1. Creating and Using “My Workspace” on LearnAlberta.ca
A tutorial
for independent use and review 1

2. For best results, view this file in Normal or Notes Page format, rather than as a slide show. This will allow you to see the directions that accompany each screen shot.
You may choose to partially minimize the PowerPoint so that it appears beside the website as you work through the steps. You can do this by clicking on this symbol in the top right corner of your screen.
You can move the blue bar at the top of the NOTES area on this screen to allow you to see longer notes without scrolling down.
If you prefer to work from a printed document, select
Print What? – NOTES

3. What is My Workspace?
With My Workspace you can:
Save valuable resources.
Create and manage resource folders.
Add personal notes to resources and folders.
Share resources and folders by or web link.
To begin, go to learnalberta.ca

4. Home Page The new homepage offers several new features.
Users located within a school authority network will be automatically authenticated using the jurisdiction username and password. This allows users to see and use all resources, including licensed resources, without the need to sign in if they choose. Users who have created a personal account may sign in using their own username by selecting the “Sign In” link a the top of the page. Users can also register for a personal account by selecting the “Sign Up” link at the top of the page.
Users located outside of a school authority network must sign in using either the jurisdiction username and password or their personal account in order to see and use all of the resources on the website. Users can only see licensed resources when they have signed in as an authorized user.
The yellow band contains links to global functions like the FAQ, Check My System, About and Contact Us links. This is also where you will be able to change the language of the interface once the French interface is available.
The blue tabs under the LearnAlberta logo at the top of the page represent the larger features of the website.
The “Home” tab will return you to this page at any time.
The “Find resources by: Program of Study” tab takes you to the program of study view where you can view a program of study in an online format and easily find resources that are correlated to specific pieces of the program.
The “Find resources by: Search” tab takes you to the search page where you can use keywords to search for resources and can also limit the search using grade, subject, audience, language of the resource, media format and learning resource type.
The “Online Reference Centre” tab takes you to the Online Reference Centre. The Online Reference Centre contains links to multimedia encyclopedias and online databases that can be used to support inquiry and research. Some of the links are free and others have been paid for by Alberta Education. Students should be able to access the Online Reference Centre from school or from any other Internet enabled computer although they will need the jurisdiction username and password if accessing the site from outside of school. Students may create personal accounts if they so choose.
The “My Workspace” tab takes you to your Workspace (if you have signed in using your personal account) or to the sign in page if you have not yet signed in using a personal account. You can sign up and activate your account from this page as well.
The Find Resources box (located on the left hand side of the page) allows for a quick search for resources.
The Resources section (located in the bottom half of the right hand side of the page) is where users will see the latest content that has been added to the site and also where they will see which resources are used most often on the site.

5. Create Your “My Workspace” Account
You will need a personal account in order to access “My Workspace”. There are two types of personal accounts….
Teacher Personal account (requires a valid Alberta teaching certificate number to create and provides access to all licensed resources [including Tools4Teachers resources] and to save resources, create folders of resources, and to publish by or web page)
If you are not yet registered using the “Sign Up” feature, you can still browse the site and see most of the resources, using the jurisdiction username and password BUT YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR RESOURCES using My Workspace.
If you wish to sign in under the jurisdiction username and password on another computer to browse the site, you can obtain the username and password school principals. This is the same information that students can use to access the site from home.

6. Creating Your Account To Activate your account ----- you will need:
Your jurisdiction username and password
Your teacher certification number (if creating a teacher account). The Teacher Account requires a valid Alberta Permanent or Temporary Professional Certificate number. If you do not have your teacher certification number with you, you can still create a personal account and then upgrade the account to a teacher account later using your profile.
Access to the account that you will use as your username to complete the activation process
The activation process usually takes about 5 minutes to complete.
Fill in the required information.
SUBMIT
You will receive an with a link that must be clicked in order to complete the activation process. Your account will not be active until this link is used.

7. Sign In …
When you click the “Sign in” link in the top of the screen, you will be taken here.
Input your personal username and password to enable you to use all of the features of the LearnAlberta site, including saving material to My Workspace.
NOTE: If you are using a jurisdiction computer, you should automatically be signed in using the jurisdiction username and password. This will appear at the top right of the screen, right underneath the SIGN IN/SIGN UP prompts. If this is the case, you should see SIGN IN WITH A DIFFERENT USER NAME. Click on this prompt and it will take you to the screen shown above.
Moving on to the newest feature of the website….My Workspace

8. Welcome Screen
On this screen you will see the FIND RESOURCES box, as well as a listing of any resources you have already saved, and any folders you may have created.
You will also see the box at the bottom showing NEW RESOURCES and MOST ACCESSED RESOURCES, as seen on the home page of the LearnAlberta site.

9. My Workspace
Once your account is activated you can enter “My Workspace”.
In “My Workspace”, by default you will see all of the resources that you have saved. You can
add your own resources (that are accessible on the web using a distinct URL)
create folders
change your profile (this is where you would upgrade your account using your teacher certification number)
Change your password

10. Searching for Resources
Let’s start by looking for resources. I am interested in finding resources for grade 6 social studies. I have gone to the search page and asked for all grade 6 social studies resources. The search result shows that currently there are 177 resources to support grade 6 social studies.
I can further narrow the search by adding a topic phrase or word in the blue SEARCH box at the top of the page. I might choose “Alberta Legislature”
I could also narrow the search by scrolling down to AUDIENCE and choosing either student or teacher, or scrolling to MEDIA and selecting video or audio.
As you narrow your search, the box at the top right of the page will change. For example, for a search using these criteria, zero resources were found:
Resources matching your criteria: Alberta Legislature + Grade 6 + Social Studies + Learner + Images 0 resources found

11. Saving Resources
When I find a resource that I would like to save to my workspace I simply click the “Save to My Workspace” link and the resource will be saved.

12. Reviewing Resources
Going back to my workspace, you can see that I have added “A Classroom Example of Asking Powerful Questions” to my workspace. I can select the DETAILS for each resource to view resource details, create notes about the resource, to share the resource by or to assign the resource to a list.
* If you are working along with this tutorial, you will see only the first resource on your list.

13. Viewing DETAILS
If you click on DETAILS to the right of the title of the resource, you will see the following screen.
To the right, a box appears with details about the resource, as supplied by Alberta Education, including a brief summary, suggested grade levels for use, etc. This resource is designed as a support to teachers.
If you wish more information, click on the link.

14. Adding Your own Notes
At the bottom of the box, you will see a place to add your own notes about how you could use this resource, or other pertinent details.

15. Creating Folders
Teaching Strategies
Strategies for teaching critical thinking such as asking questions
You may want to organize your resources by creating a folder.
Select MY FOLDERS in the menu bar at the top of the Workspace.
Give your folder a name and a description that will help you determine what type of resources are contained in the folder.
Click the Save button to create the new folder.

16. Creating Folders
Your folder should now be visible to you in the list of your folders.
* If you are working along with this tutorial, you will see only the circled folder on your list.
You can also remove a folder by checking the box and selecting the “Remove Folder” button.
NOTE: You can safely remove a folder without removing any of the resources listed in My Workspace.
Create another new folder by clicking the “Create a New Folder” button.
Check out the “breadcrumbs” at the top of the screen to show you where you are on the website.
Select the Details link to view the resources that are contained in the folder and to change the name or description of the folder.

17. Add or Remove Resources
Let’s go back to my Teaching Strategies folder and add some resources to the folder.
* If you are working along with this tutorial, you will see only the circled folder on your list.
Select “My Folders”.
Select “Details” of “Teaching Strategies” folder.
I now have an “Add or Remove Resources” button available to me. Select this button.

18. Add or Remove Resources
A popup window appears that allows me to select resources for this folder. All of my saved resources appear on the left side and the resources that are already placed in the Teaching Strategies folder appear on the right side. I can use the button in the centre of the window to move resources. Simply click the box beside each resource name to select it.
The same process can be used in reverse to remove a resource from a folder.
When I am done I must “Save Changes” or my changes will be lost. Click on “Close Window”.

19. Folder Details
Now when I return to the folder, I will see that there is now 1 resource in the folder.
* If you are working along with this tutorial, you will see only the circled folder on your list.
If I select DETAILS, I will see a list of resources that are now contained in the folder.
When viewing the details of a folder I can use the blue menu line under the folder title to do the following:
select “Notes” to change the name of the folder or to add or change notes about the folder
select “Share by ” to the folder contents to someone else (another teacher or your students)
select “Save as a Web Link” to create a web page that can be accessed by anyone that you share the URL with (URLs can be stored as shortcuts on shared server space, sent by or simply written on the board for students to type in)

20. Making Folder Notes
By clicking the “Notes” link I can change the notes for the folder. I can see the description that I already gave to this folder.
This field will accept copy/paste as well as direct text. This means that you can copy/paste from the program of studies, or from a Word document that you may have already created.
As I do more searches, I may wish to edit the description of the folder or the name of the folder.

21. ing a Folder
By selecting the “Share by ” link I can the contents of the folder to myself at another address or to a colleague.
My address is automatically included so that I receive a copy of the .
Your folder notes are added automatically. You may add whatever you wish to the text of the message.

22. Saving a Folder as a Web Link
By selecting the “Save as Web Link” link I can publish the contents of the folder to a web page so that my colleagues or students can access the most recent version on demand.
Again the folder notes are added automatically. These notes can be edited or added to as you wish.
Notice that the details of the resource are included for the weblink.
You also have the option to add further notes as a part of each resource listing.
Select “Preview the Web Link” to see the finished product, with your notes included.
The order of the resources can be changed if you wish. Here there is only 1 resource, but if you add more, you can use the blue arrows located on the blue bar at the left of the resource description to move the text up or down in the listing.
Don’t forget to “Save Web Link”.

23. Previewing a Web Link
From the preview, I can make changes to the web link or save the web link as shown.

24. Saving a Folder as a Web Link
When I save the web link I will receive a message that the save has been a success. I am also given the URL for the web link so that I may create a shortcut in a shared network folder or distribute the link to colleagues and students using .
Web links are automatically updated when you add or remove resources to a folder. Any time you make a change to this web link your colleagues or students will automatically have access to the latest version by following the initial link you gave them. This makes the web link a powerful way of sharing resources…and sharing with others in a PLC …. Or creating plans for a substitute…..the list is endless.

25. ing a Web Link
I can also this link directly from the website in the same manner that I used to share by . The subject line and the text may be varied to suit your needs.
As you can see, my address is automatically included so that I receive a copy of the that I am sending.

26. ing a Web Link
I receive a message that the link was successfully ed.

27. ing a Web Link
This is what the message looks like when it is received by your recipient.

28. Adding Your Own Resource
So, now let’s look at “Add My Own Resource”.
There are two steps to adding your own resource to your workspace.
Step 1: Enter the web address that you want to save. Yes, you can only add resources that have distinct URLs (or web addresses). You can copy/paste the URL from your browser if you have the web address open in another tab or browser window.

29. Adding Your Own Resource
We want to add a website that allows us to find contact information for Alberta MLAs: .

30. Adding Your Own Resource
This is where you can give the resource a name that means something to you….a description that means something to you….and then add some additional metadata like grade level and subject area.
There are some terms of use that you must agree to in order to save the resource to your workspace. Click the agree radio button and then select the “Save to My Resources” button.

31. Adding Your Own Resource
You can see that a new name has been given to the file, and a description has been added.
If you wish, you can also add information about GRADE and SUBJECT from the drop-down menus.
You must agree to the TERMS OF USE in order to save your resource to MY WORKSPACE.

32. Adding Your Own Resource
You will be taken back to Step 1 of “Add My Own Resource” where you should see a message that your resource has been saved

33. Adding Your Own Resource
Now let’s go back to “My Resources” and see that the resource has indeed been added to my list of resources. Yes….here is my “MLA Contact Information”. Notice that there is an additional icon that identifies this resource as “Mine”. I can now add this resource to a folder just as I did with the other resources.
In case you have forgotten how to add a resource to a folder, select MY FOLDERS ….. the folder you wish to add to ……DETAILS …..and scroll down to the bottom of the list to see the prompt “Add or Remove Resources”.

34. Adding Your Resource to a Folder
Click here to see updated Web link
Once I have added the resource to my folder it will appear in the list of resources. Notice the icon next to it – an arrow in a blue box. . This indicates that this link will take the user to another website.
Let’s have a look at that web link that I created earlier – Click on the link circled in purple. The web link should also now have this resource listed as it is in the folder.

35. Automatic Updating of your Web Link
Yes….There it is. Web links are automatically updated when you add or remove resources to a folder. You can also change the sequence of the resources, and add text after each of the resources. Any time you make a change to this web link your colleagues or students will automatically have access to the latest version by following the initial link you gave them. This makes the web link a powerful way of sharing resources…and sharing with others in a PLC …. Or creating plans for a substitute…..the list is endless.

36. This tutorial was originally developed by
Collette Orieux of Alberta Education,
and edited and adapted by
Barbara Cavers for SAPDC