color Scheme (Theme) MyMarshall allows you to change the number of columns your widgets display within and change your color scheme and header images by selecting from a variety of designer themes. Changing your Layout (Number of Columns) The steps in this section allow you to change the number of columns making up your desktop. 1. Click the Change Look tab. 2. Click the Layout link. 3. Click a layout. 4. Click Close Panel. (Note that you may need to drag your widgets into the new columns if you added more.) Changing your Theme (Color Scheme) Marshall has provided a variety of designer color schemes and images known as themes that you can use to change the look of MyMarshall. Follow the steps in this section to change your theme. 1. Click the Change Look tab. 2. Click the Themes link (or one of its subcategories). 3. Use the scroll arrows to browse through the available themes. 4. Click the theme you wish to apply. 5. Click Close Panel. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 5 of 8

6 Most users have various web sites they visit every day for the latest updates on news, events, products, etc. What an RSS feed allows you to do is collect the latest headlines from all of your favorite sites in one location. If a headline & summary interests you, simply click it to read the full article on the web site. Assuming the web site provides an RSS feed, you can create widgets within MyMarshall to display the latest headlines and summaries from your favorite sites. The steps in this section show how to create an RSS widget using NPR s RSS feed as an example. Creating Your Own Widgets RSS Feeds Step A: Copying the RSS Feed s URL To create an RSS Widget in MyMarshall, you must go to the site providing the RSS feed and then copy the path to the RSS feed. 1. Go to the page whose RSS feed you wish to read. (In this example: Pages which provide RSS feeds typically have a fairly prominent link to feeds with such labels as: News Feeds or RSS Feeds. For NPR s site, it is News Feeds. 2. Find the link to the site s RSS feed and click it. ( News Feeds in this example.) 3. Some sites such as NPR offer multiple feeds based on news category, click the RSS category you wish to receive a feed from. 4. A new page should open. Highlight the address of the new page and press Control + C to copy the path. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 6 of 8

7 Step B: Creating the RSS Widget within MyMarshall Now that we have the URL to the RSS feed on our clipboard, we will use it to create an RSS widget within MyMarshall. 1. Login to MyMarshall. 2. Click the Add Content tab. 3. Click the link Make your own Widget. 4. Click in the Link box and press Control + V to paste the URL to the RSS feed you copied earlier. 5. In the Title box, type a descriptive title for your RSS feed. This text will appear on the widget s title bar. 6. Click Create Custom Widget. 7. Click Close Panel. Step C: (Optional) Setting the Feed Options This allows you to specify the number of news items to display and whether you wish to see just headlines, headlines & the summary, or headlines, summary, and images. 1. Click the Show Options button located on the widget s title bar. 2. Make your desired settings and click Save. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 7 of 8

8 My Account Administering your Password, Contact Information & Security To change your Marshall password, security settings, contact information, or forward your Outlook , click the MY ACCOUNT button located in the upper right. Once you are in the My Account area, click the appropriate category for the type of information you wish to change. When done, click Save Changes. Marshall School of Business MyMarshall.docx 9/17/09 Page 8 of 8