The goal of this tutorial is to show how to upload a file to the resource and how to use the upload form, an attempt to clarify andy misunderstanding users may have about how to submit a resource to the resource center.

To access the Submit form, the user can click on the Resource Center button on the top of the page after logging in (it is required that a user must log in before submitting a file) or by using the User Menu and selecting Submit Digital Resource (see Figure 1). This will lead you to the submit page.

The submit page is broken into a few different parts. The first part is location of the actual file to submit. One can submit a resource from a local source (a personal computer for instance) or a resource that exists online. For the kind that exists locally, one can press the "Browse ..." button to locate the file. If there are many associated files that need to stay together (such as a Powerpoint presentation with a lot of video) the best way to submit them is as an archived compressed folder (on the submit page there are two options for how to create an archived file folder on Windows and Mac OS X). If the submitted files are not part of a collection, they can be added using the Add Another File link located on he just below the Win/Mac instructions for ZIP files (leading to a screen with multiple input boxes for searching locally for a file). The other option is to locate a file that already exists on the internet and entering the address in the first box. The date is automatically filled in but the size of the file (how much memory it takes up) needs to be entered.

Below that is the Suggest Location drop down. This indicates under what classification the file belongs in an effort to group like resources. Take the time to go through the rather exhaustive list find the correct category under which the file should be listed.

The description fields are next. First, enter a title for your file then, in the larger box below title input, put in a short description of what the file is. This can be what it contains or a basic idea of content or theme. Make sure to describe the file as well as possible but be concise for the sake of others that may search for your resource.

The next most important part of the form is the icon selection. Here you can choose what filetype your resource is and what icon displays in search. There are icons for the following file types: Word Documents, SMART Notebooks, Websites/HTML files, eInstruction CPS files, audio files (MP3, WAV, etc), Google Earth Layers, Photoshop Layer files (PSD), Promethean ActivClassroom file, MPEG/MPG video, Powerpoint Presentation, Flash video/SWF, AVI video, Adobe Acrobat Portable Document File (PDF), WinRAR Archive (RAR), Windows Media File (WMV, WMA, etc), WinZIP/Generic archive file (ZIP), Mimio Interactive Whiteboard, image file (JPG, GIF, PNG, etc), Google Sketchup Plans and Quicktime video (MOV, etc). Rollover any of the icons to see a description of it and click on the appropriate one to fill in the Icon input box (it will be filled in the with the filename of the icon image).

With that taken care of, you can click on the Submit File button to upload the file. When complete, the page will be redirected links in order to submit another file or to see the resource profile page. Congratulations, your resource is now available online for other teachers to benefit from your contribution!

For a video demonstration of what is discussed here, check out the video below.