Featured Flipcharts on Homepage

[brianksee]

I was not allowed to post in the FFC's section, so I figured I would ask it here. Is it possible to have a list of all the FFC's as a sticky? I ask because the only way I can see them now is to go to resources and keep refreshing the page where I see three at a time. I often check the FFC's when I am bored w/ my lesson, and want to add something new or that I forgot about, however, I get bored with refreshing and seeing the repeats (however, get exciited when I see mine [clap] ). There appears to be about 35 from what I can tell over the past year, so it may be easier to set them apart by separating them into quaters/months or something like that, but it would be a nice feature.

If this is not possible, is it possible to have a sticky where there are the ipod winners that can be easily viewed by attaching them.

I just find the Featured FC's section to be quite cumbersome to deal with, and if either (or both) of these options at the top it would make it a little easier to see the newest ideas as a whole.

[wilcogirl]

Hey Brian!! That is a great idea. As far as the I-pod winners, it is all of the featured teachers since I think August. If you go to that section, there is a list of all of the winners with a short video for each, and their flipchart that was selected as the feature. I hope that helps.

[brianksee]

Bump...

Just wondering if under resources if we could make an option that to pull up featured FC's w/ a subfolder.

[wilcogirl]

As I was wondering throught the planet looking at the recent flipcharts, I was wondering, is there a way to sort them not only by recent flipcharts, but also by subject? This way if you are looking at the new Math or Science or Language Arts you can do so and not see them as all together, trying to sort through them. I know we can do a topic search, but it would be helpful to see the newest in that subject. :)

[ryffco]

Hi guys...

Thanks for these ideas....they are both great. I'll play around with the display features for flipcharts on Planet US today and see what I can come up with.

I see your point in both cases and will try to increase the simplicity and functionality of the search and display.

Thanks for the comments!

Andy

[ryffco]

Ok guys...

Spent a little time on development today and I believe I've accomplished what you were looking for.

Brian...you'll now see the Featured Resources listed in the Resource area in the main navigational menu. There's 66 of them, including all the flipcharts submitted by the Featured Teachers and, interestingly, one of yours!

Heather...I broke down the resources according to subject area under recent resources. Consequently, you now have the option to display ALL recently submitted resources OR resources submitted in the last 30 days by subject area. I contemplated also allowing viewers to further sort by say, math grades 9-12, but stopped just short because

1) I don't want the navigational menu to get too long
2) I don't want to have a situation where zero results are displayed
3) I don't want math teachers to miss out on great math flipcharts with transferrable techniques and ideas just because it did not fit into their grade category.

Let me know your thoughts...

[LisaD]

All right! This is too cool! I just want to know...when do you NOT work!?

(I still want the "See more by this author" button.)

Or, you know when you search and find flipcharts, the top right box says something like "related flipcharts" and gives you a list. Perhaps there can be another box below that that says, "Other flipcharts submitted by this author."

Lisa

[ryffco]

That one will take a tad more development but I know it's in the works. We do track who submits each resource so it'll just be a matter of having our CMS folks do a little further devlopment on our behalf.

Several people have mentioned this as being a great addition, on both sides of the ocean, so I'm quite sure it'll happen.

And by the way....

From 3 AM to 5 AM EST. I reserve that time for sleeping. :D

[wilcogirl]

Well Andy, I think to do the amazing work that you do for the Planet, you can definately have that sleepy time for sleep especially when you make our lives as teachers so easy for searching flipcharts. I love the new ways to search for flipcharts. I have just looked through all the available flipcharts there are so many great ones. I so agree and love the way that you sorted them so many of them are croos grade charts. What a teacher may use in 6th grade, I could easily adapt and use for my algebra and even my geometry classes. Thanks for all you do keeping the planet going. [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap] [clap]

[sdreyer]

+wave+ Andy,

Thanks for making the changes. They are helpful!

Is this the place to ask how to have the dashboard configured to display our local featured flipcharts, or should I just email? I remember discussing this with you at the Houston conference, and I was just waiting until version 3 was available in the US.

[rmwither]

I love the new resources feature - indexing! [clap] Great job. I am constantly searching for something to add to my lessons. Now having them listed by subject area it will shorten my search time.

What happens to the posted flip charts after 30 days? Will we still have access to them?

Roseann Withers
Port Orange, Florida

[ryffco]

My pleasure Heather....+wave+

If you guys are generous enough to upload and share your flipcharts, the least I can do is make it easy for you to do so.

Again...thanks for the great suggestion. We'll all continue to do what we can to improve things as we go along.

Andy

[ryffco]

Hi Suzanne...

This is just the place to ask questions like the one you referred to about the dashboard. So...here it goes (deep breath)...

The first thing you'll need to do is create a basic web page that will be used to push out the information you want others to see. This page can be built in any web authoring application (Dreamweaver, Front Page, etc.) and can be assembled locally, at the school level or remotely, at the district level.

The thing to remember when creating the page is to keep it simple. Based on the size of the dashboard itself, the page has to relatively small in size and thus, will not have the capacity to store or display huge amounts of information. The page should not be larger than, if memory serves about 780 x 380 pixels when complete. If it is, the end user will likely have to scroll up and down or side to side to view everything when the dashboard opens.

When the page is complete, you simply need to upload it (and any embedded images or files) to a server. This can and likely will be the same server where other web pages are held, such as for the regular school site. An example of where this might reside when referring to it as a url might be the following:

http://www.lacklandelementary.com/dashboard/online.html

Once that is complete, you simply need to open up your Activsoftware, navigate to "Studio/Primary Settings" from the toolbar and select dashboard.

You'll notice there are two tabs within the dashboard where you can replace Promethean content for your own. One is the "Online" tab, the other is the "Training" tab.

All you need to do is change the radio button option from "default" to "other," and type in the url address of where the new content resides (example shown above).

You can actually test this out without creating the web page first to see some quick results. Use your school's home page for example as a test url. You'll likely get a quick dose of what of what I was referring to above with the whole "be careful about your page size" thing.

One thing to remember! We don't mind you doing this, as we would not have provided you the opportunity to do it if we did. That said, we'd like to think that what we'll be providing you for content (default) is going to be useful and helpful. That being said, you’ll have to judge for yourself. It very well may be something you wish to toggle on and off when you have something really important to push out to the staff.



I think that just about does it! Hope that helps. :-/

[ryffco]

Hi Roseann...

Glad you like the change and happy to help!

While the current listing for "Recent Resources" only reflects postings for the last 30 days, all flipcharts submitted still end up within the library as a whole and can be searched for at any time by using the regular search tools.

This can be accomplished by searching for keywords or by going the "state standard" route.

While they may not be listed under the "Recent Resource" section after 30 days, they'll still be in the library and can still be found.

Andy

[brianksee]

A little late on the thank you for this one. I think is a great way to keep people updated on new ideas. SWEET.

[sdreyer]

Hi Suzanne...

This is just the place to ask questions like the one you referred to about the dashboard...

One thing to remember! We don't mind you doing this, as we would not have provided you the opportunity to do it if we did. That said, we'd like to think that what we'll be providing you for content (default) is going to be useful and helpful. That being said, you’ll have to judge for yourself. It very well may be something you wish to toggle on and off when you have something really important to push out to the staff.

I think that just about does it! Hope that helps. :-/
+wave+ Thanks Andy. I've been at a conference all week and hope to try out your directions when I return to school. I really like the suggestion about toggling on and off our pushed resources.