Warp Type is a window within Unity that is used to create, maintain, and transmit text within a Unity classroom. Warp files (i.e., scripts of text or lectures to be transmitted to the Unity Conference Room window for viewing) are only accessible within Unity via the Warp Type window.

This document is intended for instructors and will cover the those functions of the Warp Type window needed by instructors.

Content

• Open the Warp Type Window
• Open a Warp File
• Apply Italic, Bold, and Underscore Formatting
• Warp Commands
• Send Warp Text to the Conference Room
• Copy a Warp File
• Move a Warp File
• Delete a Warp File

Open the Warp Type Window

To open the Warp Type window:

Select WARP TYPE from the ADMIN TOOLS menu on the Unity navigation bar at the top of the Unity window.

 

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Open a Warp File

The WARP TYPE window contains three important areas:

• Folder:
• WARP TYPE Title:
• WARP TYPE:

The Folder: field contains the user's personal folders. Individual text files (also called warp files or class scripts) are stored in folders in personal Unity directories located in the Folder: field. These folders aid in the organization and retrieval of warp files, much like storing related papers in a file folder. Using folders to organize your warp files is strongly recommended for any instructor involved in the teaching of more than one session of a course or more than one course. The same file structure is used to keep your slide shows and polls organized. This is important because many sessions have multiple polls. It also makes it easy to retrieve and revise, if necessary, materials for reuse.

For more information about Unity folders see Managing Unity Folders.
To open a warp file:

1. Left click on the name of the warp file in the Folder: field.
   This will cause the warp filename to populate the Warp Type Title: field and the text of the warp file to fill the Warp Type: text area.

Until you delete it, the warp file will be available for selection from the Folder: field any time you enter a Unity classroom. In other words, your warp type files will be available for your use in any Unity room.

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Apply Italic, Bold, and Underscore Formatting

The Warp Type window provides the option to embolden, italicize, and/or underline selected portions of text within the warp file. The CE staff will be responsible for ensuring the created warp file has the same italic, bold, and underscore formatting as the original document submitted by the instructor.

To apply italic, bold, and/or underscore formatting:

1. Highlight the text to be formatted.
2. Select
   • the B button to embolden the selected text,
   • the I button to italicize the selected text, and
   • the U button to underline the selected text.

    

3. Selecting the B, I, or U button a second time will clear the bold, italic, or underline formatting for the selected text.

Cutting/copying and then pasting text that is emboldened, italicized, or underlined (B/I/U) will usually remove the B/I/U formatting. Because of this constraint, we recommend adding B/I/U formatting as the last step in preparing a warp file.

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Warp Commands

Warp Commands are commands that are placed within your warp text and executed by Warp Type instead of being sent into the Conference Room window as text. The staff member who prepares your warp text will place these commands for you.  Please do not edit or modify the warp commands in any way.  If you need to make changes, contact your course liaison.

• Warp Type commands are delimited by the tilde "~" character.
• They start at the beginning of a new line.
• Brackets "[" and "]" are used in the command format descriptions to indicate optional format elements.
• Italics are used to indicate command arguments.
• The tilde "~" characters in a command MUST NOT be modified by bold, italic,or underline formatting.

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Send Warp Text Into the Conference Room

The Warp Type window can be used to send warp text to the Conference Room window for viewing by every user within the Unity classroom.

To send warp text to the Conference Room text window:

1. Select and open the warp file for the session.
   Note that the instructor is the only one to view the warp in the Warp Type window and to control the delay time, the sending, and the stopping of warp (except for delays/rates and pauses caused by commands within the warp file itself) during the real-time session.

2. Set the line delay.
   The Warp type line delay setting is displayed at the bottom of the Warp Type window (refer to the purple box in the following image).

    

   The Warp type line delay defines the number of seconds delay between the automatic sending of each line of warp text into the Conference Room window.
   
   Use the up and down arrow keys next to the Warp type line delay setting to increase or decrease the speed. If the Warp type line delay is set to "2" then there will be a two second delay between each line of text sent.
   
   VSPN recommends a delay of four or five seconds between line transmissions, depending on the length of each of your warp text lines. VIN recommends two or, at most, three seconds. The default is two seconds. You may change this setting whenever a line of text is not being transmitted (e.g., at an embedded stop warp command or during a poll). Confirm the Warp type line delay setting at the start of each session.
   
   If you are unsure if the line delay setting you've chosen is optimal for your line length and the difficulty of your material, it is always appropriate to seek feedback from moderators or even your entire class about whether the speed seems too fast, too slow, or just right.

3. Position your cursor at or near the beginning of the line of text that you want to send into the Conference Room window.

4. Press the START WARP button to send the text in the Warp Type: text area for display in the Conference Room window.

5. The text from the warp file will continue to be sent into the Conference Room window automatically until an embedded stop warp command ("~") is reached or the STOP WARP button is pressed. The START WARP button becomes a STOP WARP button while the warp is being transmitted into the Conference Room. The current line of warp text being sent or stopped on is displayed in red in the WARP TYPE window.
   
   The count of lines in the warp file and the current line number are displayed next to the Warp Type: label.

    

6. To continue sending new warp text into the Conference Room text window, press the START WARP button each time the warp is stopped.

It is generally recommended that an instructor set the cursor at the beginning of the warp file at the start of the session and then never move it manually. Unless you mistakenly use your mouse to move the cursor during the session, it will always remain in the correct place, that is, where it was positioned when the last line of text was transmitted to the Conference Room window.

The cursor should not require manual repositioning if the warp file is the script you intend to use "as is" for your session. Moving around in the warp file to change the order that the text is transmitted "on the fly" is recommended only for experienced instructors who are very familiar with their warps, since it is easy to position the cursor somewhere other than where you intended, such that text is sent to the Conference Room window in the wrong order, duplicated, or omitted altogether.

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Copy a Warp File

To make a copy of your warp file:

1. Left click on the warp file to open it.
   The file name should populate the Warp Title: field and the warp file contents should fill the Warp Type: text area.

2. If you plan to make a copy of the file in the current folder then you need to change the filename in the Warp Type: field to some unique name.

   Otherwise, navigate to the folder where you want the copy to reside.

3. Select the SAVE button.

4. Select YES when prompted "Do you want to create a new file instead of renaming the existing file?". A copy of the warp file will be created in the current Unity folder.

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Move a Warp File

To move a warp file from one folder to another:

1. Left click on the warp file to open it.
   The file name should populate the Warp Title: field and the warp file contents should fill the Warp Type: text area.

2. Navigate to the folder where you want the warp file to reside.

3. Select the SAVE button.

4. Select NO when prompted "Do you want to create a new file instead of renaming the existing file?". The warp file will be moved from the original Unity folder to the current Unity folder.

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Delete a Warp File

To delete a warp file:

1. Left click on the warp file to open it.
   The file name should populate the Warp Title: field and the warp file contents should fill the Warp Type: area.

2. Select the DELETE FILE button.
   The warp file will be removed from the Folders: field.

3. Select <Create New WarpType> from the Folders: field to clear the Warp Type: and Warp Type Title: fields.

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