New Student Account Creation Form
December 14, 2020: When students click the "Create an Account" link, they will now encounter a streamlined form. An invitation code is now required to create an account, which should help to prevent students from accidentally creating multiple accounts.
Share Folders within a Group Account
December 11, 2020: Teachers and administrators that are part of a group account can now share custom folders with other users within the same group. This makes it easier for administrators and teachers to develop a curriculum or unit plan using the Folders system and share them with other members within the same school or district. To share a folder, click on the three dots and select the Share With... option. Learn more...
Goodbye "Sign Up" Button
November 5, 2020: On the student login page, we have replaced the "Sign Up" button with a "Create an Account" link in an effort to reduce accidental duplicate student accounts. This is the first small step in improving our student onboarding process.
New My Assignments Tab in My Classes
November 3, 2020: Teachers will now find a My Assignments tab within My Classes. You can use this tab for locating all assignments, including those assigned to individual students.
Copying ESL Library Folders Now Available
November 2, 2020: Teachers can now copy ESL Library's premade folders (Mini-Courses) to their own folders. This allows teachers to personalize ESL Library Folders to suit their own needs. Go to the ESL Library Folder that you want to copy and click on the three dots. Choose Copy to My Folders. After you copy an ESL Library Folder to My Folders, it is yours! You can rearrange and add or delete content inside the folder. You can also rename it and change the description. See Step 6...
Student PDFs Now Shareable
October 26, 2020: Share Student PDFs by posting a link to your Google Classroom or other learning management system. To share a Student PDF, choose a lesson and click into the PDF Viewer. Select the pushpin icon in the toolbar, then click the link icon or the Google Classroom icon. The link icon will copy the Student PDF link, which you can then post for your students to access. Your students will also have access to the PDF Viewer toolbar. Students must be on your ESL Library student list to access the Student PDF. Learn more...
New Ready-Made ESL Library Folders Offer Suggested Teaching Order
October 22, 2020: We have released ESL Library Folders, featuring 12 new ready-made mini-courses to serve as a guide or inspiration for your classes. Find ESL Library Folders under the Class Prep drop-down menu. Select Folders, then toggle to ESL Library Folders. If you've ever wondered what to teach when, these folders are for you! Learn more...
Enhanced Assignment Filter Tools Now Available
October 22, 2020: Within My Classes, you can now search and filter your Students and Assignments lists. Use the new toolbar to search for students and assignments by name. Use the new Assignments filter to see past, current, and future assignments. Sort assignments by start date, due date, or date the assignment was last updated. Learn more...
British English PDFs & Audio Just Released
October 20, 2020: British English (text and audio) is now available within the PDF Viewer of some lessons. Find British English versions in our Europe Collection and in our Discussion Starters section. Stay tuned for monthly British English additions as we update our lesson library over the next year. Please note that localization for digital interactive tasks is not currently available.
Assign & Manage Digital Tasks More Efficiently
October 5, 2020: Assignment Manager now has the ability to assign digital tasks to individual students within a class. To assign a digital task to a few students within one of your classes, click into a lesson, click on the Assignment manager, and select Classes. Choose the class you would like to assign the task to. By default, all students in the class will be selected. Learn more...
Digital tasks can now also be edited, canceled, or posted to your asynchronous platform more easily through My Classes. Click into the Assignments tab within one of your classes. Then, click the more menu (three dots) next to an assignment to be able to Edit, Post, or Cancel Assignment.
You can now see how many students in a class have completed an assigned digital task. To see this, click into My Classes and select a class. Click the Assignments tab. Under the Completed By column, you will see the current number of students who have completed the task.
Manual Sort Now Available on My Folders
September 21, 2020: My Folders now has a Manual sorting option. This is the new default sort order. To change the order of your folders, click on the drag handle (six dots) and drag the folders up or down. On a touchscreen, tap, hold, and drag the folder to the desired position. The content within a folder also has the same sort options. Select the Sort menu to change the sort order to Alphabetical or Reverse Alphabetical. Watch Demo...
Digital Tasks Now Assignable to Individual Students
September 2, 2020: The updated Assignment Manager allows teachers to assign tasks to classes or individual students. Learn more...
Digital Lessons Now Available to Preview or Broadcast on New Task Player
September 2, 2020: The Task Player, the broadcast/preview feature of our digital tasks, now has a new look and feel similar to our Flashcard Player. See all of the available tasks in the index view and click on a task to preview or broadcast it in class. Easily access the answers (where applicable) by clicking on the apple icon beside each task. Learn more...
Printable Lessons Have Improved PDF Viewer
September 2, 2020: Teachers can now preview printable materials with an enhanced PDF Viewer. New features include annotation tools and easy navigation. To save your annotations, simply hit print or download the PDF. (Note, the next time you return to the print app, you will see the original PDF. Your annotations will not save on the PDF viewer.) You can also stream or download the audio that goes with the printable version of this lesson.
New Lesson Landing Page Now Live
September 2, 2020: The lesson landing page has a new look and feel. You can now read a brief description of each lesson or resource before choosing from three different options: PDF Viewer (for previewing, downloading, or printing printable content), Task Player (for previewing or presenting digital tasks and answers), and Assignment Manager (for assigning, viewing, editing, and canceling digital assignments). Learn more...
Improved Folder System Now Available
August 4, 2020: The first phase of our new folders system is now available with a new look and feel and several new features. You can now create folders from a variety of places, including the blog, the lesson/resource page, the Calendar, the My Likes page, and from My Folders (in Class Prep dropdown). Just look for the tiny folder icon to create or add to a folder. Your folders sort alphabetically. You can also edit or delete folders, remove lessons/flashcards/blog posts from folders, and move folder content to another alphabetized folder. Flashcard folders are now called Flashcard Sets. All of your previous lesson folders and flashcard folders have been migrated over to the new system. A manual sort option is in progress so that you will be able to easily build your own curriculum. A tutorial video and Help Doc are coming soon.
Assignment Manager Has New Features
July 30, 2020: The Assignment Manager has a new look in addition to some new highly requested features. Teachers are now able to plan lessons ahead of time with our new "Start Date" feature. The assign process also allows bulk actions: Set Start Dates, Set Due Dates, and Clear Dates. Check the bulk action box and then select one of three actions. This allows you to choose a date and time that applies to all tasks in a lesson. Teachers can easily see how many tasks they are adding through the progression bar and the checkboxes. We've also introduced an easy cancel and edit option. When editing a digital assignment, you will see new labels if the task is being edited, removed, or added.
Export Class Results Now Possible
July 6, 2020: Teachers on the Plus plan can now export digital class results from any Class page. Click on Export Class Results from any Class page. After selecting the date range, a CSV file is generated by the system and downloaded by the user. If you need to narrow down your results to individual student results, first attempts, etc. you can use the filter features in your spreadsheet software to generate the results you need.
Google Single Sign-On Now Available for Students
July 3, 2020: Like teachers, students can now easily log in to ESL Library using an existing Google account. Your students can connect their Google accounts to ESL Library by going to their dashboards and clicking on their name in the top right corner. They then choose My Profile and click on the "Connect Google Account" button. Students can also choose "Log in with Google" on the Student Log-In page.
Student Dashboard Has New Design & Navigation
July 2, 2020: On their own personal dashboards, your students can now tab between a To Do list and a Completed assignments list. This makes it easier for students to find outstanding assignments. Students can also easily see the status of their assignments.
Clever Single Sign-On for Teachers Now Available
June 30, 2020: You can now sign up or log in with Clever. If you are already a subscriber, you can connect your Clever account by logging in with Clever on the log-in page or by going to My Profile and choosing Connected Accounts.
Lesson Status Labels Now Include "Revised" and "Coming Soon"
June 17, 2020: We have two new labels that show the status of our lessons. You can now see if lessons or resources are New, Featured, Revised, or Coming Soon. Labels are left on a lesson or resource for up to one month. Logged out members can also see a label for Sample lessons.
Picture Dictionary Task Added to Plus Suite
June 7, 2020: We've added a new assignable Picture Dictionary task type to our digital homework suite (available in the Plus plan). This task is similar to the Flashcard Player, but allows teachers to assign lesson-specific flashcards (with audio) for homework. We are working on adding this task to our digital Word Bank, Simple Sentences, Phonics & Pronunciation, and Super Simple Grammar lessons. Watch demo.
My Classes Has Further Style Updates
June 4, 2020: We've made a few further improvements to My Classes by making the pages cleaner and easier to navigate. The master My Students list now has a more menu (...) that allows you to easily delete students or reset passwords. You can also view pending students from this master list as well as cancel or resend an invitation.
Google Single Sign-On Now Available
May 26, 2020: Teachers can now sign in or sign up quickly and easily with their Google accounts. Learn more. (Coming soon for students.)
My Classes and Results Now Merged
May 26, 2020: Looking for the Results page? Teachers can now access classes, students, and assignment results in one place called My Classes. Find My Classes under Class Prep in the navigation bar. (There is no longer a separate Results page.) After choosing a class, you can toggle between tabs for Students and Assignments. You can view results from the Assignments tab. On the Students tab, there is a new More Menu (...) where you can reset a student password or delete a student. Learn more.
Digital Task Info for Scorable Tasks Now Labeled as Answer Key
May 19, 2020: On the digital tab of a lesson page, you will now see a column called Answer Key (previously Task Info). You can preview the answers for all scorable task types. For Open-Ended Question tasks, the Answer Key will allow you to preview all the questions/prompts as well as Suggested Answers if available. Learn more.
Flashcard Player v.2 is Now Available
May 13, 2020: This updated version of our Flashcard Player includes a sidebar menu. The My Presentation submenu allows you to skip to a flashcard, rename, or remove flashcards (for the presentation only). The Settings submenu allows you to choose the default presentation style and the font style (Standard or Literacy). We’ve also made some performance improvements. More enhancements, including audio, are coming soon! Watch demo.
Task Type Names Now Visible for Teachers
May 12, 2020: Teachers can now see “the task type” below the “title” of each digital task on the digital tab (e.g., Open-Ended Questions, Multiple-Choice, Type in the Blanks, etc.). The publishing team is currently using 11 task types to create digital content. Note that a multipurpose, non-scorable task type called Reference is currently being used for a variety of instructional materials, from Read & Listen to Grammar Notes and Warm-Up/Discussion Questions. Watch a demo of every task type here.
Teachers Can Now Share Assignments on Google Classroom
May 6, 2020: Teachers can now share a digital ESL Library assignment on Google Classroom by assigning new tasks to a class and then clicking on the Share on Google Classroom icon. When your students click on the assignment in Google Classroom, they will be taken directly to the ESL Library assignment. This is the first step towards a more complete integration with Google Classroom. Watch demo.
Teacher Comments Now Possible on All Task Types
May 5, 2020: Teachers can now leave general comments for students on all scorable task types. A student will see a small speech bubble icon next to a task on their Student Dashboard if there is a comment to view. Note that comments can be edited by teachers after each attempt. However, there is only one comment field relating to all attempts, so please specify that your comment refers to a specific attempt if necessary. Watch demo.
Task Order in Results Now in Suggested Learning Order
April 28, 2020: The task order that teachers see in the Results table now matches the task order on the lesson description page. This is the suggested teaching/learning order. If you suspect your students did the tasks out of order, you can click on View and see the completed date and time for each attempt.
Task Pagination Now Available on Class Results Table
April 28, 2020: On the My Classes Results table, teachers can now easily page through tasks using a Previous and Next task button. A new, handy View Lesson link will also take you back to the Digital lesson tab for any lesson.
Students Can Now Retry Open-Ended Questions
April 25, 2020: Students can now retry Open-Ended Question tasks without teachers having to reassign the task. Teachers and students will see the results for each attempt separately just as they can with other task types.
Teachers Can Now Launch Flashcard Player Directly from Manage Flashcards
April 23, 2020: Teachers can now launch a flashcard set immediately after saving the set without having to search for it in Flashcard Folders. Go to the Flashcard Library. Select the flashcards you want to present. Click Manage. Save the set to a folder. Click the Launch button directly from the Manage flashcards page. This set is also available from your Flashcard Folders area.
Detailed Results for Multiple Attempts Now Available
April 16, 2020: Teachers can now view detailed results for students’ multiple attempts on a task from the Results table. This includes answers, score, time, and completion date for each individual student attempt. Watch Demo
Broadcasting Digital Flashcards in a Live Class Is Now Available
April 14, 2020: The first phase of our Flashcard Player is now available. Teachers can now broadcast flashcards digitally from a personal Flashcard Folder. Create and save a flashcard set that you want to share in class. Go to My Flashcard Folders and click Launch on the set you want to show your class. Screenshare the set. Click on an image to show the word. Click on a word to hide the image. To make edits, go to your Flashcard Folder. More features for the Flashcard Player are coming soon. Watch Demo
Improved Navigation to Edit/Cancel Assignments and Due Dates
April 10, 2020: Tasks in the Results table now have clickable due dates. Clicking on any due date will bring teachers directly back to the Assign Tasks calendar to easily edit a due date or cancel an assignment. To cancel the whole lesson, click Cancel Assignment on each task. Hit Save.
Teacher Can Now Reset Student Passwords
April 10, 2020: Teachers can now perform a temporary password reset for students who forget their passwords. To do this, a teacher goes to My Classes and searches for the students in their My Students list. The three dots at the end of the table has the Reset Password feature. Students can then change their temporary password to a new password in My Profile on their dashboard. Watch Demo
Feedback and Ratings Now Available for Open-Ended Questions
April 9, 2020: Teachers can now leave optional feedback and ratings for students on an open-ended question task type (e.g., Writing Practice or Comprehension Questions). Teachers will see a pen icon with the word Assess in the Results table. Students will see an icon on their own dashboards when feedback is available for viewing. More feedback tools are in the works. Watch Demo
Total Time Now Visible
April 7, 2020: Teachers can now see the Total Time a student spent on a lesson in the Results table.
Improvements to Student Log In
April 6, 2020: We have increased the size of the Log In button for students and decreased the size for the student Sign Up button. We hope this will help prevent students from making the wrong choice when they want to take the more common action of logging in. A video (Sign Up or Log In?) is also available for students who are new to this platform.
Improvements to Open-Ended Questions
April 3, 2020: We have simplified the way open-ended questions are saved and submitted to teachers. We also resolved a bug that was causing some unfinished submissions to not be saved. Watch Demo
Late Homework Now Possible
March 28, 2020: Students can now complete digital tasks after the due date has passed. The task status (for teacher and student) will show as “Late” if a student completes it after the due date.
Digital-Only Lessons Now Available
March 27, 2020:ESL Library now offers digital‑only lessons. On a lesson’s description page, the printable tab will not appear if a lesson only has a digital version. Digital‑only lessons and resources will mainly be used for content related to current events.
Improvements to Matching Tasks
March 25, 2020: Results for Matching and Image Match task types now show up in the same order as in the task itself.
Digital Task Migration Complete
March 24, 2020: The redesign and recoding of all digital task types and results is now complete. All 11 task types and corresponding results tables now feature the same framework. This allows for all tasks and results to run more efficiently on all mobile devices. Watch Demos
Improvements to Sequencing Task
March 22, 2020: The redesigned Sequencing task is live (often called Timeline, found in many Historic Events and Famous People lessons). We have rebuilt this drag-and-drop task and corresponding results on a new framework to improve performance on mobile devices.
Improvements to Put in Order Task
March 15, 2020: The redesigned Put in Order task is live (often called Story Scramble, found in many dialogue-based lessons such as Everyday Dialogues). We have rebuilt this drag‑and‑drop task and corresponding results on a new framework to improve performance on mobile devices.
Improvements to Type in the Blanks
March 12, 2020: Students can now leave gaps blank in a Type in the Blanks task. A warning shows up if students leave a field blank. They can choose to submit their answers anyway or keep working. If they choose to keep working, they will be jumped to the first empty blank.
Broadcast Tool Now Available for All
March 9, 2020: All Standard users now have access to the Broadcast tool. Teachers can broadcast all digital tasks using a shared screen. To assign the full digital suite, teachers need to subscribe to the Plus plan. Watch Demo
Improvements to Type in the Blanks
March 9, 2020: Students can now see examples in the instructions area for Type in the Blanks tasks that need more explanation.
Improvements to Type in the Blanks
March 2, 2020: Students can now fix their answers after they complete a Type in the Blanks task.
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