Navigation, Menus, Help
- The home screen is the central place to choose what you want to do:
[work on files] |
[take a quiz] |
[edit profile] |
[manage account] |
- Click on at the top left of any newSLATE screen to return to the home screen.
- Every quiz screen and every edit screen has a "?" which you can click for help.
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Files and Folders
- Both the "work on files" and "take a quiz" screens display a selectable list of files and folders that are available to the user.
- Every newSLATE user has a "my files" folder for storing the user's personal files on the newSLATE server, along with folders for "incoming files" and "shortcuts".
Every paid account also has an outgoing files folder.
Access accounts have one additional folder called my access area.
Every account is pre-loaded with a few example files in "my files" to help a new user learn about using newSLATE.
- A folder is marked by a small triangle to the left of the folder name.
To view the contents of a folder, click on the small triangle to left of the folder name.
The triangle will now point downwards (instead of towards the right) and the names of all the files and sub-folders of the given folder will be visible.
Click on the downward pointing triangle to hide the folder contents.
- The header bar at the top of the files and folders list defines three columns: name (of file or folder), type (folder or file type), and date created.
You can click on a column title to sort the items in the list in ascending order according to that column.
Click the same column name again to sort in descending order, and a third time to turn off sorting.
(With no sorting, items appear in each folder in the order they were created.)
You can drag the small divider between column titles to resize the column.
You can also drag the column titles into a different order.
- On the "work on files" screen, the list of functions on the left-hand side of the screen changes as you select different files or folders, showing only those functions that apply to the file or folder currently selected.
- If you have a paid account, you can also make your own folders under my files (and under my access area if you have an access account).
The [make a folder] function is available whenever you have selected my files, my access area, or a file or folder under them.
Existing files and folders can be copied or moved from folder to folder using the [copy/move file] or [copy/move folder] function.
The top-level folders cannot be copied or moved.
- You can only edit files that are in "my files."
- An access area is a named collection of files, controlled by one newSLATE user, that can be used by any newSLATE user.
- A newSLATE user can copy files from any access area into his/her "my files" area, or to his/her own access area (if the account has one).
A user can move files from his/her own access area ("my access area") to the his/her "my files" folder.
- To use files from another newSLATE account holder's access area:
- From [work on files], click on "shortcuts" in the file list, then select [add
shortcut] from the function list on the left side of the screen.
From [take a quiz], click on [add shortcut] on the right, just above the list of files and folders.
- Type in the newSLATE username of the owner of the access area.
- Click [ok].
It is only necessary to do this once. The shortcut will be remembered by newSLATE and appear as a sub-folder under the shortcuts folder.
- To get an access area for your account,
purchase
an Access subscription.
Read this for information about your own access area.
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File Exchange
- Every newSLATE user can receive files.
In the list of files and folders, click on the triangle pointing at "incoming files" to see if you have any incoming files.
- If a file has been sent to you, you can move it into your "my files" folder
(or to a subfolder if you have a paid account).
To do this, select an incoming file, and click on [receive file].
The file will disappear from the incoming files list.
The file will now be found in the folder you selected.
- To send files to other newSLATE users,
purchase
a Standard or Access subscription.
Schools may purchase Student subscriptions with this feature.
Once you have your subscription, click on any file in "my files" and select the
[send file] function on the left.
Then fill in the newSLATE username of the recipient.
You may optionally rename the copy of the file that you are sending.
To see that the file is now available for the recipient, click on the triangle pointing at "outgoing files" in the list of files and folders.
Once the file has been picked up by the recipient, it will no longer appear in the outgoing file list.
The sender of a file can withdraw that file from being sent if it has not already been picked up by the recipient.
From [work on files], click on the triangle pointing at "outgoing files" in the list of files and folders.
Then select the file to be removed, and click on [do not send].
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My Access Area
- Once you
purchase
an Access subscription, the next time you log in to newSLATE you will have
a folder for "my access area" in the list of files and folders.
- Use the [copy/move file] or [copy/move folder] function to copy or move files or folders between "my files" and "my access area."
- Other newSLATE users who know your newSLATE username will be able to use the files you put into "my access area."
(See above for how to use files from another newSLATE account holder's access area.)
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Creating & Editing Files
- There are three different types of files that you can create in newSLATE:
- word list -- a simple list of words or phrases
Guideline: Only used for alphabetization quizzes
- word definition list -- a list of words and their definitions (or translations), or any other type of related items (e.g. countries and capital cities)
Guideline: can be used for any type of quiz,
but may make sense only in cases where the relationship between the items is appropriate.
For example, a set of Roman numeral - Arabic numeral pairs will not make sense in an alphabetization quiz.
- topical notes -- an information hierarchy, like a simple outline
Guideline: With completion quiz, can be used for categorizing items (multiple topics, single-word notes) or creating a story fill-in exercise (single topic, notes are sentences).
Can also be used with multiple choice or matching quiz as makes sense.
Choose the type of file that best matches the structure of the information you are studying.
- Use copy (CTRL-C) and Paste (CTRL-V) to re-use text created in a file of one type in a file of another type.
- Use these instructions to edit a file.
- Use these tips & tricks to edit bidirectional
(mixed right-to-left and left-to-right) text.
- The "howto" access area has example files with explanatory notes to help you learn how to
make special purpose newSLATE data files.
To use these files:
- From [work on files], select the shortcuts folder.
- Select the [add shortcut] function on the left and enter
howto as the shortcut name.
- Using the triangle icons in the list of files and folders, open the shorctuts folder and then the howto folder.
- Select a file and click [copy/move file].
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Quizzes
- There are five types of quizzes available in newSLATE.
The table below shows which file types are compatible with each quiz type:
Quizzes for each newSLATE File Type |
newSLATE Quiz Types |
newSLATE File Types |
Word List |
Word Definiton List |
Topical Notes |
alphabetize words |
X |
X |
|
build a word |
|
X |
|
completion |
|
X |
X |
matching |
|
X |
X |
multiple choice |
|
X |
X |
- On the alphabetize words, build a word, completion and matching quizzes,
feedback on errors is presented after you click on the "check" button.
If there are multiple errors,
will be displayed at the bottom of the error message area.
Click on the arrow to see each error message.
- The build a word, completion and matching quizzes all use a list of
drag-and-drop items as the source for quiz answers.
Items may be used any number of times.
If some items are used more than once, then the number of answer blanks will exceed the number of items in the list.
If all of the items have not been used at least once when you click on the "check" button,
then you will receive feedback telling which items are unused.
- Use these instructions for taking a quiz.
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Edit Profile, Manage Account
- When you first sign up for newSLATE, you will receive your password by e-mail.
If your password does not arrive fairly quickly, you may have mis-typed your e-mail address.
Either sign up again with a different username, or
, including the username you chose.
- After you receive your password by e-mail, you have seven days to activate your account.
To do this, just log in using your password.
You will then have a Free account.
- After your account is activated, you will have the
[edit profile] and [manage account] functions available on the home screen.
- Your newSLATE profile consists of your e-mail address and your password.
You can update either of these through [edit profile].
- Your newSLATE account information consists of your subscription level (Free, Individual, Standard, or Access)
and the expiration date.
You can view your account information through [manage account].
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