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Release notes for August 14, 2023

  • Updated

These notes provide information about the beta release of Engageli 3.1, including new and enhanced features, improvements, and resolved issues.

The Engageli 3.1 beta release contains Beta features that can be used and evaluated by partners. 

We collect feedback on the implementation and use of Beta features so that we can improve them. We value any feedback, as it enables us to provide partners with the best possible product. This also helps us prepare for the launch of Engageli 3.1.

Disclaimer for the Beta Release

Please take note of the following limitations regarding Beta features:

  • Beta features should not be used in production settings.
    • We offer limited support on Beta features with no warranty.
    • Beta features may contain bugs. Noted areas to avoid:
      • Overlay Gallery
      • Low Bandwidth Mode
      • Sub-rooms
      • Very long recordings (4+ hours)
      • Playback Room AI-Assistant in Chat
  • Beta features are not covered by any Service-Level Agreement (SLA).
    • We value feedback, including tickets describing problems with Beta features, but these tickets will not be handled according to your SLA.
    • We cannot guarantee timely fixes for any problems you encounter with Beta features.
  • Beta features may change in future releases, depending on feedback.
  • Beta features and products may be incomplete.
    • Future releases may include more functionality to complete the feature. 

Engageli 3.1 takes the best of Engageli to a new level with a focus on stability and ease of use. Based on feedback from partners, we've improved the Engageli classroom to better support teaching and active learning and provide a flexible learning environment for all participants. In addition to a variety of new features, Engageli’s team has enhanced the overall teaching and learning experience in many ways. 

Exciting New Features

  • Dial-in support (For U.S. customers only)
  • Lock Tables 
    • Instructors can lock tables to stop learners from moving between tables to better manage their learners and class activities.
  • Peek at Tables
    • Instructors can now observe table activities unobtrusively without interrupting the learners.
  • Two Instructors Using Web Browsers
  • Collaboration Spaces
    • New Playback Room features allow for collaboration spaces where learners can review course material and complete assignments and supplemental material in groups.
  • Self-Paced Assignments
    • Engageli’s self-paced materials have been enhanced to allow completion tracking and customized tasks that can be completed individually or in groups.

More New Features and Enhancements

Accessibility

  • Users with the TA or instructor role can provide manual captions. 
  • Instructors can manually replace transcribed captioning files. Learners with accommodation may need additional help via transcription in the Playback Room. If the institution uses third-party transcription services, these files can be used within Engageli. 

Localization and Language Compatibility

  • Users can change the application UI language (English, French, Spanish, or Japanese). 
    • Some English remains (e.g., End User Terms of Use)
  • Instructors can change the language detection for closed captions.
    • Chinese (China), Australian English, British English, American English, French (France), Canadian French, Canadian French, German (Germany), Hindi (India), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish (United States), Thai (Thailand)

Asynchronous Experience/Playback Rooms

  • Users can mark their Playback Rooms as public or private. Public Playback Rooms allow any user online to join.
  • Users can request help from within the Playback Room and an alert is sent to the instructor.
  • Instructors can enable email notifications to instructors, TAs, or both for new questions posted in the Playback Room Q&A.
  • Users can open the PDF Share to upload documents in the Playback Room.
  • Users can create permanent links to share to meet in the same Playback Room on different occasions.
  • Users can easily find class recordings with the newly designed UI that provides a visual representation of recordings.

Class Recordings

  • Table whiteboards are included in class recordings viewed in an Engageli Playback Room.
  • The PDF live share quality is improved in class recordings.
  • Instructors have the option to make recordings private by default rather than immediately have them available in the Playback Room.
  • The Class Gallery can be included in the class recording.
  • Highlighted tabs in the live session indicate to the instructor what is being recorded.
  • Screen share and PDF share annotations are included in the class recordings to improve the viewing experience for asynchronous learners.

Chat, Notes, Q&A

  • Instructors can turn on AI-powered chat functionality to detect and block inappropriate messages to maintain safe learning environments on Engageli. (English only at this time.)  
  • Anonymous chats can be disabled by instructors in the class configurations.

In-class Teaching Tools

  • Polls 
    • Text input (word cloud) poll answers are shown on user video feeds in the Class Gallery so instructors can easily see each learner’s response.
    • Improved UI for creating table arrangements based on poll responses. 
  • Screen Share
    • Instructors and TAs see an improved UI when learner screen share approval is needed.
    • For Mac users, a new permissions page that includes screen share permissions is prompted at login to avoid screen share issues. 
    • Staff and learners can annotate on a screen share to provide visualization and focus on a concept during instruction or class discussions. 
  • PDF Share
  • Whiteboards
    • Users can upload or drag & drop image files to display on Engageli whiteboards. 
    • Simplified setting to restrict editing to only staff. 
  • Tables
    • Instructors can use table presets on free seating.
    • The Seating Arrangement drop-down menu has been updated for better usability.
    • Instructors can adjust settings to open the classroom in Table Mode. 
    • Improved UI for creating random table arrangements. 

Podium

  • Instructors can hide their video to allow for a producer mode with one instructor facilitating the session out of learner view.
  • Instructors can go back to the podium after visiting tables more easily with the “Back to podium” icon on the instructor video.
  • Instructors can enable meeting mode to disable the fixed podium to create a working space for meetings or sessions without an instructor presence at the “front” of the classroom. 

Class Gallery

  • Users can turn on “Auto Rotate Gallery” to see users on all pages of the gallery easily.
  • Users have new ways to sort the class gallery: Recent Speakers, Camera on, Table seating, and Names (first name, alphabetically).
  • Users can open a dynamic gallery in the right side panel.
  • Learners only see the Class Gallery in Room Mode. In Table Mode, learners see the Tablemates Gallery. 
  • Users can search the Class Gallery by Active and Not Active (not present) participants.
  • Learners can deselect “My Video First” in the Sort gallery options. If deselected, the user’s video will no longer appear in the top left position of the gallery, to reduce virtual classroom fatigue.

Advanced Controls

  • New option to make classes accessible to learners only when the instructor who is logged in enables it. Other restrictions: 
    • Disallow anonymous chat
    • Disallow file uploads to the chat and whiteboard
    • Filter to disallow inappropriate messages in the chat & Q&A

Admin Portal

  • New section for Administrators called Class Management. Classes can be deleted or archived in bulk. 
  • Individual class management is now called Classes. 
  • New additional site-wide privacy, security, and Playback Room related settings.
  • New settings allow administrators to customize virtual background options as well as upload custom background images.
  • Instructors and administrators can generate links for shared Google docs for multiple tables to save time copy/pasting links.
  • Instructors and admins can add links for shared class documents, MS 365 or Google, so they are already available in the live class. 
  • New tabs to make the classroom & Playback Room settings easier to find: 
    • Common configuration
    • Live configuration
    • Playback configuration 
  • The 15 minutes Class Timeout setting can be disabled.
  • New option to enable short token format class URLs. 
  • Attendance data is generated for unscheduled sessions that last at least 15 minutes. 
  • New button to open the instructor My Class portal from the Admin Portal. 
  • New button to Download all chat easily from the Admin Portal. 
  • New link to Live Configuration page to update attendance settings.
  • The “Self-paced polls” section of Classes is changed to “Assigned Polls”
  • The Attendance Analytics now includes a filter for Combined attendance for attending a live session and viewing a recording in a Playback Room. 

Audio Experience

  • Machine learning based technology distinguishes human speech from background noises for an enhanced audio experience.

Login Simplification 

  • All users have the same login link (instructors, learners, TAs).
  • The login screen UI and flow has been improved for ease of use.
  • Staff and learners now have a “My Class Portal,” personalized landing pages for easy access to classrooms, Playback Rooms, assignments, and class recordings. [Not available with LTI integrations]

Infrastructure

  • Media-related auto-scaling improvements.
  • Support for 1,500 concurrent learners on a sandbox.
  • Support for larger classes (600 learners in a class and more per prior agreement).

Integrations

  • New admin settings to hide instructor app or Admin Portal LTI link placement from the deep linking selector.
  • New LTI integration to enable instructors or admins to insert specific Playback Room Recordings and Assignments links to an LMS course.
  • Notification improvements in the login flow to direct learners back to their LMS.
  • New Occurrence Id admin setting to allow the identification of LTI class launch by collecting individual LTI link placements in the LMS. The Occurrence Id will be available in the event stream API.
  • New admin setting to redirect users from LTI provisioned classes to a specified URL.
  • Coursera and OpenLearning LTI integrations are now fully supported.

User Experience/User Interface

  • Full page mode for users during screen shares when they double-click keypads or mouses.
  • Visual display of speakers who are not on the podium when the class is in Room Mode.
  • Improved UI for staff and learner tools with updated visual icons and written descriptions. 
  • Product version number listed in the media settings. 

Notifications

  • Audio notification when the recording starts or is paused. 
  • Notification for instructors and learners when instructor directs class to a different view.
  • Improved notification when an instructor might replace an existing instructor in a live classroom. 

Support

  • Limited support for Safari on iPads and iPhones.  Although we suggest Chrome/Edge for a better experience, Safari can be used with Engageli 3.1 on iPads and iPhones.
  • Virtual backgrounds are not supported when the user’s device/browser doesn’t meet certain requirements:
    • Chrome version 91 or above on Windows, Mac, or Linux
    • Edge (Chromium) 91 or above on Windows or Mac
    • Hardware acceleration turned on
    • A browser that supports WebGL
    • A 64-bit operating system
  • Minimum System requirement has been updated. Check Your Technical Requirements – Engageli Help Center

Additional Compliance

  • HIPAA compliant

Deprecated Features

  • Instructor guest link
    • This is no longer necessary as any user can be temporarily elevated to the instructor role. 
  • Self-paced materials in the Playback Room
    • Self-paced materials can now be added to and found in Assignments. 

 

 Need more help? Contact Support.

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