News & Events: New Features for Summer 2010

New Features

Graphical “Dashboard” Display of Student Performance
A new home page – based on the current Announcements page – will use simple bar charts and other visual motivators to let students know their current status in the program, how much work they still need to complete, and what their upcoming assignments are and when they are due. An improved and detailed calendar, to which instructors can add entries, will be prominent on this page. Watch a tour of this feature

Batch Options for Creating Assignments
Newly created sample tests that are ready to be assigned can be copied in batch mode rather than one at a time. If desired, instructors can also specify a date range within which the assignments are made available to students. XL calculates and evenly spreads out the assignment due dates, which can be modified by instructors at any time. Watch a tour of this feature

Assign Multiple Prerequisites per Assignment
Instructors can assign more than one prerequisite per assignment, with or without a minimum score. For tests with multiple attempts, instructors can also specify the attempt number for which the prerequisite applies. Watch a tour of this feature

Manage Incompletes Improvements
When instructors submit zeros using Manage Incompletes, they will see any extension dates that have been given to students and be asked whether they want to submit zeros for those students. A “Select All Past Due” button will be added above the list of assignments that will select all students who have missed the deadline for any assignment and leave unchecked students whose assignment due dates have not yet passed. Watch a tour of this feature

Program Access Control
Instructors can define the type of program access section instructors have by default, such as read-only, manage student results, change individual student or class assignment settings, add announcement, create and edit own assignments, edit all assignments in the program. This ability to specify the level of access will benefit both Coordinator instructors as well as instructors of large, standard programs taught by section instructors. Watch a tour of this feature

Coming in August 2010

Exercise Builder for the Mac
The Custom Exercise Builder will be converted to be Flash-based like the Player, and thus will be compatible with the Mac and other browsers such as Firefox (PC) and Safari (Mac).