Our beta testers and classroom pilots have shared amazing feedback with us over the past few months on what they see as the greatest benefits and features in Ideaphora, as well as what they'd like to see improved. While we started Ideaphora with a roadmap in mind for the product, the ongoing feedback and relationships we have with our users are paramount to our continued success and ensure our knowledge mapping environment evolves with the needs of educators and students at every level. We heard from them that they wanted greater flexibility and customization built into our platform. Today we're unveiling three new features that incorporate their ideas.
In Ideaphora, users now have the ability to adjust their preferences in three areas:
- Amount of keywords displayed in the keyword panel when watching YouTube videos and reading Wikipedia articles
- Option to pause the video when keywords are dragged from the keyword panel to the concept map
- Highlight keywords in the keyword panel as they are referenced in a video while users are watching
All of these features will make it easier for learners to interact with the content without getting distracted and falling behind the content. We have learned from our experience with our BrainPOP integration and our own testers that the possibility of cognitive overload needs to be addressed, particularly with younger learners. For example, we have been displaying 100 percent of the keywords derived from the content in the keyword panel in the beta. However, many educators expressed that there were too many choices, particularly for students in elementary grades. Now, users can adjust the amout of keywords displayed and soon educators will be able to set preferences for their classes based on what they deem appropriate for their students' learning needs.
To learn how these preferences work and how to adjust them, watch the video below:
If you'd like to try Ideaphora and see these new features, sign up for our beta today.
