3 min read
2017/09/01
As the needs of learners and teachers change and evolve, so does the authoring tool used to meet these needs. With the rollout of Avallain Author version 4.5, we have once again listened closely to the wishes and suggestions of our customers, which were loud and clear: Even more options for gamification and digital mathematics, more streamlining and better scaling of production processes. Thus, version 4.5 is all about increasing options for content creators, while simultaneously offering a user experience that is better than ever.
New Activity Type: Catch
This new Activity Type allows our customers to create tasks in which learners have to catch moving objects on the screen. This can be used for tasks where learners have to identify and catch multiple correct answers to a question – or to add a spin to the traditional multiple-choice formula. One way or another, Catch gives content creators another tool to bring gamification elements into their learning materials, encouraging users to employ a self-directed approach to solve meaningful tasks in an effort to elicit intrinsic motivation in learners.
New Activity Type: Maths
Expanding the capabilities of Avallain Author further into the realm of mathematics, the new Activity Type Maths gives content creators the tools necessary to add more numeracy tasks to their Learning Objects. After number pyramids and number beams, version 4.5 adds equations and word problems, opening up the potential scope of learning content immensely.
Enhanced Bookmaker functionality
Version 4.5 also includes several enhancements to the Bookmaker, Avallain Author’s integrated editor for creating interactive digital books:
- Double-click anywhere to create fully customisable hotspots such as animations, videos or audios.
- Avoid accidentally deleting hotspots thanks to new confirmation dialog.
- Previews always open on the currently edited page.Preview and save buttons are always available as floating buttons.
- Warning when closing Bookmaker with unsaved changes.
These enhancements make all aspects of digital book production in the Bookmaker quicker and significantly more efficient.
Exporting video files in various formats
When exporting videos into offline files, content creators can now choose which file format they wish the file to be saved in. Avallain Author version 4.5 includes the most common video formats – MP4 and WEBM (and accordingly MP3 and OGG for audio files). Thus, videos can now be exported directly into their intended file formats, eliminating the time requirement, disc space usage and loss of video quality associated with re-encoding.
Additions to copy LO function
With the new version of the authoring tool, content creators can now easily copy and paste entire Learning Objects multiple times. This significantly speeds up production time, as LOs can be used as templates when creating and editing multiple similarly structured Learning Objects.
Continuous Enhancement
Together with a number of smaller new features such as the ability to output mathematical formulae as MathML files, circular hotspot areas and a convenient internet connection check function when creating LOs, the new features and enhancements of Avallain Author 4.5 mark the most advanced version of our authoring tool yet. But developing the software is a continuous process.
As Max Bondi, Product Manager for Avallain Author, puts it:
We are keen to see the various inventive ways our customers will use these latest features so we can use their input to further enhance future versions of the software. Like them, we are already looking forward to the rollout of the next version in 12 weeks.
