The update also includes criteria-based assessment – also known as rubrics – in addition to many other changes and new features. As usual, all sites will be upgraded within a week – so don’t worry if you can’t see the changes right away.

• Create courses from a template
• File uploading made easy
• Criteria-based learning objective assessment (rubrics)
• New tool for adding links and files
• Share files and links in the library
• Improvements to the planner
• Corrections

Create courses from a template

Do you have courses with content that is reused from one term to the next? When adding new courses, you can now use an existing course as a template and copy the content from the old course over to the new. In addition, administrators can create course templates filled with content that can be shared with the site or organisations within the site.

Read more about the course copying and templates in the help.

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File uploading made easy

We admit that the file uploading feature in itslearning has not kept up with the expectations for a modern web application. Now we are now happy to introduce a brand new file uploader that utilizes drag and drop to upload files (you can use a browse button too). Other features include thumbnail previews and a progress bar for monitoring upload progress.

Multiple file uploads are available from My files and Course files and the Assignment tool.

Note that the newest browsers on Windows and Apple OS X support drag and drop, but the drop zone will be unavailable for some non-supported browsers. Check if your browser supports drag and drop here: http://caniuse.com/#feat=dragndrop

See how it works:

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Criteria-based learning objective assessment (rubrics)

In this update we enable criteria-based assessment criteria for learning objectives. As well as offering a guideline to teachers during assessment, criteria-based assessment also helps clarifying for students what is expected from them and helps them use the teacher's feedback to improve.

Criteria-based assessment involves using scoring guides that are used to measure a student’s learning outcome. Enabling teachers to divide standardised learning objectives into smaller parts, the rubric, or scoring guide, is used to evaluate a student's learning based on a range of criteria – not just a single numerical score. If the assessment rubric is presented to the students before they start working on assignments, they are aware of the criteria on which their work will be assessed and can reflect as they go.

In itslearning, a teacher's own assessment criteria can be added to learning objectives that has been imported to, or created in, a course. This is possible from the learning objectives page or when editing an assignment with learning objectives connected to it.

Read how to use criteria-based assessment in the help.

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New tool for adding links and files

Before this update you could add links and files to courses from two separate tools called 'Add link' and 'Add file'. Now you can add files and links from a new tool called 'Add file or link'. The files and links created with this tool can also be shared in the library (see below).

Read more about files and links in the help.

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Share files and links in the library

In addition to pages it's now possible to share links and files in My library. This means that you can share these elements with yourself for easier reusing in your courses, or with your colleagues at your school or even with all itslearning users across the world.

To start sharing files and links, click the My library tab, click Add and then Add file or link. Click the Sharing link in the top right corner if you want to share what you add with other users.

We've also made more metadata fields that make it easier to search for elements in the library. You can now connect learning objectives to what you add, as well as specifying whether you are adding audio, video, images or text-based content.

When you add content from a course using Add content from 'My library' you can now select which format to search for, for example, if you want to search for images of Elvis Presley you simple tick the 'Image' box and search for 'Elvis Presley'.

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Improvements to the planner

The planner is getting increasingly popular and in this update we have several interesting updates. To provide a better overview and make it easier to find out what's happening in your courses, a new Planner tab in the calendar now shows an aggregated view in which you can browse the plans for all your courses.

The interface for adding resources has been improved too, with options to add resources from the library and create elements from an add menu similar to the course add menu.

In addition we've improved the presentation and management of dates and added a separator between lessons in the planner content block.

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Corrections

A number of issues have been corrected, and these are the most important:

• Events are now ordered by date and time when parents open their children's event content block on the parent's dashboard. This goes also for learners’ and teachers' views.
• The timestamp of not completed test attempts is no longer changed when students re-enter the test after the deadline has passed.
• Special characters, such as "", are now allowed in assignment answers comments. This ensures that the comments display properly in the Personal report.
• A line space issue for text with different styles and fonts in the planner has been addressed.
• Default term is now automatically set to the current term (based on dates).
• It's now possible to download 'avi' files from Internet Explorer 9.
• The assignment overview now contains correct when the table is filtered on 'Not submitted'.
• Several fixes and improvements have been made to improve manual test assessment.
• Sorting and listing of participants in tests has been addressed.
• The crossword extension now works on iPads.

Picture: itslearning CEO Arne Bergby

Better support for mobile devices

One of the current trends in education is the increasing use of mobile devices, including smartphones and iPads. While the use of these devices is still unproven in many educational settings, more and more teachers and students are looking for ways to utilise mobile devices in the classroom.

For itslearning, the next product development stage is to fully optimise the basic itslearning interface to ensure it works well on any mobile device. This will enable teachers, students and parents to use itslearning efficiently on any device, whether it’s a PC, mobile phone or tablet.

“This is essential today as mobile devices are becoming increasingly important to students and teachers alike,” says Arne.

New itslearning shareholder

The investment deal makes EQT Expansion Capital II itslearning’s largest shareholder. However, the original itslearning’s founders still remain in control of the company.

EQT Expansion Capital II provides capital for privately owned mid-market companies. The core investment focus of the Fund is businesses in need of capital for growth. The financing solutions have equity characteristics, while the owner normally maintains control over the company.

Find out more about EQT at www.eqt.se

Teacher Andreas Larsstuen Nordeide is one of them. Nordeide attended the 2013 itslearning User Conference in April to gather as many itslearning tips and tricks as possible to share with his colleagues at Tranevågen lower secondary school.

“One of the great things about itslearning is that it automatically gathers the information I need. Manual information gathering is time consuming. In general, this is one of the benefits of using ICT in the classroom,” says Andreas. “How much do I use itslearning? As much as I can. While at work, I always stay logged on to itslearning. The platform has a lot of great features. I realised very quickly that you can work a lot with itslearning and still learn new things.”

Andreas Larsstuen Nordeide is part of the new generation of itslearning users.

Half of conference participants new faces, says organiser

itslearning's ninth annual Norwegian User Conference – three days of exchanging fresh ideas, lively discussions, re-connecting with old friends and rigorous note-taking – attracted over 300 teachers, municipal IT advisors and school managers from around Norway.

Trond Skeie, managing director of itslearning Norway, says about half of the conference participants were attending for the first time. "There is a new generation of itslearning users coming down the pipe, which is a very positive development," Skeie says. "It's great to see that people are returning to the conference, but it's also good to see some new faces."

The 2013 itslearning User Conference was a sucess, says Trond Skeie, managing director of itslearning Norway

The new users are often young teachers like Nordeide. They work actively with itslearning in their teaching, and they are often teacher trainers who will pass on itslearning tips and tricks to their colleagues after the conference.

Speakers focus on innovation and ICT in education

The conference, which was held in Bergen on April 15–17, kicked off with engaging talks from leading thinkers in the fields of innovation and the use of ICT in schools.

Speaker Jef Staes challenged the audience with his 'red monkey' concept, which encourages teachers to think outside the box and follow their passions and talents to the benefit of their students. “People who are not using their passion and talents are put behind a fence, and when you have people behind a fence you get sheep,” Staes said.

Dutchman Jef Staes challenged the audience with his concept of 3D teaching, which results from teachers pursuing their talents and passions.

800 steps straight up

In addition to serving as a forum for exchanging ideas about itslearning and ICT in the classroom, the conference offered popular group activities, including Bergen city tours and hiking the city's infamous Stoltzekleiven. About 30 participants braved the cold, wet weather to tackle the grueling 800-step mountain trail. Entertainer Bjarte Hjelmeland had the audience rolling in their seats during an evening performance on day two of the conference.

 Competitors tackling Bergen's infamous Stoltzekleiven mountain trail.

When not climbing mountains or enjoying great food offered by host hotel Scandic, participants could choose between attending over 30 sessions with topics ranging from assessment for learning to succeeding with online learning.

Idea-sharing seminar attracts many participants

TeachMeet, a new session this year where teachers shared their own itslearning tips and tricks, was one of the most popular sessions. Skeie says he hopes to expand this concept at next year's conference."People thought that was a nice idea. It also gave us an opportunity to tap into the knowledge of the participants," he said.

The final day of the conference featured a talk from itslearning Director of Product and Marketing John Arthur Berg, who discussed the road ahead for itslearning.

“At itslearning, we are technology optimists. We believe that the things we do move education in the right direction. At the same time, technology is not what is important. The people and processes are what's important,” Berg said.

itslearning Director of Product and Marketing John Arthur Berg discussing the road ahead for itslearning.

Berg also talked about upcoming itslearning updates, including plans to remove frames from the user interface and to continue the focus on making the platform work on all devices using, among other things, HTML 5, instead of designing an itslearning app.

itslearning staff gets high marks

Skeie says he has only received positive feedback from conference participants, 75% of whom answered a post-conference survey saying they plan to return next year, with 25% answering undecided.

"In general, there was no doubt the conference was a success," Skeie says. "Credit is also due to the itslearning team. Conference attendees felt that the itslearning employees were friendly and helpful.

"I am proud of what my staff has achieved. I think everyone saw the importance of doing his or her best. If we didn't know the answer, we would do our best to get the answer. The participants really appreciated that. itslearning staff really took responsibility, and that is fantastic," Skeie says.

Next year 10th anniversary of conference

Next year's conference is already booked at Scandic Bergen City, where the conference has been held the past five years. Both itslearning and participants are happy with the host hotel, says Skeie, who said he hopes to maintain the good partnership. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of the itslearning user conference, and plans are in the works to celebrate the occasion, though Skeie said no details will be revealed until the conference gets under way.

Today, students at Manor Primary School in the UK run the school blog, where they discuss in-class activities, topics they are covering at school and upcoming school events. The students write posts in the school’s ICT Suite at lunchtime or at home after school – and many also have their own blogs about their hobbies and interests.

The students are so excited about their blogging project that they agreed to let us create an e-publication about it. The e-publication includes videos of the children talking about their experiences with blogging, as well as information on why teacher Sue Parker started the project and how she feels it has improved student learning.

Download the e-publication
Download the PDF version (if you don’t have a tablet)

Blog comes from desire to teach e-safety

Sue got the idea for the blog when she was looking for new ways of teaching e-safety. Despite having no experience with blogging, she tried the itslearning blog tool and discovered it was really easy to use. “I just played around and thought, if I can do this the kids can do it,” says Sue.

Sue taught her students blogging basics, such as how to set up their own blog, embed videos and write blog posts – and then challenged each student to create the most interesting blog post they could.

She has since found the project an extremely effective way of teaching e-safety and netiquette, and has found it helps them develop the skills they need to interact safely and responsibly on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks to everyone involved

The blogging project at Manor Primary School has been a great success. Much of this is thanks to Sue Parker and the rest of the teaching team. But a special thanks has to go to the students who embraced the idea and gave their time.

Check out the Manor Primary School blog

Do it yourself

You can see exactly how Sue set up the blog in this recipe. Check it out and set up your own school blog using itslearning.

How can teachers put visible learning into practice? You can find out at the VisibleLearningPlus conference in Brisbane in July this year where a host of educational experts, including John Hattie, and James Nottingham will be talking - and I will be giving a workshop.

The VisibleLearningPlus conference is designed to enable teachers and school leaders to deepend their understanding of how to assess the impact they have on student achievement and learning. The conference includes a number of presentations, as well as workshops linked to visible learning.

A concept developed by Jophn Hattie, visible learning refers to teachers who evaluate what they are doing from the eyes of their students, and adjust their teaching to allow all students to succeed.

The blended classroom
I’ll be giving a workshop at the conference on what happens when teachers plan activities for a blended classroom (combining a virtual classroom and the physical classroom) so that the best properties of both teaching spheres are utilised.

I’ll show the work of number of teachers who work in this way - including teachers I’ve come across in my research for itslearning.

Book yourself a trip to Oz
Sign up for an interesting conference in Brisbane, participate in my workshop and join the conversation about the opportunities in the blended classroom.

Read more about the conference Evidence, impact and action and the workshop I am conducting at: http://visiblelearningplus.com/conference-workshops?page=5

Crossword puzzle

The itslearning crossword builder is designed to reduce the time needed to create a crossword to an absolute minimum. The teacher simply fills in a form with words and clues after which the app generates a crossword in a split second.

And why don't you let your student's create their own crosswords? This can double the value of the tool as the students are required to think twice: first when coming up with a keyword and again when providing an explanation for it.

Hangman

Hangman is based on the traditional pen and pencil game in which one player thinks of a word, phrase or sentence and the other tries to guess it by suggesting letters. For each suggested word that does not occur in the word, the other player draws one element of the hanged man stick figure as a tally mark. When the stickman is complete, the guesser loses.

In the itslearning app, if the suggested letter does not occur in the word, a monkey will lose one of his 11 bananas or an elephant will lose one of his 11 body parts. The game is over when the guessing participant guesses the whole word correctly or the monkey has lost all his bananas or the elephant has disappeared.

See how the games work:

Result of internal developer festival

The ideas for the above described apps were born at an internal ‘developer festival’ last year in which all our developers were given free reins for a couple of days and were allowed to make whatever they wanted. Usually the developers receive specifications from a group of designers who create new functionality and features and the developers make the features according to this design.

Many saw the developer festival as an opportunity to finally realise their own ideas. At the last day the developers presented their work and the two best entries made it into the itslearning platform and are now available for millions of users. But the hangman and crossword apps – now available for millions of users – are solely the work of the developers. Perhaps you should give your students free reins some times as well? Perhaps letting them make their own crosswords is a good start?

Read more about how the itslearning developers and testers work.

Where do I find the apps?

It’s really easy, you just need to go to the App Library, add the apps to your course and start creating games. Read how to add crossword and hangman games in the help.

Assessment for learning is widely recognised as an important way that teachers can help improve student performance and motivation. But for many teachers, practising assessment for learning with large classes can be difficult.

Assessment for learning in 60 minutes

In this bite-sized webinar, Alastair explores the theory behind assessment for learning, concentrating on five assessment for learning principles that have become proven practice. He then gives practical examples of how you can give feedback to your students that improves performance, and shows examples of assessment for learning in teaching practice that extends beyond the classroom.

You can watch the assessment for learning webinar for free.

Webinar on itslearning

Alastair has also recorded a 45-minute whistle-stop tour of itslearning for anyone who wants to see our learning platform in practice. It’s worth checking it out if you want to see what you can do with itslearning.

You can watch the itslearning webinar here.

At the Department of Radiography at the University College of Northern Denmark, every course is based on the principle of 50% physical presence and 50% virtual teaching. This is partly because of the large distances many students have to travel in order to reach the University and partly because the department sees a blended approach to teaching as the most effective.

A single online resource with all the information students need

As the Ethics lecturer at the department, Merethe uses itslearning pages to give her students a comprehensive overview of all the materials in ethics teaching. “We’re now using pages more and more in our department,” she explains. “Pages are so useful that we no longer ask students to look at the tree menu to find learning materials or assignments. Instead we add them to the relevant resource page. This way, students have all the resources, assignments and tests they need for each subject or module in one place. It makes it much easier for them to find and use.”

Pages are essentially like individual webpages that can include video (such as streamed lectures or videos from YouTube and other webpages), PDFs, images and links – enabling teachers to give students a wide range of materials on a single subject on a single page in itslearning.

As well as background material and learning resources, Merethe’s pages include links to tests, assignments and online discussions to activate students and get them to use what they have learned.

If you want to try using pages in your teaching, check out Merethe’s pages recipe.

Developing an understanding of ethics

Ethics teaching is all about reflective reasoning. The key is for students to understand different ethics theories and then learn how to apply them to their own practice. For Merethe, this means building up understanding over the course – starting with simple dilemmas before moving onto more complex issues – but always exploring the reasoning behind decisions.

“A page in itslearning may include a video lecture of me explaining the theory, as well as PDFs, external videos and links to other learning materials on ethics theory. It will often also include a link to a multiple-choice test where students have to decide what to do in different situations. Students complete this test after they have read the theory. The key is not to give a right answer as such, it’s to reflect on why you chose the answer you did.”

To get this reflection going before class, Merethe invites her students to share their reasoning in an online discussion forum, which she links to directly on the page alongside the test. This way, Merethe can get a good overview of how her students approached each dilemma before they come to class, and her students enter the classroom already armed with the background knowledge they need to have a fruitful discussion.

“The students like the online discussion forums, but they still prefer the classroom discussions,” she says. “Online work is a good preparation, but not a replacement for, face-to-face teaching.”

Video lectures: the students’ favourite

When I asked Merethe what aspect of her online teaching her students prefer, she answers without hesitation. “They like the videos of the lectures I give. They can watch the videos in their own time at home, and press stop and rewind when they want to. Students really appreciate this, as it’s often important to understand a point and reflect on it before moving on.”

Lucy is Learning Coordinator and Head of Photography at the Guernsey Grammar & Sixth Form Centre and I spoke to her to find out more about her idea, and what she’s planning on doing with the prize.

Helping students broaden their horizons

When Lucy began with what she calls Genre Blocks back in April 2012, she was trying to address two problems. Firstly, her school’s location, on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel, makes it difficult for her to arrange visits to exhibitions on the mainland for her A-level photography students. (As she put it, “There’s always a plane or boat involved and that makes it costly and time-consuming.”) She also wanted to arm these students with the skills they need to better evaluate the information they find on the internet.

“I wanted to find a way to broaden my students’ exposure to art and photography without leaving the island,” says Lucy. “At the same time, I knew that my students primarily used Google as a research tool and I wanted to teach them the skills they need to properly evaluate the information they find.”

The introduction of the Genre Block

Like many smart ideas, her solution was extremely simple. On her A-Level Photography course page in itslearning, she set up “Genre Blocks” (basically, an empty folder for each photography genre studied on the course). She then asked her students to add any examples or resources they found to the relevant folder, with some sort of description for other students.

“The students have rights to add, edit or remove anything from the folders. Some have created pages with masses of information, others added notes with embedded videos, there are even notes with the IRB numbers of books they found in the library,” she explains.  “The key is to put the resource up there and then let the other students decide whether it’s a good resource to use.”

But the Genre Blocks are not just about resources. The students also post their own work for their peers to review, or post and comment on work of professional photographers.

Encouraging independent learning and analysis

To enable a discussion about the resources, many students attach a discussion block underneath a resource. Other students can then give comments, discussing the resource’s relevance and quality. “This is essential, because these are A-level students who are learning to appreciate and learn things independently. It shouldn’t just be about me telling them this is a great photo,” says Lucy.

Essentially, the Genre Blocks function as a Wiki-style resource created by the students at the college, covering the information they need on the A-Level photography course. This makes it extremely useful for new students, who now have a great place to start when beginning their work on a new genre.

“The students have really reacted well to the Genre Blocks,” Lucy says. “They enjoy using them. It saves them a lot of time when they want to start some work, and they enjoy finding, sharing, recommending and posting stuff.”

If you want to try something similar, check out Lucy's Genre Block recipe.

A green screen and creative suite

As winner of our Best use of itslearning awards 2012, Lucy will receive a MacBook, webcam, microphone and video editing kit. I asked her if she had any plans for the prize.

“We’re going to convert one small office in our department into a blended learning room, with a green screen, where we can make teaching videos,” she says. “The students will use the ‘studio’ multimedia versions of the sketchbooks they have to hand in at the end of the year.”

Deputy head, Christa Ehrig, in a media-supported lesson In a teacher training seminar in Lower Saxony for primary and secondary schools in Aurich, future teachers take targeted measures to expand their media skills. "The goal of the IKT concept is to help promote media skills among our teachers during teaching practice" explains Christa Ehrig, Deputy head of the seminar. "The situation at many of our schools is still less than satisfactory, as it is by no means guaranteed that teachers are familiar with how to use digital technology and many teachers are plagued with uncertainties" These uncertainties relate to both use in practice, as well as the legal situation.

Essential for the professional environment

The regional concept "Media skills in Lower Saxony - milestones to the goal", published by the regional government in Lower Saxony in a revised version in February 2012, explicitly calls for teachers to be trained in this area. The paper states that the educational seminars "must ensure that the trained teachers have the necessary media-based teaching skills required for their chosen profession at the end of their training.".

itslearning offers extremely effective tools to promote media skills

The educational seminar is setting an example in this field and fulfills the requirements of the concept mainly through the use of the learning platform itslearning. During the seminar, trainee teachers solve tasks, initially in the role of the pupil, in order to find out about the use of digital learning media for themselves from the point of view of the pupil. "The itslearning platform offers extremely effective tools for this", states Ms Ehrig.

ePortfolio accompanies the training

Example of an ePortfolio in itslearning Each trainee teacher has an ePortfolio (see Fig.) to accompany their training, which they make accessible to selected colleagues and the seminar leader. The trainee teachers are familiarised with the ePortfolios in an introductory event at the start of the teaching practice. A second training session should be held after 6 – 8 months at the request of the trainees.

Increasing personal responsibility through the individual learning plan

The ePortfolio is created based on an individual learning plan (ILP). The ILP is an easy-to-use tool, enabling trainees to take on more personal responsibility in the learning process. A mentor can help the trainees in this process in an advisory role.

Extract of an individual learning plan (ILP) in itslearning: Training content for the trainees is shown clearly. This ensures that each trainee has an overview of what stage they are at.

Independent learning courses as an introduction to the learning platform

Each new user has the opportunity to familiarize his- or herself with the basic and most important functions of the platform for the purposes of the seminar by working through two specially created "first step" courses. "This service is still extremely popular", states Ehrig.

Formal and informal exchange via video conference

Participants in the seminar take part in a video conference in small groups once a month to answer any burning questions. This is intended to make the tools more intuitive to use and - as these video conferences take place without a seminar leader - also enable a more casual and informal exchange.

Topics include questions relating to written lesson preparation, how to handle particular stress situations or training organization. Feedback from the trainees confirms that a good mutual exchange takes place here and also helps support the teamwork element specified in the training and examination regulations.

In video conferences on a specific topic relating to itslearning online sessions, the teacher also takes part in the video conference. The itslearning classrooms provide preparation material and tasks within the "Flipped Classroom" concept (see Sample task).

Why itslearning has impressed the teachers

The usage frequency of the platform is particularly pleasing. "As teachers, we particularly like the opportunity afforded by itslearning of collecting suggestions and ideas through a simple exchange with colleagues. Functions such as the calendar, registrations, resource booking and use of the library have become as integral part of our teaching", raves Ms Ehrig. "We can book equipment and rooms, send group messages via the message system, find e-mail addresses and add links easily, manage files more effectively and have a complete overview of courses and participants."

Trainee teachers see the benefits for their education

And trainee teachers have also discovered certain benefits for themselves. The option of booking RSS feeds means that they will never miss deadlines or appointments again. The quick and easy communication with other trainees or teachers is also a major help in the various different fields to be coordinated. This means that material needed for the lesson or training can be exchanged much more easily among trainees. As there are many dates for sitting in on lectures and visits to be coordinated, the calendar function is another indispensable organisational tool.

Despite the inadequate IT facilities in some schools

Some schools in the East Friesland region still do not have interactive boards, a fast and secure Internet connection, visualisers or tablets. And the same is true of examination classes. "We have noticed, however, that an increasing number of our trainees are focusing on the increasingly indispensable use of technology in training in their final papers and are more confident in handling technology in lessons", Ehrig states. "We see this as a sign that we are on the right path".

Just2Easy’s tools are designed to allow students to become creators. Take J2Spotlight, a simple stop-motion animation tool available to itslearning users through the App Library. With J2Spotlight, anyone – even young leaners – can make short animations quickly. All they need is a webcam and a little imagination.

Recognised by the leading educational awards

This year, Just2Easy’s blogging tool – J2webby – has been nominated in the ICT Tools for Learning and Teaching category. Essentially, J2webby is a creative platform that both teachers and students can use to create exciting looking interactive webpages simply and quickly.

“J2webby makes it easy for teachers to create and publish really interesting looking resources for students,” explains James Green, head of educational development at the company. “Teachers can add videos from YouTube, images and other resources, just by dragging the files, embedding the code or pasting the link – and we estimate that j2e can save teachers and students 30-40 minutes of the time it takes to create a great looking project page or learning resource.”

Creativity tools available in itslearning

As well as J2Spotlight, itslearning users have access to three other Just2Easy tools through the App Library.

JIT: a web publishing tool for younger students

J2E: a publishing tool for creating exciting online websites

J2Vote: a simple voting tool designed to use with any device

Try Just2Easy’s tools today

You can try all of Just2Easy’s tools on their webpage.

More apps among the BETT finalists

Other itslearning app suppliers have made the BETT Awards shortlist, including Espresso Group, Encyclopaedia Britannica and 2 Simple Software. itslearning has also made the BETT Awards shortlist in the ICT Company of the Year category.

See the full list here.

Head start on the semester

“They read books they would not otherwise have had the time to read at the beginning of the year. On the first day, they have already read the book, and already had the discussions. It really gives them a good leg up. It gives the teachers an added benefit,” Keith explains, adding the extra work is optional.

This is just one of many innovative ways itslearning is being used at Reynoldsburg, which implemented the itslearning platform in 2011.

User adoption goes from 25 teachers to 100 in one year

Since implementation, itslearning user adoption has skyrocketed at Reynoldsburg. The school chose gradual implementation, at first only introducing the platform to 25 of its 400 teachers. Today, over 100 teachers use the platform.

“Within a few months of implementation, we had more teachers using itslearning than we ever had using our old platform,” Keith says. “We have 428 staff in our itslearning system, we have 6,500 students, 398 courses (some teachers have multiple courses) and in the past week we had 1,500 active users online.”

The school used Moodle for six years before adopting itslearning. By the time Reynoldsburg started using itslearning, only 25 teachers were using Moodle full time. Keith says itslearning’s user-friendliness partly explains its popularity among Reynoldsburg teachers.

“itslearning is very user friendly. Everything is explained very well and it is very well laid out. The teachers see the flow a bit better. The drag-and-drop feature makes it easy to move things around,” Keith says. “The teachers are loving itslearning. They are really utilizing it.”

Teachers like early learner animal skin

The itslearning custom skins have also been popular among Reynoldsburg teachers. itslearning has age differentiated interfaces for early learners and intermediate users. This was important to Reynoldsburg, which comprises six K-4 schools, four junior high schools and two high school campuses. Reynoldsburg chose the itslearning animal skin for its Grade 3-4 students and the early learner skin for its K-2 users.

“The teachers were really excited about the itslearning skins. Moodle was not adapted well to K-4. But with the itslearning skins, the teachers felt like they finally had something they could connect their teaching with,” Keith says.

itslearning in line with district directive

Reynoldsburg is aiming for 100 per cent itslearning user adoption. This follows a district directive intended to move more and more of the teaching and learning process online. According to the district superintendent, benefits of online learning include more communication with parents and preparing students for the future work world.

itslearning offers Reynoldsburg another benefit - more flexibility in the event of a school closure. In Ohio, schools have five so-called ‘snow days’ a year where schools close due to calamities such as snowstorms or power outages. itslearning provides Reynoldsburg with an additional three snow days. Teachers just have to make course materials available online so that students can access them remotely.

Though these benefits presented themselves over time, not all teachers welcomed itslearning at first, Keith says. “Some teachers didn’t like the idea of changing. But it wasn’t as bad to change as they thought it would be.”

Support gives teachers a voice

Now they are enjoying what the platform has to offer. Keith says they appreciate the support they receive from itslearning staff. Support staff quickly respond to their queries, and offer suggestions on how to best use itslearning. “The teachers feel like they have a voice,” Keith says.

They also appreciate the itslearning updates, which are carried out once every six months. “The updates show that itslearning keeps progressing, so it will never stagnate. It constantly gets better. That’s something our teachers really appreciate.”

Reynoldsburg has four years remaining on its contract with itslearning. “We’re enjoying itslearning. As of right now, I think it’s something we hopefully will continue with, because teachers really like it.”

Representatives from itslearning were delighted to visit Wootton Upper school in Bedfordshire last week to meet Ivana Stanley, the first teacher to achieve Bronze Aspire+ accreditation status, after completing the first level of itslearning’s new Aspire+ training and accreditation programme.

Adam Bates, managing director at itslearning, presented Ivana with a certificate, marking her achievement in front of her colleagues, who will all be following Ivana’s lead and completing the accreditation themselves over the next few months.

Ms Stanley’s quick completion of Bronze status highlights how the new programme helps teachers quickly and easily get to grips with the itslearning platform, allowing them to incorporate usage smoothly throughout their lessons but without having to give up class time to lengthy training sessions.

Whilst visiting the school, itslearning were also delighted to be given the opportunity to visit some students in the classroom to see how itslearning is being used effectively across lessons, such as sixth formers using it for their Sociology class!

We would like to congratulate Ivana Stanley and all staff and pupils at Wootton Upper school for their dedication to using the platform effectively across the school to support teaching and learning.

Instead, Connie, the Technology & Learning Director ast Lakeview Academy in Gainesville, USA, prefers talking about the concrete skills that make up this umbrella term. She would rather talk about digital literacy, critical thinking, collaboration, creativity and research skills.

“The goal is to help students develop the skills they need to be successful in the future,” Connie says.

Framework provides skills

She believes that in order for students to acquire these and other skills they need the right tools, which is why Lakeview Academy is implementing itslearning this September.

“The tool, in this case itslearning, gives the students the framework to obtain and develop these concrete skills. The framework itslearning provides is essential for success,” she says.

Lakeview Academy, an independent school for grades K2-12, is divided into a lower, middle and high school. It has 580 students. itslearning will be introduced to every class and every student in grades K-12 this fall.

Innovative strategy gains national attention

Technology is no stranger to Lakeview Academy. In 1998, students in grades 9-12 started using laptops in all of their classes. In 2005, the school implemented Moodle and teachers began practicing blended learning, which combines elements of the virtual classroom into face-to-face instruction.

In 2009, the school implemented a remote school plan, which allows teachers to teach electronically in case of school closure. This plan proved successful when, in 2011, a winter storm closed the school for a week and students kept up with their work online. This garnered national media attention from outlets such as USA Today.

“We're pretty far along in terms of the development of our technology program. But it didn't happen over night. It is the result of a long progression of staff development,” Connie says.

In order to further advance their technology initiatives, Lakeview chose itslearning.

“itslearning is intuitive. It's less confusing than our previous open source solution and itslearning is much more kid-friendly for the lower grades,” Connie says. “It lets the teachers focus on what is important – the learning.”

itslearning impresses academic council

itslearning was chosen by the school's academic council, which comprises the heads of all of the school's departments. All subject areas are represented in the council.

Connie says the council was particularly pleased with the different interfaces offered by itslearning. This was important to Lakeview, because itslearning would have to cater to students in different grades.

They also realized itslearning would allow them to advance their blended learning strategy. Connie says itslearning will help teachers meet the needs of students in the same class with different ability levels.

“It will be helpful to reach and engage students with different needs,” she says. “itslearning lends itself very well to the area of differentiation. That, in turn, means that it really does lend itself to long-term retention. The academic council has a common goal that itslearning is something we are going to implement across the school.”

Generating enthusiasm for learning goal

Connie spent the summer before implementation training Lakeview teachers in how to use itslearning. At the upper school level, she expects teachers to use the platform for posting instructional materials, embedding links, videos and pictures and setting assignments. By the end of the year, she hopes teachers will be able to start using more of the advanced functions such as e-portfolios, blogging and process oriented documents to guide interactive learning.

“The goal is for all of our teachers to use itslearning to communicate with students and eventually parents,” Connie says. “Overall, I think the whole group is very tech savvy because we've used a variety of tools for years. I think that everybody will at least do the minimum.

“We want them to use itslearning to engage and foster the learning process. At the end of the day, it's all about the getting students excited about learning.”

In the interim, if you need to contact our support team, please dial 0121 2893014 (Option 1).  Customers can also raise tickets as usual through the support portal at https://support.itslearning.com and by emailing us at support@itslearning.com.

Regards

itslearning support team

Case study.

“It suggests introducing kids to the Internet when they´re 10, which is far too late,” says Carole, who leads all ICT services for schools in Hertfordshire, one of the biggest counties in the UK.

Focus on word processing, not ‘social learning’

Carole states that the current curriculum emphasises learning word processing, with students being introduced to PowerPoint in Years 4 and 5.

“Sadly, that´s still in our accreditation system and you can still be doing that, according to the British curriculum, when you´re 15. If you want to make something as exciting as technology deathly dull, try teaching your child PowerPoint for 11 years.”

UK schools at a ‘crossroads’

In her presentation, which is titled ‘Learning and technology – which way now’ and recorded in June 2012, Carole suggests there have been massive changes in technology in the past 10 years and that UK schools have not kept up.

The curriculum was created in a Web 1.0 world where the Internet was for reading, downloading and consuming. In today´s dynamic Web 2.0 world, people use the Internet for writing, uploading and publishing.

Internet offers unprecedented, untapped potential for learning

“Teenagers these days expect to be able to influence their world and share their ideas and see what other people think. Every child from a very early age just expects to be able to reach out to the expert in any subject at a second’s notice.”

Bennett calls this ‘scaffolding learning’ or ‘social learning’ – which is essential building on the knowledge of others using the Internet.

Not all schools are keeping pace with change

“That expectation that you can have knowledge at the drop of a hat and learn is just astounding,” she says .

“We´ve had such major advances in technology that change the way kids feel about learning, the way they can learn. As prevalent technology is in the UK, particularly in primary schools in the UK, this change may not been reflected in schools,” she maintains.

Carole also asks viewers to consider whether their teaching methods reflect changes in technology. She encourages teachers to ask their students if they enjoy using technology, and if they use it at home.

“Often we find there is a mismatch. Kids enjoy using technology in their free time but they don´t always like using it in school,” she says. “And it´s because it isn´t challenging. It isn´t actually moving their learning on, it isn´t moving their understanding of the technology on.”

Students need training in how technology works

She says students should be trained in software programs but also in how they work. This will allow them to both use technology and make, develop and create it. “If you understand how technology works you are able to adapt very quickly. That´s the kind of stuff that kids need in the future.”

In this insightful video, which is available exclusively on itslearning’s website, Carole also offers helpful tips on how to start using technology in your classroom today. She shares insight into where technology and learning is heading, in addition to showing how ICT is changing education. You can see the full video here.

The scheme, which launched in March of this year, is designed to provide schools, Local Authorities and groups that are launching academies, free schools or university technical colleges with an easy route to procure from approved, high quality, trusted suppliers in a fully EU-compliant manner.

Following an extensive tender process, itslearning has been selected alongside two other suppliers, from an initial group of 10, after detailed evaluation of all responses by the Wokingham Procurement Group. itslearning was praised in particular for its ‘very significant online training offer’, a new service called Aspire+, which is being offered by the company to address the difficulty that schools have in releasing teachers from their timetable commitments to receive training.

“We are delighted to have been selected as one of the final three suppliers presenting to schools in the very first IMLS framework tender for learning platforms,” comments Dylan Jones, managing director at itslearning. “itslearning can deliver real improvements for schools through supporting teachers and students in the process of learning. We are looking forward to meeting representatives from schools in the area during the final stage of the process.

“This new framework is a great way for educational establishments to ensure they are getting the best products and services from a government-approved list of suppliers.”

The next stage of the process will be for representatives from schools in the authority to attend a Supplier Presentation day being held on the 20th September after which they will be invited to demo the software in their schools. Final decisions are expected in October.

itslearning was selected as one of fifteen suppliers in Lot 2 of the IMLS Framework Agreement, which focuses on learning services that support the curriculum through the delivery of pedagogical tools and received the highest score from the DfE of any dedicated learning platform specialist.

Salcito’s interest in technology secured him a job at Microsoft as Vice President for Worldwide Education. He recently visited itslearning’s user conference in Bergen, Norway, where he talked to 400 teachers about technology and how it can support learning.

“People do a great job with technology, but are bad at making it work in a pedagogical perspective,” he said.

The education system must change

Although technology has changed the education system, Salcito argued that the classroom has changed very little. Where teachers used blackboards and chalk a century ago, todays´ teachers use computers and learning platforms, and tests, assignments and books are digital. But even though teaching has been digitalised and automated we have a long way to go. The teachers must contribute to drive the change forward – technology alone is not enough.

“While most OECD countries have doubled or tripled their education costs between 1970 and 1994, the students’ results have stagnated or become poorer,” Salcito said.

In order to improve attainment he said practices in the educational system must change. Most important is making students expect a better future when they start their education.

The teachers must be better at bringing forward the relevance in the curriculum. All teachers have been asked the question: “Why do I have to learn this? I’ll never get to use it.” The students must understand why they learn. Having a classroom full of technical equipment is not most important, but rather how the technology is used. Otherwise, we maintain the status quo.

Learn from computer games

Students who fail are rarely motivated. But if a student who fails plays a video game and gets a “game over”, he is inspired to improve and try again. The school system has much to learn from gameplay, Salcito says. What drives you to continue trying in a computer game? How can teachers have a similar effect in the classroom?

“I’m motivated when my toothbrush displays a smiley if I have brushed my teeth in over two minutes, or when modern cars display a flower motive when you drive economically. We must strive to get a similar motivation into the classroom.”

Having successfully completed the vigorous evaluation process, itslearning demonstrated its capability to meet the Government Procurement Service’s requirements; presenting a genuine understanding of the specific needs of the education sector.

The IMLS Framework was developed following extensive research with educational suppliers and stakeholders and has been designed to facilitate faster, more cost effective and efficient purchasing decisions. It provides schools, Local Authorities and groups that are launching academies, free schools or university technical colleges, with an easy route to procure from approved, high quality, trusted suppliers in a fully EU-compliant manner.

itslearning has been selected as one of fifteen suppliers in Lot Two of the IMLS Framework Agreement, which focuses on learning services that support the curriculum through the delivery of pedagogical tools.
Commenting on the announcement, Dylan Jones, director, itslearning says: “The accreditation from the Government Procurement Service is a major step forward in further increasing our presence in the education market. Through experience, we have developed a strong understanding of the ICT requirements of schools, colleges and learning providers and we are delighted to be able to use this to assist in easing the load on school procurement, whilstsupporting the highest quality teaching, through the Framework.”
This announcement comes following two other recent successes for itslearning, as it was shortlisted for two prestigious awards; Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Education Resources Awards and ICT Company of the Year at the BETT Awards.

For more information visit www.itslearning.co.uk

There were some fantastic ideas, including innovative ways to use video to teach vocational subjects and a great way to motivate language learners. But after careful consideration, our panel of judges settled on these two winners.

Flipping the classroom: Anne Cathrine Gotaas, Sandvika Further Education College, Norway

This flipped classroom concept is simple: students study the theory at home and use classroom time to put their newly gained knowledge into practice. Anne Cathrine delivers flipped classroom teaching to her students by creating videos, animations and other resources and adding them to the relevant itslearning course.

Best use awards
The Best use of itslearning awards 2011 were open to any teacher who uses itslearning. The winning entries had to demonstrate a use of itslearning that engages students, raises student achievement and is easily transferable to another teacher. The judging panel was made up of four people:

• Russell Prue, ICT Evangelist, Author & Broadcaster
• Alastair Cameron, Senior Learning Strategist (itslearning)
• Trond Skeie, Training Manager (itslearning)
• Arne Bergby, CEO (itslearning)
The videos are embedded into a test and students must answer one or two questions after watching the video. The student will then see if she has understood the video or if she has to watch it again. This technique also means that Anne Cathrine can see which areas have caused problems for her students – and she can prepare her classroom lessons accordingly. She can also track which students have watched or read the materials and which haven’t.

Improving behaviour among disaffected students: Dee Kerwick-Chrisp, Greys Education Centre, UK

Greys Education Centre takes the students that other schools deem too hard to teach. With these students, encouraging good behaviour is usually vital to successful learning.

Once a week, every student meets with a teacher to set their behaviour goals, which are then added to the student’s individual learning plan (ILP). Then, at the end of each lesson, the class teacher refers to the student’s ILP before assigning the student a behaviour grade (using a 1-5 scale that only reflects good behaviour).

Any student with an average above 3.2 for the week can enjoy a free lesson – and the student with the best score gets a certificate. This reward system has proven extremely successful, with students competing with each other to get the best score. The student’s weekly behaviour report is also printed out and sent to their parents – and the reports are sometimes used as evidence that students are adhering to court orders.

Great ideas for teachers everywhere

“The decision was extremely difficult and we’d like to thank everyone who entered for sharing their great ideas with us,” says Alastair Cameron, one of the judges. “We’re really pleased that there are so many great teachers doing great things with itslearning, and I hope that teachers around the world will benefit from reading about and seeing their ideas.”

You can see all 12 entries (each with a description and video) that made the shortlist on our global website.

Contents

• Video summary
• Improvements to the new design
• New space-saving news content block
• Improved course list content block
• Embed external content in pages
• Better overview in the assessment record
• New version of the rich-text editor
• Get more out of the calendar with resource booking and iCal support
• More information for teachers in the personal profile
• Send notifications when you update an element
• Corrections

Watch the video below to see what's new in the release.

Improvements to the new design

In the previous release we did a major update to the look and feel, and now we've improved it even more. The Intermediate, Animal misfits and Space themes are now available in two versions: one with text in the top menu and one with icons only. This makes it easier for teachers to tailor the themes to different age groups.

We've also introduced a brand new Summersky theme, which in essence is a different version of the standard itslearning skin.

• Read more about the different interfaces and themes in the itslearning help!

New space-saving news content block

We're happy to introduce a new version of the news content block. The new block is more compact and has a smaller font.

Improved course list content block

It's now easier to keep up to date with what's happening in your courses thanks to several new features in the course list content block. You can now see how many changes have been made since you last visited the course (the orange droplet) – and you can also see which courses have had new bulletins added to them (the grey icon).

• Read more about the course content blocks in the itslearning help!

 

Embed external content in pages

Now to a feature we know many page creators have been waiting for: you can now embed external content from services such as YouTube and Slideshare directly from the rich content block into pages. Look for the new 'Source' button in the editor when adding or editing rich content.

 

 

Better overview in the assessment record

The assessment record, or grade book, has been updated with four sought-after features:

Categories

You might have different types of assessments in a single course, such as for homework assignments, group assignments, classroom assignments and tests. These assignments can now be grouped together to form a category (you can, of course, create your own categories). This means you can filter your assessment records by category to get a better overview and also weight assessments differently within individual categories.

 

Add terms and categories directly into new elements

It's now possible to select a term and category when adding tests and assignments.

Column headers always show

The column headers in the assessment record are now always visible at the top of the grid, even when you scroll down a long list of participants.

Improved input field for marking

A new autocomplete feature enables you to give a mark or assessment quicker when marking assignments. When you enter the assessment, itslearning will suggest an assessment as soon as you type the first letter or number. This is especially useful if you use an assessment scale with many options.

 

• Read more about the assessment record in the itslearning help!

 

New version of the rich-text editor

You can now use a brand new version of the rich-text editor. The new icons and colours give it a more modern look, but the editor works exactly as it did before.

 

• Read more about the rich-text editor in the itslearning help!

 

Get more out of the calendar with resource booking and iCal support

These two new features will improve the calendar for all our users.

Resource booking

Administrators can now create a list of resources – such as rooms, cameras, computers, and smartboards – and let other users book them directly through their calendar.

Note: we've decided to launch this feature as a limited beta, and only selected sites will have access to it. Interested? Read about the beta program and how to join it at http://info.itslearning.net/ResourceBeta.html.

 

• Read more about setting up and using resource booking in the itslearning help!

iCal support

Do you use a Mac, an iPhone, Microsoft Outlook or any other device that supports iCal? If so, you can now subscribe to calendar activities through an iCal feed. Simply click the Subscribe link in the Activities content block. Read more about iCal on Wikipedia.

 

 

More information for teachers in the personal profile

Course teachers now have access to aggregated information in the person profile. In plain English, this means they can now see a full list of assessments, attendance reports and behaviour reports for each student – including assessments and reports from other subject teachers – when they click a student's personal profile. You have to be registered as teacher of that student in at least one course to see this information.

 

• What information can other users see in your profile? Find out in the person profile topic in the itslearning help.

 

Send notifications when you update an element

Have you ever found a mistake in a page, note, assignment or test and had to notify everyone that you've made a change? Now you can send notifications automatically when you make a change. This isn't a default setting (as people don't want to be bombarded with notifications about every little change), so you need to untick the 'Minor edit' box before saving the change. itslearning will then take care of the rest.

 

In elements with autosave, such as Pages, you'll find a Notify about changes button:

 

 

Corrections

In this release we have corrected more than 100 issues. Read this document to find out more about the most important (English only).

The project was led by Head of ICT, Lindsey Dedaniec,who commented that boys in particular were motivated to spend a great deal of time outside of school hours working on the learning platform to develop their games.  Lindsey said that “One of the challenges of teachers is to get homework out of students. But with this project we didn’t have that problem."

Students filmed themselves and loaded the footage into the games to give instructions to the players and created riddles to unlock keys to the next stage. If you would like to see the article in full, click here

Under the first tab ("General") you should see "Browsing History".

Click on "Delete" under this and then tick ONLY the following for deletion: "Cookies", "Temporary Internet Files" -  please make sure that "Preserve Favourites website data" is UNTICKED (this is only an option on recent versions of internet explorer)

Then Click "Apply" and "OK". This will clear your cache and should allow you to log in normally. If you still experience any issue, please call our freephone support line on 0800 9775714 and a member of the team will be pleased to help you.

Regards
Darren Lloyd
itslearning

itslearning has a new look!

You've probably noticed the new colours, icons and menus already? Read all about the design refresh in this article.

Access information through the person profile

To all learners: Your assessments are now only a click away. Before this update you had to enter each course to see your assessments. Now you can simply click your name in the personal menu to access your assessments, attendance and behaviour remarks.

See your relations to other users

When clicking another person's name – for example in course lists and assignment overview – his profile opens. To make it easier to distinguish users, the profile now shows any courses you have in common, and how you are related. For example: "Frank Beck is your teacher in the following courses: History and English".

Discussions

To make it easier to follow discussions, new posts and threads will now appear in the notification content block.

Attendance change log

Teachers can now view the attendance change log. Previously, this information was available to mentors and headteachers only. You'll find the log in Status and follow-up >> Attendance >> Reports >> Term report.

Updated app library

The app library is revamped. Read more in this press release.

Corrections

In this release we have corrected more than 50 issues. Read this document to find out more (English only).

Release webinar

Watch our release webinar to find out more about the release:

These courses are being held in local schools with teachers invited to attend from a number of schools so that no one school has to bear the full cost of a training day.  Schools can book their VLE administrator onto one of these courses for just £125.

The roll out of this programme is starting in Essex and Norfolk just after Autumn half term and we plan to continue across the country thereafter.  We are actively seeking schools in other local authorities to host these training courses and, in return, the host receives a free place on the course.  If you are interested in hosting a course, please contact darren.lloyd@itslearning.com .

Multimedia made easy

Many teachers and students use media elements such as video, sound and animations as part of teaching material or assignment answers. In this release we have improved the user experience around embedding and previewing of multimedia objects – both external content and content made with the inbuilt video recorder. This makes it a lot easier to use video files in content that is created with the rich-text editor.

So, what have we done? First of all, the Link to my file option in the Insert menu in the rich-text editor has been renamed to File from my web files.

More interesting, the My files pop-up window that appears when you click File from my web files has been changed. It now contains tools to link, embed and preview files. But what do the different icons do?

• Link icon: Inserts an URL with a link to the file.
• Embed icon: Embeds the video file into your content (which means that you see a player in the element to which the video is added). Note that if the icon looks like this:  the file type cannot be embedded.
• Preview icon: Opens a new page for previewing and setting the dimensions of the videos you're embedding (see screen shot below).

What file formats are supported?
There's a wide range of file formats available, but we have decided to support the most common file types used for web.

• Files from the inbuilt video recorder
• Apple QuickTime Movie (mov)
• Windows Media Video File (wmv)
• Flash Video File (flv)
• Shockwave Flash Movie (swf)

As of now, file types such as mp3, avi, mpg and mp4 cannot be embedded.

Keep up to date with your courses

To make it easier to keep up to date with your courses a new content block for notifying you about changes and updates in courses is now available on My dashboard and the course and hierarchy dashboards.

RSS subscriptions
Do you want to keep up to date without logging on? Why not subscribe to the RSS feed in Outlook, on your phone or your preferred RSS reader? Click the RSS icon in top left corner to subscribe. Below is an example from Microsoft Outlook.

Customise the notification content block
Want to customise the content block? Dashboard administrators (hierarchy and My dashboard) are allowed to edit:

• block title
• whether to show updates from all courses or just favourite courses
• how many items to show per page

What notifications do you need?
What notifications would you like to receive? Click beta feedback box at the bottom of the content block to give us your feedback!

Improvements to the course and project content block
Previously, changes in the course content block (the one with the list of courses) was highlighted in red. The changes are now based on the course notification content block. It only shows a change if a notification has been given to the current user since the user's last visit to the course. A blue dot next to the course name indicates that it was updated since your last visit. The same changes apply to the project content block.

Planner

Custom fields in planner
Before this release you could inline edit custom lesson fields in the planner. Now it's also possible to edit custom fields from the edit lesson page.

More filter options for the planner content block
In the Show drop-down in the planner, students can now decide to show plans within a period of time (for example a week) to give a better overview. New options are:

• "Next week": shows the plan for the current week
• "Next two weeks": shows the plans for the current week and next week

Curriculum

Our users in the US and the Netherlands will now find new learning objectives in the learning objective libraries. The learning objectives are ready to import into plans and course elements with a few clicks of the mouse.

Common Core Curriculum for the USA
Common Core's Curriculum Maps translate the new Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten through 12th grade into unit maps that teachers can use to plan their year, craft their own more detailed curriculum, and create lesson plans. They were written by public school teachers for public school teachers.

Curriculum for Dutch vocational education
Dutch users will now find the new 2011 curriculum for Dutch vocational education (BVE) in the learning objective library.

Attendance

Some of our users have suggested that it should be possible for mentors to comment on day and session attendance. We thought it was a good idea, and this has now been implemented in the attendance system. For ease of use, the comments on day/session attendance behave exactly similar to hour remarks. The mentor can decide if the comment should be visible for the learner.

Do you have an idea? Please submit it in our idea portal!

Task list deadline

Before this update the deadlines on tasks appeared with both weeks and days. To make the deadline format consistent throughout the platform it now only shows days until deadline.

Shibboleth

We have added support for single sign-on through non-federated Shibboleth 1.3r.

Procapita: Users with no username or password

Sites using the Procapita (MIS) integration experienced that users without username and password were imported to itslearning. Procapita has updated their solution, and users without username and password are no longer imported.

IST Extens and IST SATS

It's now possible to export attendance, behaviour and assessment data to IST Extens and IST SATS.

API

More data is available in the API for apps. Administrators must approve apps that should have access to protected data from Administration >> Manage protected data for apps. This means that a school can allow an app to receive, for example, social security numbers or phone numbers.

Enhanced IMS-ES options for integration partners

The IMS-ES integration system has been improved. Third-party MIS/SIS vendors can now create/update Parents and Parent/Child relationships through the IMS-ES interface. To assist third- party vendors read existing groups from itslearning we have implemented the "readMembershipsForPerson" and "readMembershipsForGroup" methods.

Periods have been replaced with terms

In the assessment record (or grade book), periods have been replaced with terms. This article explains more about the change.

Miscellaneous updates and enhancements

Click to see a list of other minor updates and enhancements.

Many teachers use spreadsheets when creating plans, so we’ve built the itslearning planner like a spreadsheet. A highly customisable tool, the planner features a set of ready-made columns, but you can decide to add new one or delete or change the names.

Of course, you can do this is Excel as well, but the itslearning planner gives you much more. Your plan is automatically published to the students – and parents. You decide which columns to make visible, and can also create private columns for notes or remarks.

Topics and lessons

Other courses may suit a periodical structure better. This enables you to name topics after dates or week numbers, and use thematic headings for the lessons – or create a lesson for each day. The planner is flexible and fits numerous approaches.

Include course content in the plan

To make sure your students always know what material to work with, the planner allows you to connect course content to the plan. This means that you are simply linking learning tools, such as pages, tests or assignments, and ensures that students always know what to work with without having to browse through the folders in the course.

You can also attach learning objectives from the learning objective library, and the elements appear as links in the plan. For example, you can upload a folder with background material for the students to work with early in the plan, and tests and assignments later on when you are ready to measure what they have learnt.

Tips

• It's a good idea to keep the plan at a higher level. Keep it simple, without too much detail.
• Too much text can make the plan difficult to read. Instead, link to elements in the course.
• Use Select columns to rearrange or remove columns you don't need.
• Use the Planner settings to add or delete columns, and to decide who the columns should be visible to.

Read more about the planner in the online help.