ATutor

This is a significant release, with the addition of quite a number of new features, and further support for accessibility and interoperability standards. It has IMS AccessForAll and ISO FDIS 24751 accessibility, IMS QTI test interoperability, integrated content cackaging, gradebook integration, new system preferences, guest test data collection, module import/export, theme import/export, theme designer documentation, and the Fluid multi-file uploader.

The most notable change in this release is the
conversion of the entire system over to the UTF-8
character encoding. Other new features include a
new look and feel, two new DIV based themes
(default and greenmin), a custom course-icon
utility, and the ability to customize individual
course headers. The new AJAX-based Google Search
is used. Tokens were added to personalize course
email. The ability to present tests and quizzes
one question at a time was added. Visual Editor
was upgraded with the latest version of TinyMCE.

This release adds additional test question types,
QTI 2.1 test question
exportation, batch management of student accounts,
a new administrator
enrollment manager, and a new DIV-based theme
(blumin).

ACollab group functionality was integrated into ATutor, creating a new group user level. Collection group level tools were developed. ACollab users can now configure ATutor to provide most of the functionality ACollab had been providing. Another key feature is the File Storage utility, a personal file manager for students, groups, and instructors. It includes an Assignment Drop Box extension, where students can submit assignments and instructors can manage them. As always, features are accessible to assistive technology users.

There are some major changes to the underlying structure of the system. All functionality is now available in modules. The primary purpose for this change is to allow users to more easily create added features, or to create third party addon modules that link other applications into ATutor. New modules include a FAQ utility, a Google search feature, and an RSS feeds module. The EWiki, ATalker, SCORM Packages, and ACollab modules have also been updated, so it is now possible to add them to ATutor with just a couple mouse clicks.