Mediathread, CCNMTL's innovative platform for exploration, analysis, and organization of web-based images and videos, continues to improve. A new beta version of Mediathread was released earlier this spring; student surveys and suggestions from educational technologists and instructors using Mediathread last semester shaped the results. Two major features are introduced in this release:

Project organization: Projects in Mediathread are now easier to organize and track as assignments. A new Instructor's Dashboard helps instructors create projects, assignments, and discussions, all of which appear on the class home page. The Instructor's Dashboard also contains reports so instructors can track assignment submissions and assess overall student activity in Mediathread. Students are now alerted to assignments in their Items and Projects workspace. They can also link projects to assignments and are notified when instructors post feedback on submitted projects.

Multiple annotations view: All annotations posted by class members on images and video imported into MediaThread are now available for browsing on the item profile. Annotations are color-coded and can be sorted and viewed by the annotation author or tag. This feature was first cultivated in the Engaging Digital Tibet course and is now part of the Mediathread functionality, giving course members better ways to view 'coverage' of and connections between annotated objects.

Mediathread is slated for use in various schools and departments at Columbia University this semester, including classes in the History Department, East Asian Languages and Cultures, English and Comparative Literature, Barnard Department of Theater, Social Studies Education at Teachers College, and the Teaching Residents @ Teachers College program.

Mediathread is an open-source software developed by CCNMTL that supports a variety of uses and configurations. A Mediathread site for a course at Columbia University can be set up quickly with a custom set of collections. To discuss piloting Mediathread in your course with a CCNMTL educational technologist, send email to ccnmtl-mediathread@columbia.edu.