June 19th, 2015 – Release Notes – SIMbook Highlights, Notes & In-Book Search!

#announcements #instructors #new-features #release-notes #students

Users can now interact with SIMbooks directly, leaving notes, highlights, and even links to other important content. This will help students to reinforce content and apply that learning more effectively.

To highlight content, simply click and drag over the words you would like to highlight. That text will be highlighted blue. This highlight will remain in place between sessions, reminding students of the information that they felt was important.

To remove a highlight, simply click the highlight and select the Trash Can Icon.

There are two ways to create a Note. The first way is to highlight the desired text by clicking and dragging. Then click the Notepad Icon in the center of the dark blue popup. The note will be associated with the desired text, replacing the highlight. Text with a note appears as dark blue. To review the note, simply hover over the note text or click the Note Icon.

The second way is to click the gray Notepad Icon at the right side of each paragraph. Notes added in this manner are associated with the entire paragraph and are reached by clicking the Notepad Icon again.

When you click the Notepad Icon, using either method, the Add a Note box appears. Type your desired note in the box and then press Enter or click Accept to complete the note.

Once a note has been created, the Notepad Icon at the right of each paragraph fills in and a number to the right of the icon displays the number notes associated with that paragraph.

To view a note, click the Notepad Icon. The Notepad Icon expands to display all notes associated with that paragraph.

To Edit a note, left click the note text or the Notepad Icon and then select the Pencil Icon. When you have finished editing a note, click Accept or click Enter.

To delete a note, left click the note text or the Notepad Icon and then select the Delete Icon.

To create a Link, highlight the text you would like to become a link. Click the Link Icon on the right side of the dark blue popup. The Add a Link window appears. Type the link that you would like to use or copy/paste the link into the text box. Click Accept or press Enter to create the link. [note: in some browsers users may have to type http:// in order for the link to function]

To follow a link, left click the link and click the Right Arrow Icon. To edit a link, click the Pencil Icon. To delete a link click the Trashcan Icon.

Note: All highlights, notes, and links are associated with individual paragraphs. This is to keep notes from being lost on the page and to keep the content that a paragraph-wide note is associated with clear. At times some paragraphs are broken into multiple selections because the paragraphs is too large or other formatting concerns.

Open the Bookshelf Directly From SIMbooks

Users can now switch books from within a SIMbook! Instead of exiting a book and going back to the Library users can now click on the Book Icon in the upper left corner of the App bar.

When users click on the icon they will be able to view their books in the new Bookshelf view. Users can click on any book to view it, or hit the Back button to return to the original SIMbook.

Users can now search the text in SIMbooks to find that topic they are looking for instead of flipping through page after page to find the required information. To use the In-Book Search click the magnifying glass Search****Icon in the upper right corner of the App bar.

Clicking theSearch Iconcauses theSearch Barto appear. Type the desired text into theSearch Barand click theMagnifying Glassor pressEnterto initiate a search.

All of the results of a search will appear in a column on the right hand side of the SIMbook screen. The results are in order by chapter. Scroll through the results to find the required result and click on that result to be taken to that SIMbook page.

Project Improvements and Bug Fixes

Excel

Formula feedback has been improved when a formula returns an array of values.

Improved grading to check that the correct chart explosion was applied for:

  • In Practice – Guided Project 3-3

  • Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 7.4 (Mac Supported)

In Practice – Independent Project 2-4 (Mac Supported) – updated instruction text for steps 7-9 per edits by author

Skills Approach – Skill Review 6.1 (Mac Supported) – added additional acceptable formulas

Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 6.4 – added alternate answer strings for formula

Skills Approach – Skill Review 7.1 – updated grading for chart category and cell range value

PowerPoint

In Practice – Independent Project 1-6 – Improved grading when determining capitalization of words

Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 3.4 – corrected instructions for step 11c by changing “Quick Style” to “Picture Style”

Word

Improved Feedback in the following areas:

  • In Practice – Guided Project 6-1: Theme Colors

  • In Practice – Guided Project 8-1: Theme Colors

  • In Practice – Guided Project 4-2: SmartArt

  • In Practice – Independent Project 5-6a (Mac Supported): SmartArt

  • Skills Approach – Fix It 3.6: upside down question mark

  • Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 6.3 – style font color

In Practice – Independent Project 5-6b – replaced start file with a version that does not have a labels mail merge

Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 4.4 – Fixed a problem with WordArt layout grading

Skills Approach – Challenge Yourself 9.4 – Improved grading to handle when multiple merge field rules exist in a paragraph

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