New local-rate support number

My Learning are pleased to announce that we now provide a national low-rate telephone number for support queries. This new number is available immediately, and is operating throughout the holiday period as normal.

The new dedicated support telephone number is 08451 543211.

Email support is also available during the Christmas break if you feel compelled to be using your VLE!

We wish all our users (wherever you are) a pleasant holiday.

ML Support.

Early feature release

The next generation of the My Learning Suite (v20), entitled "Emesis" is currently set to be released towards the end of January 2013. Visitors to the BETT 2013 show will be amongst the first to see this new edition which will be formally released to clients soon after.

Today, the team have pre-released a new feature entitled "VFS" - Virtual File System. With immediate effect, your VLE is now able to create virtual files which occupy the learning platform - whilst their content resides in another location!

This new feature will appear when you "Create a new file" on your platform.

Example use of this technology:


1) You may wish to utilise a YouTube video within My Learning. Instead of having to copy and paste embed code, or download the video and upload it manually - you can now 'reference' the file in My Learning and it will be treated as if it belonged to the system.
This means that your virtual file will have it's own QR code, tags, comments and properties. It can be shared, marked, graded and assessed. It can also be included inside messages and published websites.


2) You may have created a presentation at www.showme.com using your tablet. Now, you can re-purpose your creation directly inside My Learning instantly as a virtual file. We provide the same functionality with BBC iPlayer and ClickView.


We currently support 4 virtual files, and are currently investigating a further 15 types that will be included for the official release in January.


Existing users may wish to contact our support team and suggest formats that they would like to see on the platform during January.

My Learning to revolutionise content provision

The team at My Learning are proud to announce the early release of middle-ware technology that will provide unrivaled access to 3rd party content unlike any other provider in the marketplace. Our development team have recently completed the final stage of testing for this new feature and will be releasing it three weeks ahead of schedule, on Friday 2nd November from 15:00 GMT.

Technical Director for My Learning, Alan Sawyers advised:

"A VLE/Learning Platform by it's very nature should act as a central framework in order to aggregate and disseminate content from a range of sources. Our team have developed a technology which allows integration with a wide range of content providers on the Internet.
We have achieved this by listening to our users, and by making subtle observations in how this content is used. Finally, there is a learning solution that can take the pain away from accessing 3rd party material. My Learning prides itself in not just reacting to change, but in leading it."

This new feature will be described in full, with accompanying videos and release notes as part of our final update to v19.6 of My Learning which will be automatically released on 2nd November from 15:00 GMT.

This will be the last major release of the My Learning Suite until v20.0 (codenamed "Emesis") which is due in late January 2013.

In the meantime, we thank our community for their amazing support, suggestions and timely feedback; and we look forward to the next wave of user-led features in future editions.

     The M-Team

Free learning for Scotland

My Learning to provide free learning to Scotland.

Telford, Shropshire 17 September 2012

My Learning (UK) Ltd today announced that they will be providing free learning platforms and services to schools in Scotland with immediate effect. The company wishes to allow schools in Scotland to benefit from their resources without fear of contracts or costs.

The decision by My Learning was made in August, after Google UK Ltd reluctantly withdrew its expression of interest on May 2nd 2012 to bid for the provision of ‘Next Generation Glow’ in Scotland. Many schools were anticipating exciting prospects for ‘Glow 2’, potentially powered by Google Apps for Education.

Business Development Director for My Learning, Alan Sawyers, commented that “Schools in Scotland are faced with potential turmoil during the coming year after the unexpected withdrawal of Google. Many schools and Local Authorities are now seeking alternative free solutions outside of the Glow provision. Our product will shortly offer Google integration, meaning that schools may continue with their Google journey. My Learning fundamentally believes that Educators should have a choice, our products will therefore be provided at no cost to any school in Scotland.”

My Learning are at this year's Scottish Learning Festival on 19th and 20th September stand C9.

My Learning (UK) Ltd is a software development house which provides innovative learning software and services. Their products are multi-lingual, multi-device compatible and are based entirely on open-source technologies. They provide services to the UK and international clients at all educational abilities, ages and levels. Founded in 2008, and based in Telford, Shropshire – they are staffed entirely by ex-teachers and educationalists and work with agents and resellers throughout the world. They are fiercely independent, and fully support free and open-source solutions.

View further information @ www.mylearningscotland.com

Look at all this content!

Does your VLE platform integrate directly with over 20+ content providers?

We didn't think so....

If you would like your content to be offered to any of our schools... or if you're a school who wishes us to provide support for your content providers just get in touch!

My Learning in Cyprus

My Learning are pleased to announce a partnership with Intercity Schools Cyprus, one of the largest providers of private learning to over 1200+ students throughout Cyprus. After meeting with our team during BETT 2012, My Learning was chosen for being superior to other VLE products due to it's multi-lingual capabilities, rich media support, cost per user and modular architecture.

The My Learning Suite is also specifically written to work with Tablet and Mobile devices, as all students are being provided with tablet technology for this academic year. Importantly, our technology works with HTML4 and HTML5, providing much needed support for older tablet and mobile devices.

Intercity Schools is one of the largest institutes in Cyprus managing over 1200 students, offering a wide range of language and ICT programs. Language programs have been offered since 1978. Annually, more than 150 new students enrol into their programs. The mission of the institution is to offer excellent training programs in English and ICT all of which lead to international qualifications.

We look forward to this exciting partnership in advocating true 21st century learning for everyone, irrespective of device, age and language.

v19.5 of My Learning is now live!

The support team have now released v19.5 of the My Learning suite.

For full details of items included in this hotfix, please access your learning platform and click on "VLE Updates" from the login page.

Our new bulletin board system is now live and will shortly begin advising Teachers and Administrators of timely and important updates to the system. The new system has been designed to ensure that our users are always kept informed of updates, since the My Learning suite is constantly evolving.

As always, these updates are fueled by you - the users; so keep the suggestions coming in!

Enhanced support for PDF files

A new media engine to support PDF files

Almost directly related to the same video suffrage that mobile and tablet units have with video, the same issues are also true with the popular Adobe Reader package. Whilst highly portable and successful for desktop devices such as Linux, Mac OSX and Microsoft Windows – Adobe use their own PDF “App” to provide web support for their PDF format.

Unfortunately they do not [as yet] provide the ability to actively embed a PDF file for use directly within a website. They do however, provide a freely downloadable Adobe Reader “App” as a download from iTunes or Google Play Store.

Our team have re-written our PDF detector to now provide ‘fallback’ support for any mobile and tablet devices that do not have the “App” installed. This means that even if the user has not installed the free application, that the file will be downloaded to the device.

Note:

Again, My Learning highly recommend that users download and install the “Adobe Reader” application from their respective application store in order to support Adobe PDF files.

New video engine for 19.3

The re-write of the My Learning video engine:

Many mobile and tablet devices suffer issues with incorporating and supporting non-desktop based video inside web browsers. The main problems that manufacturers face are the lack of ability to embed video players within their stock browsers.

Examples:

• ·         Apple iPads are unable to embed their own video technologies such as MOV and MP4 and have to rely on ‘Apps’ from the iTunes store to accomplish video playback.
• ·         Android devices have similar issues with supporting FLV and OGV formats, although to perform better with MP4 playback.

The My Learning development team spent a number of weeks researching and developing a universal video playback engine to support all mobile and tablet devices, and introduced ‘fallback’ behaviour to ensure that there was always a method of playing back video that was either attached (as a file), or embedded (using a gadget) inside the VLE.

The result of this work has now been tested and released as a major update to the v19 “Dione” edition. As such, the system is now capable of directly supporting the following formats on any type of device, from Windows and Mac desktops, through to Android and iPad devices (on smartphones and tablets).

Video format support:

MP4, FLV, MPG, AVI, OGV, 3GGP, M2V, MPG, WMV and MOV

The improved edition 19.3 can now handle all of these formats either directly within the browser, or by using the devices own playback engine. As ‘fallback’ the video can also be downloaded for playing or use offline.

Notes:

My Learning highly recommend the installation of the most popular playback tool for mobile and tablet devices entitled “MX Player” – users should install this tool from their respective “App stores”, and all additional “Codec” packs. Please note that our team is unable to offer support with any 3^rd party tools or applications – but in suggesting these tools, we can assure that they do handle and playback the formats above.

Two new 'Apps' from My Learning

As part of our work to be the most compliant provider of tablet based e-Learning in the UK our development team are making some significant changes to the platform during the summer break. These changes will vastly enhance the end-user experience on a wide range of tablet and mobile platforms with specialist features and detection scripts.

The first part of this work is being released shortly, with two Android apps specifically for instant access to the platform. (Mobile and Tablet)

Did you know that My Learning already have built-in support for iPads and Android tablets? Our system changes the way it operates based upon the device you use, providing a true anywhere/anytime learning experience. And being one of the most browser-compatible platforms certainly helps in applying the same care to tablet users.

We've also just finished writing and signing off our own custom-ROM files for Android tablets, and certifying a range of common devices for use with My Learning. Now you really can deliver bi-directional learning anywhere with ease!

More processing power!

It would seem that all our users are being busy bees before the UK school holidays! During this weekend, we're doubling the processing capacity of the master servers. These servers typically handle video conversions, audio and video recording and website image capturing. By doubling the capacity, we should be seeing a reduction in the time these processes take to happen - this means you can do more work in less time!

This update is being applied to our UK server from 22:00 GMT and our Netherlands server from 23:00 CET. The master servers will be down for approximately 20 minutes.
Our Vietnam data server is being split into two new systems during the weekend, and is not affected by this European work.

Upgrade to v19 Dione - completed

All our clients in the UK and overseas have now been upgraded. The process began at 17:39 and completed at 19:13 GMT. As a result, all editions are now using the new version, entitled "Dione". Registered users of our products will receive access to the release notes from their 'VLE Updates' channel.

Please note that we have updated the release notes within the last 20 minutes of this post as we decided to provide additional features which you will find in section 9 of the PDF file! We hope you enjoy this new version, and expect a few micro-patches during the weekend as we tinker with the controls.

My Learning Support Team.
01952 897933

The switch to MP4 videos

For some time, My Learning have been monitoring the staggering increase in video content used within the platform. We think it's brilliant, and this is mainly due to the fact that media management and support in My Learning has always been a particular focal point.

We're also astutely aware how many users are now using iPads with our software, which of course is fantastic!We all know that iPad's don't play Flash content.... and our video player is flash based!

Not any more! - In tomorrow's update, we'll be releasing an intelligent video player that will change itself according to the needs of the user. So, if you're using an iPad - you'll get the HTML5 player with MP4 videos. If you're a desktop PC or laptop, you'll get the HTML4 version. Flash will only be used as a last resort.

So, this means that in My Learning - you'll also be able to download your videos in MP4 format and use them elsewhere!

Learn everything about tablets for education!

My Learning will be at the annual E2BN conference again for their 3rd year, exhibiting the latest and greatest version of their groundbreaking Learning Platform. Alan Sawyers (Technology Director) will be providing an interactive 40 minute exposé on how your school can make use of tablet PC's from £164 to provide access to all sorts of educational content. For further information on this free session, visit: http://conference.e2bn.org/seminar.php#anchor57.

So, save money, save time and discover why 1 in 12 schools moved to My Learning in 9 months throughout Essex!

Release date for v19 set

The release date for version 19 of the My Learning Suite (entitled 'Dione') has been set at 4pm on June 15th. This date is slightly later than the team had hoped, due to the addition of some last minute features ahead of schedule.

Formal release notes will be published on 12th June for all existing users on the VLE Updates channel.

Major features:

• Grading Centre
• Teacher dashboards
• Group logins
• Virtual files and weblinks
• 3G and 4G support
• Intelligent tagging
• New mobile edition
• File commenting
• Hermes search system

4 New languages added to My Learning

Our team has been busy preparing for the new edition, and are pleased to release four new languages ahead of schedule!

We now have language pack support for Azerbaijani, Bengali, Gujarati and Tamil.

Any of our schools within these countries also have the ability to override our language packs with their own version or dialects. Our platform is the only one of it's type that lets you do this!

In version 19 (Dione) we now have a language history service, that allows you to verify all the new text that has appeared in each new version. This is especially useful to our customers abroad. Our new edition is on schedule to be released on June 2nd.

SSL now available for UK customers

My Learning are now offering SSL connectivity for existing customers in the UK. We'll also be rolling out similar services to clients in Australia/Vietnam (APAC) servers. Clients in Western Europe will also have SSL facilities during the next 4 weeks.

Please contact ask@mylearningltd.co.uk if your school wishes to use an SSL connection and our team will provide further details.

My Learning to be available as Virtual Appliance

Our development team are pleased to announce that My Learning will shortly be available as a VMWare appliance that will run within a virtualised environment. The team have been researching the concept since October and the initial trials are now complete.

'My Learning Virtual' will be added to our product suite in late July 2012 as a product that can be supplied to data-centres, distributors and any 3rd party resellers who wish to provide our services to schools and businesses.

If you would like further information regarding this exciting development please contact ask@mylearningltd.co.uk

Website themes are back!

We've made some very big changes to the latest edition of the website builder recently which you may not be aware of. Firstly, you can now re-use, share and modify themes amongst the school. This means that if a class teacher has created a topic theme for a class, then this can be saved and shared with others to use too.

The same also applies for personal websites; now - students can create personal websites and use as many themes as they want. This is a great tool to demonstrate many aspects of ICT as students can now keep many copies of themes as they learn. If you don't have the website builder, then why not ask your administrator to activate the 30-day free trial?

New menu themes available for customers

This morning, we have released a further 6 VLE designs for users of our menu themes within the learning platform. If your administrator allows you to change your theme, visit the "Options" menu and select "Themes" to see the new arrivals.

Our updated system allows us to quickly put together a range of varied colours and designs. Remember that we like suggestions, so feel free to suggest new colours and designs for us to create!

Additional "Button themes" for younger users will be provided during the upcoming UK Easter holiday.

New content being added to My Learning Junior

The team are pleased to announce that over the next few days, all Primary schools will have an additional 800 activities added to their content library! This material is aimed at Years 3,4,5 and 6 and will allow teachers to search, view and copy a range of new activities covering the entire curriculum for Key Stage 2.

Best of all, you don't have to do anything - the upgrade is automatic. So, keep an eye on your resource centre, and check the TES iBoard content library to find the new goodies during this week. You'll see the new folder icons to represent the additional content.

Hermes - our new search assistant - coming soon!

Hermes was a Greek God closely associated with writing, learning, memory and persuasive speech. We've chosen this as the name of our upcoming enhanced search tool. Hermes will act and behave in a similar fashion to Google, in that within your learning platform you'll be able to search for all types of resources, such as:

Images, videos, text, people, courses/topics and websites. The new search tool will also be able to find content linked to curriculum area's too, and display material based upon licencing types.

Our updated search system will also automatically tag your work based upon popular keywords and semantic natural language. In short, when you create a new document, upload a PDF or Word document our system will now be able to automatically tag your work with the top 10 most prominent keywords in your document.

The Hermes engine will provide teachers and students with a fantastic way to search for a range of shared content within the school. Most importantly, it will also be able to automate the process of tagging your work on your behalf - something which we all forget to do!

So, watch this space and we'll update the platform in a few weeks with our new search engine!

GooglePad... The return

Way back in 2008 (before our newsfeed) we released initial support for full integration with Google Docs, Calendar and a range of other services. Unfortunately, at that time - not many UK schools had found the opportunity to fully explore the services of Google and were rapidly beginning their own assessment of the diverse range of functionality that was to be provided.
We took our initial integrator offline and there it sat for two years!

We're pleased to announce that the project was revived in October 2011 and we're now embarking on phase two of integration. The new module is named "GooglePad" and it will provide access to a powerful bank of built-in sub-modules and features directly from Google.

Initially, GooglePad will provide the following directly integrated services:

Google Calendar   Google Docs   Google gMail

Phase 3 will provide access to:

Google Books   Google Scholar   Google Blogs   Google Photo   Google Video


All of these facilities will be exposed as 'apps' that can be used and re-used throughout the learning platform. Administrators will be able to designate availability of these features based upon the role of the user, and whether they have credentials setup for Google services.


We're looking for pilot schools - so if you use our services or not, give us a call and get involved!