streamnews

It’s been a while since the last post to this site, but there has been a lot happening in Stream space with the latest changes providing enhanced functionality for students and staff and the starts of a new look and feel.

We will be upgrading Stream on the 4th July, 2013 included in the new version will be:

Icon changes

The most obvious change will be to Stream’s icon set.  The icons are larger, cleaner looking and different to the current set.  The screen shots below shows the change of icons for each activity and resource.

 

When editing is turned on you’ll notice another change, the icons that represent all the key functions – editing, moving, hiding etc – have changed. The image below shows what the different icons represent:

The refreshing of the icon set represents the start of a longer term plan to redesign the user interface to make it more attractive, able to be used on a wide array of devices (tablets, phones etc) and to assist in creating a more uniform look and feel across sites.  Further developments in this area will be released over time as versions of Moodle (aka Stream) allow.

Added functionality

In addition to the new icon set there are also enhancements to some of the core tools.  One of the more obvious enhancements is to the assignment dropbox.  Currently the Massey install has over five dropbox types and in the majority of cases since the migration from version 1.9 to version 2.x the old dropbox is in use.  While changing to the new assignment dropbox will require entering new due dates and configuring TurnitIn etc the new dropbox offers the following enhancements:

– ability to blind mark
– ability to bulk upload annotated files back to students
– ability to upload a spreadsheet of marks into the dropbox
– group submissions
– an option for students to have to accept a submission statement before submitting

If you would like to upgrade your assignment dropbox then please email the Stream Hotline on stream@massey.ac.nz or by phone on xt 83024.

New print request process

In time for the new semester a new print request process will be launched on the 4th July.  Rather than students having to copy and paste the links from their Stream sites into an online form and then send away for processing, they will be able to select ‘core’ study resources from within their Stream sites, track the progress of their retquest and re-request as many times as they like.  As resources are added or made available they will be able to be requested and be ready for pick-up for internal or distance students between 1 – 3 days, or by courier  to distance students in 3-5 working days.

Only paper offerings whose online category is Partially Taught Online or Fully Taught Online will have the print request functionality available to students. For more information about the Print Function please visit the Staff Guide to Stream website.

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