MetaPractice 1.0.9 is now released! As we work hard to greatly enhance the student practicing interface and to release a web version of MetaPractice, we are working on overdrive to bring you other highly requested minor features while you wait!
1) The Media Library underwent three improvements:
- Go straight into the media library with a single tap. Just tap on the media button in the bottom navigation area, and you will go straight into your media library. The bottom navigation Media button used to produce a popup menu (Audio, video, image, PDF), with each option bringing you to the media library with the appropriate filter turned on. We realized that most of the time, teachers are not using filters to find media files, and it's easy enough to manually use filters once teachers are in the media library.
- Add a media file to the goalbook with a single tap. While in the media library, tapping on a media file used to display or play the media file, and in order to add the media file to the lesson, you had to use its overflow options (the triple dots to the right of the file). We swapped these functionalities. Now, tapping on the file, the file is added to the student's lesson, and in order to view the file, you'll tap on the overflow options and choose "view." We recognized that when teachers are looking for a file to add, they almost always know what they're looking for and don't need to view files.
- Attach media files to categories and subcategories. Previously, media files could only be attached to goals, or they could be added as standalone items in the goalbook.
- The media library now supports M4A files. If you record something natively with your iPhone and save it to your Files, you'll be able to import it straight into MetaPractice.
2)Attach notes to categories and subcategories. Previously, notes could only be attached to goals or be standalone items in the goalbook.
3)Show or hide advanced goal options. Goal options such as goal type (spot, spread, once, universal) and goal scoring (trouble, bonus) are indispensable for some teachers and unwanted by others, so teachers can reduce clutter when assigning goals by hiding all of these "Advanced" goal options. We also hope this will make newcomers to MetaPractice feel more comfortable. MetaPractice is far more powerful than its competing apps, but we strive to keep it simple for those who want it to be.
4) Small print goal evaluation numbers removed. Previously, every category and subcategory had tiny numbers like "0/6" or "8/8" in the upper left corner. This would be read as, "0 out of 6 previously assigned goals have been evaluated in today's lesson," or "all 8 previously assigned goals have been evaluated." Few, if any, teachers were looking at these numbers, and as it turns out, the dotted-line evaluation circles (the ones that signify a goal hasn't yet been evaluated) are very easy to spot, so it's easy for a teacher to quickly find any goals that had not been evaluated yet. As if that weren't reason enough, many teachers didn't know what those numbers even meant. So, bye-bye confusing numbers that just complexified the user experience!
5) The "Add subcategory" button is now indented to make the structure more clear. The word subcategory already suggests it belongs to the category above it, but we wanted this structure to be seen, not just understood.
6) Collapsed categories arrow now points up instead of left. This was only a slight annoyance, and it probably took our coder maybe 17 seconds to fix... but still worth mentioning!