MyFinanceLab®, the leading finance technology, is about to get even better! On June 27th 2010, MyFinanceLab will be updated with the new features that you have been asking for! Read below to learn about the new features and the release details. This new release is filled with easy-to-use features that give students more "I Get It" moments, while providing you more options and flexibility for your course!
Mark Your Calendars
To add these new features, we have scheduled a release starting on: Saturday, June 26th, 2010
Estimated downtime: Saturday, June 26, 12:01 AM to Sunday, June 27, 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time 05:01 26 June to 04:59 28 June BST (GMT +1)
The actual downtime may be shorter. Please do not schedule any tests or other assignments during this time. MyFinanceLab courses will be temporarily unavailable during the upgrade.
New Features
Graphical “Dashboard” Display of Student Performance
A new home page – based on the current Announcements page – uses simple bar charts and other visual motivators to let students know their current status in the course, how much work they still need to complete, and what their upcoming assignments are and when they are due. An improved and detailed calendar, to which instructors can add entries, is displayed prominently on this page.
Personalized Assignment for Mastery
To help students achieve mastery, instructors can have the program generate a personalized assignment based on a student’s performance on a test or quiz. This personalized assignment automatically includes questions the student missed on the test or quiz, and instructors have the option to add other questions from the objectives tested. Students are awarded credit in the personalized assignment for questions they answered correctly on the test or quiz.
Accessibility Improvements
Multiple-choice and true-false questions can now be answered using the JAWS screen reader software.
Automated Late Due Date Grading
For homework assignments submitted after the due date, instructors can have MyFinanceLab automatically apply a penalty by deducting points or percentages from the final score or per day from the final score. They can also specify a final submission date, beyond which assignments can no longer be submitted. Assignments submitted late with a penalty will be clearly marked in the Gradebook.
Improvements to Manage Incompletes
A “Select All Past Due” button will be added above the list of assignments that will select all students who have missed the deadline for any assignment and leave unchecked students whose assignment due dates have not yet passed (due to any individual student settings). The default view of Manage Incompletes is now Show All instead of Tests.
Course Access Control
Instructors can define the type of course access for section instructors, such as read-only, manage student results, change individual student or class assignment settings, add announcement, create and edit own assignments, edit all assignments in the course. This ability to specify the level of access will benefit both Coordinator instructors as well as instructors of large, standard courses taught by section instructors.
Assign Multiple Prerequisites per Assignment
Instructors can assign more than one prerequisite per assignment, with or without a minimum score. For tests and quizzes with multiple attempts, instructors can also specify which attempt the prerequisite applies to—for example, complete Chapter 2 Personalized Homework and Media Assignment before students can take Attempt 2 of the Chapter 2 Pre-test.
Custom Question Builder
Available August 2010: The existing Custom Question Builder will be updated to be compatible with the Mac and other browsers such as Firefox (PC) and Safari (Mac), in addition to Windows and Internet Explorer.
Enhancements to Media Assignments
Media assignments can include multiple media resources as well as publisher-provided and custom questions. Instructors can associate specific questions with specific media and require students to access the media before answering any question. In addition, instructors can link to external media as part of a media assignment.
Batch Options for Creating Assignments
Newly created sample homework assignments and sample tests that are ready to be assigned can be copied in batch mode rather than one at a time. If desired, instructors can also specify a date range within which the assignments are made available to students. MyFinanceLab calculates and evenly spreads out the assignment due dates, which can be modified by instructors at any time.
Lock Correct Answers
Instructors can choose the option of indicating and locking correct answers each time the student chooses Check Answer in homework assignments.
Preloaded Courses
MyFinanceLab now offers convenient Preloaded Courses for select introductory and intermediate titles. Using MyFinanceLab has never been easier! With the click of a button, instructors can select a course that automatically contains one homework assignment and one quiz for every chapter. MyFinanceLab populates these course assignments and distributes them within the course calendar start and end dates specified by the instructor. Chapter coverage, due days, and assignments can all be customized. Go to Course Manager, click on create or copy a course and choose the Preloaded Course option.