Scholar360 Version 4.0 Now Available
We've listened to your requests, as always, and bring you yet again another great version of Scholar360!
Find below a list of key new features in Version 4.0.
| Course Features |
| Lessons |
| Make anything part of a lesson! The lesson editor allows you to use any uploaded content (photos, videos, tests, discussion posts) as a lesson item. Sequenced Progress: Students are given their lessons in sequenced order and are allowed to check off items as they complete them. Alerts: The instructor is alerted on their home page to any student who has not completed a lesson by it's due date. Student's are alerted to any lessons they are overdue on. Progress Bars! Who doesn't love progress bars? Students and Faculty get a quick snapshot view of their progress via progress bars on the course home page. The faculty view offers the overview of all students' progress, and the student view displays each lesson individually with progress bars for each one. |
| Discussion |
| Threaded Commenting: Discussion Posts have been enhanced with threaded commenting, allowing inline replies to comments to keep comment placement relevant. Word & Character Counts: Commenting displays word & character counts as the user types. Reporting: Student participation is tracked and reported via the reporting tools. Instructors can quickly get a snapshot of a user's participation in posting comments, word counts per post, and character counts per post. Tag it for Search! Discussion posts now allow for tagging with keywords so that users may search for them from the discussion home page. |
| Dropbox |
| Individual Boxes: Faculty may now create individual dropboxes for each assignment and opt to add a prefix to any uploaded items for that box, so that downloads to their computer stay organized by filename prefix. Files in a dropbox may also be downloaded all at once as a zip file. Integration with Gradebook: Faculty may associate Dropboxes with a Gradebook entry. This allows for immediate grading inside the dropbox instead of having to toggle to the gradebook. Alerts: Instructors are alerted on their home page to any new dropbox submissions, as well as any that have not received a gradebook entry yet. This speeds up the instructor's workflow and prevents them from having to visit each course to see if any new material has been posted. |
| Surveys |
| Survey Tool: The new survey tool allows instructors to create non-graded surveys for their students to take. |
| Resources |
| Unified Resources! The new course resources page allows an instructor to very quickly choose folders from their repository that should display in a particular course. This greatly speeds up workflow by allowing the instructor to manage course materials from their repository instead of each course. Any updates made to the repository are automatically reflected in each course, and in each term they teach. |
| Reports |
| Course Logins: Instructors may pull reports on any/all students visist to a course and each of the course sections. A detailed view is also offered if the instructor would like to view the exact path and duraction of each page visit a student made. Student Participation: Instructors can pull reports on any/all students that displays the number of posts they've made weekly or per post. It also displays word and character counts for each post, or for given date ranges. Test Statistics: Completed test display student overview results on a bar graph, as well as a statistical breakdown per question of the percentage of students correctly answering each question. |
| User Features |
| Workflow |
| Let the Home Page guide you! The user home page has been enhanced with all the alerts that speed up your workflow. Instructors get a quick snapshot of new dropbox items, newly completed tests, students with overdue lessons, new discussion posts, a 7 day calendar, and students who are missing class. Students also have a 7 day calendar, alerts to items overdue, new discussion posts, new messages and new friends. |
| Mailbox |
| Mail Tracking: Items sent through the mailbox allow the sender view recipient's actions. Items that are unread and/or deleted display their status for the sender. Mail Folders: Stay more organized! Mail is now sortable with folders. Searching: The user mailbox now has a search box that finds related items by subject and body. |
| Repository |
| One set of files! The repository allows for a central location of all your files. Once your files are uploaded to the repository, they are made available in any course you teach. After including a repository folder in a course (or multiple courses), any changes made in the repository are reflected in each course and semester that it is included in. |
| References |
| Music Industry Educators has developed partnerships with colleges and universities throughout the world to deliver the highest quality online music industry instruction to students who are pursuing academic credentials in the fields of Audio Engineering, Music Production, Songwriting and Music Business. As a consortium of faculty in higher education, we have the highest expectations and industry standards. Scholar360 LMS has exceeded our expectations by simplifying what could be a complex system. With the new version’s additional reporting capabilities and seamless lesson creation features, Scholar360’s new platform continue to deliver on their commitment to stay ahead of the curve. The scholar360 team is truly amazing! |
