✏ Tips For Writing Here in OEG Connect

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Writing Tools

Whether you are replying to a discussion in a conference area or writing a longer item with with resources and information for your presentation, the writing tools in OEG Connect are the same.

When you click a button for Reply button to respond to someone else or user New Topic to create a new item to talk about, you will see the editing tools-- a compact editing area on the left and a preview on the right.

Hovering over any icon while editing reveals its purpose.

We suggest using basic formatting structures (paragraph, lists, bold, italic), make use of adding links / hyperlinks, and inserting media as described below.

Consult our OEG Connect Writing Tips for a bit more explanation.

Hyperlinks

A web address entered in the text of a paragraph will be automatically made into a hyperlink based on its title, e.g. if I enter https://www.openeducationweek.org/resources it is published as Get Ready for Open Education Week 2024.

If you want the URL to display, paste it in your text, select it, and click the Hyperlink button to link it, e,g,

[https://www.openeducationweek.org/resources](https://www.openeducationweek.org/resources)   

which produces:

https://www.openeducationweek.org/resources

Using Media

You can upload images to include in your post with the Upload Image / File button or simply drag and drop images into the editor.

For better accessibility, once uploaded please edit the image code to include alternative description of the image. By default, the alt text created will be taken from the file name, which is usually not very descriptive!

For example, if I upload an image of my dog from a file named IMG_8047.jpg the generated image code will look like:

 ![IMG_8047|690x462](upload://rqkLMRHHcDcTFS1MPDgsdoHqRYq.jpeg)

That part of the code IMG_8047 is not very helpful to describe the image! Edit it to include enough description to help a person using a screen reader understand what the image represents.

I might modify that to read (without the line breaks):

 ![A serene dog who looks like his eyes are closed 
 laying in the grass with an outstretched paw maybe ready 
 to click on a link|690x462](upload://rqkLMRHHcDcTFS1MPDgsdoHqRYq.jpeg)

Notice how that renders with the alt text visible below the image and on a hover.

We also allow uploads of PDF files in OEG Connect. There is a 10Mb limit for uploads. Anything larger or other file types are better added to your post by a link to the source files elsewhere.

Embedded Media

Many kinds of media and web content can be embedded directly by putting the web address on a blank line and pressing return. This includes web sites with previews and thumbnail images that you see when sharing links in social media. If a web site preview cannot be embedded, the web address will be made into a link.

For example, if you paste in the link for a Wikipedia page on a new line and press RETURN, e.g.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources

see how it is displayed:

Open educational resources

This also works well for YouTube videos, for example putting on a blank line:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8m2GrPk2y8

produces the embedded video right in the post. Check it out!

OER101 - Using Open Educational Resources in Teaching - Introduction

You can also embed individual tweets by copying it’s direct link (available from the date/time displayed in a tweet). Putting this web address on a blank line:

 https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1425669631994470400

produces

https://twitter.com/UNESCO/status/1425669631994470400

Slides

We hope presenters will share their slides as well as other relevant links and resources. However, we do not have capacity for managing uploads, so we ask that you share via one following services or others you may use.

• Slideshare - upload slides and share as a link to a web viewable version http://slideshare.net
• SpeakerDeck http://speakerdeck.com/ - a similar service operated by GitHub, presentations are uploaded as PDFs and published in a web view
• Google Slides - http://slides.google.com/ upload or create slides in Google’s toolset, share as a link
• Public Link - upload a .zip archive of your materials and share via Google Drive, DropBox, Box.net, or from a website you manage.

Entering links to many of these sites on a blank line, for example, https://www.slideshare.net/ROER4D/openness-in-higher-education

Will create a nice preview:

Openness in higher education: Open Educational Resources

For more on sharing slides:

On Sharing Slides

This was written in a private message to a presenter, but seems worth adding here for others. This person asked about how to share their presentation slides. The short answer is… anyway you can where they are accessible by a link. The only kinds of uploads we have available now are for images and PDFs. Here are some suggestions, the choice may depend on what you use to create slide decks. Whatever way works for you is best. Create in or upload a powerpoint to Google Slides. From there, it ca…

Compose Elsewhere

Much of the writing here will be conversational, but if you are composing something longer, like the materials for your presentation or poster, you may want to do your writing elsewhere, such as MS Word or Google Docs. If you copy your formatted content and paste it in this editor, all major formatting (e.g. headings, emphasis, hyperlinks, lists, quotes) will be preserved.

And as an added bonus for copying from Google Docs (see example), any images in your text will be brought here too.

You Can Always Edit What You Posted

Any post or reply that you write here can be edited up to 60 days later. Just look for the pencil edit button at the bottom of anything you posted.

This opens it again so you can make changes.

Connecting By Mentioning

OEG Connect includes features you find elsewhere in social media for “tagging” or mentioning other users. In communicating here it might be used a way to draw someone you want to include in a conversation or to mention as a way for giving them credit.

To create a mention use (like in Twitter) the @ symbol followed immediately typing their username or name. As you type, Connect will suggest possible users that appear in a popup menu. If they appear, good! if not, you might have to try other search terms.

I am going to mention as an example our demo account @openeducator so you can see what happens when this is published. It (a) creates a clickable link to their card (click again for a full profile). It also notifies that person that they were mentioned via a blue circled number atop their icon in the top right corner. It will also email them sometime later.

Yes, We Have Emojis

If you like to add emojis, we have them for you under the smile icon in the editor. You can also enter them directly using the convention :smile: in the editor. In fact, if you start typing : and letters, the editor will suggest emojis in the library.

If you explore, you can even find a few OEG created ones! And as you can see, they can be entered in the titles of new topics, like this one.

This should help you get started using all of the editing tools in Connect. If you have questions, suggestions, just click that reply button and use those tools!