Your experience with the Mindmarker platform is of the utmost importance to us. In that spirit, welcome to Mindmarker Product News—a monthly rundown where we’ll give you details about the latest updates to the platform and more. 

2024 Platform Release Notes

November 2024 Platform Release Notes

1.  Introducing the Coach Module: New Features to Enhance Coaching and Participant Engagement

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Coach Module, a new feature designed to empower coaches and program facilitators with tools that streamline their workflow and improve the learning experience for participants. This new module helps bridge the communication gap between coaches and learners while automating many time-consuming tasks.

The Coach Module provides flexibility and control, allowing coaches to manage participants’ progress, nudge those who need extra motivation, and provide real-time feedback. Here’s an overview of the new features and how they can help both coaches and participants succeed.

Coach Module’s Components

Two New roles: Coach and Reseller Coach

We’ve introduced two new user roles: Coach and Reseller Coach. These roles can be assigned alongside any other predefined roles, giving you greater flexibility in managing users.

1. Coach: Tied to a single organizational portal.
2. Reseller Coach: Can be assigned to multiple organizational portals, allowing them to manage several groups across different organizations.

Assigning a coach to a program

Coaches can now be assigned to specific programs and groups within a learning journey. A coach can be assigned to only one group at a time, but they can manage multiple programs within that learning journey.

Note: Click here to learn how to assign a coach to a program

Nudging Participants Who Are Falling Behind

The Nudge feature allows coaches to send personalized messages to participants who are inactive or falling behind. Coaches can motivate these participants by sending a customized push, helping them re-engage and stay on track with their training.

You can access this feature from the Program Analytics section, under the Participation tab. Simply select a participant, click “Nudge,” type your message, and send it. The message will appear on the participant’s dashboard.

Note: Click here to learn how to nudge a participant

Grading and Providing Feedback on Open Responses and Learner Uploads:

The Grade Response feature allows coaches to manually score Open Responses and Learner Uploads. Since the system may not always recognize alternate answers or variations of keywords, coaches can review participant submissions and assign scores as needed.

Additionally, coaches can provide feedback directly to participants based on their responses. Once grading is complete, the system will display a green check mark to indicate the task is finished. A purple check mark means grading is still pending.

Note: Click here to learn how to grade and provide feedback

Dashboard to Track Participant Progress

The Coach Dashboard provides a dynamic view of each participant’s progress. Coaches can track participants across four key segments:

Participants who have not started: Quickly identify participants who haven’t begun the program.

Participants who are on track: See which learners are progressing as expected.

Program Overview: Get insights into overall participant performance.

Program details: Identify where participants are struggling by reviewing their responses.

My Tasks: Manage Your Coach Responsibilities

The My Tasks section of the dashboard helps coaches stay organized by listing all of their outstanding tasks. This includes:

• Grading mindmarkers
• Sending nudges to participants
• Reviewing pending tasks

Participants can:

1. Receive feedback from their coach on their answers Knowledge Checks, Open Response and Learner Upload.

This feature has been developed for both coaches and participants where coaches send feedback to participants on their Knowledge checks, Open responses and Learner upload type mindmarkers and that participant can see those feedbacks on their dashboard at program level.

The unread message icon appears on the program and participants can read those nudges from the feedback tab.

2. Receive nudges when falling behind

Again the feature developed for both, the coach and the participant, where the coach can send nudges to participants who are falling behind. And the participants receive those nudges through email and message notification. This feature helps participants get motivated and come back on the track towards completing the training.

Benefits

Benefits for Coaches and Facilitators

• Real-Time Progress Tracking: Coaches can monitor participant progress in real-time, identifying learners who need extra support before they fall too far behind.
• Improved Completion Rates: With real-time tracking and the ability to send nudges, coaches can ensure that participants stay engaged and complete their training on time.
• Immediate Intervention: Coaches can now send feedback to Open Response and Learner Upload mindmarkers and help a participant who shows signs of struggling by providing timely feedback and guidance to keep them on track.
• Organize and manage groups: Easily link coaches with groups and programs and use analytics to monitor team progress and performance.
• Full Control Over Program and Participants: Coaches have complete visibility into their programs and participants’ performance, ensuring they can track progress from start to finish.
• Task Management: Coaches can track their tasks, such as grading and nudging, making it easier to stay on top of responsibilities.

Benefits for Participants

• Stay on Track: The Nudge feature helps participants stay engaged, even when they’re falling behind, motivating them to complete their training on time.
• Receive Real-Time Feedback: Participants get direct, actionable feedback from coaches on their open responses, knowledge checks, and learner uploads, creating a sense of achievement and fostering continuous improvement.
• Increased Accountability: Knowing their progress is being tracked by a coach encourages participants to stay on top of their work and stay committed to finishing the program.

Availability

The Coach Module is currently in Beta and is available for free to all customers who wish to participate. To request access, simply reach out to our support team at Support Mindmarker.

We hope these new features make your coaching experience more effective and efficient. Stay tuned for more updates, and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or need assistance in getting started with the Coach Module!

New Features

1. Mindmarker-Assist

We’re excited to announce the latest addition to our suite of innovative products: Mindmarker-Assist (a.k.a. MM-Assist), MM-Assist is a generative AI module designed specifically for instructional designers and creators of training programs. This game-changing tool is poised to transform the way you design engaging learning journeys for micro-learning and learning-reinforcement programs that drive business results.

MM-Assist starts by tying your business objectives and desired skills and behaviors that learners need to the training program goals and then tailor the programs to your target audience.  Always keeping the “learner in the center.”

Mindmarker-Assist is immediately available to new and existing Mindmarker customers.  Please reach out Support Mindmarker if you are interested in activating Mindmarker-Assist.

MM-Assist Benefits

1. Unlock Efficiency with Mindmarker-Assist: Create high-quality content quickly and efficiently. MM-Assist offers a solid first draft of the content you need – allowing you to focus on refining rather than starting from scratch.
2. Transform Existing Content into Engaging Programs: Take your existing training materials to the next level with Mindmarker-Assist! Easily turn them into reinforcement programs that drive real results.
3. Automate Proven Methodology for Consistent Results: Mindmarker-Assist incorporates our proven methodology based on the 7 Principles of Reinforcement automatically, helping you build programs that drive performance improvement across your organization.
4. Align Your Programs with Business Objectives: Mindmarker-Assist guides you to create programs that are directly tied to business KPIs – aligning training initiatives with organizational goals for maximum impact.
5. Personalize Learning Experiences like Never Before: Keep the “Learner in the Center” and customize your programs to each cohort’s unique needs. Use language, role, education level, or tenure at the company as filters to create targeted learning experiences that resonate with your audience.

MM-Assist components

MM-Assist empowers you to craft comprehensive learning journeys that drive meaningful results. This feature-rich tool guides you in creating:

1. Learning Journey: Define your program’s objectives and scope, setting the stage for a cohesive learning experience.
2. Objectives: Establish clear goals and outcomes for each learning journey, ensuring alignment with business needs.
3. Programs: MM-Assist generates programs that are tailored to achieve those objectives, providing a structured approach to content creation.

Derive Individual Mindmarkers

From your Learning Journey and Programs, MM-Assist helps you create individual mindmarkers – bite-sized activities designed for micro-learning. These engaging experiences can include:

• PUSH messages
• Knowledge Checks
• Open Response Mindmarkers

MM-Assist is a feature rich offering. Additional features include:

• Regenerate: Make unlimited changes to your content without starting from scratch.
• Teaching Style: Choose from four engaging delivery styles:
  • Lecture form
  • Demonstration style
  • Scenario-based
  • Peer-to-peer or colleague explanation
• Complimentary Mindmarkers: Generate PUSH messages and corresponding Knowledge Checks and Open Response Mindmarkers.
• Modernize Your Old Training Programs: Revamp outdated programs with MM-Assist’s regenerate option, updating tone, language, and information without starting from scratch.
• Extend your program: Use MM-Assist to generate a new set of Mindmarkers to your program ensuring they’re fresh, relevant, and aligned with business objectives.

2. New Mindmarker Type: Learner Upload

Take engagement to the next level with our new “Learner Upload” mindmarker type! This innovative feature allows you to create questions that prompt participants to upload media files as their response. This mindmarker type supports uploads in these formats:

• Images: PNG, JPG, JPEG
• Video: MP4, MOV
• Audio: MP3
• File: PDF, DOCX

Benefits of Learner Upload

By incorporating “Learner Upload” into your learning program, you can:

1. Boost Engagement: Encourage learners to participate in external activities that demonstrate their understanding and skills, such as creating a video or drawing an image.
2. Gain Deeper Insights: Receive richer feedback on learner performance, enabling trainers to identify areas for improvement and provide targeted support.

With “Learner Upload”, you can create more immersive learning experiences that foster deeper connections between learners and the material being covered.

3. Blueprints

Unlock the power of evidence-based learning with our Blueprints. They are pre-designed templates that incorporate the scientifically-proven Mindmarker Methodology. These expert-curated guides are seamlessly integrated into the Mindmarker Platform, ensuring you create programs that follow best practices and maximize learner engagement.

Choose from a Range of Blueprints:

Select from various blueprints tailored for different program lengths and objective counts. Each template is carefully crafted to help you design a learning experience that leverages the most effective mindmarker types, delivered at the right time for maximum impact on your learners.

Benefits of Using Blueprints:

1. Incorporate Proven Methodology: Leverage the science-backed Mindmarker Methodology, ensuring your programs are built on a foundation of effectiveness.
2. Create Programs with Maximum Impact: Quickly design and develop learning experiences that drive results, thanks to our expertly-crafted blueprints.

By using Blueprints, you’ll be able to create high-quality learning programs that engage learners and deliver meaningful outcomes – all while streamlining your content creation process!

4. Customized Leaderboard

Elevate Engagement with Customizable Leaderboards

Take your gamification strategy to new heights with our customizable leaderboards! This innovative feature lets you create a reward and penalty system that motivates learners to participate more actively in learning programs. You can now score participants based on not only their correct answers, but also the time it takes them to complete an activity or module.

Benefits for Learners:

1. Motivation through Competition: As learners see their peers succeed, they’re motivated to engage more and strive for better results.
2. Fun and Interactive Learning: Friendly competition adds a fun twist to learning, making it more engaging and interactive.

Benefits for Designers:

1. Flexible Control: Tailor the penalty system to your specific program goals and desired level of rigor, giving you flexible control over learner engagement.
2. Objective Progress Measurement: Leaderboards provide an objective measure of a learner’s progress, useful for self-paced courses where learners can track their performance against peers.
3. Prompt Participation: Recognize top performers and motivate others to participate more actively, driving engagement and encouraging learners to strive for better results.

5. Admin Experience Improvements

The admin experience has been enhanced with new features from an administrative perspective, allowing you to simplify your tasks with a greater end result.

Preview Feature:

Experience your program from a participant’s perspective with our new Preview feature! As an administrator or instructional designer, you can now log in as a test participant and preview the entire training program. This feature allows you to see exactly what participants will experience when they go through the learning journey.

To access this feature, simply click on “Preview” above your Mindmarkers in the Program Overview section. You’ll be taken to a new browser tab where you can view the program as if you were a participant. Some features may be limited for test participants compared to actual participants.

You will be taken to a login screen as a participant with a temporary account so that you can get the full experience.

Copy Programs and Copy Mindmarker Features:

Streamline your workflow with the Copy Program and Copy Mindmarkers features! As an administrator or instructional designer, you can now copy individual Mindmarkers or entire programs across different portals and Learning Journeys without having to redesign them from scratch. Relevant Objectives and Resources can be copied over as part of that process. This means you can replicate learning journeys or Programs quickly and easily, saving time and effort.

STOP Participant Feature: 

Take control of participant access with our STOP (Stop) Participant feature! As an administrator or instructional designer, you can modify participant statuses and prohibit learner access to programs without affecting the analytics of your programs. This gives you greater flexibility in managing your training programs.

License Activity Screen:

Stay on top of license activity and usage with our License Activity report! As an administrator or instructional designer, you’ll have complete visibility into order numbers, dates, seat counts, and more. You can track real-time information about licensed orders and their usage so that you can  make informed decisions.

Archive, Find, and Sort for Learning Journeys:

Simplify your program management with our Archive, Find, and Sort features! As an administrator or instructional designer, you’ll be able to:

Archive: Remove inactive programs from view and store them in the Archived folder.

Find: Quickly locate active and archived programs using search filters.

Sort: Organize programs by title, creation date, or last invitation date for easy reference.

6. Library is the new Media!

Introducing our revamped Library experience! As an administrator or instructional designer, you now have direct access to all your training resources in one convenient location.

The top-level menu has been updated to “Library”, making it easier than ever to find and manage your media assets. The new Library features two main components:

Media Library: This section includes:

• Resource Categories: A centralized hub for grouping related media assets (images, documents, audio, video, subtitles) that can be unlocked as participants progress through programs.
• All Media: A comprehensive list of all uploaded resources, including those used in Mindmarkers or directly accessed by participants. You can view these resources in a list or grid format.

AI-Training Library: This section is exclusive to customers with Mindmarker-Assist and features:

• Collections: Groups of assets used by MM-Assist, Ascend Virtual Coach, and Ascend Activities.
• All Assets: A comprehensive list of all uploaded assets (PDFs, text files, MS Office documents) that can be used to create programs with Mindmarker-Assist. These assets may also be displayed in a list or grid format.

The AI-Training Library is stored securely in a private vault and only accessible within your company’s portal.

With this update, you’ll enjoy a more streamlined experience when managing your training resources and creating engaging learning experiences for your participants!

7. Organization Settings

We’ve enhanced our Organization Settings page to provide more control and customization options, helping you tailor your organization’s environment to meet its unique needs.

What’s new in this update?

• Organization Information: Now you can store detailed contact information for executives, finance, IT experts, and other key personnel. You’ll also be able to attach social media links/URLs to showcase your organization’s online presence.
• Email Branding and Customization: Take control of the messages sent to learners by customizing tone, messaging, and branding to align with your organization’s values.

Additionally, we’ve added:

• Journey Default Settings: Enable leaderboards for default or customized journeys, giving you more flexibility in designing engaging learning experiences.

Benefits of Organization Settings updates

• Centralized record-keeping: Manage and maintain important organizational information in one place for easy reference.
• Branded messaging: As a Mindarker administrator, you can now customize the messages sent to learners with your organization’s brand values, ensuring consistency across all communications.

Security Fixes

• Cookie based authentication has been added.
• Maximum attempts for forgotten passwords have been added.
• Implemented a two step unsubscribe process with captcha validations.
• Show password option added for reset password screen.

Overall Platform improvements

• Preview Training: conflicts with older sessions for existing login resolved.
• Infinite loop in case a password update was required.
• Resolved issues to allow multiple users to preview the same program at once.
• Fixed issues where users were unable to add a new week to the program in Grid view.
• Bug fixes in MM Assist.
• Fixed issue causing password reset on profile edit if password reset was used earlier.
• Fixed issue for auto unsubscribe from email notification.

August/September 2022

All New Mobile Apps – Available Now!

Mindmarker’s innovative microlearning app is live and available for learners to download on the App Store or Google Play. We overhauled our iOS and Android user interfaces—making learning even more accessible on-the-go!

What’s New for Mobile Learners

Our modernized UI allows learners to seamlessly move through learning journeys on any device. These mobile updates mirror our recent web app improvements:

• New registration flow makes getting started simple so learners can jump right into engaging training experience
• Dynamic program dashboard populates relevant details that are responsive to a learner’s progress for easy viewing
• Redesigned homepage gives learners immediate access to all open mindmarkers right when they log in
• Enhanced learning objectives and descriptions make a program’s purpose clear from day one 

Fresh Features for Admins

Learners aren’t the only ones getting upgrades. Our admin web portal now allows program creators to:

• Preview  mindmarkers while you’re building the
• Easily reorder modules with drag and drop
• Enhance switchers to make smoother connections between programs