Setting up an RStudio course folder

St. Olaf has created an Addin to RStudio that allows instructors to create their own course folders and manage their student access. This Addin is an R package that installs a Shiny app that runs in a separate browser window. Using this Shiny app you can set up a course folder with private folders for instructors, read-only folders for sharing files to students, shared folders for student project work, and individual student folders.

Once the course folder has been created, you can control participant access by adding or removing users as students, teaching assistants, or instructors. The instructions below detail how to set up and manage both a single section course as well as a multisection course with shared resources.

Accessing the RStudio Course Management System

1. After logging in to the RStudio server, click on the Addins menu item dropdown menu, found at the end of the second line, below the main application menu. 
2. From this dropdown menu click on RStudio Course Management System (CMS) underneath the COURSEMANAGER label.
3. A new browser window will open with the CMS interface.

Creating a course folder

1. Under Create New Course [1], choose the appropriate values from the Academic Year, Select Term, and Course Department dropdown lists - these values will be used to appropriately name your course. If you don't see you department listed in the Course Department dropdown, please notify iTech, and we will make sure to add it to the list.
2. Add your Course Number in the text box, only including the section letter if you are not sharing course files with other sections.
3. If you are creating one section of a shared, multisection course, select your Section letter from the dropdown list.
4. Verify all of your information and click on the Create folders button [2].
5. Your new course will now appear below under Select Course to Manage [3].

Adding participants to your course

1. Under Select Course to Manage, choose your Course, and Section from the dropdown lists [3], if it's not already there. 
2. The appropriate participant list buttons will then become active.  (For sections in which you are the lead teacher, you will be able to add students, teacher and T/As. For new sections in a multisection course, or sections where you have added a teacher but no one has taken ownership of the section, you can add teachers. For sections that have a lead teacher, you cannot add any participants.)
3. Copy or type in the username(s) of the participant(s) into the appropriate text box (in addition to any already there) - separated by a space or a line return (no commas or semicolons) and then click on Add/Update student/teacher/TA/A list.
4. A confirmation dialog will appear indicating successfully added participants, as well as any errors that occurred, such as a participant not being found as a valid user. In this case, check your spelling, and notify iTech if the name appears to be spelled correctly, but still won't add. *When adding participants after content has been added to the course, you may see a notice that certain content added by others may not be accessible to the user(s) you just added. 

Removing participants from the course

1. Under Select Course to Manage, choose your Course, and Section from the dropdown lists [3], if it's not already there. 
2. The appropriate participant list buttons will then become active.  (For sections in which you are the lead teacher, you will be able to manage students, teacher and T/As. For new sections in a multisection course, or sections where you have added a teacher but no one has taken ownership of the section, you can manage teachers. For sections that have a lead teacher, you cannot alter any participants.)
3. Delete the username(s) of the participant(s) from the appropriate text box and then click on Add/Update student/teacher/TA/A list.
4. A confirmation dialog will appear stating that the user has been removed from the course.