Managing resources

Resources are the center of any LiveRoom presentation; they are the materials that are displayed in the Resource Viewer, shown to participants, discussed in the chat window, and marked up with the annotation tool.

A resource can be any of the following:

• A canvas  A canvas is an empty drawing space where you can create lines and shapes and insert equations.
• A file  File resources allow you to incorporate Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, image files, and HTML files into your session.
• A Quicklink  Quicklinks allow you to incorporate other course components into your presentation, including course content, assignment dropbox folders, checklists, self-assessments, and many others. Quicklinks are available in general rooms only.
• A Web page  Web resources can use any address as their starting point and allow you to take the audience along with you as you navigate the Web.

Canvases

LiveRoom’s canvas tool is a collaborative drawing environment that allows multiple room members to simultaneously create shapes and objects, add text, and insert images and equations. The LiveRoom canvas is a real-time, synchronous tool, which means that everyone in the room will see changes as they happen. LiveRoom will also automatically save the canvas each time it is changed.

When you view a canvas resource, the Resource Viewer displays a drawing tool bar that contains all of the controls for creating and editing drawings. (See Using the drawing tools for more information.)

Everything you add to a canvas (including simple lines and shapes) becomes an object that can later be selected, edited, resized, and deleted – no matter how many other objects have been added in the meantime.

Among many other uses, you can use the canvas tool to:

• communicate ideas visually with your audience
• create complex equations using an integrated equation editor
• record handwritten notes using a stylus and the freehand line tool

By default, only a room’s moderators can modify a canvas, but LiveRoom allows you to give individual participants the ability to use a specific canvas by granting permission to modify that canvas. (See Allowing participants to modify a canvas or annotate a resource for more information.)

Add a canvas

1. Click the New Resource icon in the Presentation Explorer tool bar, and select New Canvas.
2. Enter a Name for the canvas. The name will be used in the Presentation Explorer to identify this resource.
3. Click OK.

Files

You can create a file resource from any of the following types of files:

• image files (.GIF, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG)
• Word documents (.doc)
• PowerPoint presentations (.PPT)
• HTML files

Word documents will be converted to HTML to ensure that they can be viewed by all room members. When you add a PowerPoint presentation, each slide of the presentation will be converted to an image and added as a separate resource.

Tip  In a general room, you can include the original Word or PowerPoint file directly by using a Quicklink to a course file.

Adding a file resource

When creating a file resource, you can use a file from the LiveRoom server or upload a file from your computer. In a general room, if you choose to select a file already on the server, you will be prompted to select a file from your course’s default file path; in a personal room, you will be prompted to select a file from your User Homepage directory. If you are uploading a file, you will be asked to save the file in these same locations.

Add a file resource

1. Click the New Resource icon in the Presentation Explorer tool bar, and select New File Resource.
2. In the Resource Name box, enter a name for this resource. The name will be used in the Presentation Explorer to identify the resource.  
3. Do one of the following:
   • To add a file from the LiveRoom server, choose Select File.
   • To upload a file from your computer, choose Upload File.
4. Click Next.
5. Beside File Location, click the Browse button and select the file you want to add.
6. If you are uploading a file, click the Browse button beside Upload To. In the Upload File pop-up screen, select the location on the server where the file should be saved, then click OK.
   • From the Upload File screen, you can do any of the following:
   • Click a folder to select it.
   • Double-click a folder to view its sub-folders.
   • Click New Folder to add a sub-folder to the selected folder.
   • Enter a new name in the File Name field to save the file under a different name.
7. Clear the Convert uploaded files option if you want uploaded MS Word and PowerPoint files to remain in their original format.

   Note  If you convert files they can be viewed through the LiveRoom canvas, if you don’t convert them users must have the appropriate software to open the files. PowerPoint presentations are converted as a separate image for each slide.

8. Click Create Resource to add the file to the room.

Quicklinks (general rooms only)

Quicklinks allow you to insert course components (content, dropboxes, quizzes, discussion topics, etc.) into your presentation or session.

Components are viewed using the integrated Web browser, so each room member sees the linked component just as they would if they accessed it through Learning Environment using a standalone Web browser. This means different users see different things, depending on their permissions.

Navigating within a Quicklink component affects your view only. For example, if you use the table of contents in a Quicklink to course content to switch to another topic, only your view is affected.

Note  if you want participants to be able to use the linked component, the resource will need to be unlocked. For example, if you want participants to be able to take a quiz or upload assignments to a dropbox, you will need to unlock the Quicklink resource. See Locked and unlocked resources.

Add a Quicklink resource

1. Click the New Resource icon in the Presentation Explorer tool bar, and select New Quicklink Resource.
2. From the Category list, select the appropriate type of component.
3. From the Item list, select the actual element you want to insert (i.e. a particular dropbox, discussion topic, quiz, etc.).
4. In the Link Caption box, enter a name for this resource. The name will be used in the Presentation Explorer to identify the resource.
5. Click Create Resource.

Web resources

Web resources allow you to incorporate Web pages from anywhere on the internet into your presentation or session. LiveRoom uses an integrated Web browser to display these pages, allowing you to follow links within a page and interact with page controls (like search boxes and embedded media) just as you would in your normal Web browser. When viewing a Web resource, the Resource Viewer will display standard browser navigation controls, including forward and back buttons, address bar, etc.

Add a Web resource

1. Click the New Resource icon in the Presentation Explorer tool bar, and select New Web Resource.
2. Enter a Name for the web resource. The name will be used to identify the resource in LiveRoom.
3. In the URL box, enter the address of the Web page you want the resource to start from.
4. Click OK.

The Resource Address and the Browser Address

When you create a Web resource, you specify a starting Web address (also called a URL) for LiveRoom to display when the resource is viewed. LiveRoom associates this address with the resource itself. If you navigate away from this page, LiveRoom will not automatically update the address associated with the resource. This means that the Resource Address (the one associated with the resource itself) will not match the Browser Address (the address of the page currently displayed inside the Resource Viewer) the moment you navigate away from the starting page.

When the Resource Address and the Browser Address don’t match, the Update Resource Address button will appear in the Resource Viewer’s tool bar.

You can view the current Resource Address by holding the mouse pointer over a Web resource in the Resource Viewer. A tool tip will appear displaying the address.

LiveRoom will always use the Resource Address whenever you:

• switch to another resource and switch back
• activate the resource (when the Browse Type is set to Preview)
• annotate the resource

For example, say you create a Web resource and enter your library’s homepage as the starting address. In Preview mode, you load the resource into your Resource Viewer and follow a link to the library’s catalogue search page. If you then Activate the resource without updating the Resource Address, your audience will see the library homepage, not the search page that you are currently viewing.

Change the Resource Address

1. Navigate to the new address.
2. Click the Update Resource Address button in the Resource Viewer tool bar.

Leading a Web safari

When you navigate away from the starting page other room members will not follow you. If you update the Resource Address to match the Browser Address (the page you are currently viewing), however, then everyone in the room will be taken to the new address automatically. In this way you can simulate a “Web safari” in which you lead the audience on a journey through the internet.

Note  Web safari will not work with sites that require authentication and may not work with some sites that use frames.

Removing or renaming a resource

If you remove a canvas resource, any drawings or equations made within the canvas will be permanently deleted from the system. Similarly, any annotations made to another type of resource will be permanently deleted if the resource is removed from the room.

However, if you remove a file resource from the room, the original file will not be deleted from the system. If you want to delete the file itself from the server, you will need to do so manually. (Deleting files from the system)

Remove a resource

1. In the Presentation Explorer, select the resource you want to remove. You can select multiple resources by holding down the CTRL or SHIFT keys.
2. Click the Delete icon on the tool bar.

Tip  you can remove all resources by selecting Clear Presentation from the Options menu.

Rename a resource

1. In the Presentation Explorer, right-click on the resource you want to rename.
2. Click Rename.
3. Enter a new name for the resource.
4. Click OK.

Reordering resources

You can change the order of resources in the Presentation Explorer by selecting resources and moving them up or down the list. This will also change their order of appearance in the Resource Viewer when using the navigation controls.

Change a resource’s position in the list

1. In the Presentation Explorer, select the resource you want to move.
2. Click the Up or Down buttons on the tool bar to move the resource higher or lower in the list.

Tip  you can also drag resources up and down in the list to change their position.

Downloading a resource

You can download a copy of the currently displayed resource, saving it to your local computer for reference or future use.

If you download	You get
A canvas resource (or a resource in annotation mode)	An image file (.PNG)
A Web resource	The HTML source for the current page
A file resource based on an image or a PowerPoint slide	An image file (.png)
A file resource based on a Word document	The HTML source for the document

Note  you cannot download a Quicklink resource.

Download a resource

1. Load the resource into the Resource Viewer.
2. Click the Download Resource button in the Resource Viewer’s navigation bar. A Save screen will appear.
3. Save the file to your computer.