OWL-Space Overview

What is OWL-Space?

OWL-Space is a collection of web applications that allows Rice students, faculty, and staff to communicate and work online. This guide covers the course and collaboration management portion of OWL-Space, or OWL-Space CCM. You can access OWL-Space CCM by going to http://owlspace.rice.edu and clicking on the Course and Collaboration Management link, or by going directly to https://owlspace-ccm.rice.edu.

OWL-Space CCM allows instructors to manage the class schedule, distribute class materials, deliver assignments, administer quizzes and exams, communicate with students, and much more, all through a web interface. OWL-Space sites can also be used for collaboration among research groups, student study groups, and anyone else who needs to communicate and share resources.

Every member of the Rice community with a NetID already has a personal OWL-Space site, My Workspace, set up for their use. Each semester, an OWL-Space site is created for every course, which can be activated at the instructor's discretion. Other OWL-Space sites, for group projects, research collaboration, and more can be created by filling out the form linked on the OWL-Space Portal page (click on "Request a Course/Collaborative site" at http://owlspace.rice.edu).

How is OWL-Space Useful?

OWL-Space is useful for both instructors and students in many ways. Course handouts can be made available on OWL-Space, eliminating the need for making copies, and allowing students to easily view materials online or download and print their own copy. Multimedia resources can also be delivered or linked to through OWL-Space.

Exams, quizzes, and assignments of many types can be given through OWL-Space. Assignments can be turned in either through OWL-Space or by hand, depending on the settings selected by the instructor. Tests and quizzes are taken and submitted online, with objective questions automatically graded and entered in the gradebook, and subjective questions available for grading by the instructor. Instructors and students can see which assignments have been submitted, which are outstanding, and can also view grades. Announcements can be delivered to remind students of due dates, which also appear on the course calendar.

OWL-Space also allows students and instructors to communicate through a class chat room, message boards, class email list, private messages, blogs, and a collaborative wiki. Many of the tools are open ended, and can be adapted to creative uses beyond their original vision.

Each semester an OWL-Space site is created for every course. The site is hidden until activated by the instructor, and it can be customized from among the many different tools and functionalities available.

OWL-Space is constantly being refined and expanded. As an evolving system, it is able to adapt to feedback from the user experience, growing to address your needs. We look forward to hearing your suggestions for the next version.