31st of March 2024 – Ans

This article contains this release's feature updates, user interface changes and bug fixes.

Release date	Environment
15th of March	Stage (stage.ans.app)
31st of March	Production (ans.app) Education (edu.ans.app)

No new important changes have been added this release. The overview of all important changes that may require an action from administrators can be found here.

Changes to the platform

Released 'Exercise attachments' out of beta

This feature allows users to add attachments to a specific exercise only, instead of adding the attachment to the whole assignment. The attachment will be visible to participants in the same side-by-side viewer as regular attachments. The participant can only view the attachment while viewing the exercise it belongs to. You can read more about this feature here.

Added the ability to assign multiple groups and classes to a single timeslot

We have changed the way that groups and classes are linked to timeslots, making it possible to add multiple groups and classes to a single timeslot by selecting all of them in the timeslot dropdown, which saves time when setting identical timeslots for multiple groups and/or classes. Publication timeslots are not included in this change.

If there are multiple groups and classes linked to a single timeslot, this is also shown in the assignment overview.

The API for timeslots is not impacted by this change and all timeslots created or updating using the API are restricted to a single group or class.

Improved the randomised ordering of results when reviewing

Previously, the order of results when reviewing was completely randomised, however it was possible that results that were created after the reviewing had started, could be ordered in the middle of the existing results. This could cause confusion when navigating during the review process.
To improve this, results are randomised per day, ensuring a consistent navigation when a result is submitted the next day.

Improved the filters on the assignment insights overview

insights filters.gif

Previously, the filters on the assignment insights page were still using an older version. These filters have now been replaced with new filters that can select multiple groups simultaneously.

The actions to modify results are now displayed in the table header when one or more results are selected using the checkbox in the result overview

The "More" button has been removed. These actions can instead be found when selecting one or multiple results in the results overview.

Removed the option to invite a user to a course, class or question bank

As announced previously, we have removed the option to invite a user to a course, class, or question bank. From now on, you can only add existing users in these places. The capability to invite a new user will exclusively be available from the employees and students page. This decision has been made to streamline the interface and enhance platform consistency.

Export results can now be downloaded directly

Previously, when exporting results, it was necessary to wait for the background job to finish before clicking on the downloaded export. To streamline the process, the export downloads automatically once the background job is complete.

Added an opt-out option for in-app surveys for users

user level - survey opt out .gif

A new option has been added within the Communications tab in the user settings, providing the ability to disable in-app surveys. The Communications tab was previously named Emails.

Added an opt-out option for in-app surveys on school level

school level -survey opt out.gif

We have added an option within the Employee privileges tab to not display surveys. When this option is disabled, no in-app surveys will be sent to any users within your school.

Open beta changes

Added the option to approve results in bulk when using the Reviews feature

The action to approve results in bulk has been added as a possibility when using the Reviews beta feature. Previously, bulk approval was only available for the standard Reviews functionality, not the beta version.

Added the possibility to see when an employee was removed from a course in the course log

Deleted staff.png

In the past, it was unclear when a staff member was removed from a course, as this action was not reflected in the course log. We have now improved the course log to display the names of staff members who have been removed from a course, along with the date and time of the action.

Added assignment changes to the course log

Course log.png

Changes previously only shown in the assignment log, are now additionally shown in the corresponding course log.

Added the 'extra_time' attribute to the user log

We have added the 'extra_time' attribute to the user log, enabling administrators to determine whether a student was awarded extra time.

API changes

Removed support for the 'publisher_ids' and 'author_ids' params on the question banks endpoint

As announced in the release on February 4th, 2024, the 'publisher_ids' and 'author_ids' parameters on the question banks endpoints have been removed.

These parameters have been replaced with 'publishers' and 'authors', respectively. These attributes support custom roles and ensures consistency with the method of adding users to a course. Please update your API usage by replacing the array of IDs [1, 2] with an array of hashes [{user_id: 1}, {user_id: 2}].

Bug fixes

Fixed an issue where synchronising a multiple choice question to the question bank failed
Previously, synchronising a multiple choice question to the question bank would fail if all answer alternatives had fixed positions and the last alternative was deleted in the assignment. Now, the question can be successfully synchronised in this scenario.
Fixed an issue where audio continued to play when pausing was disabled for media in digital tests after navigating away
Previously, if pausing was disabled for audio or video files, the audio would keep playing after navigating to another exercise or submitting the digital test. Now, the audio will stop playing when navigating to question or submitting the digital test.
Fixed an issue where the number of the marker on a hotspot question changed after refreshing the page
Previously, when answering a hotspot question and refreshing the page, the numerical order of the markers would change. This issue has been fixed so that the numbers no longer change. It is worth noting that this problem had no impact on the scoring of hotspot questions, as the order of the numbering of markers on a hotspot question does not affect the scoring process. Additionally, this issue did not occur for hotspot-match questions.
Fixed an issue where ReadSpeaker read aloud hidden warnings
Previously, when using ReadSpeaker to read out the alternatives of a multiple-choice question, ReadSpeaker would also read out a hidden warning dialog. Now, ReadSpeaker will no longer read out the hidden text.
Fixed an issue where questions that contain zero points would be shown as incorrectly answered when reviewing
Previously, when a question was worth 0 points, the question would be marked red (incorrect) in the grading navigation, however it would be displayed as correct in the exercise overview of the results. For consistency, the question will now also be displayed as correct (green) within the grading navigation.
Fixed an issue where participants would see the possibility to navigate through peer reviews via the grading header
Previously, when grading peer reviews, the previous and next navigation buttons located in the grading header were displayed to reviewers, however they were unable to navigate using these buttons. The top navigation has now been removed in peer reviews for clarity, as peer reviewed results can be accessed directly from the peer reviews list.
Fixed an issue where digital tests for groups with published results did not show in the published assignments overview
Previously, group assignments with published results were not shown in the overview of the published assignments. Now, group assignments are also included in the list.
Added fill-in gap identifiers to the QTI results export
Previously, the QTI result export for fill-in question gaps would use their position as identifier to differentiate the gaps. This made it difficult to search for a specific fill-in gap within the QTI result export. Now, the identifier is the same as the identifier that can be found when using the API.
Fixed an issue where inviting a user with an existing email or student number would overwrite attributes on this user without warning
Previously, when inviting a user to a school or a course with an existing email address or student number, some attributes could be overwritten without a warning. Now, we ensure that user attributes are not overwritten when inviting an existing user, and show a warning that the invited user already exists within the school.
Fixed an issue where creating a user with an existing email address or student number via the API would overwrite attributes of the existing user
The behaviour of the POST user endpoint in the API was inconsistent with the API documentation. It would overwrite user information if an existing user with the same email address or student number was found. We have updated the endpoint to only create a new user if none exists.
Fixed an issue where employees could be added to a group via the group import
Previously, it was possible to add employees to a group within a course by including them in the group import. However, this approach was inconsistent with the user interface, which restricted the addition of individuals to the group only for those already enrolled as a learner in the course. Now, with the update to the group import, this inconsistency has been addressed.
Fixed an issue where deleted questions cannot be reimported when using the QTI question import again
Previously, when importing the same .zip file for a QTI import, earlier deleted questions imported with the same file will not be imported again. This has been fixed, so that questions will now be (re)imported as intended.
Fixed an issue where fixed starting positions for multiple choice alternatives were ignored in written assignments
Previously, in a written assignment, the fixed starting position of a multiple choice alternative would only be taken into account if 'Shuffle the answer alternatives for each question' was enabled. Now, the fixed starting position is taken into account for written assignments that do not shuffle the answer alternatives. To ensure the selected answer alternatives are correctly recognised, the fix is only applied to written assignments that have their forms generated after the release of March 31st, 2024.
Removed the possibility to remove courses containing archived assignments
Courses can no longer be removed if they contain archived assignments. This change ensures better compliance with our data retention policies.
Fixed an issue where user information could be overwritten in the group import
Previously, it was possible to create new users and overwrite existing users in the group import. This was not consistent with the behaviour in the user interface. The group import now only adds existing students to a group, based first on the given student number or otherwise the given email. If no user with either of these can be found, this is noted in the import log.
School periods are no longer required for creating courses
It is no longer required to select a school period when creating a course. In addition, school periods can also be removed from courses.
Fixed an issue where the exercise timer warning had no description
Previously, students would receive an empty alert message when the exercise time limit had expired. To clarify this warning, we have added a description to inform students that answering questions in this exercise is no longer possible due to the exercise time limit expiring.
Added the possibility to include the 'rowspan' HTML attribute within the question contents
Previously, the HTML attribute 'rowspan' was not allowed in question contents, and when saving a question containing rowspan, it would be removed. Now, it will no longer be removed when saving the question.

Version	Date	Information
v1.3	04-04-2024	Postponed the bug fixes "Fixed an issue where entering a table into a multiple choice option caused a LaTeX error when generating the assignment preview" and "Improved the display of multiple choice questions that use LaTeX symbols" until further notice.
v1.2	21-03-2024	Added the change "Export results can now be downloaded directly".
v1.1	20-03-2024	Updated the change "Improved the randomised ordering of results when reviewing" for clarity and a better understanding of what changed.
v1.0	15-03-2024	Initial version