Release 104 Notes

This release sees enhanced readability of itslearning for screen readers. We have improved alternative text for images, solved some issues with ’empty’ buttons/references following best practice from the Web Accessibility Initiative (Accessible Rich Internet Applications). We have also introduced a better way for screen readers to follow ‘Page titles’ which means we now uniquely identify more of the pages when users move around their course. 

Responding to a survey is now mobile friendly

Surveys have been better adapted to mobile phones, making it easier to respond to a survey on a mobile device. Images are automatically scaled to fit the screen, navigation buttons are always shown at the bottom of the page, and, with matrix questions, the alternatives are now shown below each question, to ensure that all alternatives are visible to the respondent.

Elements with a deadline will be linked to the calendar

Students find it useful to see their tasks/to-do items in the calendar. For courses with calendar events, tasks, tests and surveys previously only appeared in the calendar when the deadline was set to “At a specific event”. They will now be connected when choosing “At a specific time”, if the calendar event starts at the same time as the due date.

Show weekends in calendar

Most students don’t have school on weekends or homework which is due on a Saturday or Sunday. “Show weekend” in calendar will now be turned off by default for all users. The weekend view can easily be turned back on.

New ePortfolio

We want to better support students taking ownership of their learning. We are enhancing ePortfolio to give them a more feature rich place to store and manage their best work and eventually to allow secure access to external parties (under organization/teacher control) so students can present their work to external certification bodies.

This release sees a major overhaul to ePortfolio file handling including from cloud services. It is also now easier to download from itslearning to allow the transfer of student work to other systems and better support lifelong learning. Students can easily present their ePortfolio to an audience as many files can be previewed directly in the browser.

Uploading files is now easier

Uploading files to a portfolio has been improved to include drag ‘n’ drop one or multiple files, add from your favorite cloud service, rename resources and preview it before saving.

When selecting a file from a cloud service, a copy of the file is added to the portfolio.

Easier transfer of content to ePortfolio

Transferring content from the working portfolio to the ePortfolio is now easier than ever, with several enhancements to make it more intuitive, fewer clicks and more flexibility. 

When transferring content from the working portfolio, in addition to selecting a course portfolio, students can now also choose one of their private portfolios. This gives students more flexibility when building their ePortfolio, such as having one portfolio to present work from several courses. 

Clicking on the “Transfer to portfolio” button will immediately show you the available portfolios. Adding a note with rich-text editor is now available, so that students can add reflections to their work.

Download all portfolios

Students can now download a copy of all their portfolios at once, straight from the Portfolios page. When exporting a portfolio, the file names of the attachments are now kept in the exported zip-file. This applies both to when exporting a single portfolio, or all the portfolios at once.

Even More

Optional assignment/test description

Following feedback from teachers, the description field is no longer mandatory when you create an assignment or a test (using the new test tool). You can still add a description if you want to.

Updated registration tool

The registration tool is now easier and more flexible to use. To free up seats, for instance, if a student is sick or has made a wrong choice and cannot edit his registration, teachers can now remove a registration on behalf of a student. The option is available for teachers disregarding the edit permission set on the registration. We have improved the feedback to teachers so they can make the changes more easily.

Bookable resources

Teachers can now easily book resources from outside their own organization (if allowed). When booking a resource, teachers can choose “Show more options” and “Book rooms and equipment”. Here, they can see which organization owns the resource. Administrators can manage which organization the resource belongs to.

Improving usability

The itslearning top bar and course menus have been tweaked so it is easier to see which ‘tab’ is currently open.