What's new in R2

This changelog details the updates and new features that will be introduced in the upcoming SLS Release 2, scheduled for release on November 27, 2024. Please note that SLS will be unavailable from 26 November 00:00 to 27 November 23:00 to facilitate this release.

Features for All Users

1. Search

   • New Search Interface: Teachers and students can use improved filter options, including author/collaborator names, to refine their search results across multiple locations. Search results will now include a preview of the resource content referenced in the search, with search match indicators and search terms bolded in green.

2. Assignments

   • Page Navigation Anchoring: The page navigation bar is now anchored to the top, ensuring that page numbers remain visible for paginated activities or quizzes.
   • Annotations on Media: Teachers and students can create annotations linked to specific timestamps in video or audio files within assignments. When an annotation is made, a pin indicator will appear on the media player. Clicking the pin will navigate users to the corresponding timestamp. These annotations can also be viewed in the transcript (if generated by the teacher), and media titles will be displayed on the annotation cards.
   • Annotation Drawer Improvements: Teachers and students can view notes and annotations clustered by component in the annotation drawer. The drawer will be closed by default in assignments and modules, but users can choose to collapse or expand all annotations. For activities or quizzes with multiple pages, a pagination divider will be included in the drawer. Enhanced anchoring interactions in the annotation drawer will improve navigation between notes, annotations, and content.
   • Module Loading: A refresh button has been added to the Interactive Thinking Tool (ITT), discussion boards, and aggregated student responses (teachers only) to update and display new responses, highlighted by a yellow dot.
   • Tamil E-Dictionary: Teachers can enable the Tamil E-Dictionary under Module Settings. When enabled, teachers and students can retrieve definitions and audio clips with correct pronunciation of words and add selected words with definitions to their notes and annotations.

3. Learning Progress

   • Tracking Multiple Class Groups: Teachers and students can select multiple class groups to view students’ learning progress for assignments and self-study modules, as well as generate learning reports for multiple class groups. This also applies to the Adaptive Learning System (ALS).
   • Custom and MOE-Level Content Maps: Teachers and students can view both MOE-Level and their own schools’ custom content maps in Learning Progress.

4. Class Groups

   • Data Archival: Class groups older than four years will be automatically archived.

5. User Interface

   • Table Height: The maximum height of tables has been optimised to minimise scrolling of the selection bar.
   • Font Enhancements: Teachers and students can apply a wider variety of font types in the rich text editor with the inclusion of a new Tamil font and other new English fonts.

Features for Teachers

1. Data Assistant (DAT)

   • Analyse Responses: This new feature allows teachers to ask stock or customised questions about data in the Aggregated Student Response page for Free-Response Questions, the Interactive Thinking Tool (ITT), the discussion boards and forums. Teachers can query data for trends and analysis using customisable queries.
   • Follow-up: Teachers can view a list of students clustered based on set criteria and perform follow-up actions like mass-adding comments and/or filtering students. They can also bookmark responses in ITT and add keyword tags to posts in the discussion boards and forums.

2. Authoring Copilot (ACP)

   • Additional Question Types: Teachers can use ACP to generate more question types like Error Editing, Fill-in-the-Blanks and Interactive Thinking Tool.
   • Suggested Answer for Free Response Questions: Teachers can generate suggested answers alongside Free Response Questions.
   • Direct Generation from Component Bar: Teachers can use ACP to generate components directly from the component bar, and regenerate components based on existing components.
   • Templates: Teachers can select MOE or personal templates in SLS for ACP to use in generating sections, activities, quizzes and/or components.
   • Subject/Level Tagging: Teachers can now tag subjects and levels independently without content map dependency.

3. Adaptive Learning System (ALS)

   • Prioritisation: Teachers can select topics/subtopics for ALS to prioritise in recommending to students in class groups, and alert students to these recommendations by sending notifications.
   • Linked Activities: Teachers can link activities to be recommended in a series in ALS.

4. Feedback Assistants

   • Combine Feedback Assistants: Teachers can send students’ responses to both Language Feedback Assistant for English (LangFA-EL) and Short Answer Feedback Assistant (ShortAnsFA) to allow students to receive more than one type of feedback in a single response.
   • Preview Feedback: Teachers can preview feedback from LangFA-EL in Preview as Student to ensure that questions with LangFA-EL have been configured correctly before assigning to students.

5. Video Conferencing

   • Google Meet Links: Teachers can create Google Meet video conference links from their linked Google accounts for Class Groups and Assignments, specific to module, section, activity and teams within activities. Unique assignment Google Meet links can be generated by activities or teams for differentiated access. Teachers have the option to set different levels of security — Restricted, Trusted, or Open — based on their preference and use case.

6. Transcription

   • Video/ Audio Transcription: If transcription is enabled, teachers can view the entire transcript with timestamps on the audio and video details subpage.

7. Authoring

   • Split-Page Media: When splitting PowerPoint files across pages in activities, placeholders will be shown based on the number of slides uploaded, allowing teachers to navigate elsewhere while the media is being processed.
   • Split YouTube Videos Across Pages: Teachers can split YouTube videos across pages in an activity based on defined timestamps and set strict start and end times for these videos.
   • Interactive Response Questions: Teachers can set interactive response questions that automatically return marks to students after their attempt. These questions can be set by uploading corresponding HTML5 files to the Free-Response Question.
   • Quiz-level Rubrics: Teachers can create and apply quiz-level grading rubrics, with the option to hide them before student attempts. After their attempt, students will be able to see their awarded bands from the rubrics.
   • Rubrics Bands: The number of rubric bands has been expanded to allow up to 8 bands.
   • Hiding Quiz Marks: Teachers can choose to hide quiz marks in the quiz settings, which will hide quiz scores, rubric marks, and marks for each question.
   • Different Option Marks: Teachers can now allocate different marks to options in Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) and Multiple-Response Questions (MRQs).
   • Active Learning Process Tagging of Quiz: Newly-created quizzes will be auto-tagged to “Custom” instead of “Facilitate Demonstration of Learning” under Active Learning Process (ALP).
   • Automated Tagging: Module tags will be automatically applied to newly-created sections, and section tags will be automatically applied to newly-created components.

8. Accounts

   • Account Lock: Teacher accounts inactive for 90 days will be locked and require reactivation by an Account Manager for security reasons.

9. Learning Progress

   • Error Tracker: Teachers can use error categories established by MOE Content Approvers to tag specific error types in students’ responses and track them using the Error Tracker in Learning Progress. If a question is tagged to a content map with a prescribed list of error tags, teachers can use the auto-complete tag suggestions to easily tag student errors when creating annotation cards. These annotation cards with error tags will be tabulated and displayed under the Learning Progress - Error Tracker of the class group, viewable by both teachers and students.

10. Notifications

    • Comment Notifications: Teachers can notify students when they add comments in Interactive Thinking Tools (ITT), discussion boards or class group forums.
    • Monitor and Notify: Teachers can select students from the Monitor Assignment page to send them custom messages and notifications.