We are happy to announce that it's learning was updated on 10 September. The fourth update so far this year introduces new features that we believe will contribute to an even better user experience for teachers and learners.
it's learning now with Gmail
We are thrilled to announce that it's learning – in partnership with Google - now offers free email accounts for our users. The solution is seamlessly integrated with it's learning and includes 7 GB of free storage space per user.
As part of the Google Apps Education Edition, the email service will be free of all advertising and include functionality such as:
- 7.2 GB (and growing) storage with full text search
- Labelling and filtering of messages
- Contact management
- Powerful spam, virus and phishing protection
- Profanity filtering
- POP, IMAP and mobile device support
- Group mailing lists
Interested?
In order to have Gmail activated on your site, please get in touch with your it's learning account manager. it's learning will create and administer your email accounts, distribution lists and security management at no cost.
Once Google Apps has been activated on your site you will find a Mail link in the top right corner of it's learning. You will also see the number of unread emails in your inbox. The Gmail will open in a new window:
Dashboards: Tailor your start pages
The new dashboard is replacing the current main page and course page. With the new and flexible dashboard both teachers and learners will get a new user experience in it's learning. Dashboards now allow users at different levels to manage layout, content and structure of the main pages within sites and courses. The idea is to expand the personalised learning environment with customised information dashboards and tailored content for specific groups of users.
Instead of a standard page, the dashboard of a site is managed by the hiearchy administrator who can decide what elements to display, add content with the new content blocks, place them on the page using “drag & drop” and choose layout from a selection of templates. All users also have their personal dashboard where they can put frequently used files, make collections of their favourite links, subscribe to RSS feeds of their own choice etc.
Using the site hierarchy, the administrator can also create different dashboards for presenting information for selective groups of users such as staff, parents, student years or a combination of such groups. Inside each course, the start page is controlled by the teacher and can be customised in the same way as the other dashboards.
Please note that this feature is currently only available in a limited beta. For accessing Dashboards in the beta period, please contact your it's learning account manager.
Pages for collecting course resources
Preparing resources for a topic, the teacher can create a Page and gather all relevant notes, files, links, tests etc. in one place. This will provide better overview and easier access for the students, rather than accessing everything from the tree menu.
Pages allow teachers to present course material in a context and shift the focus from single elements to themes and topics.
Please note that this feature is currently only available in a limited beta. For accessing Dashboards in the beta period, please contact your it's learning account manager.
Simpler migration
A new solutions to facilitate the move from other learning platforms to it's learning. Contact us to know more!
New solutions for interoperability and single sign-on
The Netmedia solutions Lynchpin and MyIdentity are now fully integrated with it's learning. Lynchpin automatically creates, amends, populates or deletes accounts in it's learning using the IMS or SIF standard. MyIdentity uses the Shibboleth standard to provide a single point of log-in to access several different systems, resources and content across multiple locations, eliminating the need for multiple usernames and passwords
Several bug fixes and other improvements
Read more about the release in our product blog.