Welcome to the third monthly user update (8/16/2021)!

As the summer comes to a close, it is once again time for a user update for the NuVu Platform. We've seen huge improvements across the Slide Editor and other portions of the website. In the coming months, we'll be continuing work on the Slide Editor, but less emphasis will be placed on its sole development. Instead, we will be dividing our efforts and working on other projects, such as the Toolbox, Templates Redesigns and much more! This change log encompasses updates from the end of June to the middle of August.

Summary/TLDR of New Features:

• Tables in the Slide Editor
• Release of Slide Editor to all NuVuX Schools
• Lines Overhaul
• Tables in the Slide Editor
• Transcripts are protected by Unique Identifiers  
• Help Resources Added to Main Site
• Dragging Images into Slides

All Changes this Month:

Check back next month for more information! Feel free to contact us with thoughts, concerns, request, etc. at support@nuvustudio.org

-Noah Saldaña, Platform Coordinator

The Platform Updates Tab is meant to highlight the monthly changes on the NuVu Platform. It will serve as a collection of monthly blog posts of the changes made. Click here to go to the most recent blog post.

You can expect to see a list of:

• New features added
• Bugs fixed
• The direction that we are taking the site

Introduction

The Slide Editor is a powerful presentation creation software with a variety of tools. This guide serves as an introduction to all the tools available. Hovering over a tool will highlight it and show its name.

Move

Select Move to move content around. Select content then use the Move tool to change the location of content.

Hand Tool

Select Hand to move your view. Click once to select the tool and then click and drag to move your view around. 

Comment

Clicking comment brings up the comment menu. On the left hand side, a list of all comments in the current presentation will be displayed. Clicking anywhere on the slide editor will add a comment in that spot. Type your comment, then click post and it will be added to the slide and the comment menu. In the comment menu, you can reply to and delete comments.

Image

Selecting Image will bring up the image menu on the left side of the screen. Previously uploaded images will appear here. Click upload photos to add more pictures. Clicking an image will highlight it in pink. After selecting images, click the Insert Image button on the bottom of the screen to add your selected images. Multiple images can be inserted at the same time. The same is true for uploading images. For more information on all the options available in an image, see the Image Editor Options.

Camera

Select Camera to bring up the Camera menu on the left. Clicking on the option All in the top left will drop down a menu for sorting camera content. Choosing a date will refresh content. Clicking on an image will highlight it in pink. After selecting images, click the Insert Image button on the bottom of the screen to add your selected images. Multiple images can be inserted at the same time.

Video

Select Video to bring up the Video Menu on the left. Previously uploaded Videos will appear here. Click upload videos to add more videos. Clicking an image will highlight it in pink. After selecting videos, click the Insert Video button on the bottom of the screen to add your selected videos. Multiple videos can be inserted at the same time. The same is true for uploading videos.

Fetch

Select Fetch to bring up the Fetch Menu on the left. Previously fetched images will appear here. A gray box will appear, enter the URL to your image here and click Fetch. If the link is valid and readable, it will be imported and appear in your list of images below. Some tips for getting valid links: After googling an image, or finding it on a webpage, Right-Click it. Select: Open in a New Tab. Copy and paste the URL from your new tab to the gray box and fetch it. 

Embed

Videos (Youtube, Vimeo) or links to interactive web-based content (Google Slides, etc.) can be added from this tab. This includes PDFs that are hosted elsewhere on the web or cloud. 

In order for files hosted on a cloud-based service (Google Drive, etc.) to be embedded on the Platform, set the viewing permissions of that file to be anyone with the link or public.

Paste the link to the content in the Gray box, and click Embed. If your link is valid, your embed will appear. If it is not valid, the editor will tell you in pink text below the Gray Box. 

Clicking on an embed will highlight it in pink. Clicking the insert item button will add the embed to the current slide. Multiple embeds may be added at the same time. 

Text

Clicking Text will add a new textbox to the current slide. For more information on all the options available in a textbox, see the Text Editor section. 

Shapes

Clicking Shapes will add a new shape object to the current slide. For more information on all the options available in a shape object, see the Shape Editor section.

Line

Clicking Line will create a new line object. Select either side (highlighted with a blue circle) to move the ends of the line. 

The Line tool has a few options, many of which are highlighted above in the Image, Shape and Text Editor tutorials. The unique options are as follows:

Start: Select the solid white line next to Start. Changing this value will change the look of one end of the line.

End: Select the solid white line next to End. Changing this value will change the look of the other end of the line.

Style: Select the solid white line next to Style. Changing this value will change the look in between each end of the line.

Thickness: Click on the number associated with px. Typing in a new value will update the thickness of the line.

Template

Select the Template button to show all available templates. Clicking on a template will open up all available slides in that template. Clicking on a slide in a template will highlight it in pink. Clicking Insert Template after selecting slide(s) will add those slides to the current presentation.

Tip: Creators of templates can select a gear in the top right corner of a template in the Gallery Templates view to delete templates

Tip: See the Template Guide to learn more about creating templates and other features. 

Background Color

Select the Background Color to pull up the color menu on the left side. By selecting one of the preset values or by typing in a new #Hex Code value, the background color of the slide will update. 

Zoom In/Out

These two buttons will zoom in and zoom out the current slide. Each will update the view in increments of 20%. As well as these two buttons, in the top right corner of the editor there are options to more finely tune the zoom. Select the 100% (in the photo to the right) to bring down the menu. Typing in the white text box will update the zoom to an exact value. Click any 5 of the lower options to update the zoom. Zooming In, Out, to 50%, to 100% or to 200%.  

Present

Click Present to enter the presentation view directly from the editor.

Undo/Redo

Clicking either undo or redo button will scroll the user back in the editing timeline. Useful for when mistakes are made and users want to go back.

New Slide

Select New Slide to add a new slide to the presentation. Clicking this button will move your current slide to the new slide. 

Visibility

The visibility button will set the current slide to visible/invisible. This will hide the slide when the presentation view is entered. 

Slide View Options

The last two buttons will change the view layout of the slides. The three rectangle button is the default view, with slide previews being on the bottom of the slide editor. Selecting the button below it will expand the slide preview view, occupying the entire screen, allowing you to quickly move between a presentation with many slides. Select the previously mentioned button again to change the view back. 

Navigation Bar

Below the slide window, there is a bar with features that help you navigate through your slide deck.

Slide Grid

Click on the Slide Grid icon. The Slide space will now display thumbnail images of all slides in your deck.

Rearrange Slides

You can rearrange slides in the Slide Editor Tool. Click the pencil on paper button in the bottom right corner of the editor to open up your presentation in the Slide Editor. For more information about the slide editor tool, please see our other tutorials. 

Caption Box

A caption can be added to every slide in the Caption Box. Only the first 120 characters of a caption are visible on a published post, so be brief. 

Simply click in the Add Caption prompt area and add your text. Click Save Caption to finish.

Tip: Can’t see captions below your slides? This is probably because your browser window is too narrow. Maximize the browser window and they should be visible. 

Tip: Can’t see captions below your slides? This option is not available on a Slide Editor presentation slide.

Our goal is to have comprehensively documented studios in order to:

• Model documentation that we expect from the students

• Offer feedback to the students in a more informed way

• Clearly communicate and allow others to understand the pedagogy in practice

• Allow for very clear assessment of success of the studio 

  • Self assessment

  • Peer assessment

  • Institutional assessment

• Track studio development - use the platform as a vehicle for meta documentation, accountability, and iterative studio design

• Assist in studio development at NuVu and NuVuX Schools

  • Allow portions of the studio/learning modules to be used in future studios

  • Understand the sequencing of the studio

  • Provide model studios for people outside of the organization to view

• Collective sharing and knowledge of organization

Ultimately, anyone outside of the studio should be able to go to a studio page and understand exactly what happened, is happening, or is going to happen in the studio at any time. 

This is the outward facing landing page for the studio. All items below should be posted before the studio starts. Here is an example. All items here should be set to Public. The only posts should be:

• Studio Description Post 
• Schedule
  • User the default HTML calendar post provided
  • For each day please add text for:
    • What happened that day
    • Assignments (Add hyperlinks)
    • Homework (Add hyperlinks)
  • Show show linkages between resources, assignments and homework
  • The provisional schedule should be updated at least weekly to represent what actually is happening in the studio
• Bio Post - Shows who the coaches are and why the students should listen to them (street cred)

Assignments are organized and presented information for which students have a clear deliverable. This may include reading assignments and student responses for discussion. The writing assignment will also go here. The goal is to have clear topics of exploration, material that supports the topic, and the student response to the topic in one place both to facilitate understanding at student, coach, and organizational levels. Example: 

https://tetco.nuvustudio.com/studios/renubots-v1/outlandish-energy-v1#tab-prompt

https://hillside.nuvustudio.com/studios/hacking-hillside/intro-assignment-1-the-secret-life-of-tiny-spaces#tab-assignment-url

Assignment protocol and sample intro assignments can be found here:

https://toolbox.nuvustudio.com/studios/assignment-library

• Prompt
  • Assignment Post
  • Each Assignment must include the following categories
    • Image/Video (clear & interesting)
    • Exercise Title
    • Purpose and/or Learning goals
    • Description
    • Instructions - include step by step instructions of how the Assignment will be followed
    • Deliverables - A clear description of what the student is expected to produce, and where to place their post. Include hyperlinks to where students should post their responses, when applicable. Be clear about what is expected in their deliverables.
  • Resources (if required)
    • Assignment-specific precedents
      • A source
      • A reason why it is applicable
      • Analysis (if applicable)
    • Student example(s). Ideal assignments will include at least one example of a finished assignment. In some cases, this means the Coach will need to create their own product for the example
    • Deliverable example(s). May include the expected presentation format
  • Response - Where students post deliverables
  • Presentation - Not included by default but can be added for assignments with multiple parts

Platform Collaboration

Often times when you're in a studio, you have a partner. A few questions arise: Who is going to post our work? Can we work on a post together? These questions can be answered by talking about the collaboration features on the Platform. Go to any post you've created and click on the gear in the top right. Go down to the bottom option in the drop down menu: Collaborators. From here, you can manage your Collaborators on your post. You can add and remove people from this list. Once added, that user will have editing privileges on your post. They can edit the post name, the body text and even the presentation. Be careful about editing at the same time. The last person to click "publish" after editing a post will override the content. See the video above for an example of this.

The Feed is an aggregation of all posts in a Studio. No content should be directly posted to the Feed, but should be posted into one of the categories above. You can use “@Student_Name” to see all posts by a specific student in the feed. Useful for reviewing a student's progress and daily assignments.