What's new in R3 | With links to User Guide

This list details the changes users can expect in the upcoming SLS December 2025 Release (Release 3), which will be rolled out on 4 December 2025. Please note that SLS will be unavailable from 2 December 2025 00:00 to 4 December 2025 23:00 to facilitate this update.

Features for All Users

1. Annotation Enhancements

   1. Teachers and students will see a consistent interface when creating and editing notes, annotations, and discussion posts on SLS.
   2. Annotation cards now display the media objects they reference, making it easier for users to see the context of their notes.

2. Rich Text Editor

   1. Teachers and students can now use cut, copy, and paste options on the toolbar and right-click context menu in addition to keyboard shortcuts.
   2. Teachers and students can now use additional formatting options such as underline, strikethrough, superscript, and subscript in most Rich Text Editors on SLS.
   3. The toolbar for Rich Text Editors has been reorganised and can now be collapsed on desktop screens. It is collapsed by default on mobile screens.

3. UI/ UX Enhancements

   1. Subpages have increased height and width for desktop and tablet, improving content visibility.
   2. Module tags and content maps are now displayed on module covers.
   3. Shaded grey boxes framing images and videos have been removed. The frame now only appears when users hover over the image, improving the viewing experience.
   4. Table displays have been refined to improve clarity and visibility of content.

4. Homepage Enhancements

   1. A "Continue Where You Left Off" section has been added on the homepage, allowing teachers and students to quickly return to recently accessed modules, assignments and templates.
   2. The homepage now supports alt-text for screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation using the "Tab" key.
   3. Teachers, SLS School Administrators and students will see an updated list of shortcuts on the homepage, reflecting the latest changes.
   4. Teachers and students will see a refreshed Account landing page that combines key functions (password, linked accounts, email/notification settings, avatar, profile, followed subjects, switch to student account).
   5. Teachers and SLS School Administrators have a new full-sized landing page that consolidates all admin functions.
   6. Teachers with the External Content Developers (ECD) flag will no longer see the "Switch to Student Account" option.

5. Notifications Enhancements

   1. Teachers and students can choose their preferred assignment sub-categories for email notifications, giving them greater control over the notifications they receive.
   2. Teachers and students can view their latest notifications under the notification bell and mark them as read directly from the notification panel.
   3. Links in email notifications are now clickable for direct access.
   4. The filters on the notification listing page have been updated to help users find relevant notifications more easily.

6. Profile Live Indicator

   1. Teachers and students can see a green dot on user avatars when users are active on SLS.

7. Helpdesk Support

   1. Teachers and students can access the User Guide or Helpdesk via a help widget available on all SLS pages, except the login page.
   2. Teachers and students can submit Helpdesk tickets with pre-filled details and attach multiple images to provide clearer support requests.

Features for Teachers

1. Search

   • Starred Resources:
     1. Teachers can search for starred resources by title on the Starred Resources page.
     2. Teachers can search for starred resources by title when adding content from Starred Resources.
   • MOE Library:
     1. Teachers can now search for SLS Professional Development modules in the MOE Library that were previously visible only in their student account. Selecting these modules will automatically switch them to their student account.

2. Authoring

   • Rubrics Enhancements:
     1. Teachers can search for rubrics, star rubrics, and add rubrics from search or Starred Resources to Free-Response Questions (FRQ) and Audio-Response Questions (ARQ).
     2. Existing rubrics will automatically inherit section tags for searchability.
   • Pagination Enhancements:
     1. Teachers can add links directly to specific pages within sections or activities in modules.
     2. Teachers can move components or pages to reorder them within modules.

3. Assignments

   • Half Marks:
     1. Teachers can now award half marks for Free-Response Questions (FRQ) and Audio-Response Questions (ARQ) in Teacher-Marked Quizzes (TMQ) and standalone questions.
     2. HTML5 and Feedback Assistant - Mathematics (FA-Math) can accommodate half marks.
   • Editing Attempted Questions:
     1. Teachers can now edit Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQ), Multi-Response Questions (MRQ), Audio-Response Questions (ARQ), Fill-in-the-Blanks Questions, Click-and-Drop Questions, Error-Editing Questions, even if they are part of a Multiple-Part Question (MPQ), in assignments or resources even after students have attempted them.
     2. Teachers and students can view the last edited date and time of a question if the assignment or resource was edited after a student attempt.
     3. This feature is not applicable for assessments.
   • Assignment Sharing and Study Buddy:
     1. Owners and co-teachers can set reminders to enable sharing permissions upon assignment due dates.
     2. Teachers can turn off sharing permissions if needed.
     3. This feature is not applicable for assessments.
   • Print-Friendly Worksheet with Responses:
     1. For completed assignments, teachers can allow students to access a print-friendly version of the assignment with their responses.

4. Authoring Copilot (ACP) Enhancements

   1. Teachers can use Authoring Copilot (ACP) to generate new rubrics or populate empty fields in existing rubrics for FRQs.
   2. Teachers can use ACP to generate a HTML5 interactive, and refine it further with instructions.
   3. Teachers can select predetermined recipes (e.g., simple game, simple simulation) or customise their own instructions, and add knowledge base(s) for ACP to reference when generating interactives.
   4. Teachers can use ACP to generate images. They can choose from 3 generated images with each request.
   5. Teachers can generate images for module/section/discussion feature image, gamification components and Click-and-Drop questions.
   6. Teachers can use ACP to generate game stories and collectibles. Generated stories will be linked to existing sections and activities within the module.
   7. Teachers can select predetermined story themes (e.g. fantastic hero journey, time-travel quest) or customise their own theme.
   8. Teachers can customise the number of game stories and collectibles generated in Advanced Settings.

5. Learning Assistant (LEA)

   • Learning Assistant in Live Chat:
     1. Teachers can enable LEA in Live Chat, allowing students to interact with SALiS during Live Chat discussions.
   • Learning Assistant 1-to-1:
     1. Teachers can manually end and close LEA 1-to-1 discussions. The discussion will be converted into a discussion post and past interactions will be stored as comments.
     2. LEA 1-to-1 can return rich formatting (e.g., bold, lists, tables, line breaks, special characters).

6. Short Answer Feedback Assistant (ShortAnsFA) Enhancements

   1. Teachers can provide additional instructions when setting up ShortAnsFA. They can select predetermined feedback styles (e.g., direct answer, simple feedback, Socratic feedback) or customise their own instructions.
   2. The leniency field will be removed for ShortAnsFA.

7. Groups

   1. Owners and co-teachers of groups, as well as SLS School Administrators, can temporarily add a teacher to a group with a set end date. However, an end date cannot be set for owners so that owners will always retain access to their groups.
   2. When new teachers are added to a group, they will now receive the Observer role by default, giving them immediate viewing access to assignments.

8. Community Gallery

   1. Teachers receive a notification once they submit a module to the Community Gallery.
   2. A consistent URL is now used for Community Gallery modules whether pending review, featured or returned, so teachers can share links right after submission.
   3. Modules pending review or returned now show a placeholder page when accessed via a shareable URL.
   4. All teachers who collaborated on a Community Gallery module will be notified when their module receives a teacher review.

9. Learning Outcome Display Name

   1. Teachers can toggle between viewing displayed learning outcomes or learning outcomes. Displayed learning outcomes are learning outcomes with more student-friendly language that are shown to students when added by Content Approvers and Content Officers (CAs and COs).

10. QR and Shortened Link Generation

    1. Teachers can generate QR codes with SLS branding for assignments, modules, groups and community URLs, so students and colleagues can access them quickly.
    2. Shortened URLs are now generated automatically and can be copied or used to create QR codes.

Features for Students

1. My Notebooks

   1. Students can create notebooks to add and organise notes/annotations from assignments. These added notes/annotations can be edited from notebooks directly and edits made will be updated in the original modules, which can be accessed via links on each note/annotation.
   2. Students can also create their own revision notes inside notebooks using the Rich Text Editor.
   3. Students can embed Google Drive files, attach files or add audio recordings to notes and notebook covers.
   4. Students can organise their notes by moving components or pages to specific positions, creating links to specific notebook pages, or adding coloured tabs to pages.
   5. Students can view and print notebooks in a continuous, print-friendly format.
   6. Students can organise their notebooks by creating categories and moving notebooks between categories. Students can also toggle between card and list views of their notebooks.

2. Assignments

   • Assignment Sharing and Study Buddy List:
     1. Students can send and receive study buddy invitations.
     2. Students can filter by group or search for peers when adding buddies.
     3. Students can view and manage their study buddy list.
     4. Students can manage pending approval requests and invite buddies via the assignment page.
     5. Assignments set to shareable by their teachers will be auto-shared when study buddies are added.
     6. Students can @-mention their study buddies in shared assignments and their buddies will receive notifications.
   • Print-Friendly Worksheet with Responses:
     1. Students can print assignments or modules showing their responses, suggested answers, teacher feedback, and rubrics if enabled by their teachers.

3. Starred Resources

   1. Students can search for starred resources by title on the Starred Resources page.