Trunk Support

Trunk is a new online environment designed to facilitate teaching, learning, and assessment at Tufts. Trunk enables the sharing of knowledge and new models of collaboration within and across disciplines, at Tufts and beyond. Trunk is powered by Sakai, an open source collaboration and learning environment that has been developed by the educational community. Sakai is used at over 350 schools around the world to support teaching, learning and scholarly activity both inside and outside the classroom. Trunk is the version of Sakai that has been configured and customized to meet Tufts University’s diverse needs.

Fig 1. Screen shot of Trunk home page (click to enlarge).

The video below gives a good introduction to the capabilities of the Trunk system:

View larger version of the video.

From Trunk’s homepage, without signing in, click the ”Search Public Courses & Projects” link.  You will be taken to a search form, with a text box and various criteria.  From here you can search any courses or projects made completely public by professors and/or students.

Fig 1 – Screen shot showing the location of the "Search Public Courses & Projects" link. (click to enlarge)

My Workspace is a special type of site that that serves as a private work area for Trunk users. When you log in to Trunk you will always land on the home page of your own My Workspace site. The Home page will display a Message of the Day posted by the Trunk Support team, and an updated listing of recent calendar events and announcements from your sites. The tools in My Workspace allow you to view all your calendar events and announcements, to store, organize and manage a collection of resources, and to maintain a personal profile and specify settings valid on all your sites.

Fig. 1 – Screen shot showing the main features of My Workspace (click to enlarge image)

1. Go to http://trunk.tufts.edu

2. In the login box of the top right hand corner of the Trunk home page enter your Tufts Username and Password and then click the “Go” button.

Fig 1. Screen shot of where to login on the Trunk home page (click to enlarge).

1) Navigating to a Site
When you first log into Trunk you will be in a site known as My Workspace.
To navigate to a course or project site, select the link to the site from your Quicklinks or from the lists contained under the My Sites tab.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing location of site navigation links (click to enlarge).

2) Site Home page and tool home pages
When you login to Trunk or click the link to go to a site, you will always arrive on the Home page of that site. You can tell you’re on the home page because the tool will be orange. To move to another tool, simply select it from the tools menu. Your screen will refresh and you will be on the home page of that tool. (eg Resources home, assignments home, calendar home).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing location of site Home link. Click to enlarge

3) Returning to a tool home page
If you are working in a tool and wish to return to the home or top level page of that tool, you have two options. You may click the Reset button to the left of the tool title, which looks like two arrows going around in a circle. Alternatively, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and select the button labeled either Cancel of Back.

Fig 3. Screen shot showing location of the tool reset button (click to enlarge).

4) Avoid the Back Button
Trunk does not work well with the back button of your browser. We recommend using the guidelines above for moving around in the Trunk interface.

Course sites are automatically created based on a feed from SIS. This feed is updated on a daily basis, which means it is no longer necessary to add or drop students to or from your course site.

To view all your course sites, select the My Sites tab next to the My Workspace tab. This will display a list of all sites that you own or are a member of.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing how to find your sites (click to enlarge).

Students are given access to course sites in which they are enrolled automatically. Cross listed or other students not listed in SIS will have to request access to the course site from the instructor. To add a student to your site, go to the Site Editor, click Add participants. Type in the email of the student. If they have a Tufts email, use the top box. If they do not, use the bottom box and make sure to send notification. You must choose the “Student-Nonregistered” role when adding students manually. If you add people to the “Student” role they will be removed everyday when the SIS feed updates. (The same is true for the “Instructor” role – it is reserved for use by SIS. Choose the “Teaching Assistant” or “Guest Instructor” role instead, to add non-Tufts instructors.)

Note: Enrolled students who drop your class will automatically be removed during Trunk’s daily SIS update.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing step 1 and 2 of adding participants to your site (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing steps 3-6 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 3 – Screen shot showing steps 7-8 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 4. Screen shot showing steps 9-10 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 5. Screen shot showing step 11 (and final step) of adding participants.

TA’s, guests, and auditors must be added to a course site manually. To add someone to your site, go to the Site Editor, click Add participants. Type in the person’s email address. If they have a Tufts email, use the top box. If they do not, use the bottom box and make sure to send the notification so that they can access Trunk.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing step 1 and 2 of adding participants to your site (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing steps 3-6 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 3 – Screen shot showing steps 7-8 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 4. Screen shot showing steps 9-10 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 5. Screen shot showing step 11 (and final step) of adding participants.

To edit the set of available tools on your course site go to the Site Editor tool in the Tools menu. Select Edit Tools from the Menu bar. A list of tools will appear. Tools that are checked are already installed on your site. To add a tool, check its box; to remove a tool, uncheck its box. Click Continue and then Save. Your new selections will appear in the Tools menu.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing step 1-2 of editing your site tools (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing steps 3-4 of editing your site tools (click to enlarge).

Fig 3. Screen shot showing step 5 of editing site tools (click to enlarge).

Course sites in Trunk will be automatically created before the start of every term. When a course site is created it will in an unpublished state. Unpublished sites cannot be viewed by students but can be accessed by instructors or teaching assistants affiliated with the course.

When you have added content to your course site and customized it to your liking, you MUST publish it in order for your students to see it in Trunk.

Publish your site

Download PDF

To publish your site:

1. Navigate to the course site. The course tools display in the left Course Tools menu area.
2. From the Course Tools menu, click Site Editor. The CLE displays the home page for the Site Editor tool. If you do not see the Site Editor home page, click the Reset button.
3. Click Manage Access. The Manage Access options screen opens.
4. Select the Publish site box with your cursor. A check mark appears.
5. Click Update. The CLE returns to the home page for the Site Editor tool and the Unpublished Site icon will disappear from the area above the Home page tool.

Unpublished Site

Published Site

It is possible to place students into groups and make certain content on your site available to students in the context of their group. To create groups, go to Site Editor and click Manage Groups. Select Create New Group from the menu bar. Give your group a title and then add students to it. Alternatively, you can choose to have Trunk auto-create groups and assign members by using the Auto Groups option.

To view your site as a student would, go to the View Site As box located in the upper right hand corner of your site. Click on the “Select Role” dropdown menu and select Student. To exit student view, click “Exit Student View” in the same place.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing location of View Site As function (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing location of Exit View link (click to enlarge).

As an instructor, the Syllabus tool allows you to create and display an outline of your course. You may want to use this tool to post course information so registered students know exactly where to find critical documents, and/or you may want to make a syllabus public so potential students can preview class requirements before registering.

Upload a Syllabus

View Video | Download full PDF on Syllabus tool

To add a syllabus to your course site:

1. Navigate to the course site.
2. From the Course Tools menu, click Syllabus. Trunk displays the home page for syllabus.



3. If you do not see the Syllabus menu bar, click Reset.



4. On the Syllabus menu bar, click Create/Edit.



5. On the menu bar, click Add.



6. In the Title field, name your syllabus. (Type Course Name)

The Title field is required and must be filled out.

7. In the Content field, rich text editor, syllabus information will be entered.

Use the various content editing tools to set up and enhance your syllabus.

Post a complete syllabus or build it in separate units.

Be warned that there is a 60 minute system timeout. If you take longer than 60 minutes to add the syllabus, your data will be lost. If your syllabus already exists in a Word document, use the Paste from Word tool……. to preserve your Word layout.


8. After syllabus content is added, select a View option.


You can choose to limit viewing of the item to site members only or choose to allow anyone who can access Trunk to view the syllabus by searching for the course site.

9. Instructors may elect to add a Word or PDF version of the syllabus for students to download.



10. Optionally, you can choose to send an email to site participants when changes are made to the syllabus.The High option sends an email notification even if students have opted out of notifications.



11. If you wish to view your syllabus item prior to posting, click Preview.



12. When you have finished previewing the syllabus, at the base of the screen, click Edit.
13. Make any adjustments as needed.
14. If your syllabus is in final form and is ready to be displayed to students, click Post. The syllabus is posted.

This is not what students will see.

15. On the Syllabus menu bar, click Reset.
16. You can always edit your syllabus by clicking the Create/Edit tool.

The Resources tool in Sakai creates a web-based file system for your course site. You can upload and download files of almost any type and organize them into folders. You can also move or copy them easily from folder to folder, and from one of your sites to any of the others. The full documentation of all of the features of the Resources tool is lengthy, but well worth reading. Here are summaries of the most basic features.

Working With Lists and Folders

In the Resources tool, all of the resources for the current site are stored in the root folder for the site. This folder carries the name of your site. For example, if your site is Psych 101 A, its resources are stored in a folder called Psych 101 A Resources.

You may store several types of resources here: folders (stored as subfolders in the root folder), files, citation lists, URLs to web pages, HTML pages, simple text documents (that is, documents that contain unformatted text), and form items (that is, instances of forms used in ePortfolios). On the Resources home page, a specific symbol identifies each type of resource, and a copyright symbol © marks all copyrighted resources.

You have several options for accessing the contents of folders and changing the display of items in the list:

• To open an individual folder, click the small folder icon with a plus sign) next to the title ().
• To collapse an individual folder, click the small folder icon with a minus sign next to the title ().
• To expand all folders, click the “expand all” icon () at the top of the list.
• To collapse all folders, click the “collapse all” icon ().
• To sort the items by any column header, click the header you want to sort on. For basic information on sorting, see Working with Lists.

I. Upload a File to Resources

To add one or more resources, access the Resources tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Resources home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Click the Add button for the folder in which you want to store the resource.
3. When the CLE displays the Add pulldown list, click to select the type of resource you want to add.
4. Based on your selection, the steps to add a resource item vary. For instructions for adding each type of item, see the appropriate subsection.

View Video | Download PDF

II. Deleting a Resource

Tip: This material explains how to use check boxes and the Remove link to delete resources. You may also perform this operation for a single resource by accessing the Actions pulldown list for the resource and choosing Remove.

Note: You cannot delete a folder that contains files. You must delete the files first.

You may delete resources from the Resources home page. To do so, access the Resources tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Resources home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the name of the resource you want to delete and check the box to the left of this name. Or to delete all resources, check the box to the left of the Title header.
   • Notice that the Copy, Remove, and Move options have become active above the header for the list of resources.
3. Click Remove. The Resource tool displays a confirmation window.
4. To remove this resource, click Remove. The CLE deletes it and redisplays the Resources home page. Or, to return to the Resources home page without deleting the resource, click Cancel.

View Video | Download PDF

III. Moving a Resource

Tip: This material explains how to use check boxes and the Move link to move resources from one folder to another. You may also perform this operation for a single resource by accessing the Actions pulldown list for the resource and choosing Move.

You may move one or more resources from one folder to another. To do so, access the Resources tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Resources home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the name of each resource you want to move to the same place and check the box to the left of each name. Or, to move all resources, check the box to the left of the Title header.
   • Notice that the Remove, Move, and Copy options have become active above the Title header.
3. Click Move. The entire row for the selected file(s) is now highlighted, and a Paste icon () is displayed to the right of each folder and subfolder name.
4. Click the Paste icon () by the name of the folder to which you want to move the item(s).

The CLE moves the item(s) and redisplays the Resources home page.

View Video | Download PDF

IV. Copying a Resource

Tip: This material explains how to use check boxes and the Copy link to move resources. You may also perform this operation for a single resource by accessing the Actions pulldown list for the resource and choosing Copy.

Using the Resources tool, you may make a copy of any resource and paste it into a different folder. Copying a resource creates an identical item with the same title.

To copy one or more resource, access the Resources tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Resources home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the name of the resource(s) you want to copy and check the box to the left of each name. Or, to copy all resources, check the box to the left of the Title header. Notice that the Remove, Move, and Copy options have become active above the Title header.
3. Click the Copy link. The selected file is now highlighted and a Paste icon () is displayed to the right of each folder and subfolder name.
4. Click the Paste icon () by the name of the folder to which you want to copy the item(s). The CLE copies the resource to that folder and redisplays the Resources home page.

Note: If you paste the resource into the folder it was copied from, the CLE gives it the same name as the original folder followed by a number in parentheses, as in the file name Boer Wars (1).

View Video | Download PDF

V. Reordering Resources

You may change the order of resources in any folder that contains more than one resource. To do so, access the Resources tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Resources home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. Find the name of the folder whose contents you want to reorder.
3. Click the Actions button for this folder and select Reorder from the pulldown list that is displayed. The CLE displays the Reordering screen.
4. To change the order of the resources listed on the screen, choose either of these options:
   • Click the up and down arrow icons ( and ) to the left of the titles to move the items in either direction.
   • Select the number indicating the preferred position from the dropdown lists in the Position column.
   • The CLE reorders the list as you specify each change.
5. To save the new order, click Save. Or to exit without saving the changes, click Cancel. In either case, the CLE displays the Resources home page.

View Video | Download PDF

The easiest way to link to a Research Guide created for your course or your department is to add a Web Content tool via the Site Editor-Edit tools links. Select Web Content and Continue. Type in the title of the Research Guide or other site and the URL and then Save. You can also change the “Tufts Libraries” link on your course site to point to the research guide for your class.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing step 1-2 of adding a research guide to your site.

Fig 2. Screen shot showing step 3-4 of adding a research guide to your site (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing step 5-7 of adding a research guide to your site (click to enlarge).

Fig 3. Screen shot showing step 8 of adding a research guide to your site (click to enlarge).

When you request a video reserve from the Tisch Media Center you’ll be given a link to the online version of the video. The link can be added anywhere in Trunk. Some possibilities include: adding it as a separate Web Link in Resources; adding it to an existing HTML document or creating a new one; inserting it in a Syllabus, Announcement, Message, or Lesson.

The Assignments tool in Trunk is quite robust & allows you to post, grade, and return assignments to students.

Assignments are private. Student submissions are visible to instructors but not to other participants in your course site.

Create an assignment

View Video | Download full PDF on Assignments tool

Go to Help > Assignments for information about advanced capabilities settings.

To create a new assignment, go to the Assignments tool and follow these steps:

1. If the Assignments home page is not displayed, click the Reset button.
2. On the menu bar, click Add. Trunk displays the Add new assignment screen.
3. Enter information about the assignment. There are a wide range of powerful options here, please see the [Assignments tool] documentation for additional explanation. Commonly used fields are explained here:
   • Title – Enter a name for the assignment
   • Open Date – Select the date and time the assignment is to be made available to students so they can work on it
   • Due Date – Select the date and time at which the assignment is due;
   • Accept Until – Select the last date and time at which the system is to accept assignments from students. To continue accepting assignments after the due date, select a date and time later than the due date.
   • Student Submissions – Select an option to determine whether students must submit their assignments inline only (that is, by typing text directly into a web page on the site), as attachments only, in both ways, non-electronically, or as a single uploaded file only. Selecting the non-electronic submissions option allows you to track grades online for all assignments, including those that students submit in class.
   • Grade Scale – Select the grading system for the assignment.
   • Assignment Instructions – Enter detailed instructions for completing the assignment. Format the text as necessary.

4. To add one or more attachments to the assignment, click Add Attachments; then proceed as instructed in Adding an Attachment.

5. Choose one of the following options:

• To preview this assignment, click Preview. Trunk displays the Previewing Assignment screen.
• To post this assignment, click Post. Trunk displays the Assignments home page. The assignment list includes your new assignment.
• To save this assignment in draft form, click Save Draft. Trunk displays the Assignments home page. This assignment is marked as a draft.
• To return to the Assignments home page without making any changes, click Cancel.

The Gradebook2 tool allows instructors to set up a gradebook in a variety of different ways.
The Trunk gradebook tool is integrated with the Forums, Assignments and Tests and Quizzes tools and faculty can set up their gradebook by entering items manually or by linking to entries in any of these three tools. Unlike Blackboard, most grading in Trunk is done in the tool that is associated with the Gradebook item. (eg the assignments, forums or tests and quizzes tools).
The following resources explain how to use the Trunk Gradebook in further detail.

Table of options for setting up a gradebook and list of acceptable inputs and outputs

Trunk Gradebook Guide

Tool Overview

The announcement tool provides an excellent method for posting important notices. The content of these announcements can be as varied as the instructor desires since the tool has the ability to integrate with many other tools within the Trunk environment. For example, an instructor may use the announcements tool to post a reminder for important deadlines or for impromptu changes like a cancellation of class due to snow. Some other tools have options which allow them to post announcements within a course as well.

By default, Trunk will display course announcements on the course homepage. To display a list of announcements for all of your Trunk sites, you must first click on the My Workspace tab and then access the announcement tool in the Tools Menu on the left side of the page.

In addition to plain text, the announcements tool is robust enough to allow instructors to post using a rich text editor, to insert photos within the body of a message, or to add files as an attachment.

Posting an Announcement

View Video | Download full PDF on Announcements tool

1. Navigate to the course site.

Tip: You can find a list of your course sites in the Quicklinks toolbar within Trunk

2. From the Tools Menu on the left side of the page, locate the Announcements tool in the Communications group.
3. The Announcements tool menu bar will display towards the top of the page. Click Add.
4. A new window appears displaying the Add Announcement form. The items marked with a red asterisks are required.
5. Type a name for the Announcement in the box labeled Announcement title.
6. In the large box labeled Body, enter the text for the Announcement. Trunk provides a comprehensive list of tools in its Rich Text Editor that enable an announcement to be further formatted according to an instructor’s taste. If an announcement has been preformatted using Microsoft Word, the editor has a useful Paste from Word tool which can be utilized to preserve the format.
7. Determine the Access level.
8. The default setting Only members of this site can see this announcement limits the viewing of the announcement to only those Trunk community members who explicitly have access to the course.
9. The publicly viewable setting grants access to all members of the Trunk community regardless if they can access the course.
10. The Availability option is an important setting for determining the duration of the announcement.
    • The default setting, Show, displays the announcement immediately and permanently.
    • The Hide setting can be used to save the announcement as a draft for a later posting or to archive the announcement if it contains text that can be reused.
    • Specify Dates is a setting which can be used when the announcement has a known duration. Selecting this setting opens up hidden checkboxes which can be used to set a beginning and ending time for the announcement.
11. The Attachments option can be used to attach a file to the announcement. The file can come from your desktop, a hosted website, or from the course’s Resources tool. The maximum size of the attachment is limited to 20 MB.
12. The final option is to set an Email Notification for the Announcement. The default setting is None – No Notification. Use the drop down list to choose a different setting.
    • High – All participants: An email will be sent to each course member when the announcement is created.
    • Low – Only participants who have opted in: An email will be sent only to those course members whose preferences are set to receive low-priority announcements.
13. To preview the announcement before publishing, click Preview. The Announcement Preview window is displayed summarizing the settings and the message of the posting. If changes need to be made, click Edit and update the announcement accordingly.
14. Click Add Announcement when the announcement is ready to be published based on the chosen settings.

Tool Overview

The Messages tool in Trunk is a simple way of communicating with students or other members of your site.The Messages tool enables you to:

• Send messages inside Trunk to individual site members or groups of site members.
• Receive messages from your site members.
• Send a copy of a message to a recipient’s email address outside Trunk.
• Store, organize and manage communications you’ve sent and received.

Compose a Message

View Video | Download full PDF on Trunk Messages tool

To compose a message using the Messages tool:

1. Navigate to the course site. The course tools display in the left Course Tools menu area.
2. From the Course Tools menu, click Messages. The CLE displays the home page for the Messages tool. If you do not see the Messages menu bar, click the Reset button.
3. Click Compose Message. The Compose a Message screen opens.
4. Using your cursor, select message recipients by clicking on their role or name from the To menu. To select multiple recipients, hold down the shift key and click additional recipients.
5. By default, messages are sent and received inside Trunk, and users view and manage these messages from the Messages tool. However, when you compose a message, you may choose to send a copy of that message to a student’s email address as well. To send a copy of your message to a student’s email account, check the box next to the:
   • Send a copy of this message to recipients’ email address(es) option.
   • The email address used will be the email on file with the university unless the user is not registered at Tufts.
6. You may then select a priority level for your message by using the pull down menu. The options are Normal, Low and High. (what do these look like?)
7. In the subject field, type a subject for your message.
8. In the content field (rich text editor) compose your message. You may use the various content editing options to enhance the appearance of your message.
9. Optional: Attachments. To add attachments, click Add Attachment and follow the instructions.
   • Your options here include browsing to locate a document on your computer, typing in a url for a website, or selecting a file stored in the Resources tool of your site.
10. When you are satisfied with your message details, click Send.

High priority announcements are instantly sent to all participants.  Students can choose how they want to receive low priority email notifications.  Some students may receive a summary of all low priority notifications at the end of the day, while some students may not receive low priority notifications at all.

Project sites are designed to facilitate online collaboration. They are similar to organizational sites in Blackboard and can be used to support a wide variety of activities, from students working on class projects or clubs to scientists collaborating on grant proposals, faculty participating in a search or tenure committees, or administrators revising the undergraduate curriculum.

Anyone at Tufts, faculty, students or staff may create project sites for their work. Project sites look almost identical to course sites in Trunk, but they differ in several important ways.

• Project sites are not set-up automatically; they must be manually created.
• Users must be manually added to project sites.
• Project sites have a slightly different set of tools than course sites; they do not include Assignments, Tests & Quizzes and Gradebook2.
• Project sites have a different set of roles; rather than instructors and students, project sites have organizers and participants.

Project sites can be created by anyone at Tufts. To create a project site, go the Site Setup tool in your My Workspace site, select New from the Tool bar, choose project site and follow the site setup wizard to create your site immediately.

The same set of tools that is available for course sites is available for project sites, except project sites cannot include the Assignments, Tests & Quizzes and Gradebook2 tools.

Once you’ve created your site, go to the Site Editor tool and select the Manage Access option. Check the box labeled: Can be joined by anyone with authorization to login. Select the role for people who join (recommended roles are guest or participant) and click Update to save your selections. This will allow your site to appear in a list of Joinable Sites found in the Membership tool of all users’ My Workspaces. You may reverse this process to remove your site from the list of joinable sites and manage your site membership manually.

TA’s, guests, and auditors must be added to a course site manually. To add someone to your site, go to the Site Editor, click Add participants. Type in the person’s email address. If they have a Tufts email, use the top box. If they do not, use the bottom box and make sure to send the notification so that they can access Trunk.

Fig 1. Screen shot showing step 1 and 2 of adding participants to your site (click to enlarge).

Fig 2. Screen shot showing steps 3-6 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 3 – Screen shot showing steps 7-8 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 4. Screen shot showing steps 9-10 of adding participants (click to enlarge).

Fig 5. Screen shot showing step 11 (and final step) of adding participants.

To join a public project site, first go to My Workspace and access the Membership tool in the MY SETTINGS box.  If you do not see the Membership menu bar, click the My Current Sites button in the menu bar near the top of the screen.  Once you have clicked Membership, click on the “Joinable Sites” tab and click “Join” below the sites you would like to join.

Fig. 1 – Screen shot showing the location of the My Workspace tab (click to enlarge)

Fig. 2 – Screen shot showing the location of the Membership tool (click to enlarge)

Fig. 3 – Screen shot of the location of the Joinable Sites option (click to enlarge)

Fig. 4 – Screen shot showing the location of the Join option (click to enlarge)

Yes! Trunk allows for students and teachers to create project sites. This will allow you to customize your own site to enable communication between fellow peers. Students are allowed to post, chat, upload documents, make comments, as well as message freely between project site users. Project sites can be made public or private and work in a very similar fashion to Google Docs.