Wednesday 16 October 2013

Two new content providers available!

After attending the Scottish Learning Festival recently, our team received re
quests to have support for The University of Edinburgh's fantastic "Digimap" solution for schools to be linked into our Learning Platform.
Integration took just one hour to complete, together with single-sign-on authentication.

At the same time, we also received enquiries to have support for Collins Online Learning, which is also now available to all clients with immediate effect.

We now have support for 63 content providers - with more to follow!

If you regularly use content within school and would like to see it features directly within the system, please contact our support services at support@mylearningltd.co.uk

Sunday 13 October 2013

Next major release of My Learning announced!

The next major release of My Learning will be launched on 26th October. Version 23, entitled "Godyris" (Dazzling Glasswing) will be made available to all clients. No action is required by end-users.

This latest edition brings many changes to the core of the system and includes features requested since the last update in June. Our team have focused closely on the following requests:

Customizable dashboard:
Our new "Panel sets" allow end-users to entirely customize their home-page. This feature works on tablet and desktop devices and will allow you to move panels around the screen and selects appropriate panels for your needs. Users who are familiar with our existing dashboard will see that this is a very useful new feature. Unlike other competitor products, our new panel sets work with HTML4 and HTML5 devices.

Terminology editor:
Because My Learning is used by such a diverse audience, ranging from Child Minding services, Nursery, Primary, Secodnary, Libraries and H.E customers; the terminology seen in the product can now be edited by the administrator of the platform. For example, the term "School" may not be relevant in some situations - so can now be altered by the owner of the platform. Another example my be the use of the term "Homework" - this can all now be edited to suit your needs.

Template farm:
For some time, we've been aware that our editor provides a template system which would benefit from a clearer and more feature rich design so we've been working away to re-create a whole new set of ready-made templates which can be used within all your work. This allows the rapid creation of content, documents, portfolio's and content. It's now compatible with tablet devices too - meaning that you can use the devices to quickly and easily author content.

Learning routes:
Our popular learning routes can now be cloned within a course and end-users can establish specific members of a learning route. This is ideal if you wish to offer two difficulty levels for separate audiences of your learning route. Member management is clear and simple, and will always show the latest members of your courses to quickly add into a differentiated route.

Course categories:
For our user who have many courses, we now have the ability to list your courses pertaining to the category which they reside in. This provides a much clearer and easier to use page. We've also moved the course news and summary text to the right of your course list - so you'll always see the latest news in your courses.

Quick Links
By popular request, the new edition has a panel set devoted to providing you instant shortcuts to any part of the system. It's icon driven, so users can quickly recognise key parts of the system.

Additional content:
We've added over 10 new suppliers to the content library, and a few new Youtube channels and Flickr galleries. There's now the option to blacklist any images at Flickr - this is useful if you wish to permanently exclude an image from the Flick search results.

News blogs:
A very popular request since June. Teachers and administrators wanted a method to communicate to their class instantly with information (as opposed to messages, calendars and notes). We will be releasing the "News Blog" service which allows a teacher to keep a running blog of events for a particular class or learning space. This news is then projected onto a panel-set of the users home-page and is accessible within their class. This means that the teacher can post videos, content and all types of media for their class.

Journey files:
A new type of file will be available within My Learning; it's called a "Learning Journey" and allows end-users to create sequenced and choice-led slideshows rapidly. Now, instead of creating a flat-file document, you can link them together into a playlist, or choice driven journey for the user to follow. This is a very powerful tool - allowing you to construct rich, diverse content experiences for end-users.

Calendar system:
We recognised that historically, My Learning gave you two calendars - a "Public" calendar for your establishment and a personal calendar reflecting your own events. In the next edition, we've replaced this ith a single universal calendar which clearly shows ALL your events in one place. Even better, it's now searchable and equipped with filters to highlight certain types of events. We've also updated the mobile version and made the system more compatible with tablets too.

Enhanced themes:
We have modified every theme on the system to take advantage of the new "Panel Set" system. This means that now you can promote certain panels to make them stand out from others, you can give them bigger titles and apply colours to them to make certain features really stand out. We've also further enhanced the way themes are rendered, meaning that the system can operate more quickly then before when rendering panels for you.

Bookmark login page:
Users will be able to bookmark their login page for the platform on the sign-in screen. This works on mobiles, tablets and PC's irrespective of your browser or hardware. This way, you'll never forget the login page for your system.

User Profile Reports:
The "UPR" is a new feature, mainly for students and end-users which provides a very colourful and clean interface to represent grades and mark book results. This new module is the first to use our new "Metro style" interface, as seen in Windows 8 - and provides a much richer and more immersive display for touch based devices. In future editions, we'll be progressing this new design and listening to feedback from our users as to whether they would like to have more areas of My Learning in this particular style. Initially, the UPR area includes the students mark book - but will be enhanced to include additional information thereafter.

Grading centre:
The grading centre is being upgraded to have additional search tools, mainly to allow teachers to quickly obtain results and comparisons of students learning and grades throughout the system. As this area continues to develop we would like to request feedback on features that teachers would like to see for this module.

Lesson observation:
A new feature will now allow teachers to make instant lesson observations during any point within the product. They can make observations on produced work, or on individual students - with over 25 positively reflected statements about students. All of these observations are stored and correlated within the "User Profile Reports" which can be made available through the parents portal, and to teachers if required.

Email redirection:
After a brief removal of the service, we're pleased to say that the platform will have this feature returned after a detailed re-write. Now, when you receive messages within the platform; they'll optionally be echoed out to your designated email address so that you can stay informed of activity within the system.

QR Codes:
We've further extended the use of our QR code technology. Now, users can scan in QR codes for their profiles, courses and all displayed documents - meaning that with a single "scan" they can be accessed on a mobile device or tablet system. This rapid information exchange allows instant access to work.

Quick help:
Our new "Quick help" feature provides a context-sensitive icon on every page of My Learning. When you click this link, you'll receive instant pop-up text with a brief synopsis of how to use the feature together with a link to a Youtube video showing you how to use the item you clicked. This is an ongoing upgrade, and will be updated weekly to form part of a new service entitled "The Skills Hub"

Tuesday 20 August 2013

New server launched in Moldova

Another geo-targeted server was launched today to serve clients in Moldova, Ukraine and Romania. The team at My Learning welcomed 15 schools at a recent press event held at the Ministry of Education in Chisinau as part of a wider project to deliver high-speed 21st century learning solutions on mobiles, tablets and PC's.

The new server is able to operate in a range of national languages, including Russian, Romanian and Ukranian. Our newly formed Educational Resource Team will be training local staff and working with the Ministry to establish digital curriculum content during the Autumn term and beyond.

This three-year lifecycle project aims to equip schools with cutting edge hardware, software and online e-learning systems to provide a unified digital curriculum for the future of learners in Moldova.


Britannica Online now available in My Learning!

The development team at My Learning announce that they now have single sign-on integration with the award winning Encyclopædia Britannica.

Britannica Online School Edition provides expert content for primary and secondary schools. More than 100,000 articles, 46,000 images, 4,000 videos and hundreds of other interactive materials are available all at the touch of a button.

My Learning can now integrate directly with single sign-on, allowing seamless (age appropriate) access to their educational content from inside My Learning.

Discover an even greater list of providers that work with My Learning using this link. If you are a content provider who would like to showcase your material and content to existing and future schools, then contact ask@mylearningltd.co.uk

Thursday 15 August 2013

New server launched in Greece

My Learning are pleased to announce the release of a new server instance which will serve schools in Greece and Cyprus. This new server has been provisioned for our schools in Thessaloniki and the surrounding areas and has been geotargeted to run with Greek first language support, with English as a second language.

With dedicated servers in Vietnam, The Netherlands, Germany, UK and India - the network of established server points continues to grow.

Next week, a further dedicated server in Oman will be released; followed by an Autumn release for schools in Moldova. The States of Jersey now also benefit from their own dedicated server, hosted within their secure data-centres.

Towards the end of September, My Learning will be test driving their multi-point Cloud based VLE service which will be provisioned on a real-time adaptive Amazon Web Services framework, allowing clients from around the globe to communicate with their closest point of presence server. The service will be available for end-users in Q1 of 2014.

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Research into automated image censoring

During the last two months, My Learning have been researching the ability for the VLE to classify uploaded images as potentially unwanted pornographic material. The results of the research will be offered to key beta-pilot schools during the summer break in order to further evaluate the developed technology.

This work represents a useful aspect of enforcing e-safety across our entire product range using a very flexible and powerful module which is nearing pre-release. As we all know, whilst most users adhere to the policies laid down by their school, censoring images manually (and ultimately limiting all uploads) can be a very time consuming and labour intensive task.

Our latest work is producing very accurate results, and will ensure that future versions of our product are stronger than all current competitors by using our own technologies (at no additional cost) to further protect and prevent unwanted images from being uploaded.

We'll keep you updated with the progress of this exciting feature as we head towards beta-release during the summer holiday in the UK.

ML Support.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Can your VLE, LMS, CMS and/or Learning Platform talk?

Ours can.

My Learning are pleased to announce that shortly, we'll be looking for clients to trial our new speech enabled  feedback service. We've spent the last 4 months preparing our new TTS (Text-to-speech) mechanism which can effectively speech-enable the entire platform.

It gets better, not only have we managed this in English - we've also been able to allow the system to run in 12 further languages too. Whilst this is early beta-release code, it's been running within the upcoming late-August release of My Learning in readiness for version 22.

Finally, you'll have a service which could run in a main language of Polish, backed with English text and speech output. Or, why not run your VLE in Spanish for the day? It's ideal for early learners, or those who don't have an oral understanding of a language.

If your school is interested in trialling the new feature just let us know and we'll enable this feature.

ML Development Team.

Friday 31 May 2013

My Learning provides "Universal Device Login"

For some time now, our development team have been researching improved methods of logging in to the system with a range of devices. During the last 9 months, we've noticed a 30% increase in tablet and mobile devices using our services ranging from Blackberry mobiles through to weird and wonderful tablet manufacturers.

It's important that our system continues to adapt the the ongoing myriad of hardware which attempts to use our services via the internet. In response to this growing demand, we're pleased to announce that as part of our next major release (entitled "Forbestra") we are installing the first phase of our "Universal Device Login" (UDL).

Initially, this will appear as a direct replacement of the traditional login page. Existing users of My Learning have been used to a more traditional and slightly too informative landing page:

With the impending minor-release of Version 21 (Forbestra) this coming weekend, your login page will be changed to look like the one below (and will include your establishment logo too). This new login page will attempt to detect what type of device you're using, and can automatically format it's size and orientation to best-fit your equipment - providing a much more seamless login experience. Phase one is part of a larger migration towards single-sign-on for our upcoming "Commune" platform for the Autumn release (v22 Godyris). UDL will be expanded in future releases to accommodate SSO, OAuth2, OpenID and Shibboleth together with social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Microsoft authenticators.


Users who have customised the colour and slogan of their product will be pleased to know that this will still be apparent in the colour-way you see above, as will any custom text and establishment logo's. As always, we're here to listen, so keep your suggestions and comments coming in!

ML Development (pizza eating overtime junkies).

Friday 10 May 2013

Cloud technologies gain momentum at My Learning

My Learning are pleased to announce that as part of their Q4 growth strategy for 2013, that their services will be also be provisioned on the cloud. This will provide our existing, and expanding international  markets the ability to enjoy the benefits of expandable cloud storage, enhanced resilience and a faster service to geographically closer editions of the My Learning platform.

Our technical team have been researching established cloud services during this last year and have recently piloted a scalable edition of our product which has exceeded our performance expectations.

During the summer term break, a cloud option will be made available to selected clients whom wish to benefit from many of the improvements which a cloud solution can deliver.

As My Learning continues to become a familiar choice for many educational establishments, it is important that we strive to deliver a platform independent web-accessible product for our end-users. Our traditional deployments, such as in-house rack-servers and VMWare platforms will continue to be offered as part of our solution.


Monday 25 March 2013

Uniservity migration now available

My Learning are pleased to announce the release of their migration suite for users of "Uniservity". Our product is now able to accept and receive uploaded files from the CLC Uniservity suite, retaining all formatting and information as it was stored.

This is an invaluable tool for any schools who are looking for a replacement to this product. If you wish to learn more about this exciting development, contact any member of our team who will be more than happy to answer questions.

Additional support for migration is also under research, and we will inform our ex-Uniservity users of new functionality via their My Learning bulletin board.

ML Support.

Thursday 21 March 2013

My Learning showcases in The Netherlands

My Learning have been invited to attend one of the most prestigious training venues in The Netherlands on March 22nd to perform two 90 minute real-time teaching sessions to students from schools in the local area.

In line with their recent appointment of a new distributor for The Netherlands, and as part of a week long visit to the region at the invitation of Stichting Nutsscholen Breda, Business Development Director - Alan Sawyers will be making maximum use of the esteemed eLab at Innofun to showcase how learning can be delivered to a wide range of students using PC's, tablets, mobiles and other forms of internet technology. (Information in Dutch here)


Now into it's second year of use in Holland, teachers and students are taking part in a series of sessions throughout the week, followed by evening sessions and the opportunity to speak directly with the team who inspire and produce My Learning.


With attendees from local government, eLab and the schools - this is an amazing opportunity to show students and teachers how they can master 21st Century learning to enhance and increase the learning potential of students.


The visit was made possible by the early adoption of My Learning through SNB after meetings which helped the school group realise their goals can be achieved. Kees van der Plas (ICT Policy Officer for SNB and a distinguished ICT blogger) has been instrumental in the roll-out of My Learning.

Full transcripts, photo's and media will be available after the event. the team at My Learning is also using the opportunity to produce a case-study of the many different ways in which schools throughout the world make use of My Learning.

Sunday 10 February 2013

Google Drive now available!

My Learning are pleased to announce the immediate availability of direct access to Google Drive from within My Learning. You'll find a new icon in your File Manager that allows you to copy items from your drive into your personal File Manager to be used as a resource within our platform. This facility operates in the same manner as our Dropbox service.

This small update follows an initial release of v20.0 two weeks ago and forms part of our 4-stage upgrade to the full v20 edition of My Learning.

Next up, will be support for Microsoft 365 (SkyDrive) which is under final beta testing this week.

Have fun!
ML Support.

Saturday 26 January 2013

v20 Release announcement

My Learning are pleased to announce that v20 of our flagship platform (entitled "Emesis") will be appearing later today. No action is required, and customers will find full release notes and details appearing on their bulletin boards this evening from our team.

What's in store for our v20 edition?


v20.0: (Jan 26th 2013)

  • Course scheduling - Determine when courses are available.
  • File 'visibility' options for files and folders.
  • Direct integration with Google Drive and Dropbox!
  • Even more support for new file types (a further 32 file types).
  • A new software library with hundreds of apps.
  • Early grading centre (Markbook) support.
  • Homework v3 - adds even more features for our users.
  • Streamlined themes and cosmetic updates.
  • Export and share tests between schools.
  • More new panels for our dashboard users.
  • APP level reporting (setting goals/targets for students).
  • Create file links directly to courses/topics.
  • Admins can customise the login page colour and message.
  • Integrated Youtube search/browse.
  • Integrated safe-Flickr galleries.
  • Additional support for profanity filters.
  • Chatrooms now have video and real-time file delivery.
  • New 'permissions' icon shows you what you can and cannot do.
  • New set of extended emoticons for social profiles.
  • Even more 3rd party content providers now work with My Learning.
  • Simplified home-page footer tools with popup windows.
  • Built in support for Sibelius player.
  • Support for 'virtual files' - which live in another location.

v20.1: (Feb 16th 2013)

  • Create file links to individual parts of your course/topic.
  • Administrator-editable marking templates.
  • *User can also select the marking template to use when grading.
  • Fully established video-conferencing suite and shared whiteboards.
  • Beta release of our new Plagiarism tool.
  • Beta release of access to "Commune" - our community sharing platform.
  • Direct integration of Office 365 (Skydrive) documents.
  • Support for directly embedded Google Calendars.

v20.2: (Mar 9th 2013)

  • Resource and asset tracking tools (allows users to schedule school equipment)
  • Behaviour reporting tool.
  • Beta "Android app" release for tablets and mobiles.
  • Musical notation/scoring editor (supports over 5 common notation formats).