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What’s New in Maple T.A.™ 4.0 Maple T.A. 4.0 contains numerous enhancements that simplify the administration process, provide greater flexibility for the instructor, and improve the experience for the students. Highlights include enhanced roster import, support for international characters, and the ability to expand Maple T.A.’s capabilities through integration with the Maple T.A. Building Block™ for Blackboard Learning System™ and MapleNet®. Details: Enhanced Roster Import Header row allows for flexible order of columns. Only include the columns you need. Update user information easily using the intuitive format. Assign user roles in the system. Pre-validate roster information. Easily fix errors in user information by uploading a roster of corrected records. Delete groups of users with a roster. Convenient batch removal, with the choice between “mark as deleted” and “delete permanently.” More Customized Messages for Students Increased control over when pass/fail feedback is displayed to the student: always, never, or if final grade is shown. Add a custom grading message that will display after the default system message. Gradebook Improvements The student view of Gradebook has been simplified. Students can only see assignments for which they have results. Percent and letter grade view now available to students. Gradebook export includes all data and is sorted by last name. Gradebook export uses empty field if student has no score, rather than a dash. Your system administrator can set this system property. New System Administrator's Guide Everything your university’s system administrator needs to know to install and maintain Maple T.A., in one simple document. Topics include: Installation procedures for Maple T.A., as well as other required programs such as Java™, PostgreSQL, and Tomcat™ Configuring Maple T.A. to work with MapleNet Changing system properties for Gradebook formatting Managing Maple T.A. logs Integrating LDAP authentication into your Maple T.A. system   Increased Flexibility in User Registration User self-registration available as a system setting: administrators can choose to allow students to register themselves in the system or restrict registration to users with create privileges. User profile validation available as a system setting: administrators can choose whether or not new users are required to validate their profile on their first login. Comprehensive Support for International Characters Import rosters and enter questions in any language.   Enhanced Mathematical Engine Provides access to the full computational power of Maple 12, the latest release from Maplesoft. Support for the Maple T.A. Building Block for Blackboard Learning System Maple T.A. 4.0 works with the new Building Block for Blackboard (available separately). A wide range of Blackboard versions are supported: Blackboard Learning System Release 6.3 / 7.x / 8.0 Integration with MapleNet Maple T.A. 4.0 can be integrated with MapleNet (available separately), which provides increased efficiency, including the ability to use multiple back-end servers, and gives access to a wider variety of plot types and customizations in question content. MapleNet provides: Scalability: the option to scale across multiple back-end servers Faster XML/MathML generation Finer control over process management and resources used by pool of Maple engines Access to more Maple plot types and customizations: New plot types such as dual-axis plots and polar plots with polar axes New line styles and symbols Control gridlines, axis options, captions, transparency, glossiness, and legend location Display international alphabets and characters in plot titles, legends and captions for 2-D plots