www.activities Tutorial

www.activities - Tutorial

Overview

www.activities guide students to relevant, educational web sites.

The activities, built around themes, include links to resources on the Internet. Each resource has a description as well as one or more questions that help focus student attention on important concepts or information at that site.

Use the Explore button on the main www.activities page to view the list of published activities.

For example, the Early Civilizations www.activity has links to six Internet sites. When students use a link from the www.activity page, a new browser window opens. Students can move back and forth between the www.activity page and the new browser window. Each site on the www.activity page has a short description and a list of focus questions. Students use the questions on the www.activity page to guide their exploration of the linked Internet site.

Registered UEN educators use the Create button to build www.activities.

New Activity

Use the Create link from the www.activities main page. Enter the first and last name, last 4 SS digits, and the UtahLINK profile password, created during the registration, to login to the www.activities toolkit.

After the toolkit authenticates the user, the Web Activity Toolkit menu presents the choice to Create a new web activity. Use that link to begin the creation process. (Later, this menu will also list any previously-created www.activities for editing.)

To create a new www.activity, fill in the Activity Name. Next, choose how long the www.activity, if published, will remain available for students to use. Choose one month, three months, six months, or one year.

Fill in the introductions and directions to be displayed at the top of the www.activity's finished page. The text could include a introduction to the theme or a paragraph describing the things to be learned by using the www.activity page. (Include <P> for paragraph breaks.)

Next fill in any text to be displayed at the bottom of the www.activity page.

Last, select an associated core area. (If one doesn't apply, select Other.)

Use the Save Activity button.

New Site

Once an activity has been created, the Web Activity Menu presents 7 options.

Add a new Web Activity Site
Edit Activity Information
Preview Activity
Add Activity Image
Submit Activity to be Published
Delete this Activity
Return to main Web Activity Builder

To see how the www.activity looks, use the third link - Preview Activity.

To rename the www.activity or change the introduction or conclusion, use the second link - Edit Activity Information.

Most of the action happens with the first link. Choose the Add a new Web Activity Site link to get add the first link to the list.

On that page is a link to open a new browser window. Use that link to get this:

"Cut and Paste" Instructions
You have just opened a new Internet browser window. The Web Activity browser window is behind this one.

Use this window to find the site you want to include in your Web Activity.

1. Highlight the URL
2. Copy the URL

This will insure URL accuracy!

(You may close this new window when you are finished finding sites.)

After finding the site to use, close the new window. The original Web Activity will be revealed. Paste the URL into the URL text-edit box.

Type in a descriptive name for the site, and then write a one-to-two sentence description of the site. Use the Save Site button.

The Web Activity Menu reappears with an eighth menu choice for the new site. Use that link to add one or more focus questions.

Focus Questions

After a site URL has been added, the Web Activity Menu presents a new option:

Add a new Web Activity Site
To add questions to a site, or to edit a site, use the link(s) below.
- [just-added site name]
Edit Activity Information
Preview Activity
Add Activity Image
Submit Activity to be Published
Delete this Activity
Return to main Web Activity Builder

Use the link to the just-added site to get to the sub menu for editing the site information and adding focus questions. The menu contains:

Site Name: [just-added site name]
Site URL: [http://urlWillShowUpHere]

Site Description:[description will be displayed here]

Please select from the following options

Add a new Activity Site Question

Edit Site Information

Delete this Site

Return to Activity Menu

Use the Add a new Activity Site Question link to add a question about the site's content. The question will guide student exploration.

Fill in the question (the number will be provided automatically) then use the Save button.

The menu returns with a new question displayed with an edit link next to it.

Continue to add needed focus questions. When all the questions for the site have been entered, use the Return to Activity Menu link. That provides the menu to add a second, third, etc. site to the www.activity.

Activity Image

A www.activity can display an original image.

Caution. Only use this link to upload a small, ORIGINAL graphic. Don't upload images that have been copied from other Internet sites. Doing so violates copyright law.

From the Web Activity Menu, use the Add Activity Image link. The Image Upload Upload screen presents:

Important Note: This is for advanced users who are familiar with their file systems and with GIF, JPG image files. To use this feature your browser must at least support HTML 3.0 (Netscape 3.0, for example). Please don't attempt to use this feature if these terms are not familiar to you. Do not include spaces in your file name.
The Browse Local Files button allows you to choose from the files on your computer. Then use the Upload Image File button.

Use the Browse button to find your original image. Then use the Upload Image File button to actually upload the image to the toolkit.

From the Web Activity Menu, use the Preview Activity to see the newly uploaded image displayed on the www.activity.

Publish

When the www.activity is ready for student use, it can be published on the UtahLINK www.activities Explore page. From the Web Activity Menu, use the Submit Activity to be Published link.

A page will appear asking verification that the activity is ready to be published. Use the Publish Activity button. An e-mail will be sent to UEN requesting that the activity be made available for all students to use.

The Web Activity Menu will reappear with a confirmation that the e-mail has been sent. It may take several days for the activity to appear on the Explore list. In the meantime, the activity is always available at its Preview Activity URL. Use the Preview Activity link to look at the completed www.activity. Now copy the URL or make a bookmark to it. Share that URL with students who will benefit from using the www.activity.

Each activity has its own unique serial number. Activity URLS are formed like:

http://www.uen.org/activities/view_activity.cgi?activity_id=1011

Each activity will have a different serial number at the end of its URL.

Expiration

When a new www.activity is created, one of the options is to set an expiration date. When an www.activity is published, it appears on the Explore page. As soon as the expiration date passes, the toolkit no longer displays the published www.activity.

To add it back to the Explore list, return to the toolkit and login. Then select the expired www.activity from the menu.

Use the Preview the Activity link to make sure all the URLs are still active and that the focus questions are still relevant. Return to the Web Activities menu and make any needed editing changes.

Now select the Edit Activity Information link. The toolkit will display the current expiration date. Choose a new expiration date (Make no Change, One Month, Three Months, Six Months, One Year from the Current Expiration Date) from the popup menu.