UAS Online Enhancements for Fall 2007

Big Picture:

·        New server

·        New main page

·        Redesigned accounts and security as part of UA Username migration

·        More interactive -- Drag and Drop and other dynamic features

·        Significant syllabi and resource enhancements

·        Significant gradebook enhancements

·        Webmeetings for students, staff, departments, etc.

Comprehensive List

New Main Page Interface:

MyCourses Window

Display “active” courses, regardless of the term (default)
Display “all” courses that have been bookmarked, attended or taught

MyPortfolios Window

myBookmarks – all “bookmarked” portfolios
myPortfolio – outline structure of current portfolio with pull-down selection of portfolios from previous accounts (default)
Recent – the 25 most recently “published” portfolios
Popular – the 25 most “popular” published portfolios

Drag and Drop - Reposition content blocks on main page
New "Course Browse" (course search) interface

Added "Did you mean?" when searching course searches
Added summary by subject for each term

New support for ad hoc alerts and “notices”

Webmeeting:

Webmeetings for Portfolios!
Enhance support for recordings

New hide recording feature
New rename recording feature
Drag and drop - reorder recordings

Management control to change the recording mode (manual, automatic, disabled)

Portfolios:

Drag and Drop - Reorder portfolio items from main page and from “manage page” interface
Auto-import a course portfolio template into student portfolio under following conditions:

A course portfolio template exists
The user had "import"access to it
The user has never changed their settings or created a portfolio subpage

New design for portfolio authors

New "Manage" portfolio interface
Added ability to hide manage buttons in the portfolio.
Relocated "Add a new subpage" and "Create/Import a Page" buttons to new location

Changed Weblog interface

Added search capability for weblogs.
Add "Remove" link in upper right above weblog item.
Display archive list of weblog items "by date" on right side.
New subscription control for weblogs.
Other minor interface changes to the weblog features.

Added three levels of access to portfolio item assessment.

The default is set "Only the authors and graders may view the assessment."

Support for portfolio background image
New control to limit coauthor access to attachments and item library

Forums:

Redesign of forum search interface
Ability to re-sort forum by date and author (non-threaded views)

Classlists:

Changed security default to "UAS Accounts."
Changed default to restrict additions to the participants list

Resources:

Resources broken into separate catagories: "Class Resources" and "UAS Resources"
Single-step upload and "add resource"
Support for multi-columns (1-3); Default: 2 columns
Drag and Drop Functionality:

Rearrange resource items
Rearrange items within categories

Added support for resource item descriptions
New popup "tip" to explain the podcast control
Added control to set a category to default "Expanded"

New Syllabus Functionality:

Link to syllabus appears beneath course title
Reminder to instructor when no syllabus identified
Standard syllabus shortcut URL: http://uas.alaska.edu/online/COURSE/syllabus

Assignments

Drag and drop: reorder homesite activities and dragability between postacted activities and posted results.
Display "Date due" for assignments on homesite.
Suppress status (complete / incomplete) if the user does not have access.
Edit activity item from Homesite tab in Instructor Tools.
Security enhancement: Prohibit access to activities if they are not currently posted.

Essays:

Option to allow students to edit essays after posting
Added pull-down list to select another student when annotating essays

Gradebook:

Added new “grader” role to permit TA to enter grades fro select gradebook items
Provide link in gradebook and progress report back to the graded item
Enhanced item and student grade views with pull-down menus and navigation links