Setting up a workspace
Download a PDF version of this transcript
In Totara Engage you can build powerful, collaborative workspaces where social and informal learning can flourish.
Workspaces allow users to have discussions with specific groups of users and add learning resources for everyone in the workspace.
Workspaces can either be Public, Private or Hidden.
If the workspace is Public then it means anyone can find and join the space without permission. Users will also be able to view the workspace, look at the discussion and review the learning resources without joining the space. If they want to post in the discussion and interact with other users and resources, they can choose to Join.
If the workspace is Private then users will be able to find the workspace by searching for it.
Users can request access to a private workspace and this can be granted by the Workspace Owner.
Workspaces can also be Hidden, meaning they will not show up when users search for them. To join a hidden workspace users need to be added by the Workspace Owner.
In this video, I’ll create a new public workspace. To create a new workspace navigate to Your Workspaces.
Select the plus icon next to Your Workspaces.
Then you’ll just need to give the workspace a name, something that’s easy to find for others to join.
I’ll also add a description so people know the purpose of the workspace.
You can also add a hashtag to help other users find this if there are lots of workspaces on your site and I’ll add an image to help distinguish the space.
When setting up the space you can decide whether to make it Public, Private or Hidden.
If you choose to make the space Public then you won’t be able to make it Private later and the same is true if you decide to make the workspace Private. Private workspaces can’t be made public once they’ve been created.
You could choose to Hide a private workspace which means it won’t appear in search results. You will be able to unhide the workspace later if you wish.
For now, I’ll create a Public workspace so everyone in the organisation can benefit from it.
Once you’re happy with how the workspace is set up, select Create and the space will be live.
Users can join a public workspace by searching for it in the Find workspaces section. Users will just need to select Join and they’ll be added to the space.
I created this workspace so I am the Workspace Owner. I’ll start by choosing to Add members.
The new members are listed on the Members tab.
You can also add multiple users at once using your existing audiences. By default, this task can only be completed by Site Administrators, although you can add the capability to other roles if you wish.
You can see an additional tab for Audiences here. I’ll use the Admin menu to Add audiences.
Here I can see a list of all the audiences on my site, or all audiences in my tenant if this is a tenant workspace and I have permissions at the tenant level. I can add one or more audiences. Note that if you add large audiences it may take a few minutes for your workspace to be updated.
My audiences are now listed on the Audiences tab. Remember that this is only visible to me because I have the permission to add audiences to workspaces.
And on the Members tab, I can see the members of my audiences have now been added to my workspace.
You can also see which audience the user was added through by selecting the audiences icon next to their name. If the user is removed from the audience, they will be automatically removed from the workspace too.
Users added as part of an audience do not have the ability to leave the workspace, but they can choose to mute notifications from the workspace if they no longer want to receive updates.
By default, when a user is added to a workspace they will receive a notification. As Site Administrator, you can edit the notification used in the site-wide Notifications.
From here, you can enable or disable the notification or Edit the notification.
I’ll personalise my notification by addressing the user by name.
Unlike users added via audiences, users who were manually added to the workspace can be removed by the Workspace Owner. To do this, select the user menu in the top-right corner of the user’s card and select Remove.
Individual users are also able to choose to leave a workspace by selecting the menu option on the workspace.
If you no longer wish to be the Workspace Owner, you can transfer ownership to another user.
To transfer ownership the Workspace Owner or a Site Administrator can select the action menu and select Transfer ownership. Once you’ve confirmed this, the new workspace owner will be sent a notification.
Site Administers and Workspace Owners can also delete a workspace if it is no longer required by selecting the menu and choosing Delete workspace.
If you do decide to delete a workspace, remember that you’ll lose all the data stored in that workspace.
So that’s how you create a new workspace, add members individually and by audience, change workspace ownership and delete a workspace. Why not have a go at creating your own workspace now?