Release Notes 2017-1¶
Full Release¶
The full release builds upon the interim releases mentioned below. This release has been regression tested according to the GIFT test procedures as well as free play testing.
New Features¶
New courses¶
Simple Example Unity Training Application
A web-based Unity application written in the c# programming language and converted to WebGL using the Unity Editor. It is as an example of an embedded application that is integrated with the GIFT Tutor module through its tutoring interface. The source for the application is available on the Downloads page.
Science is Zarked
Another example of using Adaptive courseflow course objects in GIFT. This course This course is designed to provide you with an introduction to the best practices in research methods. First, we will begin with a series of demographic questions in which you will be asked to tell us a little more about yourself, so we can customize this course to you. Following this, you will be asked to take an assessment to determine your level of knowledge on the topic of research methods. This will help us provide a course at the right difficulty level for you.
Systems of the Human Body
Another example of using Adaptive courseflow course objects in GIFT. This course was constructed from a SCORM compliant course. Additional assessment questions and remediation content was added beyond the fixed flow content delivery the SCORM package provided in order to provide a more adaptive course experience.
Unity WebGL¶
Course creators can now author Unity environments as GIFT course objects as well as skill based assessment in the practice phase of an Adaptive Courseflow course object. This is the first instance of a web-based training environment for GIFT. For the learner the Unity user interface will appear alongside the GIFT feedback history panel in the area of the webpage that was normally reserved to place your desktop based external training application window.
A very simple demo course has been provided called 'Simple Example Unity Application'. This course is meant to compliment the GIFT Software developers guide and mimics the behavior seen in the Simple Example Training Application course (GIFT Desktop only).
Changes¶
GIFT Authoring Tool (GAT)¶
- Adaptive courseflow course object
- ability to set the number of allowed attempts to take the Recall check on learning test (1-10).
- No longer show Rule/Example content tagged with other course concepts in the tables on the Adaptive courseflow course object editor.
- Media Collection course object
- improve UI for adding/editing media in a media collection
- Media panel
- Added thumbnails of media items
- Added preview of media items
- Added download of media items
- Select Existing survey UI improved layout
- New course objects for PDF, Local Webpage, Local Image, Web address, Youtube video
- More Disk space for everyone! User workspaces quotas went from 100MB to 1GB.
- Course preview - now you can view your course objects in the course creator instead of having to run the course like the learner would.
- Better read only UI/UX
- Fixed several issues with survey composer and survey scoring.
- More than one course object editor tab can be shown at a time when the panel is wide enough to do so.
- True/False question types now support authoring feedback just like multiple choice questions already did
- Information survey item type now supports adding an image alonside the authored text
Better error messages¶
We continue to improve upon the error messages that are shown to both the author and the learner. Look for more improvements in the future.
URL validation (author = error, learner = warning)¶
In the past if any externally located URL could not be reached during course validation, the course was deemed invalid. Now the course creator will show this still as an error to the author but on the dashboard course tile, the learner will see it as a warning. This allows GIFT course to be taken when a network connection is not available in a GIFT Desktop configuration.
Known Issues¶
Conversation trees cannot currently be shown in full screen mode when running a course. They will always appear in a panel on the left side of the page.
Conversation trees shown immediately after a training application during a course become embedded within that training application's page. This issue only affects the appearance of the affected conversation trees and can be avoided by adding another course object in between the training application and the conversation trees following it.
Interim Release : 2017-02-22¶
New Features¶
Microsoft Band 2 Sensor¶
Integrated the sensor into the GIFT Sensor module. GIFT retrieves accelerometer, skin temperature and GSR values. You will need the GIFT Microsoft Band Broadcaster application in order to communicate with the band (Windows 10 only).
Slide Show Course object¶
The slide show course object allows course authors to convert Microsoft PowerPoint slide shows into images (.png files) that are presented to the learner without the need for PowerPoint to be installed on the learner’s computer. Please refer to the slide show course object editor in the course authoring tool for more information.
Changes¶
GIFT Authoring Tool (GAT)¶
- Course tree UI improvements including:
- horizontal layout instead of vertical
- all course object editors are now in line with the course tree panel
- Survey composer UI improvements including:
- Improved loading time of existing surveys
- Improved read-only UI
- Copy survey item from within a survey
- Copy survey item from another survey
- Course copy items:
- Copy course object from within a course
- Copy DKF/Conversation Tree from within a course
Qualtrics survey import¶
Conversation Tree improvements
The GIFT conversation tree editor in the course authoring tool was improved to be more user friendly. Furthermore, help messages and error checking were added.¶
Misc.
- Numerous bug fixes and performance improvements
- Improved error handling and reporting
- More tooltips and help
- Copy course from GIFT Dashboard course tile
- Adaptive Courseflow course object editor
- now shows Rule/Example/Practice content in your course folder that aren’t associated with the course concepts being covered in that course object.
- Changed the Check on Learning authoring UI by using sliders instead of text fields to assign assessment rules to the number of questions a learner must correctly answer to be assigned the label of Novice, Journeyman or Expert.
- now shows Rule/Example/Practice content in your course folder that aren’t associated with the course concepts being covered in that course object.
- Changed the Check on Learning authoring UI by using sliders instead of text fields to assign assessment rules to the number of questions a learner must correctly answer to be assigned the label of Novice, Journeyman or Expert.
