How To Use ECHOSpace

How to Sign Up and Log In

In order to upload resources, create learning centers or comment on either one, you must be signed in to ECHOspace. The first time you sign in you must first sign up to register yourself on the site. The sign up page can be found here.

Please don't be put off by the information we ask on the Sign Up page. It helps us improve our site to know who is using it.

How to Create a Learning Center

The first step is to sign up with ECHOspace.org and log in on the site. You can learn how to sign up on this page.

Know what you want to write about

Educators call it the "enduring understanding" -- the "take-away" that a visitor to your Learning Center will keep.  What's your central idea?  The point of the learning center?  Your thesis or argument?  The images and videos you choose, and the text you write, will all flow from the enduring understanding you want to share.

Decide on your primary audience

If you are a teacher, your audience might be other teachers at your level, or students at the grade you teach.  If you are a parent, perhaps you are most interested in sharing with other parents.  Choose your primary audience (keeping in mind that this does not eliminate other possible audiences).  This will help you choose your images, videos, content, and strategies for interacting with those elements.

Outlining the learning center

You know what you want to convey.  Now decide how you will do it.  We have provided three different templates, as well as the option to design one of your own.  The pre-designed templates are:

  1. Traditional Knowledge Learning Center: For describing a cultural event or practice
  2. Teaching Learning Center: To be used by teachers and students or home schoolers
  3. Professional Development Learning Center: Designed as a self-paced way to improve teaching, written by teachers for teachers

Gathering resources and content

Gather your own images and videos into a folder or on your desktop, or find them on this web site. Write the text to accompany these resources and save it on your computer. Please be certain that you have the legal right to upload whatever you include, since it will be available to the public. Refer to the ECHOspace Terms of Service for guidance.

Uploading your resources

Upload or choose your resources before you start to build the Learning Center.  There are two options:

EITHER

A. Use resources already on ECHOspace

  1. Click on the Resources tab and find an image or video you want to use.
  2. Click on the Add to My Resources button to add the resource to your collection.  It will appear in your My Profile tab, under My Resources.

OR

B. Use your own resources (see Terms of Service about copyrighted material):

  1. Under either the Learning Centers tab or the My Profile tab, click the button for the kind of resource you want to add: Image or Video. A window will open, asking you to find the resource you wish to upload.
  2. Using the Browse button, navigate to the file on your desktop that you want and upload it. It will appear on your My Profile page, as well as in the list of all resources. If you are uploading a video resource, please read about that under Video Resources in this section.

 

Decide on your layout and add text

A. To use a Model Learning Center as a template:

  1. Open the model Learning Center you want to use (Traditional Knowledge, Teaching, or Professional Development).
  2. Click the Edit button next to the title to open the model Learning Center, then click the Edit button on the section you want to change. Highlight and replace the explanatory text [everything in brackets] with your new text. Add resources by clicking on the Add Resource button. Click the Save button of each stanza when finished. See Learning Center Tips for further information about creating, editing, formatting, categorizing and teaching with Learning Centers.
  3. Continue with each stanza in the Model Learning Center. Add stanzas if you need them.

OR

B. To design your own Learning Center:

  1. Click Start a Learning Center. Give your Learning Center a title.
  2. Select stanzas from the selection in the right column. Enter your text and link to resources you have collected on My Profile tab. Click the Save button for each stanza as you complete it.

How to Add Resources to your Profile Page

In order to put resources (images or videos) onto your Learning Centers, first they need to be in your My Profile resources list. You can upload resources directly from an external source (such as Flickr or your hard drive), or you can place a resource that is already on this web site in your own Profile folder.

In order to do the latter, go to the list of Resources. All resources that are NOT YET in your folder will have a button beneath them that says, "Add+".  Simply click on the button and the resource will be placed into your folder.

How to Upload

You will find Upload buttons on the Learning Centers and Resources tab. 

In the right column of those pages, select the type of resource you wish to upload (Upload a Video or Upload an Image). Click on the appropriate button to browse to the location of your file and select it. Enter the title and a brief description of your resource. Be sure to include any applicable credits for the rights to use the video footage. Enter any categories that apply to the footage you are uploading. Click Save.

Most photo or video files can be used as Resources on ECHOspace.org. Resources can be in a variety of formats, depending what they are: photos are best in JPEG, PNG or TIFF formats, in files up to 3 megabytes. Videos are acceptable in many formats. See YouTube's suggestions.

After it has been successfully uploaded, your resource will appear under My Resources on your Profile page, under the See All tab on the Resources page, and under Images or Videos on the Home page.

Please note: by uploading video footage to ECHOspace.org you are placing it on YouTube, which ECHOspace.org uses as a video partner. Your video footage will be available for public viewing on YouTube as well as at ECHOspace.org.

How to Make Better Videos

Go to YouTube to learn to make better videos:

http://www.youtube.com/t/yt_handbook_produce

Using Templates