CommonSpot

University Communications and Marketing's Web team serves as the starting point for departments and faculty members across campuses that would like to take advantage of the university's content management system to develop their own websites. Currently, templates, which integrate with the institutional website’s redesign and support the university's visual identity program, are available at no charge.

For those of you interested in pursuing maintenance of your websites in this easy-to-use system, please email Lin Danes, Director, Web Services and Interactive Media.

Access to CommonSpot is provided as a courtesy of the Division of Information Services.

 

Beginning & Intermediate User Training, Office Hours

We hold training sessions once a month for new users, users wanting a refresher and those seeking more advanced knowledge. In addition, Web team offers weekly office hours for questions and individualized help.

Beginner Training

Upcoming Training Dates

Beginner training is best for those who have never used CommonSpot. It's also a great opportunity to go over concepts you may be a little rusty on. Be sure to also review the CommonSpot manual before attending.

Sign Up for Beginner Training

• Monday, July 1, 1 - 3 p.m. (CLOSED)
• NEW!  Thursday, July 11, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
• Friday, Aug. 9, 1 - 3 p.m.

What You Will Learn

What is CommonSpot?

Where do I log in?

What happens when I first log in?

How do I find my way around CommonSpot’s menus?

How do I create a page?

How do I add content to my new page?

How do I publish my new page?

How do I find my page after I created it?

How do I edit my pages after I have created them?

How do I customize the look of my pages?

Sign Up for Beginner Training

Intermediate Training

Intermediate Training is for users who are familiar with CommonSpot and have been making basic updates to their site already. Do not register for Intermediate Training unless you have already completed Beginner Training and have worked on your website for four months.

Sign up for an intermediate training session

• Monday, June 24, 9 – 11 a.m.
• Tuesday, July 23, 10 – noon
• Monday, Aug. 19, 3 – 5 p.m.

Intermediate CommonSpot Training Covers:

• The Reusable Textblock element
• Web forms in CommonSpot
• The News element
• Faculty and staff profiles
  

Web Analytics Workshop

Workshop: Leveraging the Power of Web Analytics, Web Monitoring and Content Strategy

Our newest training offering shares best practices for developing, executing and measuring digital marketing strategy. The workshop is a hands-on exploration of Siteimprove's Quality Assurance tool for locating broken links and misspellings and Google Analytics, the standard resource for measuring success on the Web.

The session begins with an examination of best practices, including content auditing and conversion tracking.

Sign up for the workshop

• Thursday, June 13, 1 - 3 p.m. (Full. Waiting list only.)
  
• Wednesday, July 17, 1 - 3 p.m. (Full. Waiting list only.)
  

Office Hours

Office hours are available for one-on-one, in-person help. Email webteam@kent.edu with a list of the topics that you need assistance with to schedule a time. If you have an issue that needs immediate attention, use the Support Request Form.

Sign up for the CommonSpot Email List (Listserv) in order to stay informed of the upcoming changes to the web authoring system, social media, web marketing standards and more.