The first step to create your own Art Collector Set is to register as a user. Click on the "Register" button in the top left corner of the page and fill in the requested information. You will need a valid e-mail address. Make sure to remember your username and password. Write them down!

Click here for Registration HELP.

Art Collector Sets can include so many things!

Create a personalized collection of works of art from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and/or the Walker Art Center. Collect works depicting a particular subject in art such as horses or landscapes, or works by your favorite artist. You can gather art made in a particular culture, time or place that interests you. Explore one artistic style or compare two different styles. A collection can be made around a theme or topic, or you can even select art to illustrate your favorite story or poem. What other ideas for art collections can you think of?

Click on the "Art Collector" button in the top right corner of the screen and then click the "Create New Set" button (under the "My Sets" tab). Within the "Edit Set Detail" box, enter a title for your Set and choose the background for your slides using the drop-down menu under "Presentation Theme." Be sure to add an explanation of your Set's content in the "Description" box! You can go back to edit this later, if you want.

Remember always to SAVE YOUR SLIDES before navigating to another page. If you forget, you will be asked "Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page? Your changes will be lost." If you get this message, click Cancel to avoid losing your changes, then click the "Save Slide" button before you leave the slide.

By the way, we know these are not really "slides," but we decided to call each Art Collector item a slide just for old time's sake.

Click on the blue "Art Finder" button to begin searching for items to add to your collection. You can enter a keyword to search for art, use the drop-down menus to narrow your search by medium or culture, or type an artist's name in the "Artist" field. When searching by artist, the search box is enhanced with an autocomplete feature which provides a shortcut to your artist of interest. Look through all the tabs to find more content beyond works of art such as text resources, audio/video files, interactive resources, and even other Art Collector Sets.

Click on the yellow plus (+) sign in the bottom right corner of any resource, select the Set you are currently working on, and click "Add."

Click here for Art Finder HELP.

For every slide you add, you can add text in the "Display Annotation" box. This is the place for discussion questions,  information cut and pasted from a text file, or any other words you want to add. (If you want this text to appear on slides, make sure to put it in the "Display Annotation" box. Text that you want only the presenter to see should go in the "My Notes" box.)

Click here for HELP with adding text.

Use the editing tools in the "Display Annotation" box to format your text. Along with bold, italics, and underline formatting, you can make bullet points or a numbered list. You can create hyperlinked text that directs the reader to another Website. There's even a spell check option!

Be sure to use the "Slide Layout" buttons under "Slide Presentation" to select the layout of your text and/or images. Your choices are: image only; text only; or image and text together.

• Return to your Set by clicking the "Back to Set" button.
• In the "Slides" tab, click the "Add Custom Slide" button.
• Add a slide title, text, and be sure to select the layout of your slide.
• Add external media, if desired. (We will discuss this later.)
• Remember to save your slide! That way you can see it in the preview box.

Now try adding external media to your Set!

• Click "Add Custom Slide" to create a slide with media from YouTube, Flickr, ArtBabble, or an external mp3 file.

• The hyperlinks beneath the "Media URL" field point you to approved sites for images and videos you may include in your Set.

• Once you have found an interesting resource, copy the URL of that Webpage and navigate back to your slide.

• Paste the URL into the "Media URL" field and click on the "Verify Media" button.

• If you want the resource to fill the entire screen, click the "Item Only" option under "Slide Presentation." If you want to display the external media with text, click the "Item with Annotation" button and add your text to the "Display Annotation" box.

• SAVE SLIDE so you can preview it!

Click here for HELP adding external media.

When searching Flickr, using the Advanced Search and selecting "Only search within Creative Commons-licensed content" will help you avoid violating copyright laws.

Click here for HELP with Creative Commons content.

You also have the option of attaching a PDF to the last slide in the Set. Just click "Attach PDF" in the "Set Actions" box when viewing your entire Set. Some educators use this tool to attach lesson plans to their Sets.

It's easy to edit your Art Collector Set at any time. After clicking the "Back to Set" button, you will see all of your slides. In the bottom right corner of each slide, you will find four buttons:

• one to combine two types of content in one slide (this is explained more in the next slide)
• another to edit the slide
• the third duplicates that slide
• and the last one deletes your slide.

Click here for HELP with editing slides.

If you'd like to display two resources side-by-side, identify the first resource (this will display on the left) and click the "Comparison" (a/b) button at the bottom of that slide. The slide will widen (pictured left) and you can drag your second resource into the blank space. If your slide contains an image, you may put a checkmark next to "Allow zooming in presentation."

If you want to break the connection between the resources into two separate slides, click the "Break Comparison" button.

Click here for HELP with comparing items on a slide.

Do you want to add a slide with a close-up view of a work of art? Image views can be manipulated by putting a checkmark next to "Allow zooming in presentation." To zoom in or back out, use the plus/minus toggles in the "Slide Media" box. You can drag the zoom box to any area of the image.

Once you have the zoom that you want, click the "Save Slide" button. You can then see what the slide will look like in the "Slide Preview" box.

You can also duplicate a slide and create different zooms of the same work of art. The zoom tool is pretty cool!

Do you want to change the order of your slides? Just click on the slide you want to move and drag it to the correct location.

Do you want a slide other than the first one to represent the Set when it becomes searchable in ArtsConnectEd? Select a slide and put a checkmark next to "Select this slide to represent the Set" in the "Slide Information" box.

Click here for HELP with changing the slide order.

Once you're happy with the content and order of your Set, preview it by clicking on the "Present" button in the "Set Actions" box. Voilà!

Click here for HELP with presenting an Art Collector Set.

If you are happy with the way your Set looks, you have several choices for what to do with it under the "Set Actions" box.

E-mail: You can send it to your friends in an e-mail. They will be able to present it, but can't make any changes to your Set.

Submit: You can submit it to be published on ArtsConnectEd. (More about this in the next slide).

Views: You can choose to view it as a handout with thumbnail images of each slide and a place for your audience to take notes; or as presenter notes that include each slide's "My Notes" section; or as printable pages with large images of a single slide per page.

Save as PDF: By clicking this button, you can download the presentation to your desktop. You can then view your Set without going online.

Link to this Set: You can capture a URL for your Set that you can paste elsewhere.

Click here for HELP with sharing Art Collector Sets.

To submit a Set so that any ArtsConnectEd user can see it, click the "Submit" button in the "Set Actions" box.

Fill in the "Submit Set for Publication" form. You will be asked to select the grade level(s) and instructional method that the Set uses, as well as agree to the "Terms of Use."

Click the "Save Set" button. Museum educators will review your submission and either offer suggestions to improve it, or publish it so others can access your Set using Art Finder!

Be sure to revisit ArtsConnectEd to look for an internal e-mail notifying you that your Set has been published and to build more Art Collector Sets!

Click here for HELP with submitting Art Collector Sets.

Many other ArtsConnectEd users and museum educators have published Sets. You will find them all in Art Finder under the tab "Art Collector Sets."

Feel free to comment, tag, or rate any Set you view. This helps our community of users improve the Website. You can also duplicate any Set and make it your own to tweak or revise as you wish. Check back often because new Art Collector Sets are being published each week.

Welcome to the interesting, ever-changing, and somewhat addicting world of ArtsConnectEd!