Academic Innovation Blog

New Quiz Builder Experience

The new Quiz Builder experience has been available for a few months in an opt-in status. With the August 27th update, it will become the default view in Falcon Online.

To access the new quiz builder experience, first go to create a new quiz or choose to edit a current quiz, then select the Add/Edit Questions button.

On the next screen you should see the welcome message for the new quiz builder where you have the option to leave it on or turn it off. I highly recommend you leave it on to get used to the new interface.

If you don't see this message, just select the small arrow pull down at the upper right.

You will have the option to use this arrow and move between the old interface and the new quiz builder until August 27th, at which time the new quiz builder will become the default interface. 

The new Quiz Builder experience is an updated workflow within the existing Quizzes tool for creating, importing, editing, deleting, and reordering questions, question pools, and sections within quizzes. It streamlines the quiz creation and editing process without compromising advanced features.

1. The ability to add new questions, question pools, and sections directly from Quiz Builder. Once a question is added, instructors can see the order of the question compared to other questions, as well as pertinent details such as the question type.
2. The ability to import questions from Question Library or a CSV file. 
3. The ability to see a tally of the total points within a quiz as well as the points assigned to individual questions for easy error checking and updating.
4. The ability to see question shuffling states if shuffle is used at any level of a quiz. This makes it easy to confirm question shuffling is happening at the right level, for example at the quiz root or for a specific section.
5. Quiz Builder is designed to highlight pertinent details about the questions used in a quiz, such as the question type, mandatory and bonus status, and whether the question is used in more than one location. This makes it easy for instructors to review their quiz and make appropriate adjustments without having to drill into each individual question. 

A key feature of Quiz Builder over legacy question editing screens is this ability to reorder questions inline. Reordering is supported as a drag-and-drop interaction or via keyboard interactions with appropriate feedback for non-visual users. Keyboard interactions are initiated by tabbing to a question and then using arrow keys to move a question up or down in a list. Left and right arrows allow questions to be moved into or out of sections.

The second main advantage of Quiz Builder is to apply bulk actions to questions directly from the main Quiz Builder page. Selecting quiz questions reveals bulk actions such as delete, toggle bonus, toggle mandatory and set points.

Here is a short video showing the interface in action.

Direct link to New Quiz Builder video with transcript.

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New Course Homepage Welcome Widget

Do you constantly have a problem with students not reading your course introductory material such as you syllabus or schedule? Help is on the way!

On August 17th we will implement a new Welcome Widget on the default course homepage that will focus students attention on the important material they should review before accessing the main content of your course.

This widget forces a popup window over your course homepage and displays the content of your introductory module. If you have not included the word "welcome" in the module name, you will see a default screen as shown here.

You can safely close this window by using the "x" in the upper right. Then rename your introductory module to include the word "welcome' in the name.

Once you rename the module to include the word "welcome" in the name, the popup screen will display your module content.

If a user closes the window with the "x" in the upper right, the screen will show again when they access the course or refresh the homepage. Users can navigate through the content using the blue "Next" button in the lower left. There is an indicator in the lower right showing how many items are included.

When a user navigates to the last screen, they will see a blue "Dismiss" button in the lower left.

Once a user selects the "Dismiss" button, the screen will close and will not reappear the next time the course is accessed. However, if the instructor changes any of the content in the "welcome" module, the screen will be presented to everyone once again. Users can also access the popup screen by selecting the blue "Launch the Quick Guide" button in the welcome widget on the course home page.

All the content links in your module can still be accessed the normal way from the content tool as well.

So remember:

1. Your module that has the content to show in this popup window MUST have the word "welcome" somewhere in the name.
2. Word and PowerPoint links WILL NOT display in the popup screen, but will be downloaded to the users computer.

 Here is a video demonstrating the functionality of the new Welcome Widget.

Direct Link to New Course Homepage Welcome Video with Transcript

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Microsoft Teams Integration

As shown in this video, all faculty, staff and students can create a MS Teams meeting using Outlook or the MS Teams app. But read on to see how instructors can create a virtual MS Teams class meeting from within a course shell!

You could create a MS Teams meeting in Outlook or Teams and send an invitation to your students or copy the meeting link and paste it somewhere in your course. But now it is even easier to setup a Teams meeting within your course.You can do this as a topic link within a module or as a link within content such as an announcement, module or topic description, or HTML file using the HMTL editor.

Adding MS Teams Meeting as a Topic Link in a Module

To create a topic link for a MS Teams meeting as a topic link in a module, navigate to the module where you want the link.

Select the Existing Activities button then select MS Teams Meeting from the list of options.

You may be required to sign in with your Daytona State College user ID and password. Note that you may have to scroll down to see the Sign In button.

Select the Create meeting link button.

Provide the meeting title, start and end date and time, and select the Create button.

Set the meeting options such as who can bypass the lobby and who can be presenters and then select the Insert button.

You will now have a link at the bottom of the module based on the title you provided for the meeting.

Select the context menu dropdown arrow next to the link name and then select Edit properties in place.

Next, select the checkbox for Open as External Resource.

Adding a MS Teams Meeting Within Content Using the HTML Editor

You can also provide a MS Teams meeting link within content wherever the HTML editor is available, such as an announcement, module or topic description, discussion, assignment, calendar event or HTML file. Basically anywhere you can use the HTML editor, you can insert a MS Teams meeting. In this example, I will insert a meeting link in an announcement.

Create a new announcement or edit a current announcement.

1. Provide a title or headline.
2. Type your message. Note that in my message I am using {FirstName} in the salutation. This is a variable that will be replaced with the first name of the user viewing the announcement.
3. Put your cursor in the location where you want the meeting link.
4. Select the Quicklink icon in the HTML editor toolbar. This is the icon that looks like a chain link.

On the insert quicklink popup, scroll down to the Third Party section and select MS Teams Meeting.

From this point, follow the steps shown in the screens above for setting up the MS Teams meeting link. The text you provide for the MS Teams meeting will be inserted into the announcement at your cursor location as a link to the meeting.

Here is a short video demonstration of the MS Teams integration in Falcon Online.

Direct Link to MS Teams and Falcon Online Video with Transcript

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New Assignment Creation Experience

The August 27th update will also bring a new Assignment creation experience. This new experience will initially be in an opt-in/opt-out mode, but in the next few months will become the default experience as the features reach parity with the current classic interface. So I recommend that you get familiar with the new screens and workflow. 

After the August 27th update, when you go to create a new assignment or edit a current assignment you will see this screen giving you the option to leave the new experience on or turn it off. Again, I highly recommend you leave it on unless you have a very specific reason to turn it off. I will point out specific items where you may need to return to the classic interface.

If you leave it on and later want to go back, you can use the little dropdown arrow to open this message and select to turn it off. As you can see on the new screen, the options and settings for the assignment are much more compact and modern. From this one screen you provide the assignment title, score, due date, instructions, attachments, and links to other items. All other properties are set in the expandable panels on the right, rather than in separate tabs as in the classic interface.

On the Availability Dates & Conditions panel, you can set the start and end dates and times. These dates are currently set on the Restrictions tab in the current classic interface.

On the Submission & Completion panel you can set the assignment type, submission type, and how to handle student submissions. These settings are currently set on the Properties tab of the classic interface.

On the Evaluation & Feedback panel you can associate rubrics, turn annotation tools on and off, and manage the Turnitin settings. Some of these settings are set on the Properties tab in the current classic interface and Turnitin has its own tab in the current classic interface.

Here is a short video demonstration of the New Assignment Creation/Edit experience.

Direct link to New Assignment Experience video with transcript.

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