This article contains this release's feature updates, user interface changes and bug fixes.
Release date | Environment |
27th of September |
Stage (stage.ans.app) |
13th of October | 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
Improvements to the Flags workflow
The flags workflow has been improved to aid communication between staff and speed up the process of reviewing an assignment:
- Integrating the flags in the review menu allows you to add, edit, resolve and delete a flag in the same overview as your criteria, making it easier to reference parts of the questions and effectively communicate with your colleagues.
- The view all function opens up a side panel with an overview of all the flags for a specific result or question depending on your navigation. These are sorted by Open and Resolved. You are also able to filter on assignee, for example to see flags which are only relevant to you.
- Easily assign a colleague to a flag when creating a new flag or mention them using the @ symbol in the body of your flag message to aid in collaboration.
- Clicking the options at the top of the flag allows you to: Copy the Link to the flag; Assign a different user; Delete the flag. You can also edit the content of the flag by clicking on the options menu next to the body of the flag.
- Scroll to an unresolved flag when it is not visible on your screen. The unresolved flag button allows you to quickly locate and focus on flags that need attention, improving efficiency during the review process.
- When navigating to a specific flag via the side panel or the copied flag link, the flag will be highlighted to better illustrate which exact flag you have navigated to.
- Resolving a flag can now be done via a check icon at the top of the flag.
Improvements to the Discussions workflow
The discussions workflow has been improved to better facilitate communications between staff and students:
- Discussions have been moved to the review menu instead of a separate tab. This eliminates the need to constantly shift tabs and allows you to more easily reference the grading scheme when reviewing
- A view all discussion button which allows you to see all discussions per question via a side panel. These are sorted by Open, Closed and Drafts.
- The ability to send all draft responses to discussions at once has been moved to the side panel view. Draft responses are now accessible within the side panel, allowing you to review and send all drafts simultaneously. This ensures consistent communication with students and allows you to quickly verify which drafts you are sending before finalizing them.
- More options when replying to a discussion besides Save as Draft and Send. These include:
- Close and Send: Sends your response to the student and immediately closes the discussion, preventing further replies. This is useful when you want to finalize the conversation and avoid any additional follow-up.
- Close and Save as Draft: Closes the discussion while saving your response as a draft, preventing further student replies until you decide to send it. This feature is helpful if you need to finalize multiple responses at once using the "Send All Drafts" option while ensuring discussions remain closed to new input.
- Quickly scroll to open discussions with a dedicated button. If discussions are not immediately visible on your screen, a button labeled "Open Discussion" lets you scroll directly to them, highlighting the specific discussion you are navigating to, making it easier to manage and address student queries promptly.
- Closing a discussion can now be done via a check icon at the top of the discussion.
Enhanced the preview experience for question bank exercises
Previously, clicking a button in the table opened the exercise preview in a dialog. Now, clicking anywhere on an exercise’s row opens the preview in a side panel, with the currently previewed exercise highlighted. While the preview is opened in the side panel, you can still select exercises to change labels, copy them, or add them to assignments. And from the side panel, you can quickly navigate to edit the previewed exercise.
The actions on the question bank exercises table have been streamlined
Previously, the buttons to change labels, copy exercises, add them to assignments, or remove them were always visible. Now, these buttons only show up as icons in the table header when you select exercises, making the screen less cluttered and easier to use. In addition, question bank exercises now open in a new tab instead of in the same screen.
Easier label editing for question bank exercises
You can now easily change the label of a question bank exercise by clicking directly on it in the exercise overview, without needing to open or select the exercise.
Change your language and time zone settings from the profile page
Previously, changing your language and time zone required visiting the preferences page, which has now been removed. Now, you can update these settings directly from the profile page.
Removed class management privileges
As class management will be limited to administrators only, the settings to restrict these via the employee privileges page is no longer necessary and has been removed.
Removed the ability for users to delete their own account
The option for users to delete their own accounts has been removed. Account deletions can now only be performed by administrators, preventing accidental deletions and ensuring secure account management.
Changed the course learners import to no longer create new accounts
The import now only adds students to your course if they already have an existing account. It no longer creates new accounts. You can assign extra time to students, but only when adding them for the first time.
Because new accounts are no longer created during the import, department admins and staff can use the import again.
Removed access to the billing page for department administrators
Previously, both administrators and department administrators had access to the billing page. Now, department administrators no longer have access to this page.
Improved language selection in the user menu
The language names are now displayed in their native form when changing the language from the settings in the top navigation bar and on the profile page, making them instantly recognisable.
CAMPUS ONLY - Filter assignments by integrations, types, and schoolyears in the assignment overview
It’s now possible to filter assignments directly in the assignment overview by integrations, like Safe Exam Browser or Schoolyear. Select one or more integrations to see assignments linked to any of them. There is also a new filter to find all summative or formative assignments, and another to quickly find specific assignment types, like digital tests.
The school year filter has also been enhanced. On the Draft and Planned tabs, it now shows only the current and future school years. On the Taken and Archived tabs, it only shows the current and past school years.
API changes
Improved the API's submissions endpoint to display all responses belonging to a submission
It is now possible to view all the responses belonging to a single submission via the submissions endpoint in the API.
Bug fixes
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Removed the possibility to reduce amount of peer reviews after the digital test has been taken
Reducing the number of peer reviews is no longer allowed, as adjusting the amount after the digital test could lead to confusion regarding the data displayed in the result overview.
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Fixed an issue where a background job would appear stuck when exporting files from an assignment that didn’t contain any files
Previously, a background job could appear indefinitely stuck when attempting to export files from an assignment with no files. Now, the background job correctly fails and displays a message indicating the export failed due to the absence of files.
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ProctorExam reviews will no longer sync with the old/standard review functionality
Previously, approvals and disapprovals made within ProctorExam would automatically sync to the result status, even when the beta 'Reviews' feature was not enabled. Now, this synchronization will only occur if the 'Reviews' beta feature is enabled. For users not using the beta feature, ProctorExam actions will no longer update result statuses, ensuring that only intended reviews are reflected. This change prevents unintended updates to result statuses, offering a clearer and more controlled review process.
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Fixed an issue where brackets and parentheses were not supported in user names
Previously, brackets and parentheses could not be used in user names. These characters are now allowed.
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Fixed an issue where the school log did not indicate which question bank was created or modified
Previously, the school log did not specify which question bank was created or modified when displaying the creation or changes of a question bank. Now, the log entry includes the name of the relevant question bank.
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Fixed an issue where ‘U+200B’ text appeared in written assignments due to the unsupported zero-width space character
The zero-width space character (U+200B) is not supported. Previously, if this character was used in a written assignment, it showed up incorrectly as plain text ‘U+200B’ in the assignment preview. We now filter out this character to prevent it from being displayed.
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Fixed an issue where the filtering, searching and page navigation of classes overview stopped working if there are no checkboxes present
Certain user roles are not allowed to make changes to the class overview list, only to view it. This restriction removes the ability to select single classes through the use of checkboxes by hiding those checkboxes from the user. Hiding checkboxes has had an unforeseen impact on the navigational features of the page, such as the search bar, the filters and scrolling through different pages of the table in which the class list is displayed. We ensured the hidden checkboxes no longer have an impact on the navigational features and allowing authorised users to use them as intended.
Version | Date | Information |
v1.0 | 27-09-2024 | Initial version |
v1.1 | 10-10-2024 | Added the change "Filter assignments by integrations, types, and schoolyears in the assignment overview". |
v1.2 | 21-10-2024 | Added the change "Question bank exercises now open in a new tab instead of in the same screen." in the "The actions on the question bank exercises table have been streamlined" section. |
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