Restricting Access to Your Course Online Account (COLA)

These directions guide you through the process of protecting your course directory from being viewed over the Internet by anyone outside of your course. Restricting your course directory allows only your students and other designated individuals (i.e. teaching assistants) to view the restricted resources.

In order to set permissions for your course, you will need a list of Penn State Access Account userids (i.e. xyz123) for those students who are enrolled in your course and others who may need to view your course directory. Please have your class roster ready with a list of just userids.

Contents

Step 1: Accessing the COLA Restriction/Permissions Page
Step 2: Protecting the Entire Course Directory
Step 3: Protecting Folders and Subfolders (Optional)
Getting Help

Visit the ITS Secure Server and click "Restrict Access to COLA space" (see Figure 1). At this time, you will be prompted to authenticate with your Access Account userid and password. If you have multiple courses, then click the link of the course to which you want to restrict access. If you only have one course, you will be automatically directed to that course’s directory.

NOTE: If you choose to protect the entire course directory, this means that only the users given permission through this step with have access to course directory and all of its folders and subfolders. Therefore, if you add only yourself, you will be the only person able to access any of the resources. If you want to protect specific resources from some users, first protect the entire directory through this step and then follow Step 3 to protect specific folders or subfolders. For example, if your class needs access to all of the folders in the directory except for "Grades," add everyone to the course directory. Then, follow the instructions in Step 3 to protect the "Grades" folder from being viewed by any students.

If you do not want to protect the entire directory, skip to Step 3. Protecting the entire directory will still allow you to set different permissions for specific folders and subfolders as described in Step 3.

Click “The entire test123_xyz123 directory," where test123_xyz123 represents your course directory” (see Figure 2). You will be prompted to enter the userids of those who need to access this course directory. A text field will appear. In this field, enter the userids of the individuals who should have access to this directory, including your own userid (see Figure 3).

You can simply type in the userids in this box if you only have a few userids. If you have a long list of userids, then it may be easier to copy [(Ctrl+C on a PC or Cmd+C on a Mac) and paste (Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a Mac) the userids ONLY into this box; for example, your list can be entered as:
usr100
usr101
usr103

Alternatively, you can list them with one space between the userids such as "usr100 usr101 usr103." Finally, click <Protect Directory> located below the text field.

The next page will confirm that you have restricted the course directory to the userids you entered (see Figure 4). Click “Restrict Access to COLA Space” to return to the course directory.

NOTE: If you want to protect the course's entire directory, please see Step 2. If you have already completed Step 2, Step 3 is optional.

The resources you have added to your course directory will be visible with a message similar to the following: "Please select which subdirectory of test123_xyz123 to protect,” (see Figure 5) where "test123_xyz123" represents your course directory. You can either restrict your entire directory (see Step 2) or a specific folder. For example, if at the beginning of the semester, you want to restrict access to the folder “study guides” to you and your teaching assistants, you can choose to protect this folder by specifying that only certain userids can view the "study guides" folder.

To protect a specific folder or subfolder, simply click the folder or subfolder you wish to protect. The next page will ask you to confirm your selection of the “study guide directory” for protection. Click “The entire test123_xyz123/study_guides directory” to confirm.

Once you have selected the resource you would like to protect, you will be asked to choose the users who need access to the resource (see Figure 6). You can simply enter the userids in this box if you only have a few userids. If you have a long list of userids, then it may be easier to copy (Ctrl+C on a PC or Cmd+C on a Mac) and paste (Ctrl+V on a PC or Cmd+V on a Mac) the userids ONLY into this box; for example, your list can be entered as:

usr100
usr101
usr103, or you can list them with one space between the userids, such as "usr100 usr101 usr103." Don't forget to include your own userid. (See Figure 6.)

Click <Protect Directory> to complete the process. A confirmation screen listing the update will appear (see Figure 7).

The process is complete as shown in Figure 7.

You may choose to protect more items by returning to the parent directory. To do so, click " Restrict Access to COLA Space." Do not be alarmed if the folder or subfolder you originally selected has appeared again on the parent directory. If you have followed the directions above, your resources are protected.

Questions, problem reports, and requests for assistance should be directed to ITS Help Desk staff at helpdesk@psu.edu.