Post'Em Tool

The Post'Em tool allows you to release spreadsheets to your students, where only the column that applies to them is visible. This easily allows you to give private comments, grades, and more to your students with only one file to maintain and upload. In comparison to the Gradebook tool, Post'Em is more flexible, allowing you to put any kind of information you want into your spreadsheet. On the other hand, it does not have all the built in grading links to the other OWL-Space tools that the Gradebook does. Depending on your needs, you may want to use one or the other, or perhaps both.

To use the Post'Em tool, you first need to create a spreadsheet on your computer. The top row of the spreadsheet must be a title for each column. The first column must be the OWL-Space username (ie, NetID) of the members on your site. A member will only be able to see the row of the spreadsheet that has their username in the first column, along with the titles from the top row. Other than these requirements, you can put anything into your spreadsheet, in any organization.

To upload your spreadsheet into the Post'Em tool, you must first save it in CSV (comma-delimited) format. Most spreadsheet applications give this format as an option when saving. Note that the CSV file will not retain any advanced options or formatting in your spreadsheet.

On the main page of the Post'Em tool, click on the Add tab. In the resulting page, enter a title for your spreadsheet (it doesn't need to be the same as the filename), and use the Browse... button to choose the CSV file from your computer. You must check the Release feedback to participants? box if you want the members of your site to be able to view this spreadsheet. When you are done, press Post to upload your spreadsheet.

The main page of the Post'Em tool shows a table of all spreadsheets you have uploaded to the site. Those which have a Yes in the Released column are viewable by the members of your site. There are several links to the right of each spreadsheet in the table which allow you to use and manage your spreadsheets.

The view link shows you the entire spreadsheet, including a Last Checked column which gives the time and date that a member last looked at this spreadsheet. The view participant link gives you a selection box where you can select any member listed in that spreadsheet. When you pick a member from the box, you are shown what this spreadsheet will look like to that member (ie, only their own data along with the titles). The update link allows you to upload a new version of your spreadsheet to replace this one. The delete link allows you to delete this spreadsheet. The download link allows you to save a CSV version of this spreadsheet on your computer.