New Releases Bring Exciting Updates

MindTap Release:  Winter 2018

MindTap Gradebook Updates

Based on your feedback, the Gradebook within the MindTap Progress App has been updated to be more intuitive and user-friendly. Key updates include: 

Updated Gradebook Grid View 

•    The gradebook now opens in an expanded format by default, with a simplified header for a clearer view of the gradebook.
•    Gradebook icons now display an explanation beneath them; no need to hover to find out what an icon means. 

Global Gradebook Settings

• The settings icon has been moved to the Progress App menu bar.
• Preferences selected here are global, meaning that they will be applied to all areas of the Progress App (you will not need to select that same setting in each tab).

Cleaner Late Submission & Credit/No Credit Settings

• New buttons open late penalty/no credit settings in separate screens.
• New filters help you get to specific assignments quickly.

Student Roster Now in a Dedicated Tab

• Find your full student roster in a new, separate Roster tab. 

MindTap Guided Course Setup

Guided Course Setup for Select Courses

Guided Course Setup can help you build a new course, or copy an existing course with ease, providing you with: 

• Step-by-step navigation through the most critical steps of course setup. 
• Upfront customization, collecting key dates and preferences at setup to save you time later.

*At this time, Guided Course Setup will only be available for select courses. Please reach out to your Learning Consultant with questions.

MindTap Release: June 2018

MindTap Dashboard & Editing Updates

The latest release for MindTap includes the following updates.

New features for all users:

• Enhanced filters enable users to select one or more options in the filter tool, including “Counts Towards Grade” and “Practice.”

• A Rolling Week View has been added, along with an Outline View to help keep your course content organized.

• Enhanced “Expand all” button allows you to collapse and expand all activities with one button.

New features for instructors:

• Need to edit? Sliding control reveals editable functions in MindTap.

• Show hidden activities with sliding control capabilities that allow you to toggle between hidden and available activities.

• Batch Actions enable you to make changes in bulk. You can hide/show activities and edit both dates and settings.

• TA permission options have been consolidated. Grant permission to edit activities, add activities and edit dates by selecting “Manage Activities.”

• All TA permissions will now be enabled by default.  

New features for students:

• Activity Overview Page displays activity status, attempts and other details/comments.

Learn more about the new MindTap update, or for additional details, review this PDF.

MindTap Mobile App Updates

The latest release of the MindTap Mobile App includes the following enhancements:

• All courses and sections are now listed under “My Courses.”

• An eBook Library feature has been added and contains all ebooks for your courses.

• Navigate courses using the new scrolling menu at the top of the app.

• Use the search icon to find content, terms and activities within a course.

• Launch Questia activities directly from the MindTap Mobile App.

For instructors:

• The “Progress App” is now split into “Gradebook” and “Class Roster.”
  • Use “Gradebook” to view and record class performance.
  • Use “Class Roster” to view all students’ cumulative grades.

For students:

• Export important due dates to existing calendars.
• Preview upcoming activities for each course.

For additional details about this release of the MindTap Mobile App, review this PDF. 

MindTap Progress App Updates

For instructors:

• Instructors can now set “Late Submission” without assigning a “Late Penalty” deduction.
• Late Submission can now be set for:
  • Credit/no credit assignments
  • Manually graded assignments
  • Assignments with no due dates
• CNOW assignments have an updated grading view with a class roster so you can view the assignment for your entire class.

For additional details about this release of the MindTap Progress App, review this PDF.

MindTap Release: March 2018

MindTap Mobile App Updates

The latest release of the MindTap Mobile App includes the following updates.

For Instructors

Instructors now have access to the Progress App to view: 

• Categories and activities in your courses

• Assignments within the categories—you can view the overall course grade for each!
• Average class grade for categories and activities
• Student grades by activity 

Student engagement data and analytics are now available for instructors to view: 

• Overall engagement score and engagement level for your class  
• The combined number of hours of “Time Spent” in MindTap by your class 
• The number of activities accessed
• The total number of MindTap logins by students

Instructors can now view class rosters and individual student records.  

• View the full history of attendance meeting dates
• Individual student records contain the student’s overall grade, engagement stats and grade

For Students 

With the newest MindTap Mobile App release, students get: 

• Last-minute reminders for incomplete assignments that count towards their grade
• Push notifications that deep link directly to their related activity or page 
• Access to Questia activities from the Questia app

For additional details about this release of the MindTap Mobile App, review this PDF. 

MindTap Release: December 2017

MindTap Dashboard & Editing Updates

• Instructors can now opt-in to a new MindTap dashboard featuring these enhancements:
  • 2 refined views that streamline course content into Week and Outline views. 
    • The Week View shows by date which activities are due with each week of your course. 
      • Features a more intuitive, vertical scrolling view of courses that keeps all content accessible from one screen (no need to arrow left or right).
    • The Outline View organizes content by unit or chapter. 
    • A new filter feature allows instructors to narrow their view to show only graded or practice activities. 
    • Instructors can now select Expand All to open all folders and units at once.  Select Collapse All to quickly close them again. 
  • Enabling the Edit Mode toggle enables a new batch editing tool that allows instructors to adjust multiple activities at the same time. 
    • Hide multiple activities at one time.  Use the Show Hidden toggle to view the activities hidden from students. 
    • Adjust available dates or due dates for multiple activities.
    • Shift dates forward or backward by a specified number of days.
    • Change the grading type (graded or practice).
• Adjust the possible number of points for multiple activities at one time.

• Enable the new dashboard view by clicking your username and selecting New Dashboard from the dropdown menu. 

The new 2-view dashboard will become the default MindTap dashboard in Summer 2018. 

Learn more about the new dashboard and batch editing feature in this Quick Guide to the New MindTap Dashboard.

MindTap Mobile App Updates

• Instructors can now check attendance for their class by using geolocation or remotely.
  • Taking attendance in class uses geolocation to make sure Instructor and students are in the same location. Location services is required to be turned on for the geolocation to work.
  • Taking attendance remotely for online classes does not require location services to be turned on.
  • A timer is used to set the time for students to check in. The timer starts at 1 minute and can last up to 1 hour.

• Instructors can edit a student’s attendance after the check-in period has ended.
• All attendance records can be exported from the MindTap Mobile App via a spreadsheet that the instructor can email to any preferred account. The spreadsheet can then be uploaded to their MindTap or LMS gradebook.

• Instructors can now author in-class multiple choice polls.
  • Instructors can name the poll, enter a question, and enter up to 4 possible answers.
  • Polls have the option of having a correct answer or no correct answer.

• A timer is used to set the time for students to answer the question in the poll. The timer can be set between 1 – 15 minutes.
• Instructors have the option to preview the poll to view what students will see before making the poll live to students.

• A high level summary of the results is shown to both instructor and students.

• Instructors see which students responded and which students did not, and who got the answer right or wrong from the results summary page.
• All poll results can be exported from the MindTap Mobile App via a spreadsheet that the instructor can email to any preferred account. The spreadsheet can then be uploaded to their MindTap or LMS gradebook.​

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements and for more mobile app enhancements, download this PDF.

MindTap Release: August 2017

MindTap Updates

• The OneDrive app is now available in all MindTap courses under the MyContent app 
• See the OneDrive.pdf for additional information.  
• ReadSpeaker is now available in the Full Book app in the MindTap App Dock. ReadSpeaker will automatically turn to the next page in the Full Book app. 

Progress App Updates

• With Late Submission, students can now reopen an attempt that was automatically submitted on the due date, letting them continue where they left off. 

• For Late Submission enabled assignments, students who are not continuing an auto-submitted attempt and have an available attempt remaining now see a warning when starting a new attempt past the due date. 

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: July 2017

Progress App Updates

• Students can view Late Submission deduction information in the assessment header when attempting a Late Submission activity from the Learning Path. 

• The font for Credit/No Credit has been updated to be more readable. 

• The Late Penalty and Credit/No Credit comments now appear on the Activity Information page. 

• Instructors can now enter 0% for late penalty deduction allowing students to submit an assignment late without a penalty.
• In the “Settings” Tab, any changes made to activities and categories are now shown by a green indicator next to activity/category.

Analytics Updates

• The algorithm used to compute the engagement score has been modified so it is now correlated with student performance.
  • Actions that are more likely to impact performance (e.g. engaging in activities) will have a greater impact on the student Engagement Score.
• Student engagement levels will now be determined by their engagement score (rather than percentile).
• The student engagement score now appears along with the student's activity scores when selecting any point on the scatter plot. 

• Students’ Engagement score will not be affected adversely even if they spent too much time in MindTap. 

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.  
 

MindTap Release: June 2017

Course and Section Management

• Instructors & Teaching Assistants can now switch between courses in MindTap without the need to return to the Instructor Resource Center (Page 16 of the Course and Section Management Instructor Guide)

• Instructors can now create a Course Master with customized content
• Instructors can then make multiple course sections at once off of the Course Master 
  • Assign instructors, co-instructors, TAs to course sections
  • Copy Activity due dates from Course Master
  • Navigate between Masters and Sections
  • And More…

For a complete user guide with details and screenshots, download this PDF.  

  
Progress App Updates

• The Progress App “Categorize” tab has been renamed to the “Settings” tab.

• A new blue “D” icon is now used in the Progress App to represent Dropped Scores as dropping a score improves a student’s overall performance.

• Drop Score representation in the Progress App Grid was changed from Red strikeout to a blue Dropped Score icon.

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.  
 

Progress App 2.34 Updates

Late Penalty

• Instructors can now configure assignments as Late Submission (LS) to allow students to submit assignments past the due date and before the late submission deadline
• Late Penalty is automatically applied to each student attempt submitted post-due date. NOTE: Late Submission functionality in this release is supported for CNOW Homework, SAM and LAMS. Additional assessment types will be made available over the summer
• Students can view Late Submission activity along with the late submission deadline and late penalty deduction in Week view, Unit view, and List view.

Credit / No Credit

• Instructors can now configure assignments as Credit / No Credit to automatically update students’ scores as Full Credit or No Credit based on a specified percent threshold value
• Students can view Credit / No Credit threshold in assessment header when attempting a Credit / No Credit activity from the Learning Path.

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF. 

MindTap Release: May 2017

• The MindTap standard video/audio player is now updated to default to HTML5 instead of Flash. This will provide a better playback experience and improve accessibility.  
• Graded activities that have been assigned to a grade book category where the weighting of that category is 0 (zero) will no longer be labeled "Counts Towards Grade" and will now be labeled "Practice."  
• The design of the "FAQ", "System Check", and "Help Overlay" (Question Mark) interfaces is now updated to match the MindTap look.

Progress App Updates

Categorize Tab

• "Add Category” button appears directly below the category list instead of bottom of the screen 
• "Discard Changes” and “Save” buttons now appear on the right side of the screen 
  

Analytics Tab  

• The ability to export the report has been moved into the Analytics tab in the Progress app for ease of access 
• The old “Export Analytics” radio button option has been removed from the Export feature available within the Gradebook Tab ​
  

Activity Overview, Activity Summary, Activity Detail

• Activity details are now represented in a : form in Activity Overview, Activity Summary, and Activity
  Detail Modal 
   
  
  

Accessibility

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) related update: Student Overview is now accessible through screen readers such as NVDA and VoiceOver for students with vision impairments
  • Student can hear their name, email and overall score
  • Student can navigate through their folders/activities to hear specific activity details like due date, score, number of attempts, etc.

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: April 2017

Progress App Updates

• Full assignment name is visible by hovering over the name of the assignment in the “Score Breakdown”, so that longer assignment names that are truncated can be viewed.  
  
  
   
• “Back Button” Enhancements for Instructors:
  • Pressing the back button from the “Activity Overview” returns the instructor to the previous activity location in the “Overview Tab”.
  • Pressing the back button from the “Student Overview” returns the instructor to the previous student location in the “Gradebook Tab”. 

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: March 2017

Progress App Updates

• Assignments that count toward students’ overall grade are now visually represented with a ‘G’ icon and hover text of “Counts Toward Grade” 
  
  
   
• Under Filter Assignments, the term “Graded” is replaced by “Non-Practice”. This is to avoid giving the impression that Graded is same as “Counts Toward Grade”.  Instructors can filter to view non-practice, practice or all assignments.  
  
  
   
• Clarification for auto-submitted student attempts with red text and hover text of “Auto-Submitted on Due Date” in the Activity Overview and Activity Detail. 
  
  

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.

MindTap Release: December 2016

Progress App Updates

• The unit/folder name now appears in exported reports so instructors know with which unit/folder as assignment is associated.
• Drop Lowest Grade can now be applied to uncategorized activities when weighting is turned off.
• Instructors can now see the exact time that a student submitted an assignment in the Activity Attempt Modal.
• Instructors can now view all students’ most recent last submission date and time in the Activity Overview.
• Category weight values are now preserved when weighting is turned off and back on.

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: November 2016

Release Highlights

• Minor bug fixes 
• MindTap performance improvements 
• Progress App user interface enhancements to icons, popups, and grade exports.  

Progress App Updates

• The Error in Score icon now appears in the Activity Overview and Student Overview. 
• New Icons, see below for a description of these icons.    

 
To view these updates in greater detail, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: October 2016

Release Highlights

• Minor bug fixes
• MindTap performance improvements 
• Progress App user interface enhancements  
• NEW: Score Calculation by Percentage

Progress App New Grade Calculation Method: Percent Average

The Gradebook now offers an additional student overall grade method. Instructors can now change the method from the existing weighted Points based method to a Percent Average method. One key advantage to this method is that all assignments will be given equal weighting even though they may have variable max points. 

NOTE: This new setting does not affect the current grade calculation method, which is points based. Unless the grade calculation is explicitly changed to percent average no changes to overall grades will occur.

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.

MindTap Release: August 2016

Improvements when Copying MindTap Courses

• When an instructor copies his or her own course, any highlights and notes that they have captured in the Reader will be carried forward to their new course
• When an instructor copies another instructor’s course, the shared highlights in the Reader will copy forward to the instructor’s new course

Progress App Updates

• The Overview Tab now opens in an expanded view
• Instructors can now multi-select students and send emails from the Gradebook view
• The score breakdown pop-up now displays percentage/point calculation
• The same score precision (one decimal point) will display in both the Gradebook and Engagement tabs
• Instructors can now select and move multiple activities to a category
• The Progress App version number can now be seen in the Help view, under the Gradebook tab
• The gradebook now ignores blank Student IDs during Import

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download this PDF.
 

MindTap Release: Summer 2016

Introducing a Lighter, Brighter MindTap Design

• The dark colors of the previous design have been updated with a lighter background
• The new design was developed from user research and feedback to increase efficiency, accessibility, and engagement
• All pre-existing functionality remains and course settings will not be affected
• The new design will go live by the end of June 2016 

Progress App Updates

Improved User Feedback in the Categorize Tab

• Instructors can only save category weights if they add up to 100. A notification will display when instructors input weight values informing them of requirements 
• Instructors cannot remove the last category if they enable Drop Lowest Score or Category Weighting
• When deleting is disabled, instructors can hover over the disabled trashcan icon to view information about why they cannot delete a category
• A message displays when instructors try to enable Drop Lowest Score without creating a category 

For additional details and screenshots of these improvements, download the PDF.