Help: Creating, Managing, and Joining a Group in Tapped In

Whether working with a graduate class, a group of people at your own school or in your district, or distant colleagues, a Tapped In group room offers many features that can enhance communication and sharing among the group members. In this Help Guide, we describe how to create a group room, invite people to join it, and use its capabilities.

Topics:

• Creating a Group Room
• Publicizing and Inviting People to Join Your Group
• Finding and Joining a Group
• Setting Group Member and Moderator Permissions
• Group Configuration

Steps for Creating a Group Room

Creating a group room takes less than 5 minutes.

1. Log in to Tapped In by clicking the Member Log In button and entering your user name and password.


2. Click on the Tapped In tab at the top of the window.
   
   Note: This document explains creating the group from the Tapped In tab. You can also create a group by clicking on the Groups link under your Organization's tab. Tapped In has Tenant Organizations who pay for special services and have a tab that appears at the top of the screen between the Me tab and the Tapped In tab. If you do not have a third tab, you are not part of an organization that is a Tenant in Tapped In and you can ignore the instructions that are included about Organizations.


3. Click on the Groups link, and click the Create a new group link.


4. Decide whether you want to affiliate the group you are creating with your Organization. If you affiliate your group with your Organization, it will be listed that way in the Tapped In Groups directory, and it will also appear in the directory of Groups associated with your Organization.
   
   Note: If you affiliate your group with your Organization, you will have the option of making the group Public to your Organization, which means that only members of your Organization will know about it, as opposed to Public to all Tapped In members. If you create a group by clicking on the Groups link under your Organization's tab it will automatically be affiliated with your Organization. There may be some cases when you are creating a group that you do not want to be affiliated with just one Organization (e.g., a group formed for discussion across organizations). Be aware of which tab you are under when you are creating the Group.


5. Enter a name for your group and a nickname for the group. The nickname must be 10 characters or fewer and will show up as the room nickname. Choose something related to the group name (e.g., Group name: Diversity and Equity in K12 Mathematics, Nickname: DEMath). You can change the name or room nickname at any time. (See Settings below for more information.)


6. Click the Next button (you may need to scroll down), and enter the purpose or description of your group. Type in a URL if your group has a Web page that you want associated with the group. The URL will appear in the group room that you are creating. You can edit either of these settings later. (See Settings below.)


7. Select a privacy level for the group. Regardless of the privacy level, people cannot enter your group room or see any of the group's files or discussions unless they are members of the group. As the owner, you decide who can see that your group exists and how people become members of the group (by clicking to join or by requesting permission to join). For groups not affiliated with an Organization, you have a choice of three privacy levels:
   
   
   • Public, Open
     Anyone can see the group's information page (group description, owner) by browsing or searching the Groups list, and anyone may join it by clicking a link on the information page. Once a person has joined the group, he or she can see all of the group's pages, files, and discussion board. This option is best to attract any interested person to the group.
   
   
   • Public, Moderated
     Anyone can see this group's information page by browsing or searching the Groups list. People interested in joining the group must send the group's owner an automated request to join the group (see Joining a Group below) from the information page. The owner will receive the request via email and can accept or decline the request. A person who has requested to join the group cannot enter the group's room or see any of its materials until they have been granted membership. This option is useful when you want to screen membership to the group. You can also invite people to join the group. The invitation will be emailed to them, and they will click a link to accept or decline the invitation. They will not have to wait to be approved to enter the group if you send them an invitation.
   
   
   • Private, Invitation Only
     No information about this group is posted publicly. The owner must invite people to become members. The invited member must then accept or decline the invitation. This option is the most cumbersome to set up and manage. We recommend it only when keeping the group's existence completely private is a major concern.

   For groups affiliated with an Organization you have the three privacy levels above plus two more: Public to your Organization, Open and Public to your Organization, Moderated.

   • Public to your Organization, Open
     Any member of Tapped In who is affiliated with your Organization can see the group's information page and may join the group by clicking a link. No one outside of your Organization will see the group listed in the Groups area. Only members who have joined the group can see all of the group's pages and discussion board. This option is best when you want to attract any interested person in your Organization to the group.
   
   
   • Public to your Organization, Moderated
     Any member of Tapped In who is affiliated with your Organization can see this group's information page, but they must send the group's owner (you) a request to join the group. The owner can accept or decline the request. A person may not enter the group room until they have been granted membership. This option is useful when you want to screen membership.


8. Click the Next button. This final screen allows you to review the group settings you have entered and edit them before you create the group. Click Create Group when you are satisfied with your selections. You will see the information page of the group you created. You can now enter the group room by clicking the link next to the little door icon at the bottom of the page (you may need to scroll down).
   Note: The group will also appear in your Favorite Rooms list (top right) when you log in to the Meeting Space.


9. Once in your group room, you may edit the Welcome message and create other notes that will appear on the "wall" of the room. You may also want to check your room Settings (at the bottom of the menu on the left side) and become familiar with all the features found on the left-hand menu in the room (especially About Us). More information on group room features can be found in the Tips for Facilitating a Group and the Introduction to the Tapped In User Interface documents available on the Tapped In Help page when you log in.

Your room is ready. Now all you need are members!

Changing or Deleting a Group

Changing Organization affiliation and making a public group private can be done only by a Tapped In administrator. If you decide that you do not want your group to exist before you get members, an administrator can delete it. If you have members in your group and want to delete the group, see the section below called Configuring a Group. If you want to make any of the changes that only an administrator can make, please contact us.

Publicizing and Inviting People to Join Your Group

After you create a group, you will need to inform the people you want to have in your group. Below are instructions for publicizing your group and using the Invitation feature in your group room. You can use the Invitation feature with all types of groups (Tapped In Public, Open and Moderated; Public to an Organization, Open and Moderated; and Private). You can invite both members of Tapped In and people you would to be in your group who are not yet members of Tapped In.

Publicizing Your Group

For Tapped In public (open or moderated) groups, you may want to spread awareness of your group by submitting an announcement about your group to the Tapped In monthly newsletter. To submit an announcement to the Tapped In newsletter, send a description of your group and who you would like to have join it.

Inviting Members of Tapped In to Join a Group through the Tapped In System

For public groups (Tapped In or Organization Public Groups), you may invite specific people to join your group. If your group is private, you must issue an invitation to the Tapped In members you want to be in your group because private groups do not appear in any of the Group directories. Without an invitation, a Tapped In member will not know that your private group exists or how to join it.

Here are the steps for issuing an invitation using the Invitation feature.

1. Go to your group room and click Settings in the menu on the left.


2. Click Member Management.


3. Click Add Members.


4. Click Invite Users.


5. Enter the name (user name, full name, or part of the name) of the person you wish to invite and click Find It! You may enter multiple names (up to 30 names) by separating the names with commas (e.g., Tom Smith, MaryK, Fred, Jones). The system will return a list of all members whose names at least partially match the names you enter. (Hint: If you search with first names and do not find the person you are looking for, try the last name.)


6. On the list of member names that the system returns, put a check mark in the box next to the members you wish to invite, and write a short invitation message in the field provided. Click the Invite Users button. Note that the list may contain people you do not wish to invite. Simply leave the box next to their names empty. The system will automatically send an email to those you invite with your message and instructions on how to accept or decline your invitation. You may review your invitee list and add, remove, or reissue invitations at any time from the room's Settings: Member Management page.

Inviting non-members to Join a Group through the Tapped In System

1. Go to your group room and click Settings in the menu on the left.


2. Click Member Management.


3. Click Add Members.


4. Click Invite New Users.


5. Enter the email address of the person you wish to invite to join Tapped In and your group. The person you invite will receive an email with a description of Tapped In and an invitation to your group. In addition, there is also a message box to add a personal message to the invitation.
   
   The text of the email invitation sent to the person reads:

   I have invited you to become a member of Tapped In, an online community where education professionals gather to learn, collaborate, share, and support one another. I have also invited you to join [GROUP NAME], a Tapped In group. The message you input is appended here.

   There are also 2 links in the email. One link lets the person join Tapped In and automatically makes them a member of your group. The other link lets the person join Tapped In but does not make them a member of your group. (If the person does not want to join Tapped In they can just ignore the email.)


6. Click Invite New User(s) and the invitation will be sent. You may review your invitee list and add, remove, or reissue invitations at any time from the room's Settings: Member Management page.

Through the Tapped In Invitation system, you may have up to 30 outstanding invitations at a time (this limit is to prevent spamming the entire community). If you would like to invite more than 30 people, you must wait until a person joins the group or declines the invitation before you can issue another invitation. Or contact us and we will help you.

Finding and Joining a Group

Tapped In members may join groups on their own initiative or in response to an invitation from another member. The basic steps for finding a Tapped In group and joining it are listed below. If you know the name of a group you are interested in joining, you may browse or search for that group directly and join (or request to join) the group.

1. Log in to Tapped In by clicking the Member Log In button and entering your user name and password.


2. Click the Tapped In tab at the top of the window.
   
   Note: You can also browse the groups listing by clicking the Groups link under your Organization's tab. This filters the Groups listing so that you will see only groups that are available for members of your Organization.


3. Click on the Groups menu item to browse all groups available for you to join. While browsing Groups, you can sort by the name of the group, the Organization it is affiliated with, the owner of the group, or the creation date.
   
   Note: You may also use the Search tab to find groups containing a particular word or phrase in the name or purpose of the group.


4. When you find a group you may interested in joining, click on its name to see more information about it. When you click on the name of a group, you see the Group information page with a link to join the group (if the group is an Open Group) or a link to request permission to join (if the group is Moderated).

If you receive an automated email from another member inviting you to join a Tapped In group, you may accept or decline the invitation by clicking the URL at the bottom of the email (or copy/pasting it into your browser). The email will tell you the name of the group and who issued the invitation. Click the link at the bottom, enter your name and password (if prompted) to log in, and click Accept or Decline on the Web page containing the invitation.

Setting Group Member and Moderator Permissions

Members of your group have certain read, write, edit, and delete permissions by default. Depending on the social norms of your group, you may need to change these default settings. In addition, you may want some members (co-leaders or teaching assistants) to have special permissions that all members do not have. We call those members of your group moderators.

Group Members' Permissions

By default all group members can:

• Add files--Members can also delete files they have added. If you would like them to be able to delete other files, see below.
• Read and post to a discussion board--This permission cannot be changed. All members of a group may always post to a discussion board.
• View all objects in a group room--This permission cannot be changed. All members of a group may always view all objects in a group room.

To review and change member permissions, go to your group room and click Settings in the left side menu. Then click Member Management for managing members, moderators, and their permissions. You may need to scroll down.

When you change member permissions, you change the permissions of all members of the group. You can choose whether a group member can:

• Edit notes, links, passageways, or attributes of files.
• Delete notes, links, passageways, or files that any member has uploaded.
• Make a note, link, passageway, or file "featured" on the main page of the room.
• Create or delete folders to organize notes, links, and discussion board postings.

Moderator Status and Permissions

If you want to increase permissions for only some of the members but not all of the members, you must promote the members you want to have additional permissions to moderator status and then give them additional permissions. Permissions can be set differently for each individual moderator. A moderator can also invite people to your group (see above for more information), or block people from joining the group.

To promote a person to moderator status, find the person you want to promote in the pop-up menu list where it says Promote (choose) to moderator status and then click the Do It! button. The Promote menu is only visible if you are the group owner or if you are a moderator who has permission to add moderators to a group. After you have promoted the person to moderator you can choose to give them as many permissions as you like. By default, the new moderator will be able to:

• Add items
• Delete items
• Edit items
• Feature items.

In addition, a moderator can be given permission to:

• Lock the room so that members who do not have this permission cannot enter the room. Anyone with permission to lock the room can enter the room while it is locked.
• Change the look and feel of the room. (Abbreviated as Conf for Configure under Room permissions.)
• Reconfigure the group by editing the name, privacy setting, expiration, etc. (Also abbreviated as Conf under Group Permissions.)
• Remove members.
• Add members.
• Block members from joining the group.
• Change members permissions.
• Edit group member permissions.

The above are given automatically to moderators, but you can choose to remove any of the permissions for any moderator. One permission not given by default is the ability to appoint new moderators, remove moderators, and edit the permissions of moderators.

A moderator can have as many permissions as the owner, with one exception: only the owner of the group can delete the group. A moderator or owner with permission to appoint moderators or remove moderators will also see a pop-up menu that says Demote [person] to member status. This will not be visible unless the person has the permission to "Demote" moderators. Moderators can be removed at any time.

Changing the Group's Owner

If you decide that you no longer want to be the group's owner but you want the group to continue to exist, you can transfer ownership to a moderator in the group who agrees to take over the group. To do this, find the person you want to promote to owner status in the pop-up menu list where it says, Promote (choose) to owner status and click the Do It! button. If you do not have any co-moderators you will not see the Promote (choose) to owner status area. First promote the person you want to be the new owner to a moderator, and then promote him or her to the owner. Once you promote someone to owner status, you will no longer be the owner and you can leave the group if you like.

Group Configurations

Go to your group room and click Settings in the left side menu; then click Group Configurations for managing the Group Identity, Settings and Expiration.

Group Identity

The owner of a group, or moderators with permission to do so, may change settings related to the identity of a group. These include:

• Group Name
• Room Nickname
• Purpose
• Organization (If no Organization is selected, one can be added: if one is already selected it can't be changed)
• URL.

Settings

Settings of Privacy and Moderated Status may also be edited to some degree. At any point, the moderated status of a group may be edited, and it can be changed from Open (when a person clicks to join a group) or Moderated (when a person must ask permission to join the group). If a group is public to all of Tapped In, then this setting may not be changed. A group's privacy setting can be decreased (e.g., the group can become "more public") but a group may not go private after being public.

Expiration

The expiration of a group can be edited in the following ways. You can renew a group or force its expiration. When you renew a group, you can extend the date on which it expires (up to 1 year from the current date). If you wish to have a group longer than 1 year, you'll need to re-extend the group at a future date. A group's expiration setting can be renewed as many times as you like until you no longer need the group. Expiration dates may only be set forward in time?never sooner than the current expiration date.

If you would like your group to be deleted (or archived) sooner than the current expiration date, you can Force Expiration. This means the group will be terminated in 7 days. All members will be automatically notified that the group will end in 7 days.

When a group "expires," the owner has two choices about what happens. The group can be "Archived" or deleted.

Archiving a group creates a text file archive recording the group profile, member information, and all group room resources, including the discussion board, notes, and Web links. Depending on the settings of the group, different Tapped In members can access the archive.

• For Public Open Groups, the archive will appear in the Archived Groups listing in the directory tabs, and all Tapped In members can see the text file archive.


• For Public Moderated Groups, the group will appear in the Archived Groups listing in the directory tabs so that all Tapped In members can see that the group existed, but only former members of the group (when it was archived) can see the text file archive containing discussions, Web links, and notes from the group.


• For Public to Organization, Open Groups, the group will be listed in the Archived Groups listing directory, but only for members of the Organization. All Organization members can view the text file archive.


• For Public to Organization, Moderated Groups, the group will be listed in the Archived Groups listing directory, but only for members of the Organization. Former members of the group (when it was archived) can see the text file archive.


• Private, Invitation Only Groups will be listed only under the Me tab of former group members (when the group was archived). Only these members will be able to see the text file archive.


• For any group, former group members will see the archived group in their Me tab as well. Archiving a group will delete the group room and all the items it contains.


• Deleting a group will remove all members from the group and delete the group room and all the items it contains.

Until the group has been archived or deleted, the group's expiration date can be renewed. For example, if a group is set to expire, all members are notified 7 day prior to the expiration. If members of the group do not want to see the group expire, they can contact the group owner and offer to take over the ownership of the group and then reset the expiration date. When a group's expiration date is approaching, members are notified so that they can remove any documents or other items from the group room if they don't want them deleted. If a group is archived or deleted, this is permanent. Documents and items that were in the room and deleted cannot be recreated.

Changes or Deleting a Group

Affiliations to Organizations or going private after being a public group, can not be changed by any one in a group, but can be changed by a Tapped In administrator. If you decide before you have members in your group, that you do not want your group to exist an administrator can delete it. If you already have members, please Force expiration so that members are notified properly and can get their items out of the group room. If you want to make any of the changes that only an administrator can make, please contact us and let us know you need assistance.

Changing the Look of the Group Room

If you are an owner, or a moderator with permission to change the Group room look and feel, you will see an edit room link at the bottom of the left hand menu column of the Welcome page in the group room. (If you have chat enabled, you may need to scroll down on the page to find it). When you click the link, you will see options to edit the following things:

• Room identity (Room Name, Room Nickname, and Description)
• Note style
• Look and Feel
• A link to the place to edit permissions under Member Management (explained above)

When you edit the Look and Feel you can choose from any of the "pre-made" look and feel options, which are a picture and two colors for the left hand menu column and the right hand side of the web page. You may also create your own look by clicking the Add custom look and feel link at the top of the web page. When you add your own look and feel you can choose whatever picture and whatever combination of colors you would like for the left menu column and the background color of the right hand side of the web page.

If you have questions or encounter any difficulty with anything in Tapped In, please contact us for assistance.