Welcome to the fourth monthly user update (10/4/2021)!

In this user update for the NuVu Platform, we've looked to add some critical new features to the website. The Toolbox, updates to the Grading System, Transcripts, the Template Hub and much more have all been added since the last update a month and a half ago. This change log encompasses the updates from the middle of August to the beginning of October.

Summary/TLDR of New Features:

• The Toolbox

• Grading System Updates

• Transcripts

• The Template Hub

• Hidden Tabs

• Slide Editor Actions on the Front End

Check back next month for more information! Feel free to contact us with thoughts, concerns, request, etc. at noah@nuvustudio.org

-Noah Saldaña, Platform Coordinator

Introduction

With so many upload options and buttons, it often gets confusing on what to upload and where. This post will serve as an introduction to what file formats we support and where to upload. Images, Embeds and Files are all covered in this post. 

Rhino, Illustrator, Unity or other files that need to be uploaded and shared within a studio should be attached. This allows other users to quickly download content you want to share. 

Introduction

This post serves as a transition from the old to the new slide editor. It will highlight the main differences and main improvements made in the new iteration of the slide editor. Lastly, it will be a broad overview of the differences, to see much more in-depth information on what the new editor has to hold, check out the information in the Guides and Documentation tabs of this studio. 

Introduction

While it is much more convenient to create content inside the NuVu Slide Editor, sometimes work from other websites (such as Google slides) needs to be shown. Using the embed feature, we can easily add content from these websites.

If you're working out of google slides, follow these steps.

1. Head to google slides, open up the presentation you'd like to embed
2. Click on Share in the top right of your presentation
3. Click on Get Link and change the share settings to Anyone with the link can view
4. Click Copy Link and head back to the NuVu Website
5. Congrats! From here we will head to the next section which covers embedding in depth

1. After clicking "Create a Post", find the button labeled Embed. This will open up a new text box to enter a url 
2. Take your public Google Slides link from earlier and paste it into the newly appeared text box
3. Click Embed, if done successfully, your presentation will now appear. Otherwise, you will be given a "Invalid Url" error. Try to follow the steps in the Preparing Your Content section again, not setting your presentation to public is the most common problem when following this process

What is the NuVu Platform?

The NuVu Platform was created to support student documentation and collaboration. It acts as a digital sketchbook, learning management system, and presentation and portfolio tool.

What makes our platform different is that it is centered on visually-based media and content, and designed specifically for studio-based teaching and learning.

A studio-based teaching environment is highly dynamic, with different phases and parts of projects happening simultaneously and also at their own paces. The platform is a tool that provides a structure for that process while also being flexible. Instructors can clearly communicate the intent and resources of the studio, and students can access and engage with these resources as needed.

Teachers can post assignments, create project folders and generate interactive content for students. Our dynamic studio structure allows for any and all types of learning to be accomplished. The platform is where teachers guide students through the iterative and design based learning process. 

Students can post the progress of their work on regular intervals and the platform allows students to easily share ideas visually and quickly through the upload of images from their phone, which becomes super critical as we all become more adept at virtual teaching and learning. The platform is where students document their process through the posting of sketches, photographs, design research, and writing. Students can collaborate virtually with their classmates, even though they are not in the same physical location. 

The platform also allows for commenting and feedback from coaches, outside reviewers or experts, and student peers. For example if you had a practitioner expert that was on a review panel, they could comment directly on students’ work and provide feedback on the platform. 

Studio culture is an important part of the architecture school experience, and the platform aims to support this culture through the open sharing of work. Students and faculty can see work from any student, or any studio, across the platform, and comment and engage with that work. 

At the end of a project or term, students can use the platform to present their final work. 

This work can also be shared publicly with peers, potential employers, media outlets, or community partners.

Assignments and Where I Post Them

Before our discussion of assignments and where to post them, users should familiarize themselves with Navigating within a Studio. The basic layout of a studio that will be referenced in this post is highlighted there. Please take a minute to review this layout. We will be using a studio with the layout: Feed, Info, Resources, Assignments, Projects. 

Often times in a Studio, the question arises: Where do I post my work? The answer isn't always clear without help from an instructor. In this post, we will be talking through some scenarios and where to post work for each.

Project Work

Documentation of project work is arguably the most important type of work to know how to post. First, navigate to the Projects tab and then into your individual project. As highlighted in the slideshow above, once inside your folder you will see a few tabs. In our example, we have: Updates, Precedents, Portfolio, Writing each made for housing different type of posts. Let's go over each one and what work is posted in them:

• Updates
  • This is where you will be posting the most. The Updates tab is where you will post your daily posts, random updates and any other work that doesn't have a home. The Updates tab is the most robust tab in the studio. Post any work here related to your Project that doesn't fit in the other 3 sections.
• Precedents
  • The Precedents section is used for all Precedent resources from instructors and students. As an instructor, this tab is useful for posting relevant background for a student's project in an easy place they can see. For students, this tab is useful to have a one stop shop for all of your Precedent and background information related to your project.
• Portfolio
  • The Portfolio tab will only be used close to the end of a Studio. All final work should be posted in this tab. It will house: Final Presentations, Final Diagrams and all other Final Work. This tab is useful for showing off the culmination of the work made by students in studios. It is often used as the portfolio for the studio after it is completed.
• Writing
  • The Writing tab is used at NuVu's Main Campus: Cambridge. Writing is used for "The Brief". The brief is a piece of writing used to describe a student's project and provide insights into its background. 

Updates Tab (Assignment Folder)

Outside of a Project Folder, the majority of a student's posts will be posted in an Assignment Folder. Throughout a Studio, students will complete a variety of assignments. All of this work should be documented on the website, but a question arises: Where do I post it? For each assignment, a folder should be created in the Assignments Tab. Inside of each of these folders, there will be at least two tabs. In our example there is: Prompt and Updates. Prompt is used by instructors to introduce the assignment while Updates is used by students to post their work that is related to this assignment.  

Getting Started

Any tab in which you have permissions to make a post, you will see the Create A Post Bar. Click inside this bar to start your post. 

Title

Every post must have a title to be published. Type your title in the Create a Post box. 

Slide Editor

The four icons below are tools for the Slide Editor. 

Media Tool

Content uploaded from your computer. This content may be video files, image files, or gifs. When files are dropped or uploaded, a progress bar will appear and on finish, the photo(s) will appear in your post.

Camera Tool

The platform has the ability to connect to a camera that is permanently mounted in your studio or classroom. Some schools may not use this feature. Teachers and Administrators can contact support@nuvustudio.org if you would like to learn more or add this feature to your site.

Once selected, a menu will appear allowing you to scroll through and sort by date. Selecting an image will highlight it with a pink outline. After selecting your images, clicking insert will add them to your presentation

Embed Tool

Videos (Youtube, Vimeo) or links to interactive web-based content (Google Slides, etc.) can be added from this tab. This includes PDFs that are hosted elsewhere on the web or cloud. 

In order for files hosted on a cloud-based service (Google Drive, etc.) to be embedded on the Platform, set the viewing permissions of that file to be anyone with the link or public.

Paste the link to the content in the Gray Text box, and click Embed. The first slide of the linked document, or representative frame from the video, should appear in the Presentation. 

Slide Editor

Before entering the slide editor, you must set a title for your post. The slide editor is a powerful tool to take your presentation design to the next level. See other tutorials for more information on the Slide Editor.

Introduction

Administrators can edit schools settings at a global level, changing much of the configurations inside. There are 5 main sections that this guide will go over, each with their own individual options. Throughout the school settings, many of the options contain a ? next to the input area. Hovering over the ? will explain what the section is for. 

General

Full Name of School

A place to enter the full name of your school. Ex: Cambridge School for Innovation.

Subdomain

The prefix to your website's domain. [subdomain].nuvustudio.com. Ex: cambridge.nuvustudio.org.

Custom Domain

By Default, Who Can See Posts

Use this option to set school wide default options for posts. 

Radio Buttons

Each of these radio buttons contains a ? to explain itself. In order:

NuVuX School: Is this a NuVuX School?

Allow Search Engines to index the school?: Used for opting into/out of search engine indexing.

Uses transcript feature: Does this school use the transcript feature? See our transcript sections of the documentation for more information.

Uses camera feature: Does this school use the camera feature? Camera feature allows you to select images from uploads for posts

Camera Sync Key

Your unique key ID to sync up with your school's camera.

Design

What's Shown First on Explore Page?

Use this option to choose what is shown on your explore page. Choose between: Projects, Studios and Users.

Color Code

Decides your School's unique color. This is used in a variety of styling choices across your school's site, including the top bar.

Alternate X Label

The next few options all change all aspects of one word or concept on the site to another. This guide will talk about one example, but will not explain all four. 

For Studios: The platform refers to the basic course unit as a 'Studio' use this option to change to an alternate name. Ex: 'Course'

Logo Image

Upload an image to this section to change your school's logo. Located in the top left of the site. 

Tags

Each of the three tags Studio, Project and User provide tagging options for their respective aspect of the site. The Cambridge NuVu site uses a variety of tags for greater clarification on Studios, Projects and Users. Types of tags can also be added, as seen in the image above, the Cambridge NuVu school contains tags such as Term, Focus and Methodology to greater refine tagging on the site.

Tab Templates

Tab Templates

Templates provide a starting point for studios. When a staff member creates a new studio, they are able to select from available templates to auto-create tabs for that studio. This is useful for quickly getting a studio up and running

Grading

Each School has a unique grading structure. Our Grading Tab lets you create a grading schema through a unique number of options. Through selections such as Skill Categories, Skill Category Names, Levels of Mastery and Skills custom grading for your school is highly streamlined

Follow the steps in the video to log into the website for the first time.

1. Go to your school's domain, such as https://cambridge.nuvustudio.com.
2. Go to the top right corner of the page and click on Login.
3. Click on Reset Password, enter your Email and click Send Password Reset Link.
4. Go to the email you entered in the previous step and look for an email from NuVu with the subject line: "NuVu Password Reset Instructions". Open up this email and click on the pink button titled: Reset your Password.
5. Follow the link from Reset your Password. Enter a new password once, and then again to confirm. Afterwards, click Update Password to finalize your new password. You'll be automatically logged in. 

Creating your First Post

In this video, we will be talking about creating your very first post. This video talks about basic movement around the website, navigation to a studio and creating content on the website. After this post, consider checking out other videos such as Making the Most Out of Your Posts to get a more advanced look into the editor.