<![CDATA[Public Blog]]>(c) itslearning 1999-2013https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/en-USWed, 22 May 2013 21:31:54 GMT<![CDATA[Software update February 2013]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=156 itslearning will be updated in February. Click the links below to see what's new:

]]>Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:00:00 GMT4X90X156<![CDATA[Software update October 2012]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=155 itslearning has been updated.

Click the links below to find out more about what’s new in the release:

]]>Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:27:14 GMT4X90X155<![CDATA[Software update June 2012]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=154itslearning has been updated. Click the articles below to find out what's new.

]]>Thu, 05 Jul 2012 10:47:19 GMT4X90X154<![CDATA[Software update April 2012]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=153itslearning will be updated in April 2012. Read what's new in the links below

]]>Thu, 26 Apr 2012 17:47:55 GMT4X90X153<![CDATA[Software update 9 February 2012]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=151 itslearning has been updated. Read all about it below:

]]>Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:53:56 GMT4X90X151<![CDATA[Software update 17 November 2011]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=150itslearning has been updated! More information below:

]]>Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:11:48 GMT4X90X150<![CDATA[Software update 21 June 2011]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=146itslearning has been updated! In order to give you information in your own language, we have decided close the product blog, and instead use the local homepages for information. From now on the information will be translated to French, Dutch, German, Norwegian and Swedish. Click the links below for more information about the June release:

Did you know that we publish interesting articles at a weekly basis about education and learning? Visit our international homepage at itslearning.eu, or visit the homepage in your country:

USA Great Britain Deutschland Netherlands France Norge Sverige Danmark

]]>Tue, 21 Jun 2011 16:45:04 GMT4X90X146<![CDATA[Software update 24 March 2011]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=140A new version of itslearning has been released. In this version we've made it easier to change skins for individual users or groups, improved the attendance, assessment and behaviour systems and made enhancement to the planner and more.

Time-saving improvements to the attendance, assessment and behaviour system

Do you use systems other than itslearning to manage attendance, assessment and behaviour? You can now use itslearning's built-in systems and save money on your software expenses. The last couple of releases we have focused on increasing the efficiency of our attendance, behaviour and assessment systems. Read more…

Planner and progress report

The planner is now easier to work with. In order to help teachers get started with the planner, we have now added a hideable tip box on the planner page with a link to the help system. Also, when working with the planner, all changes are now saved in the background. Read more…

Miscellaneous news and enhancements

Administrators can now select which skin will be used by different users at their site, so they can differentiate the look and feel between schools and different age groups. There's even a new skin called Animal Misfits.

Many users want to use itslearning on their mobile devices. Users logging on with a mobile device – such as an iPhone or Android phone – can now use the simple editor to when working in itslearning. (The rich-text editor does not support mobile devices.) This gives mobile users almost all the same functionality as computer users. Read more…

]]>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:49 GMT4X90X140<![CDATA[Attendance, behaviour and assessment]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=139Timetable for alternating weeks (A-B weeks)
Course teachers can now easily switch between week set-ups if they use alternating timetables in their courses. When the teacher defines the timetable for a course, they get the option to define one or more week templates. This will save the teacher time because they don't have to manually change the lesson set-up for each week.

Staff can view logs
It is now possible for staff to view logs for attendance, behaviour and final course assessments. The logs contain information about when the remark was last changed and what was changed. This is important for staff so that they can control and document changes.

Group filter on reports
Course teachers can now filter behaviour and attendance reports according to course groups.

Attendance

Correct attendance records for deleted courses and courses with attendance disabled
Attendance records are now correctly implemented in courses which have been deleted and courses with attendance disabled.

Ability to change submitted attendance
A new option that allows teachers to change submitted attendance is now available in the Workflow settings. This means they can correct mistakes and make alterations.

Teachers and mentors can delete remarks
Teachers and mentors now have the option to delete a comment from an attendance remark. To delete a comment, click the Delete icon.

Better information with tooltips
Tooltips are now included in the week report table in the attendance system. This gives users a quick explanation of the table contents.

Select multiple students when keeping day absence
To make attendance keeping easier, it is now possible to select more than one student when registering day absence.

Separate day remarks from hour remarks
Previously, when a learner, teacher or supervisor viewed a learner's course absence report, it was not possible to see which absences were a result of an hour absence or automatically generated as a result of a day absence. To improve this, we have added an icon next to the date on day absences, a tooltip on the icon and a help text beneath the attendance grid.

Supervisors can no longer complete multiple weeks
It is no longer possible for supervisors to complete multiple weeks in the attendance report. But why have we removed this feature? To keep the workflow flowing, it is necessary that supervisors follow-up on a weekly basis. Based on the workflow settings, parent, students and external systems will see the attendance when the week is completed. For example, if the mentor does this once a month, students and parents will only get a monthly update, instead of a weekly overview.

Better attendance report overview
We’ve shortened the list of hierarchies in the attendance report overview. The user can choose to see the full list of the hierarchies by clicking a link.

Breadcrumbs
The breadcrumbs, or navigation paths, now look the same throughout the attendance mentor and attendance course overviews.

"Send reminder" text enhancement
The texts in the Send reminder messages that were sent from the attendance system have been enhanced.

Behaviour

New behaviour content block
Behaviour remarks that are set as visible to parents and/or learners, are shown on the parent’s/learner’s dashboard. The content block is automatically added to the summary dashboard.

Easier to read behaviour reports
The readability of the behaviour report overview has been improved by giving the term assessment columns a different colour. It should now be easy to separate behaviour remarks from the term assessment A link to the online help is also added to this page.

Change behaviour assignments from the behaviour overview report
It is now possible for supervisors to change the behaviour grade directly from the behaviour overview report. This means that they don't have to go through the detailed report, for example, when assessing a number of learners at once.

More efficient behaviour assessment
Mentors can now assess a number of learners in the behaviour overview.

Decide who sees the behaviour remarks
Users have told us that they would like the behaviour remark visibility to be set to "Visible to learner" by default. We agree, but to make everyone happy we have created a configurable setting in Administration >> Terms.

Assessment

Connect final term assessments to terms
Course assessments for terms are now connected to the "Use terms in grade book" setting. Previously, the Course assessment was an option when adding/editing a term, even though "Use terms in grade book" was not enabled on Site.

Show or hide average or mean grades
It is now possible to choose whether to show or hide the average and count in personal grade book for teachers as well. The setting affects the grade book overview page, grade book personal page and the assignment report.

]]>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:46 GMT4X90X139<![CDATA[Planner and progress report]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=138Planner

Getting started with the planner made easy
In order to help teachers get started with the planner, we have now added a hideable tip box on the planner page with a link to the help system.

Planner saves automatically as you work
When working with the planner, all changes are now saved automatically as you work. For the user, this means that the browser will keep the position the user was working in, and not jump back to the top of the page when the user adds a new lesson or topic.

Inline lesson date editor
It is now possible to set the date for a lesson directly from the planner grid. In previous versions you had to go into each lesson to set the date.

Progress report

Progress report: Now with inactive tasks
Inactive tasks now appear in the progress report as short grey bars. They change status to Open (tall grey bar) when the teacher activates them. This gives students a clear impression of their overall status in the course, even if the teacher hasn't activated all the activities.

Progress report: Tests with multiple attempts
In a test with multiple attempts where the best attempt counts, the progress report always shows it as Completed after the first attempt. Previously, the status reverted to "In progress" when the student began a new attempt.

Progress report: Change the text in the progress report
The text "An activity is completed when it is submitted" was incorrect and is now removed. Tests may also require a specific score in order for it to be complete, and assignments are based on the submission status.

]]>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:41 GMT4X90X138<![CDATA[Miscellaneous changes]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=137Better support for itslearning when using mobile devices
Users logging on with a mobile device – such as an iPhone or Android phone – can now use the simple editor to when working in itslearning. (The rich-text editor does not support mobile devices.) This gives mobile users almost all the same functionality as computer users.

Assign different interfaces and skins to different users and groups
Administrators can now select which skin will be used by different users at their site, so they can differentiate the look and feel between schools and different age groups. In addition to the standard XP interface, the early learner interface and intermediate interface, we've also added a new interface called Animal Misfits. This new option is available in profiles and policies.

Better copy-and-move feature in courses
We have improved the drop-down list that appears when you are copying or moving elements in a course. Previously, all archived and active courses were listed, but now the drop-down list shows your favourite courses first, then then other courses and archived courses.

Also, when moving elements the current course or project is now set as the default target location.

Browser support
itslearning is tested in the most common browsers which, right now, are the latest versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari. Our aim is to support new versions of browsers within 6 months of the browser being released.

Terms: No Add button if there are no terms to add
The Add button is now disabled if no terms have been defined or if no more terms are available to add.

Terms: Asynchronous terms completion
Previously, terms completion was effective immediately after the user made a change. The completion of terms is now made asynchronously. This means that the Complete term button has been reintroduced, and is active from the last week of the term.

User feedback: Help us improve!
Do you want to help us improve our features? Users with suggestions for improving a feature can now send a message directly to the itslearning product management team from itslearning. A message will appear in the elements that we want your feedback on.

SCORM: More space when viewing SCORM content
If a teacher manually links to SCORM content, it is now possible to hide the header information by selecting SCORM as the Communication setting for the link.

Tests: Test timer no longer stops
When taking a test, itslearning now counts from when the test was started, and the timer no longer pauses if the student leaves the test.

Tests: Superfluous word removed
When adding or editing a test the word "or" appeared between the Save and Cancel buttons. "or" has now been removed.

Assignments: Better assignment report overview
To make it easier to see an overview of assignment reports, we’ve added paging to the assignment report page in courses.

Rich-text editor: Relative links solves issues with site shortnames
Links to elements in itslearning in the rich-text editor are now automatically made relative to avoid issues with site shortnames. For example, links like https://school.itslearning.com/weblink/weblink.aspx?weblinkid=12 are shortened to /weblink/weblink.aspx?weblinkid=12.

This addresses the issue where a user is logged out from itslearning when clicking a link.

Workflow: Workflow page now has add and save buttons
To prevent changes from being instant, Add and Save buttons have been added to the workflow page.

Integrations: Shibboleth - the SAML2 client now supports attribute encryption
The SAML2 client used by itslearning now to supports attribute encryption, enabling support for Shibboleth 2.

Integrations: View logs for an IMS ES integration
Administrators with permission to manage enterprise web services can now view the logs from an integration in order to investigate issues and faults, and see the changes from one import to another. It is also possible to select the integration for specific sites, and filter the logs from an integration.

Integrations: View details for an IMS ES log message
Administrators can now view the details of an IMS ES integration message.

itslearning trademark and logo has changed
itslearning has changed the spelling of the brand name from "it's learning" to "itslearning". All logos and trademarks have been adapted to the new spelling.

Corrections

We have corrected quite a few issues in this release, and here are the most important:

SCORM 2004 does not save completed status
Even if a score was 100% on a SCORM test, the status was still "Incomplete" when it should have been "Complete". This has now been addressed.

Landing Page setting don't work on school
Setting the landing page to "School" for a student did not work. The landing page was still the main dashboard. This has now been addressed.

Server error when moving hierarchies
Some of our users experienced server errors when trying to move hierarchies. This has now been addressed.

Incorrect sorting of plans on dashboards
In the planner drop-down list on the dashboard the lessons appeared in incorrect topics. This has now been addressed.

Start URLs didn't work when set by policies
If you set start URL in a policy it did not work. This has now been addressed.

eLogin and school dashboard
Students that logged in with eLogin did not land on the school dashboard. This has now been addressed.

Deleted parents and mentors
Deleted parents were still visible to mentors in the mentor overview. This has now been addressed.

Assignments and "Next" button
Some teachers experienced that the "Next" button did not work when using groups in assignments. This has now been addressed.

Calendar links on dashboards
Links added in calendar entries did not appear in dashboards. This has now been addressed.

Double top frame
If a course was clicked in the web parts the top frame appeared twice. This has now been addressed.

Problem with links in Early learner courses
Even if a number of different links were added to an early learner course, all links appeared the same. This has now been addressed.

]]>Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:24:34 GMT4X90X137<![CDATA[Software update 16 December 2010]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=135it's learning has been updated with a new version. The last update this year focuses on improving existing features – including the behaviour and attendance systems. We are also delighted to introduce brand new features, such as a new tool for administrators called "Workflow" that lets administrators decide when different users or roles see the attendance, behaviour and assessment information. We're also introducing new roles called headteacher and supervisor.

The minor updates include a new look and feel for content blocks, a fix that prevents the navigation tree from collapsing when new items are added, better information from it's learning to users and much more.

After the last release, the message system started to send messages to participants every time an assignment was edited. This error has now been fixed, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience the error caused.

Read more about the new features and changes in the entries below:

Finally, we want to wish all our customers and users a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. There will be more exciting updates in 2011.

]]>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:24:01 GMT4X90X135<![CDATA[Attendance, behaviour and assessment]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=134The main focus for this release has been on improving existing features, including the behaviour and attendance systems – as well as some minor changes to assessment.

Attendance

We assume learners are present, unless told otherwise

After the release of the new attendance systems, there's been some confusion about marking learners "present". To clear things up: Presence is kept automatically – teachers and mentors don't have to do anything to mark learners as present. An information message reminding you of this now appears in the <Keep attendance interface.

Group absence remarks save time

It is now possible for teachers and mentors to add an absence remark for a group of participants. To do this, check the participants you want to add remarks about, and then set the absence remark at the top of the column.

Register absence directly from the attendance content block

We've added a "Register absence" link to the attendance content block, so learners and their parents can now register absence without having to go through the ePortfolio. Learners can also register their own absence from Status and follow-up >> Attendance in a course. This feature can be used to notify a teacher about planned absence, or provide reasons for unplanned absence.

Headteachers: Search for users on the attendance page

It is now possible for a headteacher to search for users on the keep attendance page. If a user is a headteacher for more than one organisation, the organisation drop down menu is shown instead of the organisation name.

The option to display term attendance

If attendance is disabled in Administration >> Edit global settings, attendance data is no longer displayed in the term details.

Behaviour

Let learners and parents see behaviour assessment in the content block

If a teacher or mentor has made behaviour assessments available for parents and/or learners, the assessments now appear in a new behaviour content block.

Choose what remarks the parents can see

When teachers and mentors add behaviour remarks, they can decide whether the remark should be visible to the learner's parents.

Easier commenting for mentors

To make the interface more efficient, we've changed the mentor's view of the behaviour overview. Mentors can now set behaviour remarks directly in a learner's behaviour overview page without having to click Add remark.

Behaviour overview for parents

On the parent dashboard, parents can now see a content block that shows all the behaviour incidents and achievements that have been flagged as visible to parents.

Selecting assessment categories for behaviour remarks

When adding a remark to a learner, teachers can select whether to connect the remark to one of the behaviour assessments in the term.

Completion of behaviour assessments

Mentors and headteachers can now set behaviour assessments as "complete for a term" from their respective interfaces.

Giving administrators more power to assess behaviour grades

Administrators can now enable and disable behaviour assessment grades, and define the number of behaviour grades to use.

Behaviour scales now available worldwide

Localised behaviour assessment scales are now available in all countries.

Assessment

Terms replace periods in grade book

Periods were introduced to permit teachers to place different course elements in different time periods. These have now been replaced by terms. Terms can be connected to a course, allowing teachers to create time periods based on school or site structures. The terms enable consistent and higher data quality across courses and support export of different periodised data.

There are benefits for the teachers, too. They will no longer have to decide which periods they should use for the grade book, and they can use different final assessments for terms as well as periodisation based on terms.

We are aware that you can't categorise the grade book by topic anymore, but this will be addressed in a future update. Terms are managed by administrators from Administration >> Terms.

Giving teachers the power to control final assessments

Teachers can now set and submit final term assessments in the grade book and submit final assessments of a course term.

]]>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:23:51 GMT4X90X134<![CDATA[Better information to users]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=133New information channel

We can now give users better information about updates, new features, critical bugs, scheduled downtime and more through an information box on the dashboard and log in pages. The information box appears at the top of the screen, and you can remove the message after you've read it. And as some information is only relevant to certain people, we can select which profiles can see the information box (such as administrators only, or administrators and teachers).

Tips in a box

In order to provide users with important information, we've introduced a new tip box. Most often, it will highlight new features or provide important information about a feature – such as the clarification of how to use of the attendance system (below). Clicking the Hide link in the top right corner hides the information and it won't appear again.

Better first visit page with newsletter options

There is now a newsletter opt-in for users when they log in for the first time, enabling them to decide if they want to receive different newsletters about it's learning (including tips, tricks, user stories, etc.). Only staff users (teachers and administrators) will see this page when they log in.

Users are automatically asked to update this information on a regular basis.

Google Analytics gives us more knowledge

Google Analytics tracking has been added to it's learning. Google Analytics can track information about screen resolution, browsers and operating systems – information that helps us design a better product, based on how people actually use it. The tracking is anonymous, and no personal information is tracked or stored. Google Analytics tracking is enabled for all sites by default, but it can be turned off by request.

]]>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:23:48 GMT4X90X133<![CDATA[Workflow, headteachers and supervisors]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=132We are proud to introduce a system that enhances the workflow, as well as a new role for headteachers.

Workflow

It is now possible for administrators to decide when different people (roles) see the attendance, behaviour and assessment information in different phases. This new feature is called "Workflow" and makes the workflow of a site smoother.

We have also prepared a solution that allows administrators to decide when the information is made available for external systems. (Note: this setting will not be functional until the API is ready.)

Let's illustrate how it works with a practical example: If you want the attendance to be visible for learners and parents in the course registration phase, click the Attendance tab, and check the boxes in front of "Learner" and "Parent". If you don't want attendance to be visible for learners and parents until the group registration phase, leave the boxes unchecked in the course registration phase, and check them in the next phase instead. This means that parents and learners will not be able to see the attendance until the teacher submits it to the mentor.

Workflow features can be found under Administration >> Workflow.

Help icon Read more about workflow in the help!

Headteachers and supervisors

Introducing headteachers and supervisors

A "headteacher" (also known as school principal, headmaster or headmistress) is the most senior teacher and leader of a school. In it's learning, the headteacher role is responsible for monitoring the work of the mentors – such as attendance, behaviour and assessment overviews. Users who are assigned as headteachers will see a new Headteacher tab in the top menu. "Headteacher" is a dynamic term, and can be changed on site level to whatever name you want by clicking Administration >> Supervisors >> Settings.

"Supervisor" is a collective label for mentors and the new headteacher role. So, if a user is both a mentor and a headteacher, the Mentor and Headteacher tabs are replaced with a Supervisor tab, which contains the mentor and headteacher administration tools. Users who are only mentors or headteachers will get a mentor or headteacher tab respectively.

Administrators are allowed to manage both roles from the Supervisor page. Also note that the profile setting Manage mentors is now called Supervisor management.

Administrators can now assign headteachers

Administrators can now add headteachers to organisations from the supervisor page. When adding a user to the headteacher role, you get an organisation selector instead of the hierarchy selector. Only organisations that the user is a member of will show up.

]]>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:23:44 GMT4X90X132<![CDATA[Miscellaneous updates and corrections]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=131This entry describes miscellaneous minor updates and corrections. The updates may be small, but you'll find some interesting news, such as a tree menu fix and new look and feel for content blocks. And perhaps most important: The message system no longer sends out messages when assignments are edited. Read the details below.

Annoying tree menu collapse a thing of the past

We know that it was annoying that the course tree menu collapsed when new elements were added. This has now been changed, and the navigation tree stays open. This means users no longer have to manually navigate back to the folder from which the element was added.

Better privacy for course participants

To protect the privacy of course participants, reminders from the assignment tool are now sent as blind carbon copies (BCC). This prevents recipients from seeing the user names of other recipients.

Nicer look and feel for dashboards and content blocks

The dashboard and the content blocks now have a new look and feel. All content blocks now have a surrounding frame with shadow effect. Some content blocks also have a toolbar, as shown below.

Summary dashboard bypass for school administrators

It is now possible for teachers to manage the user summary dashboard. This enables school administrators to manage the user summary dashboard without involving a system administrator (the administrator's edits will only affect the hierarchy to which they are an administrator).

Users will only be able to manage the summary dashboards of the organisations to which they have administrative rights.

Give us feedback on the new progress report!

A beta label has been added to the bottom of the progress report 2.0 pages. Please let us know what you think about the functionality. We appreciate all comments – whether positive or negative.

We've moved the admin ILP settings

The individual learning plan settings have been separated from the mentor page, and can now be found in Administration >> Edit global settings >> Individual learning plans.

New last chance saloon for deleted terms

A new tab for terms has been created in the administration trash can. The tab contains deleted terms, and users can then decide whether to restore them or delete them permanently.

Version numbers are gone

As it's learning is a SaaS product and is continuously being enhanced, users will no longer see the version number for it's learning in browser and tab headings.

Corrections

We have made quite a few improvements and corrections since our last release. Here's a list of the most important.

Message when teacher changes status on an assignment
In our last update, we implemented a system for sending messages when changes were made to group assignments. As it turned out, messages were sent out to group participants every time teachers edited, commented or made changes to an assignment. This bug has now been fixed, and we sincerely apologise for any inconvenience the error caused.

Now, messages are only sent when teachers:

  • edit the comment text field
  • add or remove a comment file
  • change the assessment status
  • change the assessment

Messages are also sent when the assignment is a group assignment and when teachers:

  • add or remove a group member
  • edit the actual assignment answer
  • add or remove the answer files (not comment files)

Calendar activities on children's dashboards
Because of an error, parents could see all the calendar activities that their children had in it's learning. Personal calendar activities should not be visible for parents. This has now been addressed.

Plagiarism duplicate
When a student submitted the same document to the same assignment twice before the deadline had passed, the plagiarism status indicated 100% or Failed. This has now been addressed.

Change score in open questions
If teachers had assessed an open question but later discovered that the score was wrong, they could not go back and change the score. This has now been addressed.

Early learner interface and Single Sign-On
Sites with local Single Sign-On solutions could not use the early learner interface. This has now been addressed.

Match questions and Internet Explorer 8
When creating a test in Internet Explorer 8.0 with matching questions and mathematical formulas, the content was presented as HTML code when the test was reviewed. This has now been addressed.

Math equations, Greek characters and tests
Teachers experienced errors if using math equations or Greek characters in tests. This has now been addressed.

Mentors could not access attendance
If a mentor was a member of only one course, and this course had attendance marks and terms, the mentor could not access the attendance data after the course had been deleted. This has now been addressed.

Editing of HTML files failed
When editing a HTML file in My web files, the text editor did not appear. This has now been addressed.

Links containing special characters now work
Content block links with "æ", "ø", "å" or other special characters in the link or label caused the link to appear incorrectly. This has now been addressed.

Messages not sent to people with apostrophe in username
In the internal messaging system, recipients with apostrophes in their username did not receive messages. This has now been addressed.

Formatting lost in editor
When entering HTML code in the source view of the editor, some of the formatting was lost. This has now been addressed.

Assessment portfolio – no access
If a learner had the ePortfolio setting "Who can access your ePortfolio?" set to "Only me", it was not possible for teachers to access the learner's assessment portfolio. This has now been addressed by adding a new setting for course administrators.

Safari: Context menu in rich-text editor
The context menu in the rich-text editor sometimes appeared outside the screen in the Safari browser. This has now been addressed.

Content blocks, file names and file uploading
When adding rich content blocks and files with special symbols, the files could not be opened or downloaded. This has now been addressed.

Sorting by name on personal report page
Sorting by name didn't work correctly on the personal report page. This has now been addressed.

Search for course didn't return results for teachers and learners
If learners or teachers clicked the Search tab >> User search and then Find course, no courses appeared in the results. This has now been addressed.

Adding participants to courses
Adding participants to a course from another course in the same organisation did not work. This has now been addressed.

Editing bulletins without titles
If the title of a bulletin consisted of a space only, it could not be edited. This has now been addressed.

Can't import parents' relationship to kids
Previously, it was not possible to import parent relationships to the parent dashboard. This has now been addressed.

Assessment visible in content block
Assessment marks were visible for parents in the parent dashboard and for learners in the "Completed activities" content block on "My Dashboard" even if the teacher hadn't chosen to publish them. This has now been addressed.

]]>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:23:39 GMT4X90X131<![CDATA[Software update 26 August 2010]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=125it's learning has been updated with a new version. This time we hope to reduce some of the burden connected to the start of a new school year for teachers and administrators – with focus on reusing.

We are also proud to release a brand new attendance system for all customers, a new progress report and a number of new features and improvements to the dashboards. Click the links below to read more about the news!

]]>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:37:15 GMT4X90X125<![CDATA[We make the start of the school year easier!]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=124The beginning of a new school year can be stressful for administrators and teachers. We are now releasing some features meant to reduce the work burden connected to the start of a new school year.

Copying course elements

It is now possible to copy elements between courses without copying participants, answers and submissions. This simplifies the reusing of courses, and teachers no longer have to spend time cleaning up old reused courses. Uncheck the Include answers and submissions box to copy elements without participants, answers and submissions connected to them.

Importing and exporting links

This nifty little feature allows teachers to export and import course links as a bookmarks.html file, thus making it easy to reuse links in different courses, or import bookmarks and favourites from your browser – for example Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Script for end of school year

In order to reduce the end of school year process, a script has been made that stops all SIMS integrations on a site and start them again later. The script breaks all current hierarchy synchronisations and creates a new start hierarchy for the school's synchronisation with SIMS.

]]>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:37:08 GMT4X90X124<![CDATA[New attendance system]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=123The new attendance keeping system has been enhanced with more features and improvements. As a result, the old attendance system is removed and replaced with a brand new solution. The new attendance system has been in beta for a while, and was described in this entry. If you want to retrieve data from the old system, please contact our helpdesk.

The video shows how the attendance system can be used by teachers, mentors, learners and parents.

The new features for this release include:

Managing and registering planned absence for learners

Learners can now inform teachers about planned absence in advance. This is time-saving for teachers who no longer have to spend time searching for reasons for scheduled absence. The learner registers the absence by clicking ePortfolio >> Attendance >> Register absence:

Teachers see the notifications from the learners as comments in the attendance overview.

Feedback on attendance

The comment/feedback on attendance function is slightly changed. To make the interface more efficient, the old interface is replaced with a new interface with a comment column to the right of the attendance table:

Comment logs

All comments are shown as a log when you click the comments icon. It is possible to hide comments from the learners. Learners, mentors and teachers are notified about new comments through the internal messaging system and thus also on the main dashboard. The images below shows the comment feature from a learner's view.


Class length in course timetable

Course teachers and mentors can now edit the class hour length (in minutes) in the timetable setup. As a result, the attendance reports now include minutes in addition to hours.

Showing two absence rates

It is now possible to show two absence rates: Whole term and Completed class hours. The first shows the total absence for the term, while the latter shows the percentage and number of class hours that are actually completed and submitted.

Notification letters

From the attendance and behaviour systems it is possible to create letters with behaviour or attendance notifications that can be printed and sent to a learner's parents. The report is usually sent when a learner has shown unacceptable behaviour or has a high absence rate. The letters easily generated, and they are saved in it's learning as a reference for later.

Teachers and mentors are allowed to edit the template text when new letters are created. The addresses of the school and learner are automatically inserted into the letter – if address information is saved in it's learning.

The notification letters are available for course teachers in the attendance and behaviour reports in Status and follow-up, and for mentors from under the mentor tab. The letters are created in it's learning, saved, and then printed and sent to the parents who signs it and returns it to the school.

Help icon Read more about attendance in the help!
]]>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:37:02 GMT4X90X123<![CDATA[Dashboards and parent dashboard]]>https://itslearning.itslearning.com/public/blog/?PortfolioItemComment=True&PortfolioItemID=122Dashboards

Aggregated content blocks
A number of aggregated content blocks, allowing users to add content blocks to their personal dashboards, hierarchies, courses and parent dashboards are now available from the add content block pop-up.

Because of the increasing number of content blocks have changed the way the content blocks are organised. There are now two tabs in the add content block window: 'Create' and 'Aggregated'. 'Create' content blocks have content created by the person setting them up, such as files, images, links and rich content. Under the 'Aggregated' tab you find content blocks that are generated by the system or other user, including activities from the calendar, completed activities, e-mail, and internal messages. This allows for more flexible dashboards and information flow.

Tip: When you have logged in to it's learning, click My dashboard in the left frame. You can now set up your own dashboard and fill it with the content blocks you want.

Course progress content block
A learner's progress report can now be added as a content block to the course dashboard.

Parent dashboards

ILP and attendance content blocks
New individual learning plan and attendance content blocks are added to the parent dashboard. The ILP content block shows a progress overview of the child's current plans with link to the plans. The attendance content block provides parents with an overview of their child's attendance.

Content block administration
Different schools may have different practices of parent involvement. To allow schools to customise the parent dashboards, it is now possible for administrators to define the positioning of the content blocks for the parent dashboard. The feature is located under the Administration tab >> Edit global settings >> Manage user summary dashboard.

]]>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:36:51 GMT4X90X122