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Release Notes: March 2022
Overview
The SparkLearn® 3.1 release brings enhanced access to information. It provides new ways to insert cards to improve learner information access and reinforcement. It also simplifies access to user information for achievements, courses, and content completion improving visibility and making updates easier.
For Content Managers and Owners
- Added the ability for flashcards, tips, and quizzes to be put into articles or courses to improve the discovery of these items and increase the variety of content seen by learners.
- Added reports for content and courses to display users who have completed, bookmarked, or received a recommendation for that item.
- Added achievements overview page for badges and certifications to improve the visibility of users and streamline the management.
Add Cards to Articles and Courses
Content Managers can now add flashcards, tips, and quizzes into articles or courses to improve discovery of these items and increase the variety of content seen by learners.
Cards within Articles
When creating or editing an article, Content Managers can add cards (flashcards, tips, and quizzes) in-line to the body of an article. A new Add Card to the body drop-down option adds a Card block to the article. Clicking the Add Card button will open a window allowing a Content Manager to find and select an existing card or create a new one from scratch. Filters for the title, content type, topic, and author assist in card identification and selection. An article can contain multiple card blocks with varying content. Keep article flow in mind when adding cards and remember that content blocks can be reordered.
As for reporting and recommendations, we have these covered. The xAPI statements reported for cards within articles are the same as existing cards. Reinforcement of in-line cards by the system reminds learners of key content after completing the article. Related cards can still be added to create references between articles and cards that are not visible to users to influence the recommendation engine.
For learners, in-line cards will be visible within the body of an article in the context that the author intended. Selecting a card opens a model allowing the user to see and interact with the entire card.
Cards within Courses
Content Managers can improve content variety by adding flashcards, tips, and quizzes to courses alongside learning objects and tests. When creating or editing a course, the Add Content page now includes these cards in the Choose Existing Content tab in addition to the Create options for flashcards, tips, and quizzes. After adding content to a course, the Content Manager can drag and drop content, as exists currently, to change the order of content in the course.
As a reminder for Content Managers, existing access rules apply for cards added to courses and, if the content is in a group, the user must be part of the group to see the content.
Flashcards and tips do not impact course completion or count toward the course length. Completion is determined based on the completed learning objects, tests, and quizzes within courses. Because of this, the system requires at least one learning object or test to be added to a course before the course can be saved.
New Reports to Manage Content
To improve content management, a new Report option has been added to learning objects and courses. A Report is a generated list of users who have interacted with a piece of content in certain ways. A Report is separated into three tabs, one for each of the following learner states:
- Completed – users in this list have completed the piece of content
- Bookmarked – users in this list have bookmarked the piece of content
- Recommend ˆ users in this list have been recommended this content
Use the Remove user from list action to remove the learner state or click the +Add user button to add new users to the learner state. The Add User button opens a new user list page that can be filtered or searched to add users individually or in bulk.
These updates will generate the expected xAPI statements and relevant achievements for learners.
Improved Management of Achievements
To support the management of achievements (badges and certificates), Content Managers have a new achievements overview page to improve the visibility of users and streamline the management of badge and certificate achievements.
The Achievements page can be accessed within the Analytics & User Data menu. The page displays a list of achievements currently available in the system and allows easy access to more information on each achievement. After selecting an achievement, Content Managers see a list of users who have earned the achievement and can search for individuals.
For each achievement, Content Managers can bulk award or revoke the achievement. Changes generate the expected xAPI statements and relevant push notifications are sent as if the learner had earned the achievement on their own.
Enhancements and Bug Fixes
Wep App
- Content managers can now add tips, flash cards, and quizzes to courses
- Content managers can now also embed tips, flash cards, and quizzes within articles
- A new "Achievements" report is available under the Analytics & User Data menu to manage badges and certificates across the system
- Content managers and now view completion reports (along with reports about bookmarks and generated recommendations) for each content item
- Content managers can now access the SparkLearn knowledge base directly within the backend
- Improves the layout for adding images to content and learning objects to courses
- When an achievement is revoked, the original "earned" xAPI statement is now voided
- Podcast episodes now inherit podcast artwork
- Deleting a user that was part of a group no longer causes a spurious warning to appear when editing content in that group
- Fixes a rare timezone-related issue with setting a reminder time in the mobile app
- Fixes the missing feature image on web links in the content manager interface
- Fixes an issue where the drop button when editing content/users/groups could sometimes be cut off
- Fixes an issue where after deleting a group, a user might be
- Fixes the default language shown for "completed" on Veracity reports
- Updates underlying frameworks and dependencies
Mobile App
- Fixed an issue causing items to be out of order on the dashboard
- Improved interface for course progress
- Improved search usability
- Fixed an issue that caused a delay in showing the completion checkmark in courses on the dashboard page
- Fixed an issue in which xAPI statements were not triggered when using the device browser
Known Issues
Web App
- Widen Video plugin rejects URLs unless the last component is at least 10 characters long
Mobile App
- App may crash when resumed from running in the background for a long time
- Only up to 50 bookmarks will show
- Large accessibility text sizes may cause overlapping text
iOS-specific
- A podcast cannot be replayed immediately after it finishes
- Workaround: exit and return to the podcast to restart playback
Android-specific
- When returning to the Group detail screen after viewing content, it frequently jumps to the top of the view
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.
For Tips & Tricks
Visit our Knowledge Base
For help with anything don't hesitate to reach out support@gowithsparklearn.com