The Group Studio application gives students, faculty, or employees of Webster University the ability to create and manage group homepages for clubs and other affiliations and interests.

My Groups
To use the group management functions in Group Studio, you use the My Groups screen. This screen provides three tabs: My Groups, Group Index, and Request Group.

• My Groups. Provides access to the My Groups screen which lists the clubs or other groups to which you belong. You use this index to access a group's homepage. In addition, the My Groups page provides a link that lets you remove your membership in a group.


• Group Index. Provides access to a listing of all categories of groups in Connections. You can use this index to access group homepages within each category where you can read about and request to join the group.


• Request Group. Provides the form necessary to request the creation of a new group. If you request the creation of a new group, you become the group leader and have initial responsibility for creating and managing the group homepage and guest view.

As you work with the Groups index, you will see the following icons that identify the type of group:

1. Public groups that are open for anyone to join


2. Restricted groups where membership is subject to certain restrictions. For example, to access a group home page for an academic or social fraternity, an individual must first be accepted as a member of that organization.


3. Hidden groups that are not displayed in the group category index and do not have a guest view page. Hidden groups are typically used to publish and discuss sensitive information that should not be available a public or restricted group.

My Courses
To use the course management functions in Group Studio, you use the My Courses screen. This screen provides the following information:

• A listing of the courses you are currently enrolled in


• A link to the course homepage for each course


• A link to the course instructor's e-mail address


• A listing of any courses you are teaching at Webster University
  

The My Courses screen also provides a link to a screen that lets you consolidate courses you are teaching into logical groups for ease of access. For example, if you are teaching several sections of English 101, you can combine these sections into a single consolidated course and manage all the sections as if they were a single course.



Group and Course Homepages
All courses, public groups, and restricted groups have homepages. The group and course homepages provide members with the ability to:

• Read articles posted by the group or course members and submit articles for posting


• Access links to other Internet resources the group or course considers appropriate and submit potential links


• View photos posted by the group and course members and submit photos for posting


• View information about and e-mail other group or course members


• Access a group chat room, message board, and an online calendar


• Post you own personal homepage link for group or course members to access

Public and restricted groups also offer guest view pages which provide general information about the group and an option for non-members to join.