KEEP Toolkit v1.8 Experience

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching upgraded the KEEP Toolkit to version 1.8 earlier this month.

What’s new in this version?

• Add Video Tool – upload video to snapshot easily.
• Template Gallery – choose from a list of templates created through collaborations with KEEP Toolkit’s partner institutions and programs.
• Advanced Stitching Customization – personalize stitched group with new advanced style and layout options.
• Gallery Tool – lets you create galleries of Snapshots by multiple authors quickly and easily.

My Experience…

Add Video Tool
Users can now easily include video files in their snapshot. Any user can upload multimedia files to their portfolio just like how they would upload an image file. The video will appear as a customized link on the snapshot. The user can also choose to upload a thumbnail image to serve as the link to the video clip.

Template Gallery
Users can now choose from a variety of pre-design templates using the template gallery. Templates are divided into three categories: SoTL Templates, Case Study Templates, and Blank Templates. Under each category, users can view a thumbnail image of a template and see an example of the template as well.

Advanced Stitching Customization
In the previous release (version 1.7), the KEEP Toolkit introduced a new feature which allows users to combine (or “stitch”, as the KEEP Toolkit named the feature) multiple snapshots into one snapshot. By stitching multiple snapshots together, users can easily combine various snapshots together into one. The KEEP Toolkit will automatically create a navigation menu to the stitched snapshots to offer easy access to different snapshots. However, there were very limited choices for the navigation menu in version 1.7: users could only choose from a horizontal or a vertical navigation menu. Version 1.8 pushes the stitching capability to another level by allowing users to customize the look and feel of the stitched snapshot. So I was able to personalize a stitched snapshot and make my navigation menu orange.

Gallery Tool
Aside from the previous addition of the Stitch Tool, the Gallery Tool is also added to this version. This tool “lets you create galleries of Snapshots by multiple authors quickly and easily. Select the Snapshots you wish to include in the gallery, and the KEEP Toolkit creates a single page with links to the Snapshots and contextual information. You also have the option of including automatically generated thumbnail images of the Snapshots in the gallery.” I created this gallery page to explore the new tool. I personally like the generate thumbnail features which allows me to include a thumbnail image for each of my snapshots.