Release Notes for OWL 20.2-owl1
These release notes for OWL 20.2-owl1 provide an overview of the changes made to OWL on May 1, 2021.
Introduction
This is the twenty-fourth release of OWL, and the first based on the 20.2 version of Sakai.
This release contains an updated look, a fullscreen view, a new Rubrics tool, Manage Overview, redesigned Gradebook and Tests & Quizzes pages, overall improvements, and more. This version of OWL was released on May 1, 2021.
Changes and Improvements
- OWL has an updated look.
An example course site in OWL - New sites will be automatically added to your top sites bar. Use the Organize Favorites tab in the Sites drawer to organize your sites.
Reorganize your sites from the Sites drawer - Most pages in OWL now have a Fullscreen view that hides the top bar and the site tool menu, providing you with more area to focus on the content.
The Fullscreen button appears at the top of most pages - Site maintainers can now control the layout, arrangement, and display of widgets on their site’s Overview page using the Manage Overview option.
Change the layout and positioning of widgets on Overview - The new Rubrics tool allows instructors to create their own custom rubrics for use when grading assignments, assessments, and forums.
- The new Date Manager in Site Info lists all the tools' dates on a single page, making it easy for instructors and site maintainers to adjust open dates and due dates for things like assignments and assessments from one page.
- The new exceptions feature in Tests & Quizzes allows instructors to adjust an assessment's availability dates and time limits for particular users or groups without the need to duplicate that assessment for academic accommodations.
- Tests & Quizzes has a new consolidated main page for instructors and quick filtering of active and inactive published assessments and of working copies.
- OWL’s rich-text editor now has new customizable templates, including “Key Idea”, “Instructor Insight Panel”, and “Learning Outcomes”, which can be easily added to written content throughout OWL.
- Instructors can now enable a 24-hour reminder for students in Assignments to remind them of an upcoming assignment deadline.
- Gradebook has been updated with a new single-page layout, faster filtering of students, and resizable columns.
- Gradebook's "Release item to students" option is separate from the "Include item in course grade calculations" option.
- Gradebook items now display statistics for instructors and students.
- Gradebook comments will now suggest previously-entered comments for faster entry.
- Instructors now can exclude a particular Gradebook item for a particular student.
- The workflow for creating Auto Groups has been streamlined.
- Assignments now uses Turnitin's new Similarity originality system.
- Interface improvements have been made throughout OWL.
- Numerous fixes and performance improvements have been made throughout OWL.
- Overall system security has been enhanced.
Notes
Please visit OWL Help for more information about using these new features.