We’ll be the first to admit that the beta period for Respondus 4.0 ran longer than targeted. As we partner with more and more companies, the coordination of release dates is a bit like herding cats.

The final release of Respondus 4.0 occurred in September and we’re excited with the results. Here’s a quick overview of the most significant features in 4.0 and how to obtain the new version.

New Features

• The Desire2Learn integration in Respondus 4.0 was overhauled and now offers seamless publishing of quizzes to courses. Similarly, a new Retrieval feature allows the downloading of assessments from the Desire2Learn Learning Environment. (Note: the Desire2Learn administrator will need to have the Integration Pack for Respondus installed to the server.)

• Respondus 4.0 offers a full integration for the Moodle open source LMS. This means that Moodlers can bypass the clunky QTI import/export process to have Respondus work with Moodle. (Note: the Moodle administrator will need to install the Respondus Moodle Module to the server.)

• For users of other course management systems, Version 4.0 appears as a modest upgrade. That’s because we offer incremental updates along the way, rather than holding back features for a major release every year or two. In fact, since the release of Respondus 3.0, we’ve added dozens of major enhancements (e.g. support for ANGEL; support for Blackboard 7-9; the ability to import MS Word documents that contain inline images, tables and equations; plus hundreds of smaller enhancements and bug fixes).

In Respondus 4.0, we resisted making major changes to the user interface, despite the norm to do so in the software industry. Our goal is to reduce the training, support and rollout headaches that often accompany new software releases. Just go ahead and start using Respondus 4.0. Current users won’t miss a beat.

Upgrading to Respondus 4.0
Institutions with a campus-wide license of Respondus receive all updates as part of their annual subscription fee. Contact your institution’s Respondus administrator to get the latest version.

It isn’t necessary to uninstall Respondus 3.5 before installing Respondus 4.0 – both versions can coexist on a computer. Also, the file format is unchanged, so it’s possible to use the two versions interchangeably. But note that we don’t plan to add further enhancements or bug fixes to Respondus 3.5, and support will gradually be phased out for this version. We recommend that you upgrade to Respondus 4.0 soon.

Learn More about Respondus
The Respondus website contains complete information on Respondus 4.0, including product descriptions, demonstration movies for each learning system that the software integrates with, all sorts of support resources, and a useful little sheet on the Top-10 Reasons to Use Respondus.

Related Articles:
Tech Tip: Changing the Point Values in Respondus
Tech Tip: Batch Publishing an Assessment
Respondus to the Rescue
Importing MS Word 2007 (.docx) files with Respondus 3.5
Training Resources for Respondus Products

Source: Respondus, Inc. (www.respondus.com)
Originally Published: November 3, 2009

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