Putting words inside an image with structure

Great! Another vacation day!

Alice loved the beach. It was her favorite place to have fun, but she was scared of forgetting what she had learned in school after playing so much on the beach. Therefore, she had an idea. She asked her mother to help her write down everything that she found around her.She had so many things to write down, because the beach was full of people: some of them were sunbathing, others swimming in the sea; there were also children building sandcastles and others playing with balls.

Can we help her as well?

Time for action – creating a scene

We are going to create a scene using a background picture and then add other clipart inside it to represent each word.

1. Start Inkscape and minimize it. You will use it later.
2. Start Word 2007. You will be working in a new blank document.

In this case, we will use Word 2007 to search for clipart. However, you can also create a scene with other clipart libraries. We will also use other applications that provide high-quality clipart in other visually rich exercises.

Click on the Open button. The previously previewed clipart, the background for our scene, will appear in Inkscape’s drawing area, as shown in the next screenshot:

Repeat the aforementioned step for the other two pictures to create a scene as shown in the next image:

What just happened?

We combined several scalable vector clipart images to create a representation of a scene on the beach. Inkscape allowed us to define a background and add different elements on top of it. Each element represents a different word.

Time for action – adding floating labels to the image

1. Click on the Create and edit text objects button (a big A with a cursor on the lefthand side) or press F8. This function allows you to add text with different fonts and colors in Inkscape’s drawing area.
2. Select the desired font and size using the two combo boxes that appear on the upper left-hand corner of the window, below the main toolbar.
3. Repeat the aforementioned steps (1 to 2) to write the following words as labels, with a layout similar to the one shown in the next image:
   • Sandcastle
   • Umbrella
   • Beach ball
   • Sea
   • Shovel
   • Bucket
   
4. Once you enter each word, you can click on the desired color in the color palette. It is a good idea to use diverse colors to make it clear that they are different words.
5. Select File Save| from Inkscape’s main menu in order to save the changes made to the original Inkscape SVG file.
6. Select File Export Bitmap|. A dialog box showing many export options will appear.Enter 72 on the first dpi (Dots Per Inch) textbox.
7. Click on the Drawing button, and then on Export. Inkscape will export the drawing in PNG format. The exported bitmap graphics with the beach scene and the words at the bottom will be saved at C:Beachimage030201.png.

What just happened?

We created a representation of a scene on the beach using Inkscape and scalable vector clipart. We first added a background picture and then used vector graphics to add different elements related to specific words. We could change their size without losing quality and we could put them on top of the existing background.

We added text labels for each word that represents an element in the scene. Finally, we exported the resulting image to the PNG format.

Time for action – uploading the scene to Moodle

We now have to upload the original SVG file and its bitmap representation, in order to add our exercise to an existing Moodle course.

1. Log in to your Moodle server.
2. Click on the desired course name (Beach). You can create a new course or use an existing one.
3. As previously learned, follow the necessary steps to edit the summary for a desired week. Enter Exercise 2 in the Summary textbox and save the changes.
4. Click on the Add an activity combo box for the selected week and select Upload a single file.
5. Enter Dragging and dropping words in Assignment name.
6. Select Verdana in font and 5 (18) in size—the first two combo boxes below Description. Next, select your desired color for the text.
7. Click on the big textbox below Description and enter Putting words inside an image with structure. This is the description of the student’s goal for this exercise.
8. Press Enter and click on the Insert Image button (a mountain or a tree, according to the Moodle version). A new web page will appear displaying the title Insert image.
9. Click on the chapter03 folder link and then click on the Browse button. Browse to the folder that holds the exported drawing and select the file to upload, image030201.png. Then click on Open and on the Upload button. The label File uploaded successfully will appear inside the File browser box.
10. Next, click on the recently uploaded file name, image030201.png. The image will appear in the Preview box.
11. Enter image in Alternate text and click on OK. The image will appear below the previously entered title. Remember that you can click on the Enlarge editor button to view more information on the screen.
12. Press Enter and click on the Ordered list button (a list of 1, 2, and 3).
13. Write the detailed steps to complete the exercise.
    • Open this picture using Inkscape
    • Drag-and-drop each word to match the corresponding element in the picture
    • Save and upload the new picture
14. Next, select the picture word written in the sentence that describes the first step.
15. Click on the Insert Web Link button (a chain). A new web page will appear displaying the title Insert Link.
16. Click on the Browse button and then on the chapter03 folder link.
17. Click on the new Browse button that appears. Browse to the folder that holds the previously created Inkscape drawing with the scene (C:Beach) and select the file to upload, image030201.svg. Next, click on Open, on Upload, and on the file name link, as shown in the next screenshot:

    

18. Moodle will display the URL for this Inkscape file in the URL textbox. Enter picture in the title textbox and click on OK. This way, the student is going to be able to download the Inkscape drawing by clicking on the word picture with a hyperlink, as shown in the next screenshot:

    

19. Select 100 in the Grade combo box.
20. Select 10MB in Maximum size. This is the maximum size for the file that each student is going to be able to upload as a result for this activity. However, it is very important to check the possibilities offered by your Moodle server with its Moodle administrator.
21. Finally, scroll down and select Save and return to course.

What just happened?

We added the putting words inside an image with structure exercise to a Moodle course.The students are now going to be able to follow the instructions explained in the upload a single file assignment and download the Inkscape drawing to drag-and-drop words.

We defined a hyperlink to the Inkscape drawing because the students are going to use it to drag-and-drop each word to the corresponding zone of the scene.

The upload a single file assignment allowed us to describe the necessary steps to complete the activity, and it’s also going to enable the students to upload their results as an Inkscape drawing.

In this case, the necessary steps to complete the activity are just a few sentences in order to simplify the example. However, sometimes, it is necessary to write more instructions when you have to work with other applications such as Inkscape.