We were alerted to a problem in the comment component of the Digital Xpress system that was causing trouble for those of you who needed to enter long messages for comments. We fixed this problem and another one that was causing trouble when copying text from programs like Microsoft Word. Both of these fixes are live and the comment system should now let you use both copied and long messages as comments.
Our latest addition to the Digital Xpress is subtle but powerful. Before today working with long lists could be troublesome because whenever you viewed and/or edited an entry and then returned to the list you were forced to perform your sorting and searching again. With long lists like those for your students, assignments, and writings this could mean lots of extra work.
The solution we created gives your lists memory allowing them to remember all of the search and sorting options you’ve selected. When you view/edit an entry and then click either save, cancel, or the browser’s back button you will be returned to the exact same list data you left (not a list of everything that could possibly be displayed)
We hope this new feature will make working with the Digital Xpress faster and easier. Please let us know what you think!
We received feedback from many of you who let us know your students were having trouble staying on task with their work because they were distracted by the font styles, sizes, and colors available under the Brainstorm tab. After gathering additional feedback we have decided to disable font styling choices in Brainstorm and have also increased the default font size to 14pt (the size most commonly selected by student writers in the Digital Xpress)
The Brainstorm writing area now looks like the picture below:
We realized (and were told) that our new assignment sharing functionality might lead to copies of assignments you didn’t really mean to create. Until today you had no way to delete assignments that were accidentally created or no longer needed. We’ve solved this problem by adding the ability to delete assignments when you no longer need them. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
To delete an assignment click on the assignment you want to delete and then click the delete assignment link on the right hand side of the page.
P.S. If you end up deleting something by mistake let us know, we can help 
Last week we showed you the buddy assignment feature and how it allowed you to assign buddies to your students from any other student in the Digital Xpress (including students at other schools). You told us you would prefer to only have students within your school available for assignment as buddies of your students. We took your feedback and changed the system to only show students at your school when making buddy assignments.
While we plan to expand the buddy system in the future to allow assignments between schools we want to create a confirmation stage first to allow teachers to approve assignments before they are made. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of this work.
During our visit last Tuesday a bug in the comment system was uncovered that prevented you from posting a reply comment to a comment you’d previously made. We tracked down the cause of this bug and fixed it so comments should be working properly now.
If you have any trouble with comments (or any other part of the site) please post a comment for us below.
We’ve added assignment sharing to let you make use of your fellow teacher’s assignments in your class! To get started using it visit “My Assignments” from your home page and look for the “View Shared Assignments” link to the right of the page:
My Assignments Page
View Shared Assignments Link
For those of you who are new to the Digital Xpress we’ve created a getting started tour to show you around. If this is your first time or even if you’re just curious take a look: http://www.mydigitalxpress.com/tour/gettingstarted/
We made changes to the Digital Xpress today that fixed some problems the site was having and improved functionality. Details of these changes are listed below:
As requested the old Outline tab has been replaced with a cool new Brainstorm tab. We’re hoping this will give students a better idea of the type of material they should create in this stage of the writing process.
The National Bank of SC, WIS, WMHK and the South Carolina State Fair are sponsoring the 21st annual Greatest Grandparents of South Carolina Essay Contest. Student ages seven through eighteen can enter by writing a short essay explaining why their grandmother or grandfather should be named the greatest grandparent. Original essays will not be returned so teachers and/or parents may wish to keep a copy to share with the special grandparent. The deadline for all entries is Friday, September 14, 2007 and should be mailed to: The South Carolina State Fair, PO Box 393, Columbia, SC 29202. The winning Grandmothers and Grandfathers will be announced Sunday, October 14 at the SC State Fair.
Click here to download the entry form.
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