To ensure itslearning can be accessed by all, we have redesigned the entire menu system. This means that the main menu, course menu and user menu (opened by clicking your profile picture) has been completely redesigned and written using modern technology. The message system has also gotten a complete overhaul, and the notifications panel is modernised to match. In addition, we have started the huge task of reducing the use of iframes in our product.
Why are we making all these changes?
The absolute most important reason is our commitment to making teaching and learning accessible for all. Our navigation was not easy to use if you rely on a screen reader or can only use the keyboard, and sending a message was almost impossible if you could not see the screen.
With the new menus in place, navigation is a breeze, and you can easily get to where you need.
In addition, we have improved the contrast and given our menus a more modern look, removing the dark purple colour. The dark purple is also gone from the Course cards page, and will soon be changed in the Updates page too.
Teachers who are also parents would previously have their children's names in the main menu, not appropriate for sharing your screen in the classroom.
What are the benefits?
- Menus can be navigated by keyboard
- All menu items are read out properly by screen readers
- Better contrast - improved readability
- Fewer menu items - easier to get an overview
- Person or role related items are now located in the user menu so the main menu is more suitable for sharing the screen
- Better consistency between teacher and student view of the menu makes it easier to guide students
- Easier to get to Updates which collects key information from all your favourite courses
Main menu - what actually changes?
- The course 'drop-down' list is gone, and Courses will take you to the course cards page
- The Updates page has now gotten a prominent place in the main menu
- The Groups dropdown is changed into a full page
- Site links (links in the top menu added by the administrator) are collected in a simple dropdown list, and will all open in a new window
- Module application (3rd party, added by the administrator) are also collected in a simple dropdown list, and will all open in a new window
- All person and role-related items are moved to the user menu. This includes
- Admin
- Mentor
- Your children
- Your students
- + some more
In the screenshot below you can see how the new menu and updated course cards page will look for an average teacher.
Course menu - what actually changes?
- Trash can has moved into course settings, which can be found in the little action menu to the right.
- Status and follow-up is renamed to Reports
- 360° reports has been moved into Reports
- Module applications (3rd party, added by the administrator) are collected in a simple dropdown list, and will all open in a new window
- Course links / link collection has been moved into the action menu. Note that we are looking at discontinuing this feature entirely over time.
- 'View as' is renamed to Student view and simplified. The option is available in the action menu.
- For students, the Working portfolio and Assessment portfolio has been moved into Reports
- The green 'Add' button is removed. This was not used much, and everything you added ended up in the root folder. To add content or activities to the course, add through planner or directly in Resources.
In the screenshot below you can see how the new course menu will look for an average teacher.
Course cards - what actually changes?
There are less changes in this page for now, but we are still working on some adjustments. Most noticeably:
- Background colour is changed from dark purple to light grey
- Link to Updates is removed, as this can now easily be found in the main menu
- Link to All courses is added
- Link to Add course is added (if you are allowed)
Other changes
As part of all the changes we have also removed a few features that were used by very few customers:
- Parent cards - a pilot feature to allow parents to navigate their children's courses in a page resembling the course cards page
- Assessment record in course menu - an option we created for a specific market years ago that is now mostly not in use. This moved the assessment record from the Status and follow-up page to be part of the course menu. For those that used this, it is now moved back.