Get started

You can access Interact2 using your CSU login and password: Go to Interact2

When you first log in to Interact2 you will see the dashboard, this is your personal home page. It contains some standard items, but you are also able to customise it to suit your own needs.

Interact2 Professional Learning

To locate more information on Interact2 try the A-Z of Resources to find items listed alphabetically.

Division of Learning & Teaching  - provides a range of faculty specific sessions to increase skills in how to use Interact2 and online teaching practices.

Working with Interact2

Communication and Collaboration

There are a number of tools that you can use to communicate and collaborate with your students:

  • Announcements: You may post announcements for students to read. These can be found under the announcement tab, or can be made to pop-up when a student accesses Interact2.
  • Blogs: Engage your students on a particular topic by expanding their ideas via individual or group blogs.
  • Discussions: This feature allows academics and students to create a discussion thread and reply to ones already created.
  • Groups: Form groups for students to communicate and collaborate.
  • Online Meeting: Zoom allows you to facilitate online sessions with students in an online classroom.
  • Wikis: Allows content to be created by multiple writers creating an online space for collaborative work.
Content
  • Subject content and modules: This feature allows you to post articles, subject content like topics, tests/quizzes, videos etc. It allows you to post different lessons for students to access.
  • Video resources: Create videos to use in your subject either capturing a lecture in a teaching space or directly from your computer.
  • GradeCentre: You can post grades on Interact2 for students to view.
  • Media Library: Videos and other media can be added to your subject content.
  • Tests, pools & surveys: Create multiple choice tests and quizzes.

Additional getting started support

When you first log in to Interact2 you will see the dashboard, which is your personal home page. It contains some standard items, but you are also able to customise it to suit your own needs.

The following image shows a standard dashboard:

A: Global Navigation: Contains access to your courses, posts, due dates and updates. You can change some settings, such as text size or notifications. Click the arrow next to your name or your name to access the global navigation panel. The logout (Interact2 Logout Button) function is nearby.

B: Help link: Help material includes help guides and support. This link is visible everywhere in Interact2 and opens in a new window or tab depending on your browser settings.

C: Modules: Each item on the dashboard is known as a module. The following list includes some of the modules you may find:

  • My Courses: Displays links to subjects and courses you are enrolled in or teaching. The module can be personalised to filter your subjects and courses.  See Organise your Subject List below.
  • My Announcements: Displays announcements from your memberships. Announcements communicate important, time-sensitive information.

You can collapse individual windows and change the position of modules. To move a module, point to the title bar to access the four arrows, press and drag the module into its new location, and release.

D: Add Module: Click to view the list of available modules, such as bookmarks, report card, and notes. Descriptions are provided in the list so you can choose the most suitable to add to your personalised dashboard. Modules can be collapsed to minimise scrolling.

E: Organisations:  These sites are used for purposes other than learning and teaching. For more information see the Organisations section below.

F: Study Success: This site is an organisation that all students automatically belong to and contains a range of support material for students. Staff may access it by clicking on the Enrol link that is visible when first entering the Study Success site.

G: Content Collection:  You can store and find content in personal, organisation, and course folders in the Content Collection.

If you wish to change which subjects appear on your Interact2 dashboard:

  1. Hover your mouse over the 'My Subjects' module, then click the gear icon on the right hand corner of the module.  This takes you to the settings page for your subjects.
  2. If you wish to  Group by Term,  tick the first checkbox. Select the Terms you wish to see.
  3. If you wish to Edit Subject List, untick or tick the boxes next to the subjects you wish to add or remove from the dashboard.
  4. Click Submit.

When you log in to interact2 you will be automatically directed to the dashboard. From the dashboard your subjects and any course sites that you belong to will be listed under My Courses. To enter a subject simply click on the link.

Subject not visible in MY COURSES

If your subject is not visible in the MY COURSES module, scroll to the bottom of the module box and select 'More Courses'.  This will open a new page that allows you to search  for a subject using criteria such as ID, name or Instructor. If you still can not locate your subject contact the School Admin  team.

It can be helpful to bookmark this page.  You can do this by adding to your browser bookmarks or adding a module to the dashboard.

To add a search module to the dashboard

1. Click on ADD MODULE as shown in the  left of the image above.

2.  Locate the module titled BOOKMARKS and select ADD

3. Open and copy the url for 'More Courses'

4. Click on the cog in the title bar of the bookmarks module.  Add a name and the link.

5. Click Submit.

This process can also be completed for individual subjects.

Interact2 sites will be provisioned biannually in 2 releases in September and January.  Subject sites cannot be manually created by a user.

Subject site will be available to students automatically 14 days before the start of session unless made available earlier by an authorised staff member. If you wish to do this:

  • Enter your subject site and go to Control Panel > Customisation > Properties.
  • Select the Yes radio button for the setting Make Course Available.
  • Click the Submit button.

Information regarding session and census dates can be located on the CSU website.

Information regarding the release of templates for Subject Outline can be located on the CSU website.

After you access your subject site you will have the following navigation options.

A: Site Navigation  menu: The subject site menu is in the left column and guides navigation through the subject. A standard menu will be created when the subject is provisioned. It is recommended that you retain the default menu names to provide a consistent interface experience for students. Students will only see items that are available on the menu.

B: Add content: You can add, remove and reorder items on this menu in edit mode. It is also possible to hide menu items, so they are only visible to the instructor. More about adding content, reordering content and hiding content.

C: Student preview: Student preview allows you to experience your subject exactly as your students do. More about student preview

D: Edit Mode: When the Edit Mode is ON, all the instructor functions appear, such as the ability to build content or access the editing menus. When Edit Mode is OFF, all instructor functions are hidden.

E: Menus:  A drop down arrow (chevron) appears next to headings for areas of the site that have additional menus.  These menus will have different options depending on the item or tool you are accessing.

F: Home: The Home button returns you to your subject home.

Breadcrumbs: Once you click on a section, such as 'topics', breadcrumbs are the best way to navigate back to previous pages (not the back button).  The breadcrumbs allow you to trace the path to and from each item.

Control Panel: The control panel is only visible when the edit mode is on.  It is located beneath the left navigation menu. It provides access to staff areas like Grade Centre or Course Tools such as the journal.  This is  a staff only area.

This video shows you how to get orientated with your site.

Organisations are sites that can be used for a variety of teaching and non- teaching purposes.

Those that you belong to can be found on the Organisations tab.

Organisation membership is organised into three sections:

  • Participant: you are able to view content but not edit
  • Assistant: you have some editing options
  • Leader: you have full editing options.

An organisation can be created by anyone with a staff login to Interact2. To create an organisation  click on the Organisation Creation from the organisation page, further instructions are available from Create an Interact2 Organisation.

When creating and org site you can change the name but not the ID information once it has been created.

Accessing  your organisation site

When you log in to interact2 you will be automatically directed to the dashboard. To access Organisation sites, select the Organisation tab. A list of sites will be provided in the MY ORGANISATION module.  To enter an organisation simply click on the link.

Subject not visible in MY ORGANISATION

If your organisation is not visible in the MY ORGANISATION module, scroll  to the bottom of the module box and select 'More Organisations'.  This will open a new page that allows you to search  for a organisation using criteria such as ID, name or Instructor.

It can be helpful to bookmark the search page.  You can do this by adding to your browser bookmarks or adding a module to the dashboard.

To add a search module to the dashboard
  1. Click on ADD MODULE, located on the tool bar of the dashboard.
  2. Locate the module titled BOOKMARKS and select ADD
  3. Open and copy the url for 'More Organisations'
  4. Click on the cog in the title bar of the bookmarks module.  Add a name and the link.
  5. Click Submit.

This process can also be completed for individual sites.