Lucid for Students

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Overview of Lucid Suite
• First Time Accessing Lucid Suite
• Submitting a Lucid Assignment 
• Collaborating with Lucid Suite - As a class
• Collaborating with Lucid Suite - As a small group
  • With template
  • Without a template
• Additional Documentation & Support

Overview of Lucid Suite

Lucid Suite, comprised of Lucidchart and Lucidspark, is a collaborative tool that has just been added to Canvas.

• Lucidspark documents mimic a whiteboard experience, where users can manipulate shapes, post post-it notes, draw, and add other objects to mark up an infinite whiteboard space.
• Lucidchart documents mimic a mind map experience, users can select a premade template or create one of their own to brainstorm or map out the next steps in a project. 

Depending on the activity, your instructor may ask you to collaborate as a class or a small group on one Lucid document or, to submit a Lucid document that you have completed independently.

First Time Accessing Lucid Suite

The first time you interact with a Lucid document via an assignment or page, you will be prompted to verify your age and then will be prompted to select either "Log In" or "Sign up". Please select "Sign up" to create your account. Follow additional prompts to connect to Lucid. This will sync your Canvas account to Lucid. For a step-by-step guide with pictures please see Canvas's Accessing Lucid Documentation.

Submitting a Lucid Assignment 

An instructor may ask for you to submit a Lucid board as part of a canvas assignment. 

1. When you click into the assignment, you will be brought to the Lucid editor and can begin to mark up the board however you would like.
2. When you are done marking up the board, you can select the "Submit Assignment" button located in the top right and close out of the screen.

Please Note: If you reopen that assignment, or edit the board after clicking Submit Assignment, your changes will not automatically be saved to the board you submitted and you will need to resubmit for the new changes to appear for the instructor.

Collaborating with Lucid Suite - As a class

An instructor may have a collaborative Lucidboard assignment embedded on a page in Canvas and may ask you to post to the board.

Please see Lucid's documentation for all the ways you can manipulate and add to a board.

Collaborating with Lucid Suite - As a small group

Students may be asked to collaborate in small groups with each group producing one Lucid document. 

Students can collaborate in real-time on the same Lucid document, similar to Google Docs. They can leave each other comments by right-clicking on a shape in the document, or by selecting a shape and going to the Insert menu. Lucid documents also have a built-in chat feature that can be accessed in the top right.

Your instructor may use Canvas Groups to give each group a small space in Canvas to collaborate. To learn more about Groups in Canvas, please see their Viewing Groups In Canvas article. 

With template

1. Your instructor will provide you with a link to a template that they would like your group to use. 
2. Once you are inside the template lucid document your instructor provided. Look for the Share button located in the top right of the board or go to the File menu to open up the Share dialog. 
3. Share the document via email addresses or get a shareable link to disperse to other group members (if needed). Be sure to click the drop-down menu located on the share menu to change permission levels: Edit & Share, Edit, Comment-only, View-only. We recommend Edit or Edit & Share so everyone can collaborate.
4. Once all members are in one document, create the document together.
5. Once the document is complete, one member should submit the assignment on behalf of the group.

Without a template

1. One of the group members creates the initial blank Lucid document inside Lucid. Navigate to Lucid by, either:
   1. Going to the Lucid website and logging in with the email they have listed in Canvas and their pennkey password. (If they forgot their password or the password does not work, they can click "Forgot password?" and a reset button will be emailed to the Canvas email that is on file.)
   2. Going to a Canvas Discussion or Assignment, anywhere there is a content editor, and clicking on the Lucid Logo L button.
2. Once inside Lucid, click Create a new document in the top left, name the document, and then share that document with the rest of your team. Here are some ways to share a Lucid Document with your group, make sure you give them "Edit" permissions:
   1. Click the Share button located in the top right of the board or go to the File menu to open up the Share dialog. 
   2. Share via email addresses or get a shareable link. 
   3. Click the drop-down menu located on the share menu to change permission levels: Edit & Share, Edit, Comment-only, View-only. We recommend Edit or Edit & Share so everyone can collaborate.
3. Once all members are in one document, create the document together.
4. Once the document is complete, the member who initially created the document should submit the assignment on behalf of the group by going to the assignment, selecting the Lucid L logo button from the rich content editor, and selecting the document that the team made to embed directly into the content editor.

Additional Documentation & Support

• Welcome to Lucidchart - An Overview
• Welcome to Lucidspark - An Overview
• Lucid Basics

Please reach out to your instructor and let them know you are having an issue with Lucid, then reach out to technical support at online-learning-help@sas.upenn.edu and we can assist!