Resource Help and FAQ
On this page you can find information about some of the most frequently asked questions about the Lessons & Units section of Wiki-Teacher. If you do not find the answer to your question on this page, please contact us.
- Who Creates Resources?
- Why Upload Resources?
- Copyrighted Materials
- Where to Find Permissible Images
- Links to Other Websites
- Resource Upload File Types
- Opening Office 2007 Files (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx)
- Office 2007 Files (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx) on Macintosh
Who Creates Resources?
You! The members of the Wiki-Teacher community upload the resources they have already created for their classrooms to the site. This is one of the reasons we are able to provide Wiki-Teacher to users for free and without advertisements. Please help us build our bank of resources by Contributing a Resource.
Why Upload Resources?
The Wiki-Teacher website is built by the collective work of its thousands of members. Without your help, none of the great resources found on this site are possible.
Copyrighted Materials
Materials that are copyrighted are not allowed to be uploaded to the Wiki-Teacher website. If you upload copyrighted materials to the Wiki-Teacher website, those materials may be removed at any time. For more detailed information, please see the Terms & Agreements of Wiki-Teacher.com. Please see the help section below on finding permissible images for use in resources. If you have any questions about copyrighted materials, or if you feel as though your copyrighted materials have been uploaded to the site, please contact us.
Where to Find Permissible Images
One of the most common issues users run into when uploading resources to Wiki-Teacher is finding images that they have permission to redistribute on sites like Wiki-Teacher. An image's copyright holder, like a website, must expressly give users permission to redistribute the image. Unfortunately, very few websites do this. Luckily, there are many resources on the Internet that are starting to fulfill this need.
One easy place to find images to include in resources is the clip art component of Microsoft Office. For the times that this doesn't work, however, another great program is called the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons makes it easy for copyright holders to give permission to users to do things like redistribute images. This organization has an easy-to-use search feature so that you can quickly and easily find images to use that have been licensed for redistribution in resources, such as Power Point presentations. You can access this search engine at: http://search.creativecommons.org/. To use the site, type your search query into the search box and then select the service (Google Image Search, Yahoo!, Flickr, Wikimedia Commons). Some of the easiest services to use include Flickr and Wikimedia Commons. Remember, though, it is the responsibility of the user to ensure they have permission to include an image, or any other resource, in files that they upload to Wiki-Teacher. If you have any questions about using the Creative Commons image search service, please contact us.
Links to Other Websites
Although we think Wiki-Teacher is a great resource, we know that there are many more websites on the Internet that can be valuable to teachers. If you would like to provide a link to another website as a resource on Wiki-Teacher, we ask that you do so in a Microsoft Word document. In addition to the direct link to the website, please provide a brief description about the site and how you have successfully used it in your classroom (e.g., include a sample lesson plan).
Resource Upload File Types
Wiki-Teacher allows only some file types to be uploaded to the site. The following file types may be uploaded to the site:
- Microsoft Word - .doc or .docx
- Adobe PDF - .pdf
- Plain Text - .txt
- Rich Text File - .rtf
- Microsoft Publisher - .pub
- Graphic Interchange Format(GIF) - .gif
- JPEG - .jpg
- Microsoft PowerPoint - .ppt or .pptx
- Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet - .xls or .xlsx
- SMART Board Notebook - .notebook
- Promethan Flipcharts - .flipchart
- MPEG Audio - .mp3
- Google Earth - .kml or .kmz
Opening Office 2007 Files (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx)
If you do not have the newest version of Microsoft Office (Office 2007) installed on your computer (e.g., Word 2007, Excel 2007, Power Point 2007), you may encounter difficulties when opening up files that were created in these programs. You will be able to tell that these files were saved in the new Office 2007 format because they will have extensions of .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx. If you do not own the newest version of Microsoft Office, there are multiple options you can use to access these files, even if you don't own any previous version of Microsoft Office.
Option 1: Install a compatibility pack for older versions of Microsoft Office (e.g., Microsoft Office 2003)
If you have a past version of Microsoft Office installed, you can install a compatibility pack that is published by Microsoft. This will allow you to open and edit the Office 2007 format files with your current version of Microsoft Word, Excel, or Power Point. To install this compatibility pack, please visit Microsoft's support page for Windows or Mac.
Option 2: Install a stand-alone viewer
If you don't own a past version of Microsoft Office, you can download a free file viewer from Microsoft to access Word 2007 files (.docx) or Power Point 2007 files (.pptx). This will allow you to open and download the file, but you will be unable to make modifications. Microsoft Word 2007 Viewer | Microsoft 2007 Power Point Viewer
If you need any further assistance with opening these types of files, please contact us.
Office 2007 Files (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx) on Macintosh
Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintosh is able to read and write all Office 2007 file types including: .docx, .pptx, & .xlsx. If you are using Microsoft Office 2004 for Macintosh, Microsoft has developed converters you can use to open these newer file types and convert them into versions that can be used and edited in Office 2004. To download and install these converters, please visit the Office for Mac/Mactopia website: Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.3, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.6 Update. Please note that these converters require at least Mac OS 10.4 to install and use.
If you need any further assistance with opening these types of files, please contact us.
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