Just two months ago, we released the beta version of our web-based knowledge mapping environment and asked educators and friends to join us in the journey and share their feedback to ensure we provide teachers and students with the most effective tool for interacting with digital content, such as videos and ebooks, and deepening their understanding of it. During that short time, we've gained valuable suggestions from testers and incorporated their ideas into our product to enhance and improve the experience for learners. Today we've released several updates that you can experience for yourself.
We added enhancements to our knowledge-mapping environment in three areas:
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Keyword panel improvements
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Improved "playback" action for text-based content
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Enhanced performance
Keyword Panel Improvements
The Ideaphora technology deconstructs digital content into key concepts and displays them as keywords in a panel below the material for use in learners' maps. Based on testers' feedback, the panel now features color to enhance visibility and enable students to more easily notice relevant keywords. Additionally, the scrolling of keywords is greatly improved to allow for easier keyword selection and smoother drag-and-drop into learners' maps. New keywords pop up, or scroll, in the panel as video content is played or as text is read by the learner. The scrolling has been adjusted to give learners an appropriate amount of time to evaluate and decide on keywords to use in their maps.
Improved "Playback" Action
When learners drag a keyword into their maps, new nodes are created that feature a "playback" button, which takes learners back to the point in the material from which the keyword was dervied. For example, a playback button in a node with a keyword derived from a video will point the learner back to the second in the video where the learner saw the keyword and used it in their map. This allows for easier studying and recall. Previously, keywords derived from text-based material, such as Wikipedia pages, would take learners to the page in which it was found. With the updates, when a student presses the playback button for a keyword based on text, the learner will be taken back to the keyword highlighted in exact point in the text from which it was derived.
Enhanced Performance
We've increased the speed of our environment resulting in faster load times of learners' maps so they can quickly pick up from where they left off or make modifications. Zoom has also been improved, allowing learners to quickly focus on specific areas or zoom out to see the big picture. User preferences now include the ability to change the default node color and change the color of keyword highlights for greater personalization. Since video has been such a popular content source, we added additional YouTube video content for learners to easily access from a list of available resources and explore.
More improvements will be coming soon, including:
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Mobile tablet support
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Upload your own content and create maps
We continue to work closely with our beta testers and pilot sites to make changes to our product based on their feedback, which users can give directly through our platform. One of the core values of Ideaphora is listening to customers and analyzing user activity to continually enhance our knowledge-mapping environment and garner the best outcomes for schools, teachers and students.
If you've signed up to participate in our beta, log in today to see the new enhancements and try them out. If you're new to the Ideaphora beta, sign up now to experience the updated version.
