In October, much of our work went into the details of the participant experience. This included the messages people see while they wait, register, or troubleshoot, and the quality of the AI they talk to inside a session. Module authors in Sparkwise Architect gained more visual control and a safer way to iterate, and client admins got clearer labeling for premium content. Here are the details:
🏛️ For module authors
This month's Architect updates give authors more control over how a module looks, and more confidence when making big changes to it.
Save named versions of a module. Authors can now create and save named versions of a module — a useful checkpoint before a major revision, or a clear record of what a given cohort experienced. If you need to restore a module from a named version, just ask us.
Add color to Notepad resources. Authors can now add text color to Notepad resources. When Archie drafts or edits Notepad content, it follows Sparkwise learning design guidelines for the use of text color, so color is applied with purpose and consistently across a module, held to the same standards we use for our own modules.
Architect is currently available to clients working with us on custom module builds. Reach out if you'd like to see it in action.
⚙️ For client admins
Premium modules (including those from Harvard Business Review) are now clearly labeled as such throughout the admin dashboard: in the Catalog, on module details pages, and in the module dropdown. Whether you're browsing the Catalog or assigning a module to a session, it's now easy to tell at a glance which modules are premium modules from our partners.
✨ For session participants
Most of this month's participant updates are about saying the right thing at the right moment.
Clearer messages while waiting and registering. Participants waiting alone during dynamic matching now see "No one else has joined yet" instead of "Widening the search...", and are notified as soon as someone else joins. During self-registration, if every upcoming session is full, participants now see "All sessions are full" rather than "No sessions available" — a more accurate picture of why they can't sign up.
More helpful AV error messages. We've improved the messages participants see when something goes wrong with audio or video, so they're clearer about what happened.
A more thorough Tech Check. The Tech Check module's screen-share test now asks participants to try sharing their screen, rather than offering a Skip option. That way, screen-sharing issues surface during the tech check instead of in the middle of a live session.
Better writing from AI chatbots. Participants will notice improvements in the writing style and quality of the chatbot in AI chat steps, building on our recent work to bring AI-drafted content into one consistent Sparkwise voice.
That's the update for this month!
Interested to see what we've released in past months? Highlights from our changelog can be found in our Product Release Notes.
