Hi Gauchos! As you've probably noticed, most UCSB instruction is happening on GauchoSpace these days. Did you know that GauchoSpace has several features that are designed to help you get the most out of your university academic experience? Considering you currently may not have access to many campus-based resources, it's especially important that you take advantage of your online tools!
So, are you using GauchoSpace to its full potential? This short guide details five areas in which GauchoSpace can help you!
Keeping track of your course grades and written feedback an important part of your success at UCSB. Did you know that there are several convenient viewing interfaces that you can check?
Here are the main places you can find them:
The latest activity grades block is an optional block that a student can add to their dashboard. This shows new grades for activities and manual items in their courses.
If the activity is an assignment, open the module and scroll down to find your feedback:
Juggling all of your commitments can be tough, especially if you're enrolled in several courses. It's important that you stay as organized as possible, so that you have a clear idea of what's coming up!
GauchoSpace has several organizational tools that can help:
Each colored cell represents an activity that has been completed and graded (green), has been completed but is ungraded (yellow), is upcoming (blue), or is overdue (red). If your instructor has many activities on their course page, consider reaching out to recommend that they add this block!
It's always important to be in touch with your instructors and TAs, but now more so than ever. GauchoSpace has several tools that you should know about to directly connect you with your course instructors:
Did you know that it's possible to check out the GauchoSpace page of a course in which you're not enrolled? Consider reaching out to an instructor and inquiring if they will grant you access to their page! Instructors have two methods of granting "unofficial" student access to course pages:
Instructors have the ability to activate "guest" and/or "course crasher" access on their GauchoSpace course pages. If enabled, you can find their course by going to "Courses" in the navigation bar, searching under the appropriate quarter and department, and clicking on the course page link. With "guest" access, you can only view page resources -- not interact with activities, like assignments and quizzes. With "course crasher" access, on the other hand, you can self-enroll in the course page through the "course crashers" block on the right hand side of the page, and participate in activities as a typical student would.
Please note:
- An instructor has no obligation to grant guest or course crasher access... so ask politely!
- While it is possible to self-enroll in any course page that has course crasher access enabled (even without permission), the instructor will see that you are enrolled as a course crasher because you will appear in the "course participants" list.
- Course crasher access may be restricted with a code that students would need to get from the instructor.
- If the instructor removes course crasher access to a course page that you have "auto-enrolled" in as a course crasher, you will loose access.
- Enrolling in a course page as a course crasher is not the same as formally enrolling in the course through GOLD. If you are not enrolled in GOLD, you will not receive a course grade!
Please note:
- An instructor has no obligation to grant manual access... so ask politely!
- An instructor can revoke your manual enrollment access at anytime.
- Getting manually enrolled in a course page as a course crasher is not the same as formally in rolling in the course through GOLD!
Many instructors include a "course participation" component in your final grade course grade, so you may want to make yourself memorable!
Here are 3 ways that you can let your instructors get to know you a bit better through your GauchoSpace profile:
It's important that instructors/TAs are able to put a face to a name. You'll see that your access card photo is uploaded by default as your profile picture. Feel free to change your photo in the profile settings, but we highly recommend that you upload a photo that your instructors and TAs are able to recognize! If you don't want everyone at UCSB to see your photo, don't worry! You can determine who is able to view your profile photo through your "privacy settings".
Did you know that you can restrict the visibility of your personal pronouns? After defining your pronouns on the UCSB GOLD website, you can restrict who has permission to see them on GauchoSpace in your "privacy settings". For example, you can specify that only your instructors and TAs can view them.
Instructors often use GauchoSpace to learn a little bit more about their students. By updating your information in your profile personal profile, your instructors can get a bit more of a sense for who you are. Again, it's usually beneficial for instructors to know who you are -- especially when they submit final grades!
Keep in mind that, unlike other profile information (profile picture, pronouns, and email), any information that you publish in your description will be visible to any instructors or classmates who are able to view your profile page.