The latin phrase “omne trium perfectum” means everything that comes in threes is perfect. We won’t go that far when it comes to our third major release of Content Controller. It’s software—nothing is ever perfect. But we are pretty excited about Content Controller 3.0, which just so happens to include three new and notable features.
As Content Controller usage increases we are seeing our customers taking it into new and different areas and want to be sure the application keeps pace with the ever changing needs and use cases. So, what’s new in Content Controller V3.0?
More content types with added support for media files
Many of our customers publish training curriculum that includes more than just standards-based content. Now you can import MP4 videos and PDF documents directly into Content Controller, and distribute them to LMSs just as you would any standards-based content, with the same licensing and export options. We have also included the ability to upload WebVTT files to add subtitles or closed captions for video content to help with accessibility requirements.
Get organized with content folders
At its core, Content Controller helps you manage and distribute courses. We wanted to make it easier to organize those courses within the application. This is especially helpful for anyone that has a large course catalog and wants to keep things nice and tidy. Now you can create folders in the content section or inside of an account, add new content to those folders, and move existing content to different folders.
Sharing content as LTI just got so much better
We have a few clients that use Content Controller to offer certification programs and curriculum to higher education and academic institutions. In most cases, LTI is the optimal way to share content with these customers. While Content Controller has offered an LTI option to share files in earlier releases as LTI 1.1, that might not be the best way to share content with an LTI platform or LMS. So we have updated the LTI support to be more in line with industry best practices.
Now you can share content out of Content Controller as LTI 1.3 links in a Thin Common Cartridge. (The theme of 3 just keeps coming!) This means that you can set up an account as an LTI tool, and each shared course is a resource provided by that tool. These changes will make it easier for LMS administrators to accept content from vendors who use Content Controller, because they only need to register a single tool to make use of any amount of content from that publisher. We will continue to support sharing courses via LTI 1.1, but expect most customers will find sharing multiple content assets as LTI 1.3 links to be the better option.
We’re really excited about the path that Content Controller is taking and how these features help expand the types of content you can manage and the ways in which you can share it with your customers. For more details and to see the other improvements included, check out the Content Controller V3.0 release notes. If you have questions and want to see how it works, reach out! And if the title of this blog hasn’t got you singing it yet, this should help you get started.
