Release 33

Let Avallain Author take you to the top of your game with the new Contents page, a greater responsive performance of media and Design Packs, brand new LO and Global Options, YouTube video embedding, and more.

Star Feature

New Contents page

As part of the ongoing enhancements to further improve workflow efficiency when working with Avallain Author, the top menu now includes a new tab called Contents, which gives you access to an additional page listing all Learning Objects (LOs) across the projects the current user has access to. 

When first entering this new page, users will see a list of all the LOs they have been working on. For ease of use, filters and sorting can be used as well as keyword searches to find the desired content more quickly. Similarly, the list can be extended to all LOs accessible to the user.

Contents can be sorted by name, title, project, and the last time they were updated, and also filtered by project and assignee, or whether the LO was edited by the current user.

Additionally, clicking on the title of an LO from the list opens it for editing, and through the action menu of each entry, the LO can be previewed, assigned, and commented on. Also, the project containing the LO can be easily accessed by clicking on the name of the project in the list or through the action menu.

Activity Classes

New automatic score functionality using graphs with Input:Completion:MathsQuizzes (Activity Type Maths Quizzes)

Avallain Author Release 33 offers an even higher level of compatibility and integration with Wiris Quizzes and the Activity Class Input:Completion:MathsQuizzes (Activity Type Maths Quizzes), by upgrading its support to automatic score questions using graphs.

This new functionality provides extended possibilities for use cases such as curve sketching or answering geometry questions. 

Returning dropped tiles to the pool in Order:Sort:BoxDrop (Activity Type Box Drop)

It is now possible to return a dropped tile to the tile pool when using the Activity Class Order:Sort:BoxDrop (Acivity Type Box Drop). So if learners need to correct their answer, they can simply click on the placed tile.

Backend Enhancements

More information from tile tooltips in Projects page

The new release makes it even simpler to get information about each project to which you have access. Now, from the Projects page, in the tooltip that displays when hovering over the ⓘ icon in the top left corner of a tile, you can easily see a list of the roles you currently have in the respective project.

Further improvements to Content Profiles

Avallain Author Release 33 further extends the functionality of Content Profiles, launched in the previous release. 

Among the improvements implemented, assigned Content Profiles are now preserved when copying LOs. In addition, it is now the selected default content profile that will display when an LO is previewed, either in a new tab or on the Work Packages screen.

Warning notifications when publishing sets of LOs with multiple Design Packs

In order to further provide useful information during the authoring process, now when publishing a set of LOs with more than one Design Pack, the publishing dialogue will display a warning message alerting the user about this.

From this warning dialogue, users can open a sub-dialogue listing the LOs and their different Design Packs in order to decide whether to cancel and make adjustments, or publish the LOs as they are, or publish them all with the same DP.

LO import further improvements

The LO Import function has been improved in Avallain Author Release 33, making this feature even more robust and user-friendly. Amongst various enhancements, importing eBooks has been improved by replacing the links in External hotspots pointing to content not available in the target project with the first LO found in a project. This will ensure that imported eBooks can still be opened and edited after being imported.

In addition, in environments that do not allow uploading media (such as some stage environments), it is now possible to replace assets in an LO with assets already existing in the target project during the import of the LO, in order to further facilitate the reviewing and editing of the LO.

New column in the Users report

The Users report now has a new column, Status, allowing to sort the users into active and inactive users.

Extended information in the Users Overview

The users listing available to Admins now shows the role for Project Overseers in the Roles column.

LO Creation & Editing

New YouTube video embedding

With Avallain Author Release 33 it is now possible to embed videos from YouTube directly in LOs. To embed such videos, you only need to copy the embed code from the sharing dialogue on YouTube, and paste it into a rich text area in Author after switching to Source view.

Additionally, if you need to change the dimensions of the embedded video, you can simply edit the height and width attributes of the embed code.

Furtherly improved responsiveness in inserted media

Avallain Author Release 33 further improves the managing and support of responsive behaviour of media assets. When inserting media to an LO, it is now possible to leave the dimensions parameters (width and height) empty. The asset will then display at 100% of the available width in both standard and responsive Design Packs.

Media Library

Further improvements to the subtitles and transcript editor

As of this release, the preview of synchronised Subtitles and Transcripts has been improved. The editor now highlights the current timestamp and it is also possible to navigate using the timestamps.

Improved error tolerance when uploading assets

Avallain Author Release 33 has improved the handling of error during uploads to the Media Library. Previously, any error in the metadata prevented processing and use of the asset. Now, the processing will continue and the user will receive a report detailing the location and nature of the error. The asset will be useable in Learning Objects. 

Design Packs

Streamlined styling and enhanced support for localisation using the i18next framework

In an ongoing effort to further streamline how Design Packs can style content and to give them even greater flexibility, the following improvements have been implemented:

• Input:Creative:Free Writing 2 columns (Activity Type Free Writing 2 Col) has been enhanced with improved templates, allowing Design Packs to style the question options displayed in an activity as tabs. 
• Order:Match:Text Gap (Activity Type Gapfill Drag) and Order:Sort:Sorting (Activity Type Grouping) now have consistent templating for their drag elements, easing the styling made by Design Packs. 

In addition to these changes, Avallain Author Release 33 includes improvements in localisation, particularly plurals in the i18next framework, so that elements such as the text associated with timers are adjusted automatically between singular and plural (e.g., “1 minute” and “2 minutes”).

LO & Global Options

Score Calculation Global Option has been extended to Identify:Select:Checkbox (Activity Type Multiple Choice)

With Avallain Author Release 33 we further extend the scope of the Activity Type Option Score Calculation, and now it covers Identify:Select:Checkbox (Activity Type Multiple Choice). 

This option is extremely useful in combination with the Activity Type Option Checkbox Selections. For example, up until now, when Checkbox Selections was set to “All”, the user was able to select all answer options, but the score was calculated by subtracting the incorrect choices. Now, the scoring behaviour can be set independently using the option Score Calculations.

Note:

• For previously created LOs that are using the option Checkbox Selection set as “All”, the new option “Score Calculations” has been set to the value “Subtract incorrect” automatically (see screen 4 in the video below).
• If the option Checkbox Selection is set as “All”, and Score Calculation is not set to “Subtract Incorrect”, learners can select all available checkboxes and obtain a score of 100% (see screen 3 in the video below).

Guided validation using Check Answers Instant and “Automatic” option value

The new option value “Automatic” for the Global Option Check Answers Instant allows learners to obtain a guided validation of the activities they have completed. If enabled, correct answers will be automatically validated and kept, while wrong answers will be marked as incorrect and removed after a short interval. 

This option enables a fluent and engaging validation process for learners, while offering them the possibility to quickly learn whether their answers are correct or not. It also provides content creators with the possibility of, for example, using it for live demos or practice screens before real tests.

New Global Option: Media Playback Limit

Avallain Author Release 33 comes with a new Global Option called Media Playback Limit that allows you to limit the number of times a video or audio file can be played in an activity. Content creators can set a limit from one up to five times to play the file. After that number of plays has been reached by learners, the Play button will be disabled.

New LO Option: Close After Submit

As part of Avallain Author Release 33, we have integrated a new LO Option called Close After Submit. This option will close the current LO after the learner clicks the Submit button, preventing display of the dialogue listing achieved points or navigation to the End Result Screen.

This is particularly useful for situations where the intention is to present the learner with the next LO immediately after closing the current one.

Note: This LO Option only works in hosting environments.

Author Ebooks

New option value in Hotspot properties

Avallain Release 33 enables users to further edit the properties of an Author eBook Hotspot, so now they can set up linked Learning Objects to be opened in a new tab, with the option Default Target to Tab. This new value applies to the hotspot types External and Platform.