Tutorial 1: How to Obtain Learning Resources

Quick guide

This quick guide is a condensed version of the four tutorials that guide you towards building your own resource collection. If you have trouble following the steps in this cheat sheet please refer to the full tutorial for greater detail.

Tutorial 1: How to obtain learning resources

This tutorial will help you find and download learning resources form the TaLe website.

1.In 'My Documents' create a new folder called 'learning_resources' to store downloaded learning resources.

2.Search for internet resources. Go to the TaLe web site:

3.From the TaLe website you can search for a resource in one of two ways:

1. Without login:You can search TaLe as a member of the general public. You will be able to access some resources this way but not those reserved for DET teachers.
2. With login:You can login to the TaLe website. To do this, click on either the 'Primary', 'Secondary' or 'TAFE and VET' links at the top of the web page. This tutorial requires you to login.

4.You will now be presented with the DET Portal login page. Login to the DET portal.

5.Once logged in you will be returned to the TaLe website at the section (Primary, Secondary or TAFE and VET) that you selected.

6.Search for 'access the internet'.

7.Within the search results click on the 'Access the Internet' resource. It should appear on the first page of search results.

8.You will be taken to the website that stores the 'Access the Internet' resource. In this case, it is the 'Centre for Learning Innovation-Learning Reference Repository'. This page provides an overview of the resource.

9.Click 'Download' and save the '2063.zip' file to the 'learning_resources' folder you created in 'My Documents'.

10.Back in the TaLe website search for a resource called 'Search the Internet'.

11.Download and save the resource (2064.zip) into the 'learning_resources' folder in 'My Documents'.

Tutorial 2: Opening resources

This tutorial will show you how to unzip resources you have downloaded and identify how to open the resource.

1.Open the 'learning_resources' folder in 'My Documents'.

2.Unzip both the '2063.zip' and '2064.zip' files. Select the '2063.zip' file. Click on the 'File' menu and then click on 'Extract All'. Note: If you have an alternate unzipping program installed on your computer, such as WinZip, the 'Extract All' menu item may be replaced with that program’s own unzipping options. If this is the case, please refer to the help section within your unzipping program.

3.An 'Extraction Wizard' window will appear. Click 'Next'.

4.The default unzipping location should already be 'C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\learning_resources\2063'. Either leave this as is or change this location by clicking on the 'Browse' button and selecting an alternate location.

5.Click 'Next' and the unzipping (extraction) process will begin. This may take a minute or so.

6.When complete an 'Extraction Complete' window will appear. Untick the box next to 'Show extracted files' as this reduces the number of windows that will open. Click 'Finish'.

7.Repeat the unzipping process for '2064.zip'.

8.Back in the 'My Documents', 'learning_resources' folder there should now be the two zip files and two new folders called '2063' and 2064'. The zip files are no longer necessary and can be deleted.

9.To view the unzipped resource, double click on the new '2063' folder. You will see that this resource contains three folders: 'cd', 'source' and 'tol'.

10.Open the 'cd' folder. You will see several folders and many files including 'index.htm'. Double click 'index.htm'

11.The resource should open in a web browser. Please note that not all resources you download will have a folder and file structure like this. However, it is common practice to use an 'index' (index.htm) file to launch a large resource. Later you will link to this 'index.htm' file from a resources index page.

12.Close the web browser.

Tutorial 3: Creating resource collections

When working with a large number of learning resources, it can be useful to create a single index page that contains links to all of the resources. This tutorial uses a Microsoft Word template to create such an index page.

1.Save the Index template file to the 'My Documents', 'learning_resources' folder.

2.Go to the 'My Documents', 'learning_resources' folder and open the 'index_template.doc' file. This will open the file in Microsoft Word.

3.With the template file open, edit its contents to suit your requirements. There are three sections to edit:

-title

-description

-links.

4.Replace the title at the top of the page with something more suitable to the resources, such as 'Accessing and searching the Internet'.

5.Change the description paragraph to something more suitable, such as 'The resources below will help you understand how to use web browsers to access the internet and provide some advice on how to search the internet'.

6.To edit a link click once anywhere on the link. Click on the 'Insert' menu then select 'Hyperlink' or right click the link and select 'Edit Hyperlink'.

7.In the 'Edit Hyperlink' dialogue box change the 'Text to display' to something more appropriate for the 2063 resource such as 'Access the Internet'.

8.You need to link to the 2063 resources index file:

a.Click on the 'Look in' pull down menu

b.Select 'My Documents'

c.Open the 'learning_resources', '2063, 'cd' folder

d.Select the 'index.htm' file

e.Click 'OK'.

9.Repeat this process for the second link and link it to the index file in the '2064' resource 'Search the Internet'.

10.You have now edited two links in the template file. To add a new link add a new bullet point at the bottom of the index document.

11.Click on the 'Insert' menu, then select 'Hyperlink'.

12.In the 'Edit Hyperlink' dialogue box, type in the 'Text to display' box the text you wish to appear on the page such as 'Google Australia'.

13.Go to the 'Address' box and type in ' (a ' prefix will be automatically added). You can also use the 'Look in' pull down menu to navigate to another downloaded resource. Don't click on the 'OK' button yet, read Step 15 first.

14.As an optional extra step you can change how the link will appear. It can be useful for a link, when clicked, to open up in a new web browser window.

15.To make this happen click on 'Target Frame'. In the 'Set target frame' dialogue box select 'New window'. Click 'OK'.

16.Back in the 'Edit Hyperlink' dialogue box click 'OK'.

17.The appearance of the template page has been automatically created using Microsoft Word 'themes'. To change the overall appearance of the document click on the 'Format' menu then select 'Theme'.

18.In the 'Theme' dialogue box select any of the themes listed to preview the style. Click on the 'OK' button when you have selected an appropriate theme.

19.Once you have completed your 'index' page you need to save it as a webpage. Click on the 'File' menu then select 'Save as webpage'.

20.Navigate to the 'My Documents', 'learning_resources' folder.

21.Name the file 'index'.

22.Change the 'Save as type' to 'Web Page(*.htm, *.html)' then click 'Save'.

23.To test your new 'index' page, open the 'My Documents', 'learning_resources' folder. Note that there will be a new folder called 'index_files'. This folder has been automatically created by Microsoft Word to store theme information. Do not delete this folder or change its contents.

24.Double click on the 'index.htm' file.

25.The file should open in your web browser. Click on each link to test that they work.

Tutorial 4:Making a resource CD

This tutorial demonstrates how to copy your resource collection to a CD for easy distribution to students.

Please note that this tutorial is based on using the Windows XP built-in CD writing process. You may already be familiar with using other CD writing software that will differ from these tutorial steps. You will also need to have a CD or DVD drive capable of writing CDs and a blank CD-R or CD-RW disk.

1.Before you begin, make sure that your CD drive is empty.

2.Open 'My Documents' and select the 'learning_resource' folder.

3.Click on the 'Edit' menu then select 'Copy'. Close the 'My Documents' window.

4.Open 'My Computer'.

5.Double click on the CD drive icon. The CD drive window should open and should be empty. If the CD drive window is not empty click on the 'File' menu at the top of the window then click on 'Delete temporary files'. A 'Confirm Delete' dialogue box will appear. Click on the 'Yes' button.

6.Click on the 'Edit' menu then select 'Paste'. This will copy your files to the CD drive window and may take a few minutes.

7.When you paste your 'learning_resources' folder into the CD drive its icon has a faded appearance and an arrow. This indicates that the folder is ready for writing to a CD.

8.Put a blank CD-R or CD-RW disc into your CD drive.

9.If a dialogue box appears asking you 'What do you want Windows to do' click 'Cancel' to close it.

10.In the CD drive window click on the 'File' menu then select 'Write these files to CD'.

11.A 'CD Writing Wizard' dialogue box will appear. Under 'CD name' type in a name, such as 'resources'. Note that the length of the name is limited to 16 characters.

12.Click 'Next'.

13.The writing process will begin and may take a minute or so to complete.

14.The CD drive will automatically open when the write is complete. Remove the CD and close the CD drive.

15.Click 'Finish'.

16.Before using your CD in the classroom or creating multiple CD copies for students you should test that the index page and its links are working from the CD. Insert the CD back into the CD drive. If a dialogue box appears asking you 'What do you want Windows to do' click on the 'Cancel' button to close it.

17.Open 'My Computer' then double click the CD icon called 'resources'. Double click on the 'learning_resources' folder. Double click on the 'index' file.

18.Your 'index' webpage should automatically open in your web browser. Click on each link to test that they all work.

You have now created a customised resource for you and your students that will support your teaching and enhance the student learning experience.

Build a resource collection – Quick guide

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Training, 20061/5

Published by Centre for Learning Innovation