(15-03-2023) The new release update is scheduled for Friday, March 17th between 2-3 PM CET (9 - 10 AM EST) and contains the following:
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New releases

Improvement

In this release, we have added more functionality to our Team-Based Learning (TBL) tool. The tool has always supported the individual & team readiness assessment steps, but last month we added the pre-work step, and this month we added the Team Evaluation steps and group representative functionality.
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The setup and user experience of the team evaluation will be familiar to users of our Group Member Evaluation tool. You’ll now see the option to add a Group Member Evaluation module in your Team Based Learning activity at the bottom. You can configure and manage it from within the TBL activity.

Fig. 1: Adding the Group Member Evaluation step in Team Based Learning.

Fig. 2: The Evaluation steps in action.

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Along with the addition of the Team Evaluation step, we’ve added functionality to support the group representative role, an essential workflow in this team-based methodology. The representative is responsible for providing their group’s answer to the question in the tRAT. Before, the first student to join the tRAT would automatically be named group representative. This system sometimes generated disruptions in the student workflow, for example, when the designated group representative was not able to complete the assignment.

Fig. 3: Students can decide who is the group representative. This student can claim the role by pressing ‘Become representative’.

Fig. 4: Instructor can decide who is the group representative.

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Fig. 5: Once a student becomes the group representative, they are able to answer the tRAT questions on behalf of their group. The rest of the group will see the actions of the representative on their screens.

We added a new rich text editor when writing instructions and discussion prompts in the Discussion of Topic tool to enhance user experience. With rich text editing, you can emphasize or highlight your texts by using bold, italic, headings, bulleted lists, equations, and other options.
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Previously, we supported Markdown and LaTeX text formatting, which not all users are familiar with and some find complicated. Now, you can preview the text formatting before publishing, ensuring that the text looks as desired without needing to consult our Help Center guides or edit it multiple times.

All in all, writing richer, clearer, and more structured instructions and discussion prompts will be easier and faster, and make it easier for students to understand the content.

Fig. 6: Rich text editor as shown in all instruction steps.

Fig. 7: Rich text editor when posting a discussion prompt.

The profile picture sometimes caused some confusion for learners, for example when it wasn’t the instructor’s profile picture but an instructional designer’s. This new icon is now also shown in edit mode and for step-specific instructions.
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Fig. 8: The removal of the LMS image and showing of an icon in the instruction step.

It's now possible to switch the input devices for both audio and video recordings. This allows for switching between the front- and rear camera of multi-camera devices, or between a built-in microphone and a bluetooth microphone, for example. The improved recorder also allows for basic screen recording. Simply click 'Record Screen' and select which window, tab or screen you would like to record. The controls for the screen recorder are the same as the video recorder, so once you're done recording simply click the checkmark button to stop recording and upload it to the place you're adding items, such as the instructions step or a comment. Note however that the screen recorder doesn't capture audio.

Fig. 9: Changing camera and microphone input.

Fig. 10: Option to record your screen.