Major Argos Platform Update Aug 2nd – Read the Release Notes

On August 2, 2023 we will be doing a major update of the Argos platform. Read below to see all the improvements and fixes.

Platform Improvements

New Course Setup Wizard: Comprehensive course setup flow enables scheduling features and helps with section tracking for instructors and administrators.

New Course Overview: Student course overview contains updated interface that now shows Due Dates, smart suggestions based on assignments that are up next, and a built in course Discussion Board.

Course Scheduler: New instructor interface for creating a course schedule (suggested deadlines or soft deadlines) and improvements to creating hard deadlines in a calendar view.

Assessment Settings: New instructor controls allow for further course customization including the ability to change the number of attempts allowed per lesson, the scoring strategy per lesson, and whether students can start or submit attempts after the deadline.

New Reports & Analytics: New Instructor-facing reports show student Progress and Proficiency for the overall course, and by Unit and Page/Lesson. Courses with Learning Objective mapping also have reports showing mastery by Learning Objectives.

Built-In Discussion Board: Each course comes with a built-in discussion board that can be toggled on/off by the instructor. Content specific discussion collaborative spaces exist alongside standard pages and will be coming soon for adaptive pages.

Idle Timer & Session Timeout: A 30-minute session timeout was introduced to prevent students who leave their window idle for an extended period of time from losing their connection to the server.

New Authoring Tools: Improvements to the advanced authoring interface allow for easier lesson construction, especially for complex lessons with branching pathways.

Issues Fixed

Student Roster: Student names in class roster appear in alphabetical order by last name instead of first name.

Submission After Deadline: Closed a loophole where students who had a partially completed attempt could submit the lesson after the deadline had passed. Now, the attempt is finalized automatically giving the student partial credit.

BioBeyond

• Unit 4, Rise of the Animals: Resolved an issue with a grayed out button on a fossil identification screen.
• Unit 7, Blue Planet Report: Instructors can now use Review mode to view any Submit Your Report Blue Planet submission, even those that have already been graded.
• Unit 7, Designer Planet: Added a screen to resolve a loading issue with the Designer Planet simulation that affected some students.
• Unit 7, Blue Planet Report: Improved and added instructions to reduce student confusion and make the experience more intuitive for students.

ChemLabs

• All labs: Added instructions to encourage students to refresh their work properly and to record the correct measurements. 
• Combustion, Freezing Point Depression, and Metals+HCl: Fixed an issue affecting the calculation accuracy made in the adaptivity states.
• Absorbance: Added a way for students to move on if they could not get the correct answer after 3 attempts.

HabWorlds

• Unit 2, R*: Added scaffolding, increased student attempts, and removed some gating in training lessons. Divided assessment screens so there are fewer questions on each screen.
• Unit 3, fp: Added additional trap states and additional information on screens throughout the unit to help students and clarify misconceptions. Divided assessment screens so there are fewer questions on each screen.
• Unit 4, ne: Added scaffolding, including setting pop-up tips to be open by default, and removed some gating to help students through lessons. Divided some assessment screens into multiple screens and added clarifying information on some screens.

Living on the Edge

• Geologic Hazards: Corrected incorrect trap state feedback to provide more helpful responses.
• Magma: Correct a screen’s initial state so that students do not get stuck in a loop.

About the Inspark Teaching Network

The Inspark Teaching Network is based out of Arizona State University and partners with universities, community colleges, scientists, and education experts working to transform science teaching and learning. The network empowers educators and learning designers to collaborate, build, and share next-generation courseware. The courseware harnesses the latest personalized, interactive digital learning technologies, and the learning content focuses on exploring real-world scientific questions to motivate and engage today's students.