GauchoSpace Resources for Student Success
GauchoSpace Overview:
GauchoSpace is the learning management system for UCSB courses and projects. Instructors will create the site, add course materials and activities and can also email students using the site. GauchoSpace is built using Moodle, an open source learning platform that is built by a large and active community of developers and programmers.
Accessing GauchoSpace:
GauchoSpace can be accessed from this link: gauchospace.ucsb.edu. You will use your UCSBnetID and password to log in to GauchoSpace. We recommend using Firefox to access GauchoSpace. Extension students, please visit the Extension Help Center for information on accessing Extension courses and Open University courses. All students, even extension and open university students, should have an UCSBnetID to access GauchoSpace. Here is a link to Extension's help page for accessing GauchoSpace, specifically.
Viewing your courses:
Students log in to GauchoSpace using your UCSBnetID and password. After students log in, they will be able to see all course sites for the current and one previous quarter. If students do not see one or more of their courses listed for the current quarter, it may be that the instructor has not made their course sites visible to students yet or does not plan to use GauchoSpace.
For students trying to access course sites more than one quarter past, they will need to contact the instructor for the course they wish to access and ask to be added to the course site as a Test Student. To access a course site prior to Winter 2022, students will need to log into the course archives:
Navigating your course site on a computer: (enlarge gif)
Navigating your course site on a mobile device:
Your GauchoSpace Profile:
- Uploading a profile picture: How do I upload a profile picture of myself and who can see it?
- Changing your name: Name change settings are handled outside of GauchoSpace, How do I edit my GauchoSpace profile?
Working in GauchoSpace
Instructors can add many different activities and collaboration tools to GauchoSpace. Three of the most popular are assignments, quizzes and forums.
- Submitting an assignment: Assignments are an assessment tool in GauchoSpace that allow uploaded or online text submissions. To learn more, visit how do I complete an assignment in GauchoSpace?
- Taking a quiz: Quizzes are assessment tools in GauchoSpace that allow instructors to automate the process of grading. Each quiz is customized, so pay close attention to the instructions, including time limits. For all quizzes, we recommend using Firefox and starting your quiz using a secure connection.
- Posting in a discussion forum: Instructors use forums to facilitate online discussion and continue learning outside of the classroom. Each instructor will have directions for how they would like you to use the forum, whether you post a new topic/thread or reply to an existing topic/thread. Students can subscribe to a topic, an entire forum or specific posts. Students will have 15 minutes to change their forum post. You can also view all of your forum posts for a class.
Checking your grades:
If an instructor chooses, they can use the GauchoSpace gradebook to display grades. All final grades will be submitted in eGrades and posted in GOLD for students. Some instructors do not use the gradebook and may hide the Grades link on their GauchoSpace course site, or not input any grades. Also, keep in mind that some assignments may not receive grades, or an instructor may not have yet released grades for every assignment. If the instructor has populated the gradebook, you can view your grades from your course page by clicking on This Course on the dashboard and then on Grades.
Other Campus Tools in GauchoSpace
Instructors can integrate several third party tools to their GauchoSpace course sites. Tools include:
- Zoom video conferencing
- GauchoCast for instructor videos
- i>clicker for in-class polling, related page: How do I register my i>clicker remote?
- WeBWork for math assignments. Generally, if you have problems with a WeBWork problem, you should reach out to your instructor or teaching assistant. You can also try visiting the Math Lab in South Hall 1607 for drop-in assistance, or you can visit the online math lab.
GauchoSpace support is able to help with the integration of these programs in GauchoSpace. If they are unable to provide an answer, they may direct you to the department on campus that manages the tool.
Extension and Open University Students
Extension and Open University students, there are often different procedures for your access to GauchoSpace. Extension has created their own Help Center to handle specific questions.
Students taking Extension courses: General Resources for Extension courses
Open University Students: General Resources for Open University Students
FAQs
Your UCSBnetID is your unique username that is used across many UCSB services. For students, your UCSBnetID is the prefix to your @umail.ucsb.edu email address. Since UCSBnetIDs are connected to your Umail account, please visit the Collaborate Umail FAQs for any troubleshooting. For guest accounts, visit the GauchoSpace login problems page.
- Your instructor may not have created a GauchoSpace course site yet, or may not be using GauchoSpace for this course.
- You enrolled via GOLD within the last 8 hours, and the data hasn't yet synchronized with GauchoSpace. It takes about 4-8 hours from when you add a class via GOLD for you to have access to the GauchoSpace course site.
- Your instructor might not have made the course available to students or they may have temporarily hidden it from student view.
- You are an Open University/Extension student and need to be manually added to a site.
Students are generally able to access course sites from the current and one previous quarter (unless the instructor has made a current course unavailable to students, or an older course site available again). Students are strongly encouraged to download and save offline any course materials and copies of their own work that they may want or need in future quarters using Box. You will need to transition to a free Box account (10GB of storage) within 13 months after graduating from UCSB.
You should contact your instructor as soon as possible if you experience technical issues that may impact your performance on a quiz.
- Log in to GauchoSpace
- Select the course site with the student you would like to contact
- In the Navigation block, click Participants to see a list of users enrolled in the course site
- Select the student you would like to contact to view their email
- Log in to GauchoSpace
- Click edit my profile on the main page
- Under the Preferences tab, change Email digest type from No digest (single email per forum post) to either Complete (daily email with full posts) or Subjects (daily email with subjects only) options.
- Click Update profile to save your email digest preference.
- Log in to GauchoSpace
- Click edit my profile on the main page
- Under the Privacy tab, change Email display to your desired preference.
- Click Update profile to save your email display preference.
To access your inbox and view instructor/TA messages, follow these steps:
- Log in to GauchoSpace.
- From your "My home" page, in the UCSB Course Overview block, click the view my inbox link.
- To view a specific message, click on the subject of the email.
Getting Help
For troubleshooting that involves the interpretation, giving extensions or questions about grades, it is best to contact your instructor directly. If a GauchoSpace tool is not working as expected, please submit a help ticket.