It’s the last day of 2021 and we decided to reflect on what we were able to achieve this year with the world emerging from the most difficult times in recent history. Amid the persistence of the pandemic, the education and training sector pushed ahead on the recovery and began shifting toward online learning.
At Teamie, we made an earnest endeavor to make the learning more accessible and effective through our platform. We researched and brainstormed ways to meet this ever–evolving need of remote learning and training space. In this journey, we pushed out several new features and enhancements. Let’s take a few minutes to recap the year in the form of the following highlights, set in chronological order:
Quiz Score Manual Override and Partial Marking
This feature allowed instructors to manually override the auto-grading done for individual quiz questions. All types of questions added in a Teamie quiz are auto-graded, except the open-ended questions.
We have added the options to mark an already auto-graded question as right or wrong. This will work effectively in cases where the learner(s) have answered a question in a way that was not added by the instructor, but should still be considered as correct. Click here to read more about how to manually override quiz questions’ grading and score.
Similarly, we have also introduced the provision of allowing partial marking for Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ) and Match the Following questions.
Shareable Certificates for Classroom Completion
The existing workflow allowed learners to download classroom/module completion certificates, if completion settings are enabled for the classrooms. The completion certificates are downloaded in the PDF format.
So, we added a new configuration to add two more settings – ‘Send to mail’ and ‘Copy certificate link’. This allows learners to easily share their verifiable certificates via email or on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. You can read more about shareable certificates here.
H5P Integration
In tune to our ever growing collection of integration, we have added one more feather in our ‘integration’ cap – the H5P integration. H5P is an open source community driven project that allows instructors to create, share and reuse interactive HTML5 content.
We integrated with H5P to allow instructors to author rich interactive content in the lesson pages, on Teamie. As an instructor, once you are editing a lesson page, you will have the option to embed H5P Interactive Content in the lesson page. Click here to know more about Teamie – H5P integration.
Learners’ Gradebook Enhancements
We have made some enhancements to the data that is shown in the learner gradebook to make the learner’s progress on the assessments more visually apparent. This view is also available for parents if the site configuration allows parents to view their children’s scores.
For all the assessments in which scores have been published to the learner, we now have a heatmap to indicate the learner’s performance.
The top of the gradebook will have the Assessment Summary under which the scores from learners’ latest graded assessments will be shown. The color of each corresponding cell will be according to the heatmap color as discussed above.
We have also included all the assessment completion status that is shown to the instructors in the Dashboard view (Completed, Not Successfully Completed, Completed Late, In progress, Incomplete, Not Started).
Hide Posts
As an instructor, you can now hide any post in your classrooms that you think should not be visible to the learners. You can choose to hide any post from the classroom or homepage newsfeed.
Administrators will have the option to hide all the posts of one or more classrooms in bulk from the Manage Classroom page.
Content Security Mode at Classroom Level
When content security mode is enabled at the site level, then all the download buttons are removed at the site level and users are not allowed to copy any textual content.
We have now enhanced this feature to allow content security mode to be enabled at the classroom level. As an administrator, once you enable the Content Security Mode from the Manage Optional Features page, click the Configure Settings link. Click here to know more about content security mode on our help center.
Survey on Teamie
A survey is a list of questions aimed to collect targeted data for the analysis of some specific aspect of a group or area. You can now conduct surveys on Teamie using the Survey feature which provides for the creation of feedback forms at a classroom/module/course level. Surveys are a type of material in addition to the lessons and assessments.
As an instructor, you can include three types of questions in a Survey – multiple-choice questions, single choice questions and scale questions. Surveys are a type of materials and can be added from the Materials page of any classroom/module.
Survey creation is inspired by the simple and intuitive interface of quiz creation on Teamie. You can easily add the required questions (multiple-choice questions, single choice questions and scale questions) in the survey.
Click here to know more about creating and managing surveys on Teamie.
Safe Exam Browser (SEB) Integration
One of the key challenges with online learning has been ensuring the sanctity of the assessment process and providing a secure environment in which serious assessments can be conducted and in a way mimic the in-person “exam hall” experience that comes with student verification and instructor invigilation.
Safe Exam Browser (SEB) is a web browser environment to carry out assessments online, safely. It controls access to resources like system functions, other websites and applications and prevents unauthorized resources being used during an exam. As an instructor, you can now enable the SEB setting in any assessments (assignments/quizzes), on Teamie, and the learners can then attempt the assessment only in the SEB.
Click here for a step-by-step guide on how the SEB integration works on Teamie.
Disable Notifications at a Classroom/Module Level
There are scenarios in which an instructor might be part of multiple classrooms/modules, but does not require to receive any notifications from some of the classrooms. Such scenarios would only warrant the instructor to receive notifications for some selected classrooms and not all.
We have now made an enhancement for site level notifications such that instructors can choose to disable notifications for one or more classrooms that they are part of. There will be a new tab – Classrooms on the Notification Preferences page for Instructors.
BigBlueButton Integration
We have integrated with BigBlueButton so that our users can have one more choice in web conferencing systems to conduct online meetings and discussions. With Teamie – BigBlueButton integration, you can create online video conferences/meetings in your Teamie classrooms. These conferences can then be joined by members of the classroom through Teamie. A calendar event will be created with the link to the conference for joining it.
Click here to know more about Teamie – BigBlueButton integration.
Unit Planner
We are pleased to announce that we have added a new feather in our features cap – Unit Planner! A unit planner can be a great tool for curriculum planning which essentially aims to organize various elements of a curriculum, such as the core objectives (e.g. a standard/competency to achieve), subject, unit definitions, activities, assessments, and lessons.
On Teamie, a unit planner is a common classroom where workspace members can create common assessments linked to standards that are then pushed to all the classrooms (of the same cohort, i.e, same grade, subject and academic session) which would provide evidence of learners’ understanding.
A unit planner can have the structure (desired results, evidence and learning plan) for learning through lessons with instructional activities and resources that can be delivered with assessments. Curriculum heads and staff can use the unit planners to enter and view the progress and results for learners across the cohort in a single view, tracked by standard, assessment & lessons.
The unit planner will have the Performance tab where you can track the performance of the learners on the basis of the 3 views – Assessment performance, Materials Progress and Mastery Performance.
Click here to know more about unit planners on Teamie.
Publish Classroom Materials in Bulk (at Section Level)
As an instructor, you can now choose to publish multiple materials (except offline tests) at once at the section level in your classroom/module. All the eligible materials, inside a section, will be published in all the classrooms they are shared with.
Lesson Page Enhancements
We have made some enhancements to lesson pages in order to improve the end-user experience while creating as well as consuming content via the lesson pages.
When an instructor adds content to a page, the items can be categorized by headings. Multiple headings can be added on a lesson page. We have now made the headings collapsible, giving users an overview of the content available without having to scroll that much. They can then choose to expand the required content to consume it accordingly.
Instructors can now provide hover text for any word/phrase for learners to easily understand its reference/meaning. This can help instructors add definitions of certain words to make them easier for learners to understand.
Teamie Mobile Apps Update
An integral part of Teamie is our value proposition to provide anytime, anywhere learning with the utmost user experience (UX). With Teamie’s iOS and Android apps, you have the tools to learn and teach from wherever you are. In this endeavor, we pushed out our app updates on regular intervals and some highlights from our this year’s app journey are as follows.
Apple Pencil Support
Apple Pencil users would already be familiar with its ability to perform finger-like precision tasks, such as writing and sketching. It is well known for its impressive drawings, art creation, note-taking, and similar tasks. We have now incorporated the aforementioned advantages to our Teamie iOS apps, we have taken the first step. Teamie iOS app (iPad only) now supports Apple Pencil (both generations) while adding a post. While creating a post, iPad users will now have the option of adding a Pencil Canvas attachment.
Another useful feature of using the Apple Pencil is the scribble feature. This feature allows you to scribble text using the Apple Pencil and that text will be automatically detected and entered in any text field on the app! Take note that this feature is only available for iPad running iOS 14 and above.
In addition to the image markup support in our Teamie mobile apps, we also introduced the ability to markup an image captured from camera or taken from the gallery on their iPads. So, when you attach an image while creating a post, you will see the pencil icon, tapping on which will open the Pencil Canvas screen.
Furthermore, we also support annotating the PDFs while creating posts from the Teamie iPad app. This will allow users to upload and markup a PDF document while creating a post on their iPads.
Native Learners’ Assignment Attempt View
Learners can access the attempt view from the Assignments ATTEMPTS screen, VIEW ATTEMPT link on the assignment card in the Materials section, or directly from a notification received on an attempt, such as feedback posted by an instructor.
The assignment attempt view will have the assignment and classroom name on the top. Then the middle section of the screen will have the content added for the attempt. The attempt view can have multiple tabs as per the following:
If there is a text submission, then the rich-text content will be in a tab titled TEXT SUBMISSION.
If there are attachments for the attempt, each one will be shown in a tab of its own.
As a learner, you can easily switch between your attempts.
Events Creation
Previously, event creation was only available via the web platform. The latest Teamie mobile apps now support this feature as well. Users can create events from the Calendar screen as well as the View Full Calendar screen.
Notifications Revamp
The bulletin board notifications on both our Android as well as iOS apps have undergone a major revamp.
All the notifications will now have an icon corresponding to the received notification along with the cover image for that content. Furthermore, a new notification indicator with a red dot will be shown for the new unread notifications.
You can now mark unread notifications as read without tapping and accessing the notification. Just swipe the unread notifications to mark them as read. Users also have the option to mark all your unread notifications as read, at once. The Notifications screen will categorize the notifications based on the following dates
In a bid to keep you apprised of the notifications, as per the different types of content, we have also added filters on the notifications screen.
Native Assignment Submission for Learners
We have also made the assignment submission workflow native for our Teamie iOS app as well. This will allow learners to start/resume attempts through the app itself, with all possible submission options presented intuitively to them.
Edit and Update Materials (Teamie Android App)
Currently, we believe that the applicable action that can be performed while viewing materials in a classroom is quite limited as compared to the web. So, to narrow this gap, we have worked to allow instructors to perform some more basic actions on landing pages of their classroom materials (Lessons, Assignment and Offline Tests).
Student Projects
Student Projects is a student-led assessment activity. The student defines what the project or assessment is, sets their own due date, and builds a rubric to define how they will assess the project. An All Student Projects sub-tab will be preset under the classroom Materials tab – similar to the Lessons and Assessments sub-tabs.
Survey
We introduced the Survey feature on our web platform, which essentially is a list of questions aimed to collect targeted data for the analysis of some specific aspect of a group or area. In our bid to make remote learning more on-the-go, we have also introduced this feature in both our Teamie mobile apps as well.
Native Learner Gradebook (Android)
The Teamie Android app now comes equipped with native learner gradebook. As a learner, when you open a classroom’s Gradebook, you will now be shown a native view designed specifically to improve your app usage experience.
The classroom gradebook will have two sub-view in the form of Gradebook (for the assessment scores) and Mastery View (for the standards based grading scores). The Gradebook view will show any completion rule(s) that are set for the classroom. If the Final Score optional feature is enabled, the final score and grade will also be shown at the top of the gradebook screen, when published.
Furthermore, the top of the gradebook will have the Assessment Summary under which the scores from learners’ latest graded assessments will be shown. The color of each corresponding cell will be according to the heatmap color as discussed above. Tapping over a cell will scroll down to locate that assessment in the gradebook list below.
We have improved how the About page is shown to the users. This includes allowing learners to quickly view and send the classroom instructor(s) a message from the About page.
Offline Test Records (Android)
Quite recently, we have made the learner view for offline test records native. Clicking the VIEW RECORD button will take the learner directly to the new native offline test record screen.
The record view will have a navigation bar with the Offline test title. The main content area will show all the attachment(s) added by the instructor as evidence. Each evidence, if any, will be shown in a sub-tab of its own. Furthermore, the published score and any attached rubric will also be shown to the learners.
In tune with the web, we have also extended the support to attach and view documents, video, and audio attachments in the assessment feedback comments. The attachments added via the web can be accessed from our Android app. This will soon be available on our iOS app as well.
So, these were some of the key features and enhancements that we pushed out this year with a goal to make learning more collaborative and awesome! We hope these additions helped our end users leverage Teamie to transform their learning and training experience in the toughest of times. But rest assured, we will continue to work upwards and onwards in the field of collaborative and remote learning. Do get in touch with your feedback on the platform; it would be highly appreciated!
On this note, let’s bid the year 2021 goodbye and look forward to a happy and prosperous New Year 2022! See you, take care, and stay collaborative 🙂