What's New in Cornerstone Classroom 8.5.4

Third-party support changes

Functional area: App Client

Type: Enhancement

Applicable to audience: All

Enabled by default?: Yes

Configurable by admin?: No

Configurable by Saba?: Yes

Description

Starting with this release, the following third-party software is supported for Cornerstone Classroom App clients and servers:

Table 1. Third-party support changes
Type of Software	Previously supported version	New version
Java	JRE 1.8.0_131	JRE 1.8.0_141

Support scaling of high bandwidth Appshare screen captures

Functional area: App Client, AppShare

Type: Enhancement

Applicable to audience: All

Enabled by default?: Yes

Configurable by admin?: No

Configurable by Saba?: Yes

Description

How did it work?

Prior to this release, Cornerstone Classroom sessions were not able to handle Appshare screen captures of high resolution screens. When complete screen share was selected for high resolution screens in laptops/desktops, Appshare would consume high bandwidth data, resulting into spikes and packet loss in network devices.

How does it work now?

This release introduces the ability to configure the scaling of Appshare data when complete screen share is selected. This allows administrators to limit the bandwidth consumed by Appshare for high resolution screen captures in laptops/desktops.

Cornerstone Classroom administrators can configure the following Appshare-related domain properties under Manage Domains > Properties > Client.

Table 2. Appshare scaling properties
Property	Description	Default Value
Appshare compression type	Specify the compression rate for Appshare screen captures. Select from one of the following values: High quality compression Use this setting for Appshare captures from high resolution screens. Classic compression Use this setting for Appshare captures from regular screens that do not requires high bandwidth. The bandwidth use is controlled by the video codec. For example, if High quality compression is set, then Appshare uses Open HD264 codec.	High quality compression
Appshare maximum data rate (HQ)	Specify the maximum data rate value for Appshare screen captures.	100000
Appshare key frame frequency (seconds, HQ)	Specify the key frame frequency in seconds for Appshare screen captures.	7

Note: To configure this feature, submit a request. For details, contact Saba support.

Figure 1. New Client properties for Appshare

Use Case

Cornerstone Classroom sessions need to handle Appshare screen captures from high resolution screens so that there is no lag in the session.

App-based Agenda Builder

Functional area: App Client

Type: New

Applicable to audience: Leader, Presenter, Co-Presenter

Enabled by default?: Yes

Configurable by admin?: Yes

Configurable by Saba?: No

Description

How did it work?

Prior to this release, the Agenda Builder functionality was available in the Cornerstone Classroom desktop client. This functionality was not present in the Cornerstone Classroom App.

How does it work now?

This release introduces the Agenda Builder functionality in the Cornerstone Classroom App.

In this release, the Agenda Builder is available only to leaders/presenters and co-presenters. To access the Agenda Builder, the Cornerstone Classroom App must be logged into an event.

The new Agenda Builder menu under Add Content give you access to the Agenda Builder functionality in the App. When the users select Agenda Builder, they are automatically stepped out of the event. This disables the non-Agenda Builder functionality indicating to the rest of the session that the user is not available but still maintaining the current session state for re-joining when they are finished.

After selecting the Agenda Builder menu, the left navigation panel is hidden and replaced with the Agenda Builder's control panel that consists of:

Add button
Click this button to add existing content to the agenda. Currently, only image files (e.g., jpg, gif, etc.) are supported.
Save button
Click this button to publish an agenda to the CMS.
Exit Agenda Builder icon
Click this icon to close the Agenda Builder, step the user back into the session and return to the normal App interface.

Figure 2. App-based Agenda Builder - No agenda

Figure 3. App-based Agenda Builder - Imported agenda

On starting the Agenda Builder, the agenda is empty. To add an agenda item, click the Import button. This displays a File Chooser that allows you to select a file to import. Name the imported item and click OK. This imports the new item to an empty agenda or appends the item after a selected item in the agenda. The App displays the current agenda in a tree view (similar to the Agenda classic view). The selected agenda item is highlighted in the tree view, and displays the items in the media window. The agenda can also be empty. Users can publish the agenda to the CMS as either a Subject that is available to all events in a domain or can assign the agenda to the event the user is logged in to.

Use Case

There is a need to have the ability to prepare content regardless of a browser without requiring install beyond App install.