How to Use This Site

Logging In

By logging in to the community, you can comment on pages, post topics in the Forums, and add events to the Events Calendar. To log in, click on the "Click Here to Log In" link on the right sidebar. (Once you log in that link disappears.)

Access ID or Friends of Penn State Account

If you're a Penn State user, log in with your Access ID and password. If you're not from Penn State, simply create a Friends of Penn State (FPS) account at to log in.

How to Change Your User Name

By default, most user names are initials and a string of numbers. To set your community user name to something other than the default:

1. Log in and click "My account" in the right sidebar.
2. Click the "Edit" tab at the top of the new page.
3. Enter your updated information and click "Submit."

How to Create a Blog or Forum Post

1. Log in to the site.
2. Click on "Create Content" in the left frame.
3. Choose either "Blog entry" or "Forum topic."
4. Write like mad! 

How to Add an Event to the Calendar

To add an event to the Events Calendar:

1. Click "Create content" in the right sidebar.
2. Choose "Event" from the list of content.
3. Enter your event, including a start and end date/time, and click "Submit."

You may also want to post your event in Announcements in the Forums. If so, we suggest posting the event's full description in the Forums and simply providing a link to that post in the calendar event description. That way you don't have to enter the same description twice.

Formatting Tips

This site will soon have a toolbar containing common editing options (bold, lists. etc.) to use when creating content.

For now, please be aware: Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

If you are using Firefox, you may want to install Xinha Here! This is a WYSIWYG editor you can call up when creating a blog post, making it far easier to format your text.

How to Subscribe to This Hub

There are three ways to "subscribe" to the Hub so that you receive updates through your RSS reader or via e-mail.

RSS "Give Me Everything" Option

The RSS feed link for all content is http://ets.tlt.psu.edu/learningdesign/rss.xml . If you are wondering what "RSS" is, please read the Blogger RSS Help Page.

RSS Customized Option

You may also create a customized RSS feed, selecting only those elements (such as blogs) you wish to receive.

1. Click My Account in the upper left menu. It's listed under your userid.
2. Click the Subscriptions link at the top of the form.
3. Click the Content Types link at the top of te form.
4. Click the checkbox beside each content type to which you wish to subscribe. Then click the Save button.
5. To subscribe to individual forums or topics, click on the Categories link at the top of the form. Click the checkbox beside each forum or topic to which you wish to subscribe. Then click the Save button.
6. To see your custom RSS feed, click on the RSS Feed link at the top of the form.
   
7. To subscribe to individual blogs or threads, you must first view a blog post. At the bottom of the post is a Subscribe link. Click on it to activate your subscription for the blog. Click on the Subscribe Post link to subscribe to just that post and all replies.

E-mail List

You can request that the Hub send new posts to your e-mail address automatically by doing the following

1. Make sure you are logged in to the Web site with your Penn State Access ID. Note: If you are not logged, you will see Forum Login in the upper left. If you are logged in, you will see your user name in the upper left
2. Click My Account in the upper left menu. It's listed under your userid.
3. Click the My Notifications Settings link at the top of the form.
4. Set Notify Status to Enabled.
5. Set Notify new content to Enabled.
6. Select Content option. The Title sends a forum post title and a link. The Title+Body sends a link plus the entire content of the post.

What you Get in E-mail

Once set, you will receive a new e-mail from gaming@psu.edu whenever a new message or new resource is posted.