This article contains this release's feature updates, user interface changes and bug fixes.
Release date | Environment |
27th of October 2024 |
Stage (stage.ans.app) |
10th of November 2024 | Production (ans.app) Education (edu.ans.app) |
Important changes
10th of November 2024: Changes to the release frequency
From November 10, 2024, we will reduce our release frequency from every 4 weeks to every 8 weeks. This longer interval allows more time for the development and refinement of product changes before they are released. Weekly patch releases will continue as usual.
This change will also reduce the frequency of pre-releases on our stage environment, which customers use for early previews and preparation.
As a result, the scheduled releases on December 8th, 2024, February 2nd, 2025, and beyond will be cancelled to align with the new schedule.
5th of January 2025 - Changes to permissions update personal information of users
From January 5th 2025, department administrators will no longer be able to edit the name, email, or student number of users within their department.
Previously, we removed the ability for department administrators to create and delete users. Simplifying user management and ensuring centralised control over these actions. This update aligns with that approach.
This change was made in response to customer feedback, as allowing edits to names, emails, or student numbers could lead to unintended changes in account ownership. To prevent this, only administrators will have the ability to update these fields once the change takes effect.
5th of January 2025 - The option to allow students to skip questions will be removed
From the 5th of January 2025, the option to allow students to skip questions will be removed. Currently, instructors can indicate that students can skip skippable questions in the course member overview, and these skipped questions do not count towards the student's final mark. After this change, if you want to keep this grading method, you’ll need to mark skippable questions by editing them. And handle point adjustments and marks outside the platform. You can export points per question to manage this.
Please keep in mind: - This change only applies to marks calculated after the 5th of January 2025. - Marks calculated before this date will remain unchanged. - If marks are recalculated for students who previously skipped questions, those skipped questions will no longer be excluded from their mark.
5th of January 2025 - The option to grade written assignments on paper will be removed
From 5th January 2025, grading written assignments on paper using the score bar will no longer be supported. All written assignments must be graded digitally. Teachers can still grade on paper but must enter the scores after uploading the assignment.
5th of January 2025 - The option to hide attachments will be removed
With the release of January 5th 2025, hiding attachments in assignments will no longer be possible. All attachments will be visible to students during both the assignment and its publication. If certain attachments need to remain hidden from students, please download and store them outside the platform.
Administrators can contact our support team to request a list of assignments with hidden attachments. This will help you prepare for the change and allow time to adjust any attachments if needed.
5th of January 2025 - The option to limit points to zero or the total points of open-ended questions will be removed
From the 5th January 2025, the option to limit points to zero or the total points will no longer be available for open-ended questions. This includes all questions that are graded with criteria, rubrics and sliders. If the points need adjustment, you can apply a manual adjustment.
We are removing the option to limit points to make scoring simpler and clearer. With this change, points become the total of all criteria and any adjustments. This way, users can understand how points are calculated without extra settings or limits.
While most users had the maximum point limit enabled, it was rarely needed. For most, the sum of criteria did not go over the maximum points, so the limit was not actually applied. This change helps to remove an unnecessary setting for most users and makes point calculation easier to follow.
This change will only affect answers that are graded after 5th January 2025. Any answers already graded with the option to limit points to zero or the total points will remain unchanged unless you change grading scheme or change the score of an individual answer.
If you are planning to review during this period and wish to minimise the impact of this change, we advise removing the limits on each question before starting to review.
Changes to the platform
Columns in the question bank exercise overview can now be customised
The columns in the table on the question bank exercises overview can now be customised. Users are able to show and hide columns with toggles. These column settings are saved per user and are applied for all question banks the user visits. We also added the 'Total points' column in the overview.
A warning message is now shown when changing the maximum points for an already graded open-ended question
Previously, changing the maximum points for an already graded open-ended question could cause confusion, as some users assumed that increasing the maximum points would automatically adjust the awarded points, which isn’t the case. The awarded points remain unchanged unless they exceed the new maximum. To prevent any misunderstanding, a message will now appear when updating the maximum points for a graded open-ended question, ensuring users are aware of this behavior.
Added the option to edit tags from the question bank exercises overview
The question bank overview now displays the number of tags assigned to each exercise.
To change an exercise's tags, click the “-” icon or the tags count to open a menu where you can toggle tags on or off. For question banks with many tags (more than 7), use the search bar in the menu to quickly find a specific tag.
To create a new tag, click “New tag” in the menu, enter a key and value, and it will be immediately assigned to the exercise.
Added the option to edit objectives from the question bank exercises overview
The question bank overview now displays the number of objectives assigned to each exercise.
To change an exercise's objectives, click the “-” icon or the objective count to open a menu where you can toggle objectives on or off. Assigning an objective to an exercise will apply it to all questions within that exercise. For question banks with many objectives (more than 7), use the search bar in the menu to quickly find a specific objective.
To create a new objective, click “New objective” in the menu, enter a domain name and an objective name, and it will be immediately assigned to the exercise.
Upgraded the Schoolyear integration to use the newest version of the Schoolyear Exams API
The Schoolyear integration has been upgraded and now uses the second version of the Exams API. This version adds support for secure assessments and publications on ChromeOS devices such as Chromebooks.
Added the possibility to view exercise attachments while reviewing
It is now possible to view attachments when reviewing questions that belong to an exercise containing an attachment.
Added the maximum mark to the Result API
It is now possible to retrieve the maximum possible mark from a specific result to the API.
It is no longer possible to add a student number to an employee account
It was previously possible to add a student number to an employee account through the API. However, this is no longer allowed.
Removed the red banner on the homepage indicating that emails could not be delivered
The red banner on the homepage indicating that an email could not be delivered has been removed. Since most users cannot update their email addresses themselves, displaying this information was unnecessary. Administrators can view email activity in the user’s profile and update the email if needed.
Removed the setting to allow administrators to disable "Allow users to receive surveys" from employee privileges
To prevent accidental changes, administrators can no longer disable "Allow users to receive surveys" in the interface. Schools that already turned off this setting will stay unaffected. Contact support to enable or disable it as needed.
Assign students to groups from the course learner overview
The course learner overview now shows the groups assigned to each student. The first three groups are displayed as chip; if a student belongs to more, a “+ number” will indicate how many additional groups. Hovering over this number reveals the extra group names.
To change the groups a student is assigned to, click on the “-” or any group chip to open a menu where you can toggle groups on or off. For students with many groups (over 7), use the search bar in the menu to quickly locate a specific group.
To create a new group, click “New group” from the menu, give it a name, fill in a name, and the group will be immediately assigned to the student.
Bug fixes
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Fixed an issue where media file paths were missing in QTI exports
Previously, when exporting a question with media descriptions in QTI, the block in the QTI content that should contain the reference to the media file was sometimes left blank. Re-importing this file would result in the media file not being added to the description. The media file is now properly referenced in the QTI content.
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Fixed an issue where the number of plays was missing in QTI exports
Previously, when importing a question that contained media descriptions in QTI format, the number of plays would not be set. The number of plays are now properly set.
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Fixed an issue where a participant could be moved to "busy" during the period between the active times of two timeslots
Previously, it was possible to move submitted results back to "busy" between multiple timeslots, even when the deadline for one had passed and another was scheduled for the future. Now, results can only be moved to "busy" when there is an active timeslot.
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Updated the Safe Exam Browser download link to the latest Windows version (v3.8.0)
The download link for the Safe Exam Browser on Windows has been updated to version 3.8. Please note that this version requires a minimum of Windows 10 version 1803.
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Fixed an issue where older results did not always contain the maximum points that could be achieved
Results created before 2020 did not include the maximum achievable points. These results have now been updated to include the maximum points.
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Fixed an issue where the archive button was shown for archived results
Previously, the archive button was displayed at the overview for already archived results. Now, the button only displays for results that can still be archived.
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Updating a course through API no longer disconnects it from classes if the collection of class IDs is omitted from the request
Updating a course through API without including the collection of class IDs already linked to the course would decouple the course from its classes. Now, to decouple a course from all classes through API, you can use empty square brackets [] as parameter for class IDs. Omitting the collection of class IDs from your request no longer has impact on the course/class relationship.
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Fixed an issue where country flags would be represented by their region indicator emojis instead of their actual flag emoji
Previously, using flag emojis in written assignments would display region indicators (e.g., 'N' and 'L' for :flag_nl:) instead of the actual flag. Now, flag emojis will display correctly.
Version | Date | Information |
v1.0 | 25-10-2024 | Initial version |
v1.1 | 25-11-2024 | Added 'We also added the 'Total points' column in the overview.' to the "Columns in the question bank exercise overview can now be customised" change. |
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