An Uncannily Outstanding 2024: How Stewardship Powered Innovation

Inspired by our trip to the Canadian Rockies, stewardship and innovation guided the Uncanny Owl team through 2024. And we can’t wait to show you what lies ahead for 2025.

When the Uncanny Owl team came together in the Canadian Rockies earlier this year, we had no idea how that trip would shape the future of our company. But the breathtaking beauty of the Rocky Mountains (somewhere I’m lucky enough to call home) instilled in the Uncanny team a deep sense of stewardship.

Just as we sought to protect the pristine cerulean blue waters of the glacial-fed lakes, and the untrammeled wildlife of the alpine forests, we returned to our desks with a keen desire to be dutiful caretakers of another ecosystem: the e-learning WordPress ecosystem.

If you’re familiar with any of our e-learning addons, then you already know that the Uncanny Owl team is no stranger to big projects and bold initiatives. But—not to sound too bragadocious—in 2024, we embraced innovation as a primary driver of our renewed spirit of stewardship and climbed to new heights for our users.

Here’s a look back at some of our most exciting achievements and innovations from 2024, and a glimpse into what’s ahead for 2025.

Uncanny Toolkit Pro for LearnDash: Elevating the User Experience

At nearly 4,000 meters, Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. And we wanted to help Toolkit Pro users summit that peak for their learners—figuratively speaking, of course.

In the spirit of stewardship within the WordPress space, the user experience is front and center. So, in 2024, the Uncanny Owl team focused on elevating the user experience to positively atmospheric heights.

Here are just a few of the e-learning peaks we managed to summit in 2024:

• Historical Course Records in Transcripts: If you ever go on a trip to the Rocky Mountains, you’ll want to keep a detailed record of your adventures. Similarly, we know that your learners want to keep a detailed record of their academic adventures. Recognizing the importance of comprehensive learner records, we enabled the inclusion of historical course completions in learner transcripts. This feature, integrated with Uncanny Continuing Education Credits, allows students to access a complete history of their learning activities, even after course resets.
• Live Course Timer: In the wilderness of the Canadian Rockies, you only need the movement of the sun across the sky to track the time and seasons. But, in the e-learning space, you need something slightly more sophisticated than a sundial. In light of this, we gave our users an accurate way to track time spent within courses with a live course timer. This tool provides real-time tracking, allowing learners to monitor their progress dynamically without the need to refresh pages.
• Cloudfare Turnstile (free version of Toolkit): Learning to identify various plant and animal species unlocks worlds of wonder in the Canadian Rockies. But how can you tell the difference between a foxtail pine and a western white pine? Short of making some recommendations for books on arbology, we can’t really help you there. But, when it comes to telling the difference between bots and real learners, we’ve got you covered. This year, we introduced Cloudflare Turnstile support so you can more easily tell the difference between learner and a loon.

Uncanny Groups for LearnDash: Empowering Group Leaders

Mountain excursions and e-learning enterprises have something in common: they both require group leaders. The more capable the leader, the more capable the group.

That was part of our motivation for giving Uncanny Groups some substantial enhancements in 2024; to facilitate better group management and reporting.

• Access to Learner Transcripts: We gave Group Leaders the ability to view detailed learner transcripts directly from the Group Course report. This addition offers a comprehensive overview of individual learner progress and achievements, fostering more effective oversight.
• Support for Multiple Group Purchases: For organizations managing multiple teams, we introduced the ability to purchase multiple groups in a single transaction. This feature simplifies the procurement process and enhances flexibility in group management.

Uncanny Continuing Education Credits: Smarter Reporting and Control

One of the key lessons for our team in the Canadian Rockies was that, however beautiful the landscape and captivating the wildlife, they are every bit as dangerous as they are mesmerizing.

The Rocky Mountains around Banff and Jasper are accessible, but they are also treacherous and filled with predators such as mountain lions and grizzly bears. Even snowstorms and wildfires can turn calming hikes into perilous misadventures with a subtle change in the wind.

However, in the spirit of innovation and stewardship, experienced mountaineers have learned the importance of one key safety measure: reports. Whether it’s a smoke map, an avalanche warning, or a grizzly bear notification, reports help outdoor enthusiasts enjoy the mountains responsibly.

Similarly, for e-learning educators and administrators, reports are an effective tool for spotting trouble areas before they become a problem. In 2024, we improved our Continuing Education Credits plugin to provide administrators with more insightful reports and greater control.

• Enhanced Credit Reports: From new and improved front-end reports to enhanced Gutenberg block settings, we overhauled the Credit Report feature. The new, revamped credit reports include performance options for a better user experience, new settings for report defaults, new filters, more export options, and new tools for editing and deleting credits.
• Historical Data Management: Building on our commitment to comprehensive learner records, we improved the handling of historical data, ensuring that all course completions are accurately archived and accessible for reporting purposes.

Uncanny Automator: Expanding WordPress Horizons

Whenever you reach the peak of one mountain, there’s always another one just on the horizon, begging to be summited. That’s how the Uncanny Owl team has spent 2024; leaping from summit to summit.

Throughout 2024, as we made significant improvements to our LearnDash addons, stewarding the e-learning environment onwards and upwards, we did the same for our other popular WordPress plugin: Uncanny Automator.

We expanded our list of deep integrations, introduced a bevy of new triggers and actions, and added features like CSV, JSON, and XML file imports, as well as email attachment support and even custom actions. And that’s just the false peak. Want to know more about Automator’s amazing 2024?

Read all about Automator’s uncanny year >>>

Looking Ahead to 2025

As we prepare for the new year, our map through the mountains includes further enhancements to our LearnDash plugins, and maybe even venturing beyond the LearnDash ecosystem into the LMS wilderness beyond.

With a keen sense of stewardship, we remain dedicated to providing reliable tools that empower educators and learners and foster continuous improvement and success.

Before we say goodbye to 2024, the whole team at Uncanny Owl would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to our users and partners for their continued support. Your feedback and engagement fueled us throughout the old year, and propels us into the new one.

Here’s to a prosperous and transformative 2025!