Version 3.2.1 / February, 2011
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SECTION 1.
Getting Up and Running
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
To use VizZle, it’s best to have the most current version of Adobe Flash Player. When you
download VizZle, Adobe will automatically check and update your Flash player, as well as install
Adobe AIR. Just keep answering Yes or OK to the prompts, and you will be set up
automatically.
In the unlikely event you don’t already have a Flash player, or if you prefer to run the update
yourself, you can get the most up to date version of Adobe Flash at:
http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
Click on the kind of browser you have (e.g. Windows Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Opera etc.) and
follow the instructions to install.
INSTALLING AND RUNNING VIZZLE:
To download and install VizZle, use the link provided in the email that included your username
and password. A link to the installation information can also be found through VizZle’s home
page at www.monarchtt.com in the upper right-hand corner.
After following the prompted steps, you will find a VizZle icon on your desktop. Anytime you
want to launch the program, double-click the VizZle icon on your desktop and the log-in page
will appear.
Enter your username (the email address you provided) and the password you received in an
email from our support team. A new feature in this release allows you to check the
“Remember Me” box to store your password for quicker entry. The stored password will only
be used in this situation—it will not effect password-protected actions (like keeping kids from
exiting at will or getting into things they shouldn’t).
And that’s it… You’re in!
If you are experiencing difficulties, the most efficient way to reach help is by visiting our Help
site at http://monarchteachtech.zendesk.com/home or by sending us an email to
[email protected]. In this brave new world of Blackberries, iPhones and instaapps, email is the quickest way to get your SOS to the correct person. You will be immediately
assured that your message arrived safely via return email, and the support team member best
able to help you with your problem will contact you as soon as possible (often within a few
minutes, but always within 24 business hours).
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SECTION 2.
Finding Your Way Around
There are three main components in VizZle. After you login you will find yourself on the
Landing Page. The Landing Page highlights the lessons recently added to the shared user
library in What’s New, has news and information for users, and it links you to the three main
areas of the system. Here’s what it looks like:
CREATE links you all the templates for creating your own lessons and tools. Create
customized activities or customize activities you’ve found in the library for your students using
a variety of templates including Matching Boards, Game, Build-a-Book, Timers, Token Boards,
First-Then boards, and the all new Scheduler. Pix-to-Go is a blank slate that allows you to use
any images from the VizZle image database or your personal uploads for printed table-top
activities like flash cards, topic boards, memory games or worksheets.
TEACH links you to all your personal files and folders. From there you can organize and share
activities through the student folders, launch lessons, tools and playlists for play, and manage
your data collection and reporting.
SHARE links you to the shared public library of lessons and tools created by other VizZle
users. You can search by keyword directly from the landing page by typing your query in the
search box and clicking search. Or you can go to the advanced search to browse by categories
by clicking on the large orange Share. Every lesson accepted in the library has been vetted to
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make sure it works and contains accurate information. Preview the activity (and you can Play it
for the full effect from the Preview screen) or drag it to one of your folders to store it for later
use or editing.
NOTE: If you are having trouble viewing the entire program on your screen, make sure
your screen resolution is set to a minimum of 1024x768.
To do this in Windows, minimize programs until you see your desktop. Right click on the background of
the desktop. Select Properties. Then select the Settings tab (all the way to the right on the top). Now
slide the Screen Resolution toggle to 1024x768 or higher. Then select OK or Apply. Maximize VizZle
and you should be good to go.
For Mac users, go to System Preferences, then Display, and set it at 1024x768 or higher.
I. SHARE
Share, the shared public library of lessons and tools created by VizZle users, is a good place to
begin your familiarization tour of VizZle. It’s where you will find the activities recommended to
you in your welcome email. For a video tour of Share’s features and functions, click on the
Learn button just underneath the large orange Share and search box in the upper left of the
Landing Page.
To enter Share, click on the orange Share button in the upper left of the Landing Page. This is
what you will see:
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You can use the activities suggested to you as a way of familiarizing yourself with the various
types of lessons VizZle has to offer. To find those specific activities, type the four or five digit
Lesson ID number (provided in your welcome email) into the Lesson ID search field (see the
red arrow below), and then click the Search button.
After clicking search, you will see the activity on the search returns page. When you click on it,
Activity Summary information will appear at the right of the screen, with options for further
actions. To explore the lesson, click the Preview button (red arrow below) to enter the lesson
overview. When the page is set in Icon mode (see the purple arrow below) it looks like this:
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NOTE: You have two views to select from when searching the library. List View
shows your results in a text list. Icon View offers a more visual representation of
the search returns. (See the purple arrow above for the toggle location.) List view
gives you the ability to sort your returns by clicking on the column headers.
Switching back to Icon view will retain that selection of sorting criteria.
In the Preview mode (see below for an example of a Build-a-Book lesson in Preview), you can
see the entire page layout, and click on any audio, video or popup icons to see and hear what is
in them. Note that there will more often than not be a scroll bar on the right side of the
screen to let you see the entire lesson (longer lessons will not fit all on one screen).
For now though, go ahead and click on the Play button on the bottom of the screen, so you can
see exactly what a student would experience when they play an activity. The big yellow arrow
below points to where you’ll click:
When you have finished playing the entire lesson, click on the Close button in the upper right,
and you’ll be returned back to Share, where you can enter your next ID number. (Note: If you
want to exit earlier, click on the Exit/Options button in the upper left of the screen. You will
be asked for your password [the same one you used to log in works here]. Clicking Exit
Lesson in the upper left will return you back to the main Share search page.)
As you begin to explore on your own, you can type any word into the search field (e.g. a
subject like “math,” or a specific subject matter like “sight words,” or a lesson type like
“matching,” or a keyword like “clean”… try whatever comes to mind!) Once your initial
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search has returned results, you can either run another search using a different word, or
further filter your returns using the advanced search options (click on the arrow to the left of
Advanced Options just under the search field to reveal the various ways you can further refine
your search).
If you prefer, you can find activities in Share using the filters. Use the dropdown menus to
select either a subject (along with a category and a sub-category if you like), and/or a gradelevel, and/or a lesson type. You can further refine your results by using any of the Advanced
Search features (click on the Advanced Search arrow to see your options), or start a new
search by clicking the Share Home button in the upper right, which takes you back to the initial
search page.
Note: Don’t forget to return to the initial Share search page (by clicking the Start
New Search button) if you want to begin a fresh search of the entire library
contents. Otherwise, the search will just further filter your initial returns.
In a list view of the returns from your search, you can click on any of the titles along the top of
the return to sort the list. For instance, clicking on Name will sort the activities alphabetically
by title. Clicking on Lesson ID will sort by the lessons’ ID numbers. Clicking on Lesson Type
will group them into lesson types, etc. Whatever sorting method you choose will also control
the icon view if you switch back to that style of presentation.
When you click on an activity in your search results, the Activity Summary appears on the right
side of the screen. As you become familiar with the terms and descriptions, you’ll find that it
gives enough information about the activity to make an informed decision as to whether it is
appropriate for your needs and worth a look in preview.
In the displayed information, you will see the ID#--every activity in the library has a unique
number. You can use this ID number to search for that specific activity. Each Activity
Summary will also show you the Name, an icon that shows what type of activity it is, Subject
classifications, Grade level, whether the lesson is text-based (i.e. you must be able to read to
use it), the creator’s info, and a short description. (Currently information on whether the
lesson contains quizzes, video or audio is found in the description. In current development is a
feature that will automatically turn on the toggles by those words in the Summary to more
visually give you that information—but for the moment, those do not accurately reflect the
lessons content.)
NOTE: The ID# assigned to the activity in your personal folder will be different
than the ID# of the same activity after you submit it to Share for the library. The
activity in the library is a separate copy, and therefore has its own unique number.
To edit an activity from the shared library, or to save it for easy access later, or to run it from a
student folder so the play data is tracked, drag it into a folder in your file cabinet on the left
hand side of the screen. First make sure your file cabinet is open by clicking on it (the little red
icon in the upper left of the screen). When it is open you’ll see all your folders. Simply drag-
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and-drop the lesson to the folder. When you see a plus sign appear over the folder name you
are aiming for, you can drop the lesson in. If a Ø appears, you are not in position to drop.
II. TEACH
Your file cabinet is located in Teach. Teach is where you will store all your stuff. You can also
launch activities for your students and make PLAYLISTS to launch multiple lessons here. (You
can think of a PLAYLIST as a virtual set of TEACCH bins…). You will manage student data
metrics and reporting from Teach as well.
For a video tour of the basic features and functions of Teach, click on the Learn button directly
under the green Teach button on the middle-left hand side of the Landing Page.
Enter Teach by clicking on the big green Teach on the landing page (or by clicking on the Teach
icon on the top navigation bar from elsewhere in the program). If it isn’t already open, click on
the red file cabinet next to My VizZle in the upper left of the screen and click open the My
Lessons folder. You will see its pre-loaded contents on your screen. These lessons and tools
(all with the word VizZle in the title) are a quick and easy way to see the features and uses of
the various lesson types in VizZle. Note that the screen is, by default, in an Icon View. If you
prefer a list view, click the List button (see the red arrow in the image below). Here is what
your open folder looks like:
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When you click on a lesson, Activity Summary information appears on the right side of the
screen (see example, below) telling you more about the lesson. At the top of the Lesson
Summary, click on the Edit button to start customizing the lesson in Create. Clicking Play will
begin the play experience. The screenshot below shows the My Lesson folder open in the List
view in Teach. The red arrows point to the Edit and Play buttons:
Just under the main navigation bar (the gray bar to the right of the VizZle logo), you’ll see
buttons for creating a New Folder, Delete Folder, Create Media, and Import Media (where
you’ll click to upload personal pictures into your folders—although it is much easier and faster
to just drag and drop images in from the desktop directly to your lessons). To use any of these
buttons, you need to be in the file cabinet or the folder where you want to place the new item.
Give your playlist a name, description, and a few keywords you might want to use later to
search for it. You can then immediately launch it by clicking on Play in the upper right of the
screen. Or you can save it for later by clicking on Save.
STUDENT ACCOUNT FOLDERS:
To take advantage of all the features and enhanced sharing available in VizZle, you can easily
create Student Account folders for each of the kids you work with. First, click on My Profile in
your red file cabinet. Here is what you will see:
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Click on the + button, and a popup window will ask for the pertinent information about the
student you want to add. When you have added each of the students you would like to, click
the Save Students button. (VizZle will ask you to restart the program for the changes to take
effect). These folders are the best way to share information with the teaching team and
parents about that student. (To find out how to link other VizZle users to the student you
have created, please see the VizZle Help page (http://monarchteachtech.zendesk.com/home) for
details.)
Note: If you are part of a school/district that has purchased VizZle, check with
your administrator before creating a student folder. (It may have already been
created, in which case your account should have been automatically linked to the
full student list).
Each student folder has a Student Profile. In the Student Profile, you import that student’s
personal pictures and favorite things to use with Magic Media. These can be used to quickly and
easily customize a lesson for that student. Here is an example of the Student Profile page (filled
with a student’s pictures):
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Each student folder also has a sub-folder called Student Data and a Goal Creator. Use these to
load the student’s IEP goals, and to generate reports using the student metrics you gather
during VizZle play. Visit http://monarchteachtech.zendesk.com/home for the latest info on how
to use the student tracking and reporting features.
TEACH HINTS AND TIPS:
Within your personal file cabinet, create and customize your own folders to organize materials
in whatever way makes sense to you. We’ve started you off with some default folders to help
you organize (My Lessons, My Tools and My Assets) that need to stay there because they are
used as defaults in other parts of the program, but don’t feel you have to use those. Name and
organize your folders however you like. For example, you might want to create folders for
each of the subject areas you are working on, or group by age level, or make folders for groups
of imported pictures. Do whatever works for you.
You can then save lessons to the appropriate folder by dragging and dropping onto the folder
name. (Have you noticed yet that dragging-and-dropping will become your best friend in this
program? When in doubt, try to drag-and-drop!)
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III. CREATE
Formerly called Lesson Builder, Create is your own virtual visual language lab. Here is where
you create from scratch using easy to edit templates, or customize any lesson for any content
or skill level.
Math problems, language comprehension, science, social studies, reading—you name it, you can
create a lesson for it. If it is a question with an answer, you can make a Matching Board to
teach it. Need to tell a story or convey specific content? Build-a-Book is the way to go. Want
to make a table-top worksheet using the same images? Open Pix-to-Go. Have information you
want to review in a fun way for a group? Create a Game! The content is as simple or as
complicated as you choose to make it: add visuals (including video clips) and audio (including
text-to-speech) to support comprehension and language development, customize prompts and
distracters, and choose the best reward for task completion. You can create for any and every
age level, from early learning to adults.
Click on the blue Create on the Landing Page, or find the chubby pencil icon on the top
horizontal navigation bar (a more concise way of saying “the line of buttons across the top of
the screen that take you someplace else”) and click to enter Create. This is what you will see:
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Notice the three tabbed sections at the bottom of the screen: Lessons, Tools and VizZle Labs.
Click on the tab to reveal the templates within each section of Create. When you click on a
template type, you’ll see a brief description of what it’s used for and a short video tutorial off to
the right of the screen ready to walk you through creating that kind of lesson. These tutorials
are a quick, easy and convenient way to get yourself comfortable with all the tools at your
command in Create.
When you are ready to make a lesson, highlight the lesson type by clicking on it, and then click
on the Get Started button.
The basic unit of creation throughout Create is the tile. Below on the left is a blank basic tile.
On the right is an edited tile with an image, text, audio and video added:
The top half of the tile can either be filled with an image, or you can click on it and type in text.
The bottom section of the tile is for text only. By clicking on the blue “add sound” button on
the lower left, you can record text-to-speech of the text with a click of the mouse, or record
your own voice with just three clicks (a little speaker icon appears when you have successfully
added sound). You can also drag-and-drop a sound bite directly to that area, and it will
automatically load. Drag-and-drop a video clip (either from VizZle’s database or from your
computer) to the “add video” button on the right (it will save automatically into you’re my
Media folder for later use). Or you can click on it to import a video from your computer and
save it to a specific folder or rename it. A little film strip icon will appear when you have
successfully loaded the video.
NOTE: If you want a “text only” tile, first click on the Add/Drag message in the
top of the tile. Remove the default text, and then type in your text (using the
popup editing bar to make it look as you want it). Then click on the text box in the
bottom of the tile and remove the words “Edit label”. Et voila!
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To add images or find audio and video clips from the VizZle database, you can search for Media
in the upper right hand corner of any creation experience. Simply type in a word and click on
Search. (Don’t forget to click the search button—it’s how you begin the search.) Your results
will show up in a column on the left hand side of the screen. Scroll through that box to see
what the search came up with, then drag and drop the image that will work best for your
student into the lesson.
NOTE: Search functions while you are in Teach as well—the returns populate the
main center screen instead of the lower left panel.
And don’t forget that you can always use the pictures you have imported into your various
folders as well! You can get them by opening the folder where you have them stored, or by
typing the name into the search box. If you search for a word that you associated with your
image as a name or keyword when you saved it, the image will also automatically appear
whenever and wherever you run search.
In the example below, I typed “horse” into the search box (on the upper right of the screen)
while in the creation experience of Matching Board. As you will see, photographs, line
drawings, audio clips and video clips from the image library come up for you to scroll through
and choose from:
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Each lesson type or tool has different features but dragging-and-dropping images works the
same way in any part of Create. Click and hold the mouse on the item you want from the
search, then drag it to the place you want it.
Note: You can also drag and drop pictures or video clips from your desktop
directly into your creation tiles!
Click on the text to edit content or style with a pop up editing bar. Below shows an image
dragged and dropped into a Build-A-Book page, and the purple arrow highlights the pop-up text
editor ready to change the color, font, size or style of text:
Each lesson template type has more than one tab in the upper left of the creation screen.
When you enter the creation experience, you land on the main tab, usually called Manage or
Create.
Almost every lesson type also has an Options tab, usually with more than one page of options
that allow you to control reinforcers, ending celebrations, audio, and board specific features.
And most have an Overview and Print tab as well, which allows you to preview, play, or
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print the lesson (see the red arrow above). Some of these tabs have second and third pages to
them—look for button-type tabs at the top of the gray box of information for the toggle that
lets you move between pages (see below).
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SECTION 3.
IMPORTANT TIPS:
Make sure you Save boards when you are creating them. Clicking Save will save over the
existing lesson. Clicking Save As will create a new lesson and allow you to change the lesson
name or keywords. You must click on Save As or Save for the file to be saved into one of your
folders.
You will see question marks located throughout the program. These mark contextual Help—
click on a ? and a popup with a description of the adjacent feature and helpful tips and tricks will
display. If you have a general question or need support while working in the program, click on
the ?Help button on the top horizontal navigation bar (in between the Share button and the
Search box).
When you type your question in the interactive support box, VizZle electronic support will
comb our archives for similar questions (which get you immediate answers). If no question
comes up that is exactly what you need, email us at [email protected]. We
promise you’ll be contacted within a business day to pursue a solution.
If you’d like more in depth training on VizZle, sign up for a free, live, interactive tutorial via
Webex through the www.monarchtt.com website. The webinars are offered at different times
throughout the week. If none of the scheduled times work for you, don’t hesitate to contact
[email protected], and we’ll be happy to set up a one-on-one tutorial to get you
up and running.
HAVE FUN! It feels great when you see your student’s face light up when they play a lesson
you have created. They will be getting the visual content they need to really understand a
concept in a way that is fun and engaging for them, and easy for you. It’s a winning
combination!
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