Claroline 1.7 - New Features Highlights
Planned for september 2005, Claroline 1.7 will integrate lots of new features and improvements in its interface. The following page should allow you to get a quick overview of this promising shortcoming release.
The new features in 1.7
Exercise tool improvements
Improvements of the exercise tool focus on :
- Full export of the exercises in the IMS-QTI format : export in a convenient way the exercises to re-use them (or backup them) in an open XML standard of the IMS Global Learning Consortium.
- Improved tracking tool : see the detailed statistics for each question of each user's attempt or see the global results (average, number of attempts,...) for each question of an exercise with its average score. This helps a lot to see which question caused a problem in a specific exercise to the users.
- Export the results of your exercise in a CSV file and open it with OpenOffice Calc or Microsoft Excel to work on it on your own computer.
- New type of question : course manager can now also create true/false questions.
- Fill in blanks question improved : multiple answers can now also appear in a select box instead of showing an open input textbox.
A new wiki tool
New wiki tool available in courses and groups. Use a wiki as an open and collaborative way to create a document.
- Wiki syntax fully compatible with the wiki2xhtml standards.
- A complete access rights management : decide who can see or modify the wiki's content : open it to everyone, only to the registered user, only the course managers,... depending on the wiki objectives.
- Version control and history for each page created on the wiki.
- A complete wiki syntax editor, to help new users to get used with the wiki syntax.
Improved attachment system (ressource linker)
- Attach any kind of ressource : a document, a picture, a video or sound file, a post in the forum, etc... in the agenda or the announcement tool.
- Use internal ressources to the courses as well as external links, or other public courses ressources.
Improved configuration tool
New parameters have been added in the
configuration tool of the administration interface.
- Set the new wiki tool's behaviour.
- Set the compulsory fields in the subscription form.
- Set the ressource linker behaviour.
- Set the document tool behaviour : documents can open in a new window (or not) when users click on them
- ...
Improved forum administration
Administration in the forum tool has been improved, course managers are now allowed to easily
add,
re-order,
delete, or
clean the categories and the forums, right from the forums' homepage.
RSS feed in courses
The
RSS feed allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator. Claroline course managers can now use the RSS feed of their courses to be directly noticed in their RSS client interface whenever any new agenda item of announcement has been posted in the course.
Improved SCORM support in the learning path
Use Claroline to create learning paths and the SCORM standards from the ADL (
Advanced Distributed Learning) to export the contents.
- Learning paths can now be exported as fully SCORM 1.2 compatible packages
- Full exportation of the exercises as independant HTML and javascript pages
- Use of the SCORM API to track the user's scores
Improved agenda, course description and announcement visibility
Course managers can now
hide any kind of item (as they already could with the documents in the document tool) switching from an opened or closed eyes to show or hide each agenda events, announcements, or course description 's items.
This improves very much the reusability of the contents added in those tools from a session to another.
New item notification system
Registered users are now
notified of new items (since their last login on the platform) in the tools of the courses they are registered. A simple icon appears next to the course or the tool name of the recently modified tools. This increases the usability of the platform, allowing users to get a quick overview of what they have to see on the platform since their last visit.
User subscription improvements
Course managers can now choose to create new users (in the user tool) or to
select an existing user of the platform when they want to fill the user list of their course. The option is also configurable in the administration to allow (or not) to use it as a search engine in the whole user list of the platform, depending on the campus policy.
Security improvements
Claroline installation requirements have been improved : the
register_globals PHP settings can now be set to
Off, increasing the security of the server and opening the possibility to install in a much easier way Claroline to some hosting services who close this possibility for security reasons.
Improved SSO (Single Sign On) system and new CAS (Central Authentification Service protocol)
Single sign On (
SSO) is an authentication process enabling user to authenticate once and gain access to multiple systems. For example, once authenticated in the library catalog, students don't have to re-enter their password to access their Claroline courses or their web mail.
The new SSO features based on the Central Authentication Service protocol (CAS), originally developed by the Yale University. CAS is one of the most used SSO systems in US Colleges and Universities. Its implementation into Claroline permits a seamless integration of this platform into
existing organization Portals.
Improved authentification forms
Users can now try to access any page of Claroline without having to login first. In case the authentication is required (as for private courses) a simple authentication form is displayed before redirecting users to the right page, instead of displaying error messages as it was in previous versions.
Improved upgrade system
Older Claroline campuses can now be upgraded at once with the upgrade tool of Claroline 1.7, if you are using any version since Claroline 1.5.0 to Claroline 1.6.4, you can upgrade the campus to this new 1.7 version in an easy an much faster way, wihtout having to run intermediate upgrade scripts.
web : http://www.claroline.net/
e-mail : info@claroline.net
tél : 32 (0) 2 541 48 60
Improvements of the exercise tool focus on :
New wiki tool available in courses and groups. Use a wiki as an open and collaborative way to create a document.
New parameters have been added in the configuration tool of the administration interface.
Administration in the forum tool has been improved, course managers are now allowed to easily add, re-order, delete, or clean the categories and the forums, right from the forums' homepage.
The RSS feed allows a website's frequent readers to track updates on the site using a news aggregator. Claroline course managers can now use the RSS feed of their courses to be directly noticed in their RSS client interface whenever any new agenda item of announcement has been posted in the course.
Use Claroline to create learning paths and the SCORM standards from the ADL (Advanced Distributed Learning) to export the contents.
Course managers can now hide any kind of item (as they already could with the documents in the document tool) switching from an opened or closed eyes to show or hide each agenda events, announcements, or course description 's items.
This improves very much the reusability of the contents added in those tools from a session to another.
Registered users are now notified of new items (since their last login on the platform) in the tools of the courses they are registered. A simple icon appears next to the course or the tool name of the recently modified tools. This increases the usability of the platform, allowing users to get a quick overview of what they have to see on the platform since their last visit.