FAQ for TwinSpace

The following "Frequently Asked Questions" (FAQ) have been put together to help eTwinners get started with the new TwinSpace

General questions

Q: What is the TwinSpace?
A: It is a collaborative workspace which is automatically created for all eTwinning Projects. As from 1 September 2009, projects have a new TwinSpace. These FAQ refer to this new version of the TwinSpace. For the old TwinSpace, please refer to the guidelienes here: http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/help/guidelines.htm

Q: What is an Activity page?
A: In the activities section (click on 'activities' on the navigation on the topbar) you can create as many activities pages as you wish. In each of them, you can have a number of applications which will make this page fit for the tasks you want to carry out.

Q: How can I create a new Activity page?
A: You can only do this if you are an administrator, i.e., teacher or pupil administrator. To set up a new page, click on 'Activities' in the top bar navigation and then on 'Manage pages'. Type the name of the page and then click on 'add'.

Q:How do I add applications in an Activity page?
A: Go to the Activity page and, in the liferay dock (the drop down list you have on the top-right area of the page), click on 'add application'. Then pick on application (forum, file archive, etc.) from the list which appears on the left side of the page and click on one (or drag and drop). The order of the applications on the page can be changed at any time.

Q: How can I change the display language of my TwinSpace?
A: Go to "My account" inside the 'Welcome' button (top right-hand corner). In the drop-down menu, click 'Display settings', change the language and click ‘save’.

Q: What are the differences between pupil administrator and pupil member?
A: The pupil administrator can add applications to the Activity pages or the pupils corner. They also can manage blog posts and entries in file archive and forum.

Q: Is it possible to exclude some pupils from some activities, i.e., the chat? If yes, how does it work?
A: This is not possible.

Q: Can a teacher control/monitor what the children say to each other within the pupil section?
A: Yes, the teacher administrators can control this at any time but they will not be alerted automatically. The information inside the pupil section will never be available to the general public.

Q: How can I add 'web content' to a TwinSpace page?
A: Web content can only be added to the Activity page, the Staff Room or the Pupils Corner. To do this you have to be a teacher or pupil administrator of the TwinSpace. Go to the 'Welcome' drop-down menu on top of the page, click 'Add application', drag a web content display into the page, click on the icon with the plus and add your content.

Inviting other members

Q: How do I invite other members to the TwinSpace?
A: If you are an administrator, go the TwinSpace homepage and click on 'Invite pupils' and 'Invite teachers and visitors'. This will bring you to a page where you can provide the email address of the teacher, or the name and surname of the pupils you want to invite.

Q: How do I invite teachers to the TwinSpace?
A: After you have submitted the email address of the teacher, the system will recognise whether this email address corresponds to an already existing members of eTwinning. If this is the case, the system will suggest a login and the possibility to select a 'role' ('visitor', 'teacher member' or 'teacher administrator'). Confirm your choice by clicking on 'submit' and check in the feedback page if the invitation was successful. Please note that a 'visitor' can only view the pages. IMPORTANT: If you want to invite a teacher to your project (and then automatically to its TwinSpace), invite this teacher from the Desktop (in MyProjects --> 'Manage Members') as this way they are not just TwinSpace members, but official project partners. Furthermore, they will be able to access the TwinSpace from their Desktop directly.

Q: How do I invite pupils to the TwinSpace?
A: After you submitted the name and surnames of the pupils (please avoid special characters), the system will propose a login and a password for each of the pupil invited. Note them down so that you can tell them how to login. Then click on submit and check in the feedback page if the invitation was successful.

Q: From where do invited people login to the TwinSpace?
A: Pupils and visitors can only login from the URL: http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net. Teachers can login from the same URL. If they were invited as part of the project via the Desktop, which is recommended, they can access the TwinSpace from the Desktop directly (MyProejcts --> go to TwinSpace).

Publishing pages & entries

Q: How do I publish pages?
A: Administrators can make the pages of the Activitiy section publicly available (this means that one does not need to be logged in to view them). In order to publish pages, administrators need to click on 'manage pages' in the entry page of the activity section (simply click on 'activities' on the topbar), click on 'manage pages' and click on 'publish' for each of the page you want to be visible on the Internet.

Using the file archive

Q: Can I upload any kind of file into a file archive?
A: Currently the system allows you to upload the following file types up to a size of 20MB: .mp3,.dmg,.bmp,.css,.doc,.dot,.gif,.gz,.htm,.html,.jpg,.js,.lar,.

odb,.odf,.odg,.odp,.ods,.odt,.pdf,.png,.ppt,.rtf,.swf,.sxc,.sxi,.sxw,.tar,.tiff,

.tgz,.txt,.vsd,.xls,.xml,.zip,mov, avi, wmv, mpeg