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      SparkLearn® 2.6 Release Notes

      Release Notes: July 2021

      Overview

      SparkLearn 2.6 release improves existing tools used by content managers; particularly push notifications and analytics. Continuous improvement and small enhancements aim to refine common workflows for the content manager. 

      For Content Managers and Owners

      • Correlate content with push notifications so learners are taken directly to a specific course or learning object.
      • Improved analytics with updated default dashboards for a deeper integration with Veracity. Your account manager can walk you through customizing the analytics shown on your dashboard.

      For Learners

      • Updates to the mobile application that will improve support for eLearning packages from a wide variety of publishers.  

      New Features

      Enhancement to Push Notifications 

      A new enhancement to push notifications will allow content to be tied to the push notification message. A push notification allows content managers to share information with users in a clickable pop-up message that appears on their mobile device. These messages can alert or remind a learner about various activities in SparkLearn.  When the user opens the notification, they will be taken directly to the content item. 

      How to Enable Push Notifications

      As a content manager, navigate to Push Notifications under the Communications menu. After choosing Send Notification by User or Send Notification by Group, check the desired recipients and select Send Push Notification. 

      To search for content you would like to push out to your teams, go to the Related Content section. Only one content item can be associated with a single notification.

      Complete the rest of the notification as usual and select Send Push Notification. As noticed in the ? help circle, the recipient will be taken directly to the content item selected when they open the notification. 

      Content managers have better visibility into the notifications recently sent to a user. When viewing a user’s profile, content managers now have a Notifications tab which will list the recently delivered or scheduled notifications for that user.

      To see more information about push notifications and how they can be triggered, check out this About Push Notifications knowledge base article. 

      Mobile Improvements for third-party content 

      The SparkLearn application is built to support content from your favorite eLearning Authoring tool. These integrations allow owners and content managers the benefit of mobile delivery and analytics while leveraging existing content. To improve the link with third-party providers and the accuracy of analytics within the system, the SparkLearn mobile application has been updated. This backend update improves how a learner engages with content and completes third-party content--without any noticeable change on the front end.   

      Improved Veracity Integration 

      As shared in the 2.5 release, new analytics reports were identified to support system admins who are using Veracity as their LRS. In order to support these analytics, a backend update to the SparkLearn application has improved the integration with Veracity. New tenant default dashboards were implemented and while default dashboards impact new tenants, we encourage you to reach out to your account manager if you are interested in further customizing your analytics dashboard. The listing of default Veracity analytics dashboards include:

      • Popular Learning Objects: shows up to ten learning objects (articles, links, eLearning packages, or documents) with the most learner interactions (i.e. completions, bookmarks, comments, etc.). 
      • Most Recommended Content: shows the top ten most recommended content items in the system. This highlights the most visible content in the system across your users.
      • Content Relevance: shows the top ten most relevant content items in the system. This helps show the content in the system that is most visible to learners.
      • Popular Times: shows what times of day users actively engage with SparkLearn across all users.

      Enhancements and Bug Fixes

      Web App

      • Now you can use Unsplash to add images to articles.
      • Learners can no longer change their own email address if their account had to be approved.
      • Tenants can now use custom domain names (contact your account rep to set this up).
      • Improved application behavior when a learner does not have access to a test within a course.
      • Links are now clickable in callouts.
      • Added "viewed" xAPI statement when a learner views a certificate.
      • Added details about user groups to xAPI statements.
      • Unpublished content can no longer be selected as a related item for push notifications.
      • The annotation menu no longer appears on an article until after the first annotation is made.
      • Updated color picker on theme page to stay on screen; making it easier to edit theme colors.
      • Updated support links.
      • Addressed an issue where learners could attempt to submit empty feedback on an article.
      • Articles containing online videos are no longer packaged.
      • Removed 'Logged In' xAPI statement when user access via access tokens.
      • Various UI/UX improvements.
      • Fixed an error that occurred when returning to search results after editing content.
      • Fixed an issue with Podcast artwork and eLearning package cards that did not display correctly.
      • Fixed an issue where offline articles with videos were queued for repackaging.
      • Fixed a server configuration issue related to custom domain names.
      • Fixed parsing issue when adding tags to content.
      • Fixed the issue of more users than selected being added/removed, when bulk adding/removing users to a group.
      • Fixed an error message that could occur during account cancellation for users who authored content.
      • Fixed access checking on achievements.
      • SLGO: Fixed an inconsistency in eLearning package IDs.
      • Various bug and performance improvements.

      Mobile App

      • Resolved a crash on launch.
      • Fixed onboarding images.
      • Significantly improved support for packaged eLearning content from a variety of publishers.
      • Refreshed visual appearance for onboarding and loading.
      • Added ability to delete downloaded documents.
      • Added a support option to the Settings screen.
      • Added a link to App Settings on some platforms.
      • Improved video playback within content.
      • Improved scrolling to next article when closing content.
      • Improved push notification appearance.
      • Fixed a rare issue with authentication when downloading content.
      • Resolved visual issues on the download management page.
      • Resolved an issue that could prevent completion icons from showing for some content.
      • Resolved a visual error when viewing topics.
      • Resolved a crash that could occur when viewing content.

      Known Issues / Limitations

      Web App

      • As a content manager, when bulk adding content to a course, changing pages in the content browser will lose the selection from the previous page.

      • Cannot change learning object image when editing it in-line, in a course.

      • Mobile App

      • New and Trending tabs only show content when the device is offline, if the learner had accessed those tabs while the device was online.
      • Large accessibility text sizes may cause overlapping text in some areas of the app. 
      • Bookmarks only show the 50 most recently bookmarked items.
      • Logging out of the mobile app does not trigger an xAPI statement.
      • Documents downloaded in previous versions of the app will not show in the download management page.
        • We have identified a fix that will be available in the next bugfix release.
      • Content left open while the application is in the background for an extended period of time (usually greater than thirty minutes), may not resume properly.
        • Workaround: Close and reopen the content (just the content, not the entire application)
      • Selecting a tag from a card does not dismiss the card.
      • Groups with no content may not show an empty message.

      iOS-specific

      • Users may be unable to replay a podcast episode immediately after it finishes.
        • Workaround: Exit the podcast episode and re-enter in order to restart playback.

      Android-specific

      • Files exceeding the local cache limit may be deleted and redownloaded frequently.
      • Users may be unable to open settings until next app launch.
        • Workaround: Terminate and relaunch the app
      • Open content that is not visible when the app is sent to the background may display a "Webpage Not Available" error when the app is returned to the foreground and the content is shown.

      Tips for Updating

      To ensure that your application is kept up to date, make sure your iOS & Android auto-updates are turned on. We have provided links below to assist you with turning on this feature. There is no need to update the CMS, as that is done automatically. If you have a customized SparkLearn® instance and need help with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Customer Support team.

      Apple iOS iPhone Help

      Android Phone Help

      For Tips & Tricks

      Visit our Knowledge Base 

       

      For help with anything don't hesitate to reach out support@gowithsparklearn.com