There are some annoyances with Rio Salado College in general when using it through the browser. Logging in is a multi-stage process that requires putting in your username and password twice, followed by a 2FA token of some kind (usually sent via SMS). This is a minor annoyance, though, as the session in the LMS proper actually lasts a good amount of time, at most only requiring a login about once every week. This app seems like it might have an easier time logging in, but I cannot verify, as I have only logged in once.
One of my largest gripes with Rio Salado College is in that the LMS they use does not fully support iPadOS or iOS. This is largely owing to the fact that Apple still uses WebKit and hasn’t bothered to develop their browser past 2012, forcing everyone to try to support 12-year-old technology, but the fact is that most other apps are able to do this without too much difficulty. The RioLearn app, though, is not fully tested against this platform, and does not work with Safari. Several of the modals that are included in lessons do not render correctly, and have incredibly limited functionality. Specifically, when learning foreign languages, segments that require you to listen to audio from the professor sometimes render in such a fashion that you can’t interact with the media player, and the modal that records audio for oral exams cannot save your recordings to the filesystem: a critical step, as these recordings need to be uploaded on a separate page.
I downloaded the app to see if it would have improved functionality. Many such apps directly connect to the backend system, and render course elements through a new interface. They streamline API calls and optimize the user workflows, and generally provide an enhanced user experience. However, this version of the RioLearn app is simply a wrapper for the same Safari browser experience. Things that are broken in Safari are broken here—perhaps moreso, if some of the other reviews here are to be believed.
As it stands, RioLearn does not work on iPad or iOS for learning foreign languages, and I would be surprised if it worked on MacOS. This is true for the browser, and it is true for the app. Until they develop an ACTUAL front end app instead of a wrapper for the browser, this will continue to be the case.
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