Mark your calendars!

Release scheduled for Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Our new features release is scheduled for 5 AM Sunday, 12/27, through 7 AM Tuesday, 12/29 (EST). Please do not schedule tests or assignments during this time. MyFinanceLab courses will be temporarily unavailable.

Ability to Adjust Number of Tries within Questions
Instructors can now choose the number of times students can work each answer field within a question, changing the default of three tries to any number between 1 and 99. They do this either at the question level from the Preview & Add or Remove window or at the assignment level from View Question Details.

Homework Affects Mastery in Study Plan
Instructors now have the option to allow Homework to affect the Study Plan. In addition, they can control which assignment types affect the Study Plan and determine mastery. On the Mastery Options page in the Study Plan Manager, they can include Homework, exclude Sample Tests or Quizzes, and specify the percentage score needed for mastery in each assignment type.

New Berk Player
All Berk-DeMarzo MyFinanceLab courses will be available in the NextGen Player, making them platform and browser independent. In addition to Internet Explorer, the Berk Player will now support Firefox on Windows (XP and Vista) and Safari and Firefox on the Macintosh.

Number of Attempts for Homework Questions
Instructors will be able to specify the number of times each homework question on an assignment can be attempted, from 1 to the current default of unlimited. Students are told of the number of attempts they have on the Homework Overview. This option lets instructors balance students’ ability to practice with similar exercises while preserving the integrity of the assignment.

Assignable Media Learning Aids
Media learning aids such as videos, animations, or ebook pages will be assignable as homework, quizzes, or tests. These media assignments can be selected as prerequisites to other assignments.

Customizable Study Plan
Instructors can customize the Study Plan by specifying the objectives and questions that will appear for students to work on. They also can set the definition for mastery (percentage level). Students who successfully complete "Needs Study" questions will see a new icon that reminds them to retest to prove their mastery.

MyFinanceLab Player v2!
The wait is over. The new Flash-based, platform- and browser-independent MyFinanceLab^® Player will be released this July! In addition to Internet Explorer, the Player will support Firefox on Windows (XP and Vista ) and Safari and Firefox on the Macintosh. The following features are available only for courses using MyFinanceLab Player v2. (See the course list at http://www.myfinancelab.com/newplayer/ .)

Simplified Browser Check
In courses using the MyFinanceLab Player v2, the Installation Wizard will be replaced by a simple browser check. The Player v2 requires only the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player. The system will make sure a user's computer has the proper version of the Flash Player when a course is created and when a student enrolls in a MyFinanceLab course. If not, users will be prompted to download the Flash Player from the Adobe web site.

Course Email Setting
Instructors can change the email address to which Ask My Instructor messages are sent. This email address will also be used when instructors email students from the Gradebook, in both the "From:" line and the new "cc:" line, which enables instructors to retain a record of what they have sent.

Advanced Exports in Blackboard and Vista/CE (WebCT) formats
Instructors working in Blackboard or Vista/CE (WebCT) will be able to specify the spreadsheet layout for Advanced Exports so that the files can be easily imported into the Blackboard or WebCT gradebooks with no further manipulation needed.