Release Notes V32 Ocaria Thales

RELEASE NOTES V32 – Ocaria Thales
Telephone:+044 8451 543211
Email: [email protected]
Release: v32 – Ocaria Thales
Spring 2016 Edition
Version 32 of the My Learning Suite was released on Thursday April 7th 2016 @ 15:00 GMT. This
document explains some of the additional updates and features which are now available in v32. During
the latest release, the development team at My Learning have focused on streamlining the interface
and creating a more responsive, fluid and enjoyable experience.
No action was required and your update happened automatically between 15:00 and 16:00 GMT.
During that time, the system was offline for approximately one hour.
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New major additions for v32
Interface Enhancements
Much work has been done behind the scenes in order to create a more dynamic and responsive edition
for v32. This work has been split into three important areas listed below.
New responsive design:
The team at My Learning have now merged the traditional desktop and tablet editions into one user
interface (UI). This means that you can use My Learning in exactly the same way on a desktop or tablet
device in any orientation or screen size. The screens will look and perform in the same manner.
Enhanced themes:
We have individually improved every theme on the platform with updated graphics, crisper and more
defined user interface controls and better use of highlighting and colour. We have also improved the
speed of rendering and reduced image clutter throughout many modules on the platform.
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Improved page speed:
My Learning have introduced a 2nd level caching engine to the platform which has further increased
the responsiveness of the application in both desktop and mobile editions. End-users will notice that
the browser interaction is faster to load and render. We have also reduced the amount and complexity
of coloured icons to further improve speed on slower devices.
Notice that the small icons are
faded until such time that you
hover or click them. This helps
users to focus on the items
which are more important.
Audio Memos
My Learning now has the ability to allow instant, on-demand sound recording on desktop, tablet and
mobile devices. This service can be used to create recordings directly within My Learning, and can also
be used to store voice annotations and comments directly within existing files.
Kindly note that this exciting new service will require that you allow permission for the web browser
to access your microphone. Unfortunately, this technology is not yet supported on any Apple devices,
as they have not adopted the WebRTC framework. We expect that in due course, updates to Apple
systems will support such features. If you wish to learn more about some of the fantastic features and
abilities which WebRTC will bring to devices please see Appendix 1 at the end of this document for an
insight into the plans we have for this.
How to create a simple recording:
STEP 1:
To create an instant audio recording click on
STEP 2:
the
(Create new) icon within the Quick
Links dashboard. Alternatively, you can click
on the “Tools” menu and select “Audio
Memo”. There you will find an icon to
(Create New). This will take you to the
sound recording web-app.
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Record
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Your recording will then be saved into “My Files”.
How to create a voice memo:
When you create a “Voice Memo”, you are pinning audio to an existing resource in My Learning. You
can ‘pin’ your memo to any content you wish. This content may reside in a Classroom or a Learning
Space, or even your personal My Files area. In the example below we will navigate to a Classroom and
find some students work, and pin an audio memo.
I navigate to my KS3 History
Class and can see some
pictures that have been
placed there.
I then click on the file that I wish to pin an Audio Memo to (this can be any file type) and I see a number
of icons on the grey bar.
When I click the microphone icon I am
presented with the same screen to record my
audio. See below for a quick overview of how
this works.
Record
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Now that the audio has been pinned to the file I can easily see this by refreshing my display.
Alternatively, I could close the file and re-open it to see the newly pinned audio:
When I refresh the display I now see my pinned audio memo listed. Any other audio memos that have
been pinned to this document will also be listed here.
I am now able to select from a list of pinned audio memos to access. If other users have also pinned
audio memos then these would also be available within the list.
Things to remember:
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You can add new audio memos to a file by selecting the “Add new memo” at any time.
Students require “Contribute” permissions to be able to leave memos.
Managers of the Classroom or Learning Space have full control of memos.
You can manage your audio memos from the “Tools” / “Audio Memos” menu.
PDF Embedding
You can now embed PDF files from the system directly into website pages and documents. Instead of
being shown as a PDF icon link, users will now see the actual PDF contents in line with other materials
once the document has been saved/updated. This is a brilliant method of sharing school resources and
documents.
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Grading Date Search
When searching for grades and feedback within the Grading Centre, users can now use the calendar
tool to find information easily using specific dates.
Additional Metrics
If your school is linked to an M.I.S (Management Information System), My Learning will now allow
students to add a new dashboard panel which will display attendance, behaviour and reports.
Timetables will now also show the name of the lesson.
Edit your dashboard with “Panel Manager” and
select the “My Data” dashboard panel.
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Example of a timetable showing lesson names.
Uploading an Image Whilst Editing
Previously, if you were editing a DOCX, MLD or Website in My Learning – and you wished to upload an
image directly within the editor, you would have to click to find your image and insert it. In this release,
if you upload a picture directly – we’ll automatically insert it into your editor.
Twelve New Content Library Providers
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Profile Editor
Our team has entirely re-written the profile editor for My Learning. The layout and arrangement of
buttons and functionality has been adjusted to reflect the manner in which Social Networking websites
also operate.
We have also added four additional moods, as below:
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Notification Manager
My Learning has now introduced the first phase of it’s “Notification Manager”. This feature is an
administrative module which enables the Administrator of each school to decide who can receive
different types of notifications and how often they receive them.
End-users (if allowed by the Notification Policy) are also allowed to further customise what type of
notifications they receive.
Phase two of this feature will add support for Push Notifications to personal mobile devices.
To access the new service, as an Administrator – click on the top left ‘shield’ icon to see the
management screen. Scroll down to “Policies” and select the “Notification policy”. You will see a
detailed screen of policy rules which you can edit in-place by clicking each option directly.
“Notifications” are events which are triggered by certain actions and behaviour within the platform.
Some events may be origininated by a Teacher, others may be originated by a Student. In either
respect, My Learning now allows the Administrator complete control of how these notices are
configured and delivered.
Firstly, let’s look at a sample area of the Notification Policy page to understand how this works:
Each type of notification has a colour and short-code representing its behaviour. Something in dark
green with “C” represents Courses. An item in lighter green “HM” represents Homework. The legend
on the same screen shows this in detail.
Across the top, there are 5 headers: Students, Parents, Teachers, Admin and Frequency.
You can click these header titles to effect changes for ALL rules if you wish, however, most
Administrators will prefer to select more individual settings.
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Let’s choose the top line as an example. This is a “Course” rule. Every time a new Quiz is created then
a FORCED notifcation is sent to a Student, a Parent and a Teacher. The item is HIDDEN for the Admin.
The frequency of these notices is daily, meaning every morning and afternoon – the platform will
transmit any existing notices.
Understanding the three notification options for each user type:
Hidden:
Forced :
Choice :
The item will not be available for the end user to customise
The notifications will be forced to that user type
The end-user will be able to choose their own options
*Remember these options can apply to different user types.
It is also worth noting that the Administrator can also determine the frequency of such notifications.
For example, looking at the screen sample below there may be situations whereby a daily notification
is not required, but a weekly summary would be more useful.
In the example above, the Administrator has chosen that if any internal websites have been modified
or updated, then this notice will be FORCED to all users on a weekly basis. Likewise, any abuse or bad
words notifications will be sent daily (AM or PM) to end users.
If the Administrator wished to allow a Parent to choose and customise their notifications for websites
being updated then they would change the “Internal website has been updated” to the screen below:
This means that Parents would be able to choose whether or not they wish to receive notifications.
The policy editor is also equipped with a “Reset to defaults” option which will re-configure a default
set of rules which fit most schools’ preferences.
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In an interim update to Version 32.1, My Learning will be adding a new delivery method entitled “Push
Notifications” which will be able to send notices to users of the My Learning App (Android and Apple).
HTML5 Video Player
Now that more browsers are truly HTML5 compatible, My Learning has switched (by default) to use
the engine of your device to play media and video. This has distinct advantage of being quicker and
more reliable than using other techniques to play content. Another advantage is that videos will now
fully support seeking and streaming on mobile devices. The player can also be activated in full-screen
mode.
My Learning will now utilise your
browser’s preferred media player, then
default to your operating system. If this
fails, our system will then revert to a Flash
method of playing your media. As a final
attempt, you will be given the option to
download the media and play offline.
Image Auto-Detect
My Learning can now detect the rotation/angle of an image that you upload from smartphones, and
will automatically rotate the image to align to the correct landscape or portrait format during upload.
This has previously been a particular problem with Apple iPads, as you can take a photo from any of 4
orientations without a known baseline to determine the correct up and down layout.
Grading Centre Updates
In the Grading Centre, if a piece of homework, or file submission that had been graded still exists within
the platform, then clicking on this resource will directly display it on the screen. This can be a very
useful means of Teachers re-capping work which Students had already completed, or allowing
managers and colleagues to see what had been created by the student.
Task-List Manager (v2)
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Task lists can now have multiple managers. Teachers in the group where the task is assigned
will become managers unless the task list has been assigned to ‘all’, or that individual Teacher.
You can now clone any task list, not just archived ones.
In the task list dashboard panel, the list size can now be controlled.
Retirement of Flash Based Plug-ins
It is with regret that My Learning have now rescinded any reliance on our Flash based audio and
video recording tools which allowed much flexibility in being able to record audio and video
resources directly into My Learning. With use of Flash-based technologies proving to be ever more
difficult to support we have now disabled these features across all servers.
We are now pioneering WebRTC and associated technologies with the advent of our first “Audio
Recording” service based on HTML5 web browsers, which should continue to adapt over time. My
Learning are also researching and developing associated video options.
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New minor updates for v32
1. Censor filter infringements and context information is now visible to Teachers as well as
Administrators.
2. DOCX Editor:
a. When viewing a .docx file, if you have editing rights for that file, you can edit it from
the pencil icon in the toolbar (top left).
3. Forms:
a. A user who has just completed a form can view their results (there is an option to
allow this when the form is created).
4. Reports:
a. Overview reports can switch between classes and learning spaces.
5. A keyword search has been added to the people directory.
6. Blogs:
a. On internal websites only, users can now read blog comments in a blog widget (read
only, not write) .
b. Blog posts now have the option to add an expiry date to them.
c. You can no longer insert the blog gadget into a blog post (potentially creating an
endless loop).
7. Grading:
a. When searching for grades and feedback in the grading centre users can search
between specific dates.
8. My Diary:
a. General overhaul of the look and layout of ‘My Diary’.
b. Any Teacher can approve any diary entry.
c. A ‘Finder’ tool has been included to find other diaries.
d. A diary can be exported as a pdf – ideal for e-portfolios.
e. Diary entries can be ‘unapproved’.
9. Admin Assistants can now edit the AdBoard panel contents for both the school (Students and
Parents) and Teachers.
10. Homework:
a. Homework flow for docx homework has been streamlined. The Student clicks a pencil
icon to edit the docx file then clicks ‘submit’ when done. They can also click to save a
draft to ‘My Files’.
b. A specific time can be selected for homework deadlines.
11. For schools with MIS data access set up:
a. Timetables now have lesson names included.
b. Students can now use a data dashboard panel that gives them one-click access to
attendance, timetable, behaviour and reports.
12. In the document editor, if a user uploads a file via the ‘upload’ button, and that file is an
image, it will now insert the image in the normal way.
13. Teachers can archive their discussions with Parents.
14. Password security update http://wiki.mylearningltd.com/wpcontent/uploads/2016/02/Changes-to-password-security.pdf
15. Task lists:
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a. Task lists can now have multiple managers (Teachers in the group that the task list is
assigned to will become managers, unless the task list has been assigned to “all” or the
Teacher creating the task list).
b. You can clone any task list, not just archived ones.
c. In the task list dashboard panel the list size can be limited.
16. Advanced options for groups:
a. The manage, create class or learning space, layout and badge buttons are now hidden
in an ‘Advanced options’ popup .
b. Also in the ‘Advanced options’ popup; groups can now be filtered by subject if
applicable. You can also select a group from a drop-down and go directly into the
group (if this is quicker than searching through groups).
17. Parents:
a. Parents can now add extra children more easily; once logged in they have an option in
the top right to “Add child”. There is also a button on the swap child page to add
children. When clicked the link takes them to a simple form where they must enter the
master username and password for the new child. If all credentials are correct, their
current information is copied and created as a parent against this new child, and they
are taken to the swap page.
b. There is a new option to disable parent comment posting to blog posts.
18. Login reporting:
a. Admin can now specify a duration for whole school logins, this is viewed by
teacher/student rather than individuals. Available durations are Year, Month, Week.
b. A group can be specified with custom duration; this shows individual students and
teachers. Admin is classed as a Teacher for the purposes of this report.
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Appendix 1
What is WebRTC?
WebRTC is a free, open project that provides browsers and mobile applications with Real-Time
Communications (RTC) capabilities via simple APIs. The WebRTC components have been optimized to
best serve this purpose.
As many of our veteran customers know, My Learning’s goal has always been to adopt upcoming
technologies in advance so that when the general user-base is requiring such features; we are able to
support them. In version 32 of My Learning we have taken an early step forward to release our Audio
Memo tool which allows any device to record sound directly into the platform. Since WebRTC is
gradually being adopted, you will notice that in future releases more and more features will be
possible. To learn more about WebRTC and to try out some new technologies follow this link.
What is the current adoption of WebRTC?
Because WebRTC is a rapidly developing technology, major technology vendors are gradually adopting
support for the technology. Below, is an approximate heat map of certain feature availabilities.
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When will Apple support WebRTC?
Unfortunately Apple is still progressing their support for WebRTC which means that many popular
devices such as iPhone and iPad (using Safari browsers) currently do not support the technology,
however, this is changing.
If you are a “Technology Pioneer”, and wish to try out WebRTC on your Apple device – you can visit
http://www.openwebrtc.org/bowser/ who provide a downloadable app for your device which can use
WebRTC.
For additional information on upcoming support for Apple and WebRTC there are many websites with
purported details, such as https://thenewdialtone.com/apple-webrtc/
Whilst many technology development studios, such as My Learning, wait in hope that Apple will bring
WebRTC support, kindly note that we have no control over the adoption of such technologies.
With the ongoing development of My Learning native apps, this will also ensure that there is seamless
interaction between any device and the My Learning Platform during the next few months.
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Interim updates towards v33
Additions and updates until mid-Summer 2016
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Departmental level features. Establish departments by linking classrooms and subjects.
Imprint custom designed “dashboards” to the entire school, classes or individuals.
Multi screen mode. Users will be able to add new dashboard screens (multi-dashboard).
My Learning Rubric Designer – will allow Teachers to mark and measure learning objectives.
Official launch of “ClusterPad”, our school -> school sharing service.
The next official version of My Learning
v33 entitled “Peria Lamis” (Peach Beauty) is due end of July 2016
The July release will be focusing on enterprise LMS and Higher Education features.
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Ability to make an entire Course Public (with only email login) – MOOC.
Document annotation service allowing overlay of audio and written comments.
Cross document conversion tools (for Enterprise edition).
Generate ePub, PDF and HTML directly from an MLD or DOCX file.
Additional features for mobile app (Push notifications, new modules released).
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