What’s New in Kami | November 2022

Image showing Dictionary and Closed Caption features
This month’s changes and what’s soon to be released

Accessibility is key to Kami. We’ve listened carefully to your feedback and are developing our accessibility features to be even more inclusive. Soon you’ll be able to toggle Voice Typing, get Dictionary definitions inside a Text Box, and more. Read on our latest blog to find out more and get a peek at what’s coming this November!

 

✨ New Releases

Subtitles for video and audio annotations (Beta)
 

Screen capture of voice and video comment

Subtitles for Video Comments, Voice Comments, and uploaded videos has just dropped as a beta feature this week. You can now turn on this beta feature through your Kami Settings to start displaying subtitles for increased comprehension. The addition of subtitles to Kami’s growing accessibility features also ensures that students hard of hearing can now access audio lesson content.

How to turn on subtitles in your Kami Settings:
  • Go to your Kami Profile (upper right corner)
  • Select Settings 
  • Scroll down to Beta Features, and turn +ON Display Subtitles

Check out this article to learn more.

Kami Settings for Beta Features

Interacting with Shapes, Lines, and Drawing is finally a breeze

Shape tools

We’ve also been working to improve some of your most loved creation tools. Interacting with layered annotations can be tricky at times, so we’re making it easier for you to select and edit your Shapes, Lines, and Drawings in Kami. This is one of several changes being made to improve and enhance your Kami experience.

We believe all the best ideas come from you. So, if you have any feedback or suggestions, we’re all ears! Chat with us anytime at support@kamiapp.com.

✨ Coming soon

 
Never miss a word with Dictionary definitions in Text Boxes

Using the dictionary tool

Another change on the horizon is for the Dictionary tool. When students (or teachers!) encounter a new word in a Text Box, it’ll be easier for them to get a Dictionary definition. You’ll be able to click on the word you want defined, and voilà! This is just one of the recent upgrades we’ve released for the Dictionary tool to make it more cross-functional and efficient.

Tip: Did you know you can already use Dictionary with Read Aloud?

 
Grade passback feature on Class View

This update will be a game-changer! With Class View, you can grade multiple students’ work at once, but soon you’ll also be able to add your students’ grade points without having to close Class View. This will make grading your students’ work so much quicker and easier!

 
 
 
Draw with ease with a virtual ruler

Our community has asked us for a virtual ruler, and we’re providing it — so watch this space! The Kami virtual ruler will be accessible from the Drawing tool and the Menu bar. You’ll be able to move and rotate the ruler freely, use it for measurements, and as a drawing guide.

Tip: If you draw right next to the ruler, you’ll be able to draw perfectly straight lines (just like a real ruler!)

Toggle Voice Typing in Feature Control

Screencap of Control Features

Don’t want your students using Voice Typing? You’ll soon have the option to turn this feature on/off through Feature Control. You can also toggle several other tools and features and choose how you want to run your collaborative activities, assignments, assessments, and more!

Question tool beta access for Google Classroom users

We’ve been receiving a ton of super helpful feedback from our community, and we’re making some final tweeks before opening up the Question tool beta access to all users who use Kami and Google Classroom. Teachers who use Kami and Google Classroom will soon be able to toggle this beta feature through their Kami Settings. Check out this article to learn more.

More updates

We’ve got plenty more updates coming your way. Soon you’ll be able to:

  • Move annotations from page to page
  • Delete collaborators’ annotations
  • Read Dictionary definitions in Spanish
  • Select Spanish for Read Aloud voice selection
  • Use Single Sign-on (SSO) with Kami
  • Access Feature Control in Kami with Microsoft Teams
 
Explore our September updates