Teacher's Tools - Collect and Catalog Resources

2. Collect and Catalog Resources

The first step in constructing an activity is to collect resources that will be assigned to the activity. The option labeled Add Resource on the left-hand menu of the main Teacher’s Tools menu permits resources to be collected and cataloged. The bottom half of the screen provides access to a search tool for locating resources while the top half of the screen provides a tool for cataloging resources once they are identified.

Collecting a Resource

The bottom half of the screen provides access to the Google Image Search tool. This search tool allows the teacher to conveniently locate images related to a given topic or theme.

The toolbar in the top center portion of the screen provides a mechanism for searching specific archives that are trusted partners. These include sites such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, and the National Archives that serve as repositories for the nation’s stories. For example, to retell the story of Paul Revere, the search might be constrained to the National Archives.

When the Find button is clicked with these options selected, the search produces a half-dozen images of Paul Revere from the National Archives that might be suitable for classroom use shown in the bottom half of the screen. These include an illustration of his ride, and an image of a contemporary actor portraying Paul Revere in a reenactment.

The thumbnail sketches displayed list the sizes of each image as well as the web site where the image is archived. It is generally better to select images that are 800 x 600 pixels or larger in size where a choice is available. Larger images permit more detailed zooms. Smaller images, and especially those that are 300 pixels or smaller in width, may have a jagged appearance sometimes termed pixilation (because the jagged edges of individual picture elements may be apparent in the display).

Images selected must conform to the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) standard. Images that conform to this standard will end in the suffix “.jpg”.

Selecting a specific thumbnail produces an option to “See full-size image” (found to the left of the thumbnail image). This option should be selected, because it will produce the full web address of the URL for the picture. The web address for the selected illustration of Paul Revere has the following address on the National Archives web site:

http://www.archives.gov/research/american-revolution/pictures/images/revolutionary-war-007.jpg

On a PC, right-clicking while the mouse is on the full-size image will generate a drop-down menu that permits the “Properties” option for the image to be selected.

The properties option for the image provides information about the type of image, its size, and its URL. The URL provided must provide a direct link to the image (rather than the web page on which it is found). The web page on which the image is located will generally end in a suffix such as “.html” or “.htm” while the direct link for a JPEG image will end in “.jpg”.

If the URL in the image properties window is selected, right-clicking on a PC produces a drop-down menu that allows it to be copied.

Once the URL that provides a link to the image is obtained, the picture can be cataloged.

Cataloging a Resource

The top half of the screen provides a cataloging tool. The cataloging tool provides a mechanism for permanently recording and cataloging the URL for the resource. The URL is placed in the field labeled “Image” in the catalog screen (below).

If the URL providing the link to the image has been copied onto the clipboard, it can be pasted into the Image field in the cataloging tool . On a PC, right-click while the mouse is in the Image field to produce a drop-down menu that will permit the copied URL to be pasted into this field. [Note: Provide equivalent directions for a Macintosh.]

Each resource collected must be given a title. Space for information corresponding to the standard journalistic questions of “Who, What, When, Where, and Why” is also provided in the cataloging tool:

Title: Paul Revere’s Ride
Who: Paul Revere
What: Famous horseback ride from Boston to Concord
Where: Concord, MA
When: 4/18/1775
Why: To alert American patriots that the British were coming

When the exact data is available, it should be entered in the format of month / day / year (as in 4 / 18 / 1775 for April 18, 1775).

An option to provide a link to the page on the host web site displaying the image in its original context is also provided. This can be desirable because it provides students with a link that permits them to obtain additional information about the image beyond that entered through the cataloging tool.

As a matter of Internet safety and common sense, links to external sites (such as the one in the lower right-hand corner of the illustration above) should only be provided to sites that are trusted partners. Use of trusted sites reviewed by the teacher is best practice in any event, and the rationale for building a tool that permits the teacher to screen resources used in lessons.

Space for identification of the media type (photograph, artwork, map, letter, etc.) is also provided in the cataloging tool. This later permits the user to search for a specified type of resource.

Supplementary Note: The current version of the cataloging tool includes two special fields permitting the resource to be linked to a historical standard (i.e., U.S. Revolution 1754-1820) and national history standards. In a future edition of Digital Storyteller, these fields will be replaced with other tagging tools specifically designed for digital storytelling, based on feedback and input from teachers and students using the tool. (A separate edition of Digital Storyteller, called PrimaryAccess, will still be available for use by social studies teachers.)

Testing the Cataloged Resource

Once all of the information about the resource has been entered into the cataloging tool, the Test button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen can be used to test the link information to make sure that it is accurate. When the information has been cataloged correctly, the image will appear in the same format as it will be seen by the student:

Saving the Cataloged Resource

If the test indicates that the link to the image has been correctly entered, the cataloged image can be saved by selecting the Save button in the upper right-hand corner of the window. This will produce a dialog box asking:

Are you sure that you want to add this new resource?

Assuming that the catalogued information is correct, the response to this dialog box should be “Yes.” After a response in the affirmative, a feedback screen will appear indicating that the resource has been saved in the central catalog:

Resource Number 868 was saved to the Digital Storyteller server.
Click Here to continue

Each resource is assigned a unique number in the database. The resource number can also be used to retrieve the item in the future. A teacher or administrator could use this number to access the item to revise some of the cataloging information, for example.

However, the student will never need to know the resource number, since students access items via text search.

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