Press Releases
OWL Testing Software Announces Release of Version 3.6
Highlights Include Support for Safari, Recording of Oral Comments and Feedback on Assessments, and Flash-Based Practice Activity Modules
PITTSBURGH (June 16, 2009) – OWL Testing Software, a premier provider of affordable Web-based testing and assessment systems for academia, government, and business users, announced today the release of OWL version 3.6. The new version is available to all customers with active maintenance agreements and will be installed for all new customers starting immediately.
Version 3.6 brings three important enhancements to OWL, starting with full support for Apple's Safari browser. Safari, popular among OWL’s primary, secondary, and higher education customers, brings the total browsers supported by OWL to four. The other three are Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, and Google’s Chrome. According to most surveys, these four browsers comprise just over 98 percent of the internet browser market.
OWL customers have always benefited from performing online assessments of the writing and speaking skill of their language learners—using any scoring system, rubric, and text-based commentary desired. Now, instructors will be able to dynamically add their oral comments to those assessments. Oral comments are useful in helping students to hear proper pronunciations, while giving instructors freedom to offer guidance and advice on every aspect of a student's response.
The conversion from Flash to Java for handling OWL's Practice Activity Modules completely eliminates the need for additional media server hardware and software. This upgrade now makes the deployment of OWL simpler and less expensive for both testing and for practice activities.
"This new version of OWL was directed primarily by customer feedback and requests, just as our software has been since its inception," said Chris Dalessandri, president and CEO of OWL Testing Software. "Technically, the elimination of Flash signals the completion of the last step toward a completely Java-driven application. This will certainly make deployment simpler, more affordable, and easier for us and our customers."
Dalessandri went on to say, "Safari has always worked well with OWL. Version 3.6 confirms the successful completion of our internal quality assurance testing of a browser that is very popular with our educational markets. We're probably most excited about giving our customers the ability to capture oral comments as they perform their online assessments. It's been one of the more popular requests of late, and we've always prided ourselves at taking product development direction from our customers."
About OWL Testing Software
OWL Testing Software is a leading provider of language test building software to academia, business, and government markets. Built as a Web-based solution for test creation, administration, and management, OWL Testing Software is unique in its ability to create tests for all four communication skills – oral, aural, reading and writing. OWL is available as licensed software and as a hosted solution to meet the needs of the largest and smallest schools, businesses, and government agencies concerned with enhancing the language learning process and outcomes. Please visit www.owlts.com or call 412.573.6143 for more information.
