OWL Release Notes

The release notes describe the changes to OWL.

♦ OWL 22.3-owl2: March 17, 2024; Contains new site migration features for the OWL Migration Plan.
OWL 22.3-owl1.1: October 1, 2023; Contains fixes related to using video in OWL, support for third-party integrations, and improvements to the dark theme in various tools.
OWL 22.3-owl1: July 30, 2023; Contains a new dark theme, new layout options for Lessons, fixes and improvements throughout tools, improved security and performance.
OWL 20.2-owl6.1: January 8, 2023; Contains fixes to enhance the overall security of OWL.
OWL 20.2-owl6: November 27, 2022; Contains improvements to embedded content in Lessons, bug fixes in Tests & Quizzes, and performance and security improvements throughout.
OWL 20.2-owl5: August 25, 2022; Contains a redesign of Forums, improvements to Tests & Quizzes, and enhancements to overall security. Read more...
OWL 20.2-owl4: May 1, 2022; Contains the retirement of Email Archive and improvements to Assignments, Gradebook, Tests & Quizzes, and more. Read more...
OWL 20.2-owl3: January 6, 2022; Contains performance improvements to Gradebook and fixes throughout Assignments and Test & Quizzes.
OWL 20.2-owl2: August 19, 2021; Contains improvements and fixes throughout Assignments, Forums, Gradebook, Lessons, and Tests & Quizzes.
OWL 20.2-owl1: May 1, 2021; Contains an updated look, a fullscreen view, a new Rubrics tool, Manage Overview, redesigned Gradebook and Tests & Quizzes pages, overall improvements, and more. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl6: November 29, 2020; Contains fixes and improvements to Tests & Quizzes, the rich-text editor, Gradebook, and other parts of OWL. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl5.1: August 29, 2019; Contains fixes to enhance the overall security of OWL.
OWL 11.3-owl5: July 18, 2019; Contains fixes and improvements to Calendar, Gradebook, Tests & Quizzes, Assignments, Lessons, and other parts of OWL. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl4: January 3, 2019; Contains a redesign of the settings on the Add and Edit pages in Assignments, as well as fixes and improvements to Email Archive, Gradebook, Polls, Sign-up, and other parts of OWL. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl3.1: August 23, 2018; Contains fixes to enhance the overall security of OWL.
OWL 11.3-owl3: May 3, 2018; Contains fixes and improvements to Gradebook, Announcements, Lessons, and other parts of OWL. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl2: December 22, 2017; Contains fixes and improvements to Gradebook, Assignments, Forums, Syllabus, and other parts of OWL. Read more...
OWL 11.3-owl1: August 31, 2017; Contains an updated interface that adapts to different screen sizes, other interface changes throughout, a new spreadsheet-like Gradebook interface, new options for Lessons, and a new question progress panel for students in Tests & Quizzes. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl6: December 22, 2016; Contains the brand new User Activity feature in Statistics, the removal of the problematic Extended Matching question type from Tests & Quizzes, a fix for embedding videos in Lessons, and updates to the Turnitin integration in Assignments. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl5: August 29, 2016; Contains the new Research Guides tool, a redesigned Assignments creation page, and an updated Turnitin integration. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl4: May 5, 2016; Contains a new option to average multiple submission scores in Tests & Quizzes, new email notification options for Tests & Quizzes and for Forums, new linking and export options for SCORM Player, the addition of VoiceThread, and the removal of the Voice Authoring Tools. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl3: December 23, 2015; Contains an updated look for Schedule, a new list of participants who have not yet joined any groups in a joinable set, new controls when adding items to Syllabus, and the removal of the Academic Calendar. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl2: August 27, 2015; Contains a new view of official course enrolments in Membership, anonymous forums, a new group creation option, and an option to add Western's Academic Calendar to an OWL calendar. Read more...
OWL 10.3-owl1: May 3, 2015; Contains an updated look, a drag-and-drop option for uploading files in Resources, an extra credit option in Gradebook, new question types in Tests & Quizzes, group submissions and peer review in Assignments, a new Join page, and an updated rich text editor. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl6: December 21, 2014; Contains new view options for the Manage Participants page, and performance and user interface improvements to various tools. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl5: August 28, 2014; Contains anonymous assignments, improved Assignments navigation, Western-specific copyright options, and user interface improvements. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl4: May 1, 2014; Contains new options for groups and joinable sets, improvements to the question pool functionality in Tests & Quizzes, user experience and performance improvements in many tools, and security updates. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl3: December 22, 2013; Contains updates to the Assignments tool, a dedicated page for the Manage Participants list, the new Join Bar for joinable sites, improvements to the password policy, user experience and performance improvements, and security updates. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl2: August 29, 2013; Contains support for MathJax, the newly released PostEm tool, streamlined guest-account creation and password reset processes, more Turnitin submission types, Gradebook improvements, user experience and performance improvements, and security updates. Read more...
OWL 2.9.1-owl1: May 2, 2013; Contains a redesigned interface, a new rich text editor, many user experience improvements, support for SCORM packages, improvements to the course evaluation system and certification tool, and security updates. Read more...
OWL 2.8.x-owl5: January 3, 2013; Contains new features for joinable sites and groups, improvements to certificates of achievement, and several bug fixes, interface improvements, and security updates. Read more...
OWL 2.8.x-owl4: October 21, 2012; Contained a new tool for offering certificates of achievement, a new system for online course evaluations, additional options for making a site joinable, a new tool for requesting an OWL account, and interface improvements.
OWL 2.8.x-owl3: August 12, 2012; Contained the ability to submit and approve final course grades to the Registrar, improvements to the Lesson Builder tool, improvements to the EZProxy tool, and improvements to the Gradebook import process.
OWL 2.8.x-owl2: May 3, 2012; Contained new Gradebook options for importing grades from ScanExam, improvements to the EZProxy tool, and interface improvements.
OWL 2.8.x-owl1: February 17, 2012; Contained plagiarism detection option for submitted assignments, a new tool for off-campus access of Western Libraries' resources, a new tool for creating online lesson modules, updates to Western branding, and interface improvements.