Fronter 71, 1st February 2007
We have the pleasure of launching a new version of Fronter - Fronter 71 - with a range of new and exciting functions and improvements.
You can now create blogs directly in Fronter; in addition you can enter blogs and read your own external blogs. We are working towards adapting Fronter to becoming more portal-oriented, and to start with we will give you the option of displaying external information sources (RSS) on the Today page and the Room Today, e.g. your own selected news and blogs; and teachers' references to useful information in their subject.

We have produced a whole range of documents for the practical and pedagogical use of Fronter. The material is available in a pdf format and web friendly edition, and is always updated in both English and Norwegian. You will find them under the Help button.
 
Other focus for this version has been stability, scalability and standard support. Some of what we have done will not be so easy to spot, but we are sure you will come to notice it! 

This version will be available to try out from 1st February 2007.
 
What is new in Fronter 71 – a Summary
  • Documentation – The documentation is now free to use and may be copied as long as you make a reference to the source
  • Interoperability– Enhanced support for standards and specifications.
  • Accessibility – Many changes have been carried out to increase accessibility. Fronter is now WAI-A.
  • RSS-reader – Adds a display of external news on the Today page and Room today
  • Blog – Fronter users can create and administer their own blogs on an open website, also read and update external blogs inside Fronter.
  • Calendar Import – Imports calendar entries ( e.g. Timetable) by using the iCal Format
  • Extended support for importing courses – Full support for Scorm 2004 Training Courses.
  • Metadata Module  – New  metadata module for registration of, importing and exporting metadata.
  • Individual Learning Plans (ILP) – New interface and increased functionality.
  • The test tool – New interface and increased functionality like extended support for importing questions.
  • Administration of e-mail accounts – New module that makes it easy to create and maintain large numbers of e-mail accounts.
  • Changes to existing tools – Improvements to the Editor, a new function for Admin cleanup, new reports on the activity of the installation, new reports in the portfolio, new module for exporting absence data as well as general improvements to speed and scaling.

For Fronter 71 we are launching around five hundred pages of documentation, consisting of 2 User manuals, 11 Theme manuals and 1 Reference Manual.
The documentation is free to use and may be copied freely as long as you make a reference to the source. The documentation is available in English and Norwegian.

User manuals:

  • Teacher manual
  • Administrator manual

 Theme manuals:

  • Hand in tool
  • Test
  • Fronter document
  • Learning path and Pages 
  • Tip og ideas in Fronter
  • Individual learning plans
  • Calendar
  • Question database
  • Statistics and resultmatrix
  • Portfolio
  • Survey
Reference manual:
  • Local and global settings
Fronter 71 supports the following standards and specifications for interoperability

 
IMS
 
·   IMS Enterprise v1.1
·   IMS Content Packaging v1.1.3
·   IMS Content Packaging v1.1.4
·   IMS Content Packaging v1.2
·   IMS Question & Test Interoperability v1.2.1
·   IMS Simple Sequencing v1.0
·   IMS ePortfolio v1.0 (partly)
 
 
ADL Scorm
 
·   ADL SCORM 1.2
·   ADL SCORM 2004 Sequencing Extensions v1.0
·   ADL SCORM 2004 Navigation Extensions v1.1
·   ADL SCORM 2004 Content Packaging Extensions v1.1
·   ADL SCORM 2004 v2
·   ADL SCORM 2004 v3
 
 
IEEE
 
·   IEEE ECMAScript API for Content to Runtime Services Communication (1484.11.2-2003)
·   IEEE LOM
·   IEEE 1484.11.3 SCORM 2004 CMI (XML)
 
 
Various
 
·   Web Accessibility Initiative, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0, WAI A
·   Creative Commons
·   MetaWeblog
·   ATOM Syndication Format
·   Really Simple Syndication 2.0.1
·   Web Services Protocols (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI)
·   ZIP (DEFLATE v1.3)
·   IETF iCalendar
·   IETF Generic Syntax for Uniform Resource Identifiers
·   ZThes XML Format
·   AICC
·   IMAP
·   POP3
·   vCard
·   Webdav
·   LDAP
·   Search/Retrieval via URL v1.1
·   Search/Retrieve WebService
 
 
National standards
 
·   eGovernment Interoperability Framework v6.1 (UK)
·   eGovernment Metadata Standard v3.0 (UK)
·   Curriculum Online v1.1 Metadata Scheme (UK)
·   National Curriculum Programmes of Study (UK)
·   National Curriculum Schemes of Work (UK)
 
 

WAI-A

Fronter 71 is W3C WAI-A approved according to W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0.
Fronter will become W3C WAI-AA approved as soon as W3C launch their next version of guidelines for web applications

 

You are now able to pick up all your favourite news and have them displayed on the Today page, and teacher can make useful site available on the Room today page. It is possible to add more RSS in the same container. RSS containers can be positioned either on the personal Today page or on the Today page of a room.

Blog client
A new personal tool in Fronter. You can now gather all your external blogs in Fronter, where you can read and write articles directly, as long as these support Metaweblog, which most of them do.
 
 
Fronterblog
A service offered by Fronter, through which you can create, administer and add entries in your personal blog in Fronter. The blog becomes available to all, also to those who do not use Fronter.
 
Blog in portfolio 
You will get a display of your Fronterblog and your external blogs in the Portfolio tool. You will have a collection where you can user your blog articles as basis for assessment, hand ins and in the final assessment portfolio.
 
Appointments in iCal format can now be imported directly into the calendar. The user may carry this out personally (the appointments then become personal), or by an administrator if the appointments affect several people. In this way it is possible to transfer timetables for instance, from a timetable system to the Calendar in Fronter. It is now also possible to filter types of appointments.
Fronter's new SCORM reader has full support for both SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. Progress and results are displayed in the portfolio, and improved reports show the total use of the courses.
You can add metadata to all objects in Fronter. In the new metadata highlighting tool there is implemented support for the IEEE form. This is a set of information fields. Use of this standard ensures exchange of metadata with others who use the same form.

You get the metadata tool by opening the features tool of an object.
When you start the metadata tool you can enter meta-information about the relevant object. In the IEEE standard there are many fields that are obligatory. For use within Fronter it is not necessary to register all of these, but be aware that other systems might request that these are filled in. These are highlighted in pink in the illustration below.
When the metadata is registered on an object it is possible to show these in the metadata display:
The metadata can be used as search criteria. If this module is turned on a new sheet tab will be displayed in the search.
This tool was launched in Fronter 62, but has now been given a brand new interface.
If a picture has been added in the contact card it will be on display for each pupil. 
Contact/tutor and Subject teachers have been given two views for completion of pupils' assessments; a contracted view where the teacher has an overall view of the whole class and can write short assessments, and an expanded view with the option of entering longer assessments for each pupil/student individually.
The test tool has been subject to big changes. Context based navigating makes it possible to keep the display when navigating from e.g. a whole page to one individual question. Settings are grouped together in a smarter way and feedback is given if a user combines unlikely settings.

The tab sheets are now constant and independent of the level where you are placed. They reflect the normal workflow for a test; which is edit, preview and interpret results (statistics).
In the test module you can pick questions from a number of sources. New in this version is the fact that you can import all the types of questions that have been defined in the IMS QTI 1.2 standard. This means that you can display questions like "Fill in the blanks", "Hot spots", video questions etc.
The statistics display is also extended to displaying of graphs. The statistics reflect which level you have selected so that you can display statistics separately for each question, or collectively.
This tool is for customers who use Fronter's e-mail. It is simple to add, change or delete e-mail accounts.

Small changes to existing tools
  • Absence: Improved reports and new export module
  • Editor: New version of FCK.
  • Admin: New tool for cleanup (only for top administrators).
  • Admin: More and better reports about the activity in the installation.
  • Portfolio: New search option including improved reports.
  •  Portfolio: Users can now export and take away their own personal portfolio.

 

Speed/performance

We are working continuously to improve the performance of our product; this time we have specifically improved the speed of the e-mail client and the long list displays.


Fronter is approved by Becta

Fronter is tested by Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) and has been awarded their 
"Learning Platform Services Provider" approval (http://news.becta.org.uk/display.cfm?resID=27053).
 
Becta is the operative unit for computer based learning (ICT) within the British Department of Education, and approval is required for all 
suppliers of teaching platforms wanting to operate within the British Education market.






The approval means that Fronter satisfies 45 functional requirements and has passed 157 technical tests. 
Fronter 71 has been tested against, and has approved support for all the open specifications for interoperability as listed below.