What’s New in 1.22 (October 2024 Release)

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We have been engaging with hurdle users and working hard to bring new and useful features to the platform.  This release of hurdle represents a big leap forward for how sessions are administered and opens new possibilities for how sessions are delivered.  This article has been created to help you quickly get up to speed with the changes.  Additionally, it is important to the hurdle team that we give you an insight in to why these changes have been made, so we have included this where possible.

Have your say – as ever we are keen to hear your thoughts and ideas so please use our support portal to ask questions or make suggestions.  You can find the support forms here >> End User Help Desk

Watch the video below for a quick overview in what’s new in this version.

Administrative Changes

Starting a journey: Migrating session admin features to the browser

Hurdle is currently separated into two areas when it comes to creating and administering sessions, application and browser (https://manage.hurdle.live).  During this version we have made the first step in moving all admin features to the browser.

Why are we doing this?

  • One home for admin – this will be easier for trainers and administrators to understand and navigate.
  • More features and faster releases – moving hurdle session administration functions to the browser will allow our developers to be able to expand admin features and release improvements quicker. Future features this will build the basis for include searching and categorising sessions through to recurring sessions.

What have we done so far?

In this release we have made the following changes to the browser admin area:

  • Home
    • There is now the ability to see simple leader boards which display top 10’s for learners and trainers.
  • Sessions
    • The list within the session table has been re-styled to provide further information about sessions that have been entered.
    • Additionally, sessions can now be created and edited via the sessions section without the need to login to the hurdle application.  A new session can be created using the “Create Training Session” button and existing sessions can be edited by clicking the “view” button in the session list.

What are we planning to do next?

In the coming versions we will add the ability to start sessions from the browser admin area, which will in turn open the hurdle application automatically.  Once this work is complete it will mean as a trainer you will always login to the browser admin area to create, edit and start training sessions.

Licence use is now more flexible

Licence allocation has been changed, trainers do not need to pre-allocate licences to a session, hurdle will use a licence when a learner attends and return it when they leave.  We have changed this to improve how training teams use their licences, increase flexibility and pave the way for future integrations with other services.

When you log in to the hurdle application to create a new session you will notice that you no longer have to specify the number of learners and assistants you need for a session.  From now on, when a session starts hurdle will use licences from your account licence pool based on actual attendance instead of an arbitrary / guessed attendance number input up front by the trainer.  We have kept the ability to add a session limit to any given session, and this is available if you add / edit a session via the sessions section located at https://manage.hurdle.live.  See below screen shot for how session attendance can be limited:

In session Changes

Now you see me: Web cam panel open by default for learners

In prior versions of hurdle, the learner had the ability to open a webcam panel to see other attendees whilst the trainer was presenting, this panel was left closed by default.  In this version we have opened the webcam panel by default to bring attendee faces more in to view.  We have kept the option to hide the web cam panel for learners who prefer not to have visibility of others.

New Mode View: All

Hurdle allows the ability to co-instruct with multiple trainers, who are able to view multiple learners in the back of the room view.  We have added a new view so that when co-instructing each trainer can see a list of all attendees of a session which includes both learners and trainers.  This can be accessed using the “All” option shown below:

You can identify any attendee of a course that is a trainer or assistant if this symbol is visible against their screen in the back of the room view.

We have added this new view so when co-instructing, trainers can have a more complete picture of who is in the session.

Sending and showing content to learners

We have added two new ways to get content to your learners within a session.  We have done this based on trainer feedback and to open new ways of delivering live training sessions.  One way is great for ad-hoc and quick sending of files, and the other allows for comprehensive pre-planned content to be dripped to your learners at the right time during a lesson.

  • Upload files to learners (Quick) – this feature allows the trainer to send a file to all learners within a session, once sent hurdle will ask the learner where to store the file. This can be used instead of emailing course materials to learners because the files can be sent within the session.  See below where to access the feature when within a session:

  • Content Panel (Pre-Planned) – an exciting new feature which allows training teams to create content for any purpose ahead of a session, and then show it to learners within a session when needed. We have added a new section to https://manage.hurdle.live called “Content Panels” where a training team can create as many content panels as required.  Content panels can include:
    • Rich text (Formatting, Bullets, Numbers etc)
    • File attachments
    • Hyperlinks
    • Pictures
    • Embedded videos (Vimeo and YouTube)

Once the training team have created the content panel(s) they plan to use, they can attach them to any session they create via https://manage.hurdle.live using the “Content Panels” area of the new session screen.  When the trainer starts a session with an attached content panel, they will see a content panel pop out button within hurdle on the left-hand side.  Below is the content panel pop out as shown to a trainer, each box is a content panel added by the training team and can be “displayed” or “hidden” to learners.  For ease, the content panel appears in the same way to learners but only trainers can decide what content is visible or not.

What could you use content panels for?

Content panels have been designed to be flexible and open to be used for any kind of content, but please see below some examples:

  • Lesson exercises – Step by step guides.
  • Dummy data – example data learners may need to type during a session.
  • Handouts – learners could download post lesson handouts.
  • FAQ – there may be common questions a trainer receives during a session.
  • Break time activities – a meditation or exercise video could be shown during a break.
  • Plus many more examples…

Hey there good looking: Selfie mode for trainers

When a trainer joins a session, they can now see their own webcam in the bottom corner of the back of the room view.  This can be closed using the cross and re-opened by opening the camera options and turning on the “Selfie Mode” option.

Webcam background images

Based on overwhelming user feedback we have worked hard to bring background images to webcams.  Hurdle will be pre-loaded with some standard images to use, and team leads can upload custom background images using the “Team Camera Backgrounds” section of https://manage.hurdle.live/teams .  Camera background images can be selected when trainers and learners onboard into a session, or via the camera options drop down when in session.  See below an example of selecting a camera background:

Share trainer local audio when presenting

Trainers can now share their own computer audio to learners when they present.  This allows for a richer experience and opens the possibility of playing videos in session to learners.  To use, open the present drop down and activate the option highlighted below.

Express yourself: Emoji in chat

As part of our ongoing effort to provide more ways for trainers and learners to express how they feel within a session, we have added support for emoji to all chat screens for all users.  See below an example of the emoji window being used:

View poll results in more detail

After a poll has run, the trainer can view the results of polls in more detail using the “polls” section within the training session detail screen located at https://manage.hurdle.live .  Additionally, the trainer can use the button below to view these results directly.

If a poll has not been run anonymously, the trainer will be able to see the names of who voted for which option using this button.  We believe having the option to see who voted in real time, means the polls option can be used for reasons other than just general opinion capture within a session.

Hurdle Labs Exclusive Changes

Remote control learners who join via the browser

This represents the culmination of months of hard work and now means there is no feature difference between a learner accessing a hurdle with labs session via the hurdle application or browser.  Prior to this version when a learner joined a hurdle with labs session, the trainer was unable to remote control their session. This limitation has now been removed from hurdle with labs sessions.  NOTE: Owing to limitations in browser technology we are still unable to bring this feature to a non-lab hurdle sessions.

Further information