Author: Yerbol Adamov

Richmond boosts e-learning during the Coronavirus crisis – powered by Avallain

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

The ability to communicate in English is an important skill that can have a tremendously positive effect on job prospects in a globalised world while opening up opportunities for further education as well. If students miss classes due to Coronavirus lockdowns, the repercussions are equally significant to their lives. Thus, we are thrilled that Richmond, one of the market-leading publishers of cutting-edge English language teaching materials, has boosted its digital content and made access to their learning platform easier and cheaper for learners throughout Latin America during this global health crisis.

Since the Richmond Learning Platform is powered by both Avallain Author and Avallain Unity, we are proud to be a small part of this generous offer to Latin American learners. As Ursula Suter, Executive Chairwoman and Co-Founder of Avallain puts it: “With Richmond making access to their high-quality learning materials even easier and more affordable for select users in Latin America, they can now use their time in quarantine to keep up with their studies without taking unnecessary risks. E-learning is actively helping to flatten the curve while improving the lives of students at the same time.”

Richmond is equally pleased with this development: “Providing effective English-language education to students in Latin American countries is vitally important to us,” says Deborah Tricker, Group Publishing Director at Richmond Santillana, “and we are happy to be able to continue to do that in the current global health crisis through the innovative digital content we offer on the Richmond Learning Platform, powered by Avallain. The company has been a huge support throughout this endeavour, providing us with cutting-edge e-learning technology at individualised prices and helping us every step of the way.” Avallain will further support Richmond to ensure the stability of their learning platform during the crisis.

Avallain Author Release 28: Enhanced usability delivers higher productivity

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

The latest update to Avallain Author is all about making the content creation process more accessible and giving our customers more tools to create the best learning environments they can: Quickly build entirely new products, comfortably navigate the Media Library to find exactly what you were looking for and allow users to login using their Google accounts. As always, we have also added some great new ways to further individualise learning objects within the authoring tool. Get ready for the most convenient and most comprehensive Avallain Author experience ever.

New major feature: Product Builder

Avallain Author is a flexible and powerful authoring tool for creating professional learning materials and publishing it instantly to learning platforms powered by Avallain Magnet or Avallain Unity. Now, it can even be used to create entirely new software products with only a few clicks. The new Product Builder feature allows our customers to create and publish products as applications (Windows, Mac, Linux or web-based) with all necessary files included.

The Product Builder is fully compatible with all content created in Avallain Author. This allows creators to quickly assign or update content from the authoring tool and organise it using the Structure Tool. Naturally, our customers can also manage different versions of their applications using the Product Builder’s intuitive user interface. Create different versions of your applications for different markets or target audiences and then decide which content updates are assigned to which version. 

Note: This feature requires a separate license agreement and in some cases integration effort.

Enhanced feature: Next-generation Media Library

Avallain Author has several powerful features to implement media such as images, video or audio within learning materials. With the new and enhanced Media Library, finding the right piece of media for any Learning Object is easier than ever. Media assets are now more convenient to sort and filter, while extra-large thumbnails make sure that you know exactly what you’re going to get from each of your search results.

Adding to and maintaining the Media Library has also become more accessible than ever. The importing process has been simplified, and metadata can now be kept up-to-date thanks to the new bulk editing feature. To make things even easier, content administrators can now round-trip metadata with CSV.

New login option: Google authentication

The “sign in with Google” feature has been a popular option for various tools and websites in recent years. Avallain Author Release 28 now supports this method of authentication as well, allowing your content creators  with Google authenticated email addresses to use the tool without the need to create specific user accounts (which only add to the long lists of passwords that need to be kept secure).

Tweak: Improved user administration

With Avallain Author, administrators have always had a wide range of roles and privileges to assign to specific users. This helps organise usage of the authoring tool, especially in large companies and publishing houses. One such role – the support user – is now set to “invisible” for admin users. This improves usability, as admins no longer need to contend with user accounts created solely to support content creators when using Avallain Author.

In addition, the Users Overview now notifies administrators if the allotted number of Avallain Author user accounts has been reached. Once the maximum number of accounts has been reached, Avallain Author sends out an e-mail notification.

New feature: Project-wide application of Specific Options

When creating or editing large numbers of Learning Objects within a project, bulk editing has been an extremely popular feature added to Avallain Author over the years. No wonder! It makes editing more straightforward, quicker and more efficient. With Avallain Author 28, bulk editing can now be used to apply Specific Options to any of the Learning Objects within a project. Simply add any Learning Object to the queue and hit the “Apply” button – Avallain Author does the rest.

New option for content creators: Two new hotspot types for eBooks

Interactive eBooks are a great way for students to revise. To facilitate this, Avallain Author now allows content creators to set two new types of hotspots which will be especially useful for solutions pages:

Using the single-solution hotspot type, users can click on a hotspot to reveal and hide a solution. Using the solutions-group hotspot, multiple single-solution hotspots can be revealed in order and hidden again once all have been revealed. This allows learners much greater control over which solutions they want to reveal during revision.

New syntax: Arbitrary hint characters for Text Gap activities

When using the Text Gap Activity Type, content creators can now choose to have specific letters in a text gap revealed to the learner. This is particularly useful for steering struggling learners in the right direction or simply to change the difficulty of a Text Gap Activity.

Avallain Author 28 – more convenient for content creators, more options for learners

“Avallain Author is a flexible and powerful authoring tool that fits smaller companies just as well as giant publishing houses,” says Max Bondi, Product Manager Avallain Author. “Thus, streamlining the content creation process and helping our customers with administering even extensive user bases is very important to us. Avallain Author 28 has taken a huge step in that direction. We’re very eager to hear our customers’ thoughts on the new features so we can use that feedback to make Avallain Author 29 even more accessible and efficient.”

Avallain Author Release 29 will be rolled out within the next three months, while the implementation of Avallain Author 28 has already begun.

National Geographic Learning’s online learning platform, powered by Avallain, has been nominated for an SIIA Codie Award

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

Update (20.05.20): We are proud to announce that Our World 2e Online Learning Platform has won the 2020 SIIA Codie Award for Best ESL, ELL, or World Language Acquisition Solution.

In 2018, National Geographic Learning (NGL), a part of Cengage, approached Avallain with the idea of producing high-quality digital learning materials to accompany their world-renowned “Look” and “Our World” product line of English-language teaching materials. Today, we are happy to announce that the Our World 2e Online Learning Platform has been nominated for a 2020 SIIA Codie, one of the industry’s most prestigious awards. This nomination is a great recognition of the effort that went into the NGL online learning platform – and a testament to the highly advanced technological foundation of the platform, provided by Avallain.

What is the best way to learn English as a second or foreign language?

NGL’s Our World 2e Online Learning Platform provides primary English learners with learning materials from innovative interactive activities and games to stunning video and audio content. These digital materials are designed as supplements that augment the classroom experience with individualised learning paths that perfectly accompany the print edition of Our World. Meanwhile, teachers enjoy a robust Learning Management System to guide their students through activities specifically chosen for their individual learning progress. The Avallain platform is also appropriate for secondary and adult learners.

This two-pronged approach is made possible with Avallain technology. NGL first draws from Avallain Author’s pre-designed learning activity “blueprints” to create a highly varied assortment of individualised learning activities to accompany the print version of Our World, then Avallain Unity packages all of this into a coherent and intuitive learning platform, with an accompanying learning management system for teachers.

“By nominating NGL’s learning platform, the SIIA Codie Awards judges have recognised that great e-learning requires both amazing learning materials and a robust but flexible technological foundation to build upon,” says Ignatz Heinz, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Avallain. “National Geographic Learning has been able to produce a staggering amount of high-quality learning materials in a concise time frame, and we have continuously supported them throughout this process. This is how you keep refining all aspects of your learning platform, and I think this SIIA Codie Award nomination will not be the last for NGL.”

Free access to digital textbooks: VERITAS and Avallain support Austrian schools

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

Since 2018, VERITAS, the largest educational publisher in Austria, has been offering its complete range of textbooks digitally. With interactive e-books, this innovative range of products supports learning success through individual content and targeted feedback – regardless of location. It was created with Avallain Author, our market-leading authoring tool, and made accessible via our feature-rich learning platform architecture Avallain Unity.

Throughout much of our planet, the Covid-19 virus is preventing everyday school life as we’ve always known it. But times of crisis are always a starting point for innovation and solidarity as well. In order to help teachers, parents and students to bridge the time between classes and to ensure the continuity of education, VERITAS and Avallain now offer free access to the entire digital offer described above.

“The individual learning success and continuity in education for all students in Austria is a heartfelt concern for VERITAS. We are pleased that with the support of Avallain we can provide schools in our country with free, fast and stable access to our digital learning offer”, says Mag. Nikolaus Donner, Managing Director of VERITAS.

“The advantages of digital education are numerous and, in addition to the possibilities for creating highly individualised learning experiences, the independence of location is a significant added value – especially in the current situation. We are proud that we are able to support our long-standing customer VERITAS with our technology and a service tailored to the crisis to keep school education in Austria running”, explains Ignatz Heinz, Co-Founder and President of Avallain.

Free access is available now at https://www.scook.at/.

Business Continuity through Digital Education solutions

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

In this challenging moment for our world, we in Avallain remain committed to playing our part, bringing to bear our 20 years of experience in the Digital Education industry.

More than ever, companies, institutions, and individuals need continuity in the central pillars of daily life. Education is one of these pillars, and we believe that if deployed well, online learning tools could greatly reduce the impact of the current situation to at least this aspect of our lives.

Preparedness and proactivity

As a digital company with a 100% smart work/home office setup and 100 team members in 15 countries, we had a head start. However, we are still working hard to ensure that we support one another in terms of homeschooling and family support.

School closures in many countries have radically changed the usage landscape. We are seeing exponential increases in platform use as homeschooling and distance learning initiatives take hold. So working closely with our clients, we responded quickly to increase infrastructure monitoring and capacity, ensuring an uninterrupted high level of performance.

Ultimately, we are in uncharted waters, so if things get tight, we will rely on our formal Business Continuity Plan, which has been designed over the past years to allow us automatically to implement fallback options and communication plans in times of crisis. Any client can ask for a copy of this, or for further details about our preparedness.

Human-centered and technology-driven solutions

An essential component of our Digital Education strategy is to address the growing need for real-time interaction and features that enable teachers and learners to minimise the impact of the absence of face-to-face lessons.

Central to this has been an immediate need for live video integration within learning platforms, which allows realtime interaction and online classes without much preparation. We have reacted quickly to this need, and this month are rolling out the first integrations with virtual classroom / conferencing tools.

Our commitment to education

Avallain is keen to help you to support learners and teachers in the challenging weeks to come.

During this public health crisis, we are offering a limited number of free accounts to our leading Avallain Author authoring tool for creating interactive e-Learning content.

Anyone interested can apply directly to info@avallain.com or through the contact form on our website. Our team will help speed up the process of implementation and delivery to ensure the continuity of learning. For institutions, and education departments, we also offer limited free consulting to help implement a fast, accurate, seamless and appropriate solution for the current needs.

We have over 20 years of experience in technology-enhanced education for institutional learning, and now more than ever we understand the value of cooperation and delivering fluent combinations of our own and third party technology as needed.

Appropriate solutions for challenging times

For language schools needing to switch instantly to an online solution, we have a ready-made product suite to offer that will bring you online seamlessly in minimal time.

Our content production department can help create a critical starting mass, and through our long collaboration with the leading educational publishers, we can easily enable access to the best digital learning solutions in the market.

A word of hope and thanks

On behalf of all Avallain members, we thank all the professionals who are keeping up their essential work in these times, including those who keep education running. Driven by education and science, our collective effort, clarity of focus and creativity will see us through this crisis.

Our best wishes to all our clients, partners and friends in the education world.

Avallain and EDIA partner on creating Smart Content for Educational Publishers

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

Avallain (avallain.com), a Swiss-based company, that provides award-winning education technology and tools to create, manage and disseminate educational content, and EDIA (www.edia.nl), Dutch-based, EdTech company applying Artificial Intelligence to create smart content for educational use, have announced a technical and commercial partnership.

Avallain and EDIA will work together by integrating EDIA’s Smart Content capabilities into Avallain’s online authoring tool Avallain Author and learning platform architecture Avallain Unity. EDIA applies natural language processing (NLP), a form of Artificial Intelligence, to create metadata. Its technology analyses educational texts in order to determine readability levels on the CEFR framework, extract keywords and classify topics in a taxonomy. EDIA’s capabilities will further enhance Avallain’s powerful tools and offer educational publishers easy access to metadata automation. These services can be applied both in the process of content creation in Avallain Author, where authors and editors get better tools to add metadata, and in the learning content management in Avallain Unity, where automated tagging can be used to tag and analyze existing content portfolio.

“We are very pleased with our cooperation as we have complementary technology that will help educational publishers in their digital transformation”, says Walter Montenarie, Chief Commercial Officer at EDIA. “The two companies work very well together as we share the same values and are determined to make an impact on education.”

“Our clients have the highest standards when it comes to developing and delivering digital learning products. We are proud to be providing them for more than 15 years with the tools and experience they need to implement these standards and excited about the cooperation with EDIA. Because EDIA’s Smart Content capabilities will add lasting value to our solutions and in EDIA we have found a new partner on our journey to empower companies all around the globe to unlock human potential with technology-enhanced education.” says Ignatz Heinz, President and Co-Founder of Avallain.

About Avallain

Founded in 2002, Avallain quickly took on the role as a pioneer in Digital Education. Located in the idyllic canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden in Switzerland, this was the ideal starting point for what was to come. Ever since our first steps in Digital Education, Avallain has grown into an international premium supplier with staff all around the globe and proud to be working with some of the world’s most ambitious brands, serving millions of learners in various educational settings. Together, our sole aim is to achieve a positive impact on human potential with technology-enhanced education.

About EDIA

EDIA education technology was founded in 2004 and is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In 2006, EDIA launched its first AI product for education, which used machine learning and natural language processing to curate online text sources for vocabulary training. The product won several international awards and is still widely used today. In recent years EDIA transformed into a SaaS platform by applying Artificial Intelligence technology to analyse text.

Avallain Author version 4.13: Accessibility is key!

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

When we rolled out Avallain Author version 4.12 three months ago, we included new gamification features to make learning more individualised and more fun. Now, it’s time to make sure learners of all ages and educational levels can use your learning content the way it was meant to be used: Avallain Author 4.13 introduces additional accessibility options as well as new ways in which content creators can individualise their materials to account for slower or very young learners.

New Gapfill Behaviour: “Tap Swap”

Do your learners use touchscreen devices? The new Tap Swap Gapfill behaviour for the Sequence Activity Type makes sure they can work efficiently by introducing the ability to quickly move items in the sequence in either direction. Tapping or clicking on an item makes two arrows appear which can then be used to move the activated object to the left or to the right without bringing the entire sequence into disarray.

This new behaviour is also ideal for very young learners without much experience navigating digital user interfaces: just tap on the item you want to move and then move it through the sequence, one step at a time. Then tap anywhere on the screen to hide the arrow buttons again: It’s as easy as A-B-C.

New Options for the Exams Timer

When it comes to preparing for exams, teachers may want to limit the time which learners are allowed to spend on solving the task at hand. After all, providing all students with exactly the same amount of time to solve a Learning Object makes exam preparations much more realistic and effective. With Avallain Author 4.13, content creators can now set either a hard time limit or a soft time limit:

  • A hard time limit prevents learners from taking more than the allotted amount of time, automatically submitting the current state of a Learning Object once time has run out.
  • A soft time limit notifies learners once they have reached the time limit. They can then choose to either submit their work or use additional time. Naturally, Avallain Author also keeps track of how much additional time learners have taken.

Content creators can fully customise the popup window which appears once the time limit has been reached. In addition, the format of the countdown clock can be customised and the allotted time for a Learning Object is reported in the End Result Screen.

Audio support when submitting a Learning Object

“Remember to check whether you have completed all tasks before submitting” – simple messages like this can now be recorded and stored as an audio file attached to a Learning Object. Once a learner clicks to submit, they are given the option to listen to the audio file before finalising their decision.

This is a great way of giving additional support to students, remind them of important things they may have forgotten, or simply make digital learning more fun, especially for very young learners. The audio message also helps learners who might not yet be able to read well enough to understand the written confirmation message.

More efficient content creation: Bulk apply

Content creators sometimes have to change option values for a specific subset of existing Learning Objects. Thus far, Avallain Author has allowed such changes to be applied to either a single Learning Object or all Learning Objects within a project. With Avallain Author 4.13, this is a thing of the past, as a new apply option popup now allows project managers to choose individually which Learning Objects to change. Several new options such as filtering by Work Packages or searching by ID or name ensure that content creators quickly find the Learning Objects which they want to select for changes. This speeds up the content production process significantly.

New shortcut: Republishing Learning Objects

Using the Auto Republish button in the Project Settings now opens up a popup window which allows republishing large numbers of Learning Objects simultaneously. Simply select the target environment and the Learning Objects you wish to republish. Click “republish” and once the background task has been completed, all of the Learning Objects will have been republished. You then receive an e-mail which lists all Learning Objects and their respective statuses.

New workflow enhancement: eBook hotspot: Learning dependency

When deleting a Learning Object that is connected to an external hotspot in an eBook, there is now a new dialogue popup which warns the user that the external hotspot will be removed, along with the Learning Object. When using the export button, the user receives an e-mail with the Learning Object dependency list, along with the eBook name, ID and title, the Learning Object’s name and the page number.

Enhancing education, one step at a time

Once again, the new version of Avallain Author includes lots of new options to further individualise learning while also making education more accessible for learners and easier to handle for content creators as well as teachers. “We’re continuously working on all aspects of Avallain Author, from technical improvements to additional individualised learning options,” says Max Bondi, Product Manager Avallain Author. “This time, we have focussed on providing accessibility options and giving content creators more flexibility and more efficient workflows. Let’s see how they use these new features to make their learning materials even better. As always, Avallain will take an active interest in our customers’ feedback and use it to develop new features for Avallain Author, due to be released in three months.”

Latitude and Avallain take to the skies!

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

When it comes to aviation training, language skills are typically not the first thing that comes to mind. However, being able to quickly and successfully communicate information is a vital skill for prospective pilots. Thus, Latitude Aviation English Services Ltd. focuses exclusively on providing quality aviation English language training and testing solutions to aviation companies worldwide. Latitude now uses Avallain Author to develop and maintain Foundation, their web-based aviation English course, as well as Avallain Unity to create their bespoke learning management systems.

Focus on language: Why English skills matter in aviation

Many companies providing courses in aviation English typically do this as something of an afterthought, offering generalised English-language courses, with topics such as aviation or business English as “add-ons”. Latitude takes an entirely different approach: They provide aviation English training and testing solutions exclusively, as precise and unambiguous communication plays an immensely important role in aviation. Various international companies, from Qatar Airways to the Emirates Flight Training Academy, already rely on Latitude learning solutions to increase the language skills of their licensed operations personnel, ultimately improving overall safety standards as well.

“We were thrilled to be working with Latitude, not just because we relish working with high-quality teaching specialists, but also because of the highly specialised approach Latitude takes,” says Ignatz Heinz, Avallain Managing Director and Co-Founder. Ursula Suter, Chairwoman of the Board and Avallain Co-Founder, agrees: “Despite our wide range of customers, this clear focus on aviation English makes Latitude an entirely new type of partner for Avallain, and we are happy to bring our powerful tools into this specialised part of the language learning industry as well.”

Advanced Avallain software solutions for a niche market

Naturally, the highly specialised field of bespoke aviation English learning and testing materials offers only a limited number of customers. Thus, Latitude was looking for a premium software solution which is powerful and cost-efficient to boot. It quickly became evident that Avallain could offer precisely what they needed:

  • Avallain Author: Latitude uses the highly advanced authoring tool in the development of content for Foundation, their 100-hour web-based aviation English course explicitly designed to prepare students for English-medium professional aviation training.
  • Avallain Unity: Avallain’s learning management software architecture is used as the basis of Latitude’s SaaS solution, an easy-to-handle, highly reliable learning platform architecture. Latitude uses this to publish, deliver, assign, evaluate and market educational content.

Since both of our flagship products are designed to be highly customisable and reliable, Latitude and Avallain were able to introduce them into the existing Latitude ecosystem in a matter of weeks. Thus, Latitude now benefits from highly advanced software solutions used by the world’s largest publishers.

The future of aviation English training

After the successful implementation of Avallain products in Latitude’s software during early 2019, Henry Emery, Managing Director at Latitude, already has his eyes set on future cooperation: “We’ve entered into a mutually beneficial partnership which gives us highly advanced flexible technology to further enhance our learning programmes while providing Avallain with a glimpse into the world of aviation English training. We’re already working on new ideas to further build upon this relationship and we’re certain our customers will love what we have in store for them.”

Avallain Author version 4.12: New “Hangman” Activity Type, item-specific feedback per attempt and many additional usability enhancements

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

Gamification features and many new ways to individualise Learning Objects, with the help of a plethora of new options and functions for creators of digital educational content. After introducing Karaoke in 4.11, Avallain Author 4.12 now offers an additional Activity Type for gamified learning: “Hangman”. In addition, content creators gain access to multiple new options they can use to create bespoke learning environments for an even more individual learning experience.

New Activity Type: “Hangman”

Learning Objects can now include a Hangman-style puzzle game in which learners are required to choose from among various letters to fill the gaps in a short phrase or text. Correct answers are automatically revealed while incorrect choices use up one of a predetermined number of chances until either the correct answer is revealed in its entirety or the learner runs out of attempts.

This new Activity Type can be used to improve learner motivation through gamification. Content creators can determine how many chances learners get to guess correctly and they can choose at which point the correct answer is revealed and scored. The “Hangman” Activity Type is fully customisable using the Design Packages, allowing content creators to set up a large number of different games using the same game logic.

Avallain Author’s Enterprise clients are free to change the name, as the traditional label “Hangman” can be seen as politically incorrect. This feature actually applies to all Activity Types, so users can further individualise their authoring experience and align it to their business culture.

New Option: Reset Whole LO

Offer your learners a do-over using this new option. When enabled, learners can choose to reset all activities within a Learning Object by clicking on a single button. They are then taken back to the beginning of the very first interactive activity of the Learning Object. This option saves time when choosing to re-do an entire Learning Object.

New Syntax: Item-specific feedback per attempt

Avallain Author users can now use the Check Max Attempts option to determine item-specific text feedback. Learners receive this feedback when they reach certain thresholds. For example, when a learner still hasn’t found the solution after the third attempt, the feedback might provide more specific clues to the correct answer to give them that final ‘push’ and an adaptive learning experience.

New Values: Send Scores

Content creators can now limit how many times learners are allowed to submit their scores. The new options include unlimited submissions as well as one submission only. Thus, users of Avallain Author can choose whether learners will need to make every submission count or get to try again and again.

New enhancements: eBook linking, fluid learning environments and improved Metadata Editor

Avallain Author version 4.12 also includes several general enhancements designed to allow content creators and learners to fully express their creativity:

  • The new Content Message syntax enables Avallain Author users to link to specific eBook pages from within a Learning Object as long as both are mounted within the Avallain Unity Platform.
  • When integrated into the Avallain Unity Platform, learners can now go back and forth between Learning Objects using a single button. Thus, moving between Learning Objects is now easier than ever and provides a smooth experience when navigating through the learning software.
  • The Learning Object Metadata Editor has been enhanced to give content creators the ability to modify multiple instances of metadata simultaneously. In addition, the user interface has been simplified and streamlined to enable more efficiency when creating or editing metadata.   

New enhancements are on the horizon

Avallain Author version 4.12 is bigger and better than ever thanks to a multitude of new activities, options and improvements. “That’s what it’s all about,” says Max Bondi, Product Manager Avallain Author. “With every new version, Avallain Author has become more powerful, more sophisticated and more accessible. Likewise, the learning objects created by our customers have become ever more effective and innovative at teaching learners all over the world. We are sure that “Hangman” and all of the other enhancements in this version will once again inspire content creators to create the best e-learning materials they can. We will be taking a good look at how they use the new functionalities and use their feedback to further enhance the program with Avallain Author 4.13, coming in three months.”

Avallain Author version 4.11: New options to support adaptive learning, additional Design Pack functionalities and Karaoke!

Posted on by Yerbol Adamov

More options mean more individualised learning experiences. Avallain Author update 4.10 demonstrated this by giving content creators more creative freedom when designing text boxes and feedback dialogue. Among other enhancements, Avallain Author version 4.11 now focuses on new options to plot out individual paths that learners can take through the materials.

New Option: Adaptive Learning

With Avallain Author version 4.11, content creators can further individualise their learners’ learning experiences according to each student’s personal progress: Using the LO Option Show Forward, content creators can lead learners to different screens according to their performance on the current screen.

For example, learners who score below 50 % can be sent to an additional screen for further revision, while learners scoring above that margin will be moved on to the next part of the exercise. This allows learners to organically improve upon subjects they struggle with while other learners can quickly move past exercises at which they already excel.

New Syntax: Karaoke

Avallain Author 4.10 encouraged learners to let their voices be heard – version 4.11 teaches them how to sing: Content creators can now highlight song lyrics progressively in sync with a chosen piece of music. The lyrics can be highlighted either sentence by sentence, word by word, syllable by syllable or letter by letter. This is ideal for language courses, as it allows learners to playfully internalise different aspects of a language, such as vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. For increased customisation options, various highlighting styles and colours can be chosen via the Design Pack.

New Option Value: Try again: Hide at 100 %

When creating Learning Objects with the option Try Again, content creators can now make Avallain Author automatically hide the Try Again button once learners have achieved 100 % – even if they still have attempts left. This improves self-paced learning, as learners who achieve 100 % at a task can move on to the following exercises quicker.

New functionality: Design Pack customisation

Content creators with the Project Manager role can now make small adjustments to the look and feel of learning materials, such as changing a logo or introducing new icons without replacing the entire Design Pack. This can significantly improve workflow, as individual design elements may be changed quickly and easily without altering the overall design.

New functionality: Publishing with individual Design Packs

Avallain Author 4.11 includes a new function which allows content creators to export Learning Objects together with the Design Packs which were assigned to them in Avallain Author. Multiple Learning Objects can be exported and published together, and the correct Design Packs will be automatically applied to them. This vastly improves the workflow when publishing multiple Learning Objects using different Design Packs within the same project.

New Bookmaker functionality: Pen and highlighter tool thickness

When working on eBooks, content creators can now choose the thickness of the highlighter tool. This opens up new ways to structure highlights in eBooks. For example, content creators may choose to use different pen sizes and colours to differentiate information pertaining to specific subjects within an eBook.

More options for greater creative freedom and individualised learning

Avallain Author 4.11 is all about allowing content creators to further personalise their learning materials. “Individualisation is key to learning success,” says Max Bondi, Product Manager Avallain Author. “That is why the most recent version of Avallain Author focuses on giving content creators more options to plot out adaptive learning paths for their learners to take. We already look forward to seeing in which new directions our customers will take their learners using these new options and functionalities.”

The next version of Avallain Author will be rolled out in 12 weeks. It will build upon our customers’ feedback on the changes made in this update.