Summer is right around the corner, which means we have another exciting Wixie update on its way! We can't possibly cover all the changes, but here are some of the highlights of what you can expect in the new version.

Talkies

Talkies are animated magic stickers that read text, read a text object, or play a recorded sound. Imagine an interview with an animal, or person from history, where the answers are animated responses or perhaps an element talking about how it acts when bonded with another element.

Talkies are added through a new Widgets button on the Standard theme toolbar. 

Widgets

The Widgets button opens a dialog to add Magic Stickers, embed Wixie projects, or embed a web page (teachers only). This makes it easy to add a project to your learning portfolio or add interactive objects like spinners and dice to a probability activity.

Books of Embedded Projects

Teachers can quickly create an interactive Wixie book of student work to be able to share a class project. Use this feature to showcase a collection of your student's historical journals or selections of their artwork and poetry.

On the Students page, teachers can use the Select button to select projects and then use the Merge button to get to the Project Wizard options.

The new Book option lets teachers embed projects in a Wixie book by selecting a template and the number of projects per page.

Student work on the Assignments page

Teachers can now review assigned student work on the Assignments page, making it easier and faster for teachers to monitor student progress.

From their Home page, teachers can use the Assignments button, then choose an assignment to get to the Assignment details page. The Assignment details page will allow them to edit the assignment, review student work, and add or remove students, assessments, and standards.

Project Inspector

Teachers can inspect a student project to see all of the actions that they performed, what each student contributed to a team project, and what pages were deleted and the content that they contained. 

To get to the Inspector, teachers look at the project details on either the Assignments or Students page, click the more options button and choose Inspect Project.

The project will open in the inspector in a new tab.

And much more...

Every update has its highlights, but there is a lot more to offer as well.

Users can enter search terms in the Image dialog using dictation rather than typing, making adding images easier for emergent writers.
Users can also enter search terms using dictation when searching for projects or images in the media library.
On the Settings page, teachers can set their preferred voice and speech speed for themselves, their classes, and their students.
Students can set their own Speech preferences from the Account menu when they are editing a project.
The Project Settings dialog under the File menu has a new set of options for Objects including project specific options for sticker size, default font, disabling speech, and disabling dictation.
The Properties menu for an Object now opens a dialog and includes a new property that lets users disable the Speak option for an individual object.
In the Standard theme, the lower-left handle on a selected image or text now opens a menu of options for that object.
In the Primary theme, the Shape tool has a Fill switch to be able to paint filled shapes.
When students open a project from an assignment, the Instructions panel will include a Done button that will mark the project as complete.