This article contains this release's feature updates, user interface changes and bug fixes.
| Release date | Environment |
|
16th of February 2025 |
Stage (stage.ans.app) |
| 2nd of March 2025 | 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
Clearer access to question banks for department administrators
As announced previously, access to question banks will be simplified to make it more transparent for department administrators. The access rules will be directly linked to the studies assigned to each question bank.
A department administrator will have access to a question bank only if it is explicitly linked to a study within their department. This means question bank visibility will no longer depend on instructors and courses but will be determined solely by the study.
To prepare for this change, we ask schools to ensure each question bank is assigned to the correct studies. This will guarantee that department administrators have access to the appropriate question banks after the update.
This change simplifies management and clarifies which question banks department administrators can access.
Improvements to the annotations workflow
As part of the improvements to the grading workflow, annotations have been integrated in the review screen for digital tests and written assignments. This means all the information including the answer; the grading scheme; the feedback; flags and discussions are now presented in the same overview. This reduces the need to switch between different screens, making sure all relevant information is easily accessible in one place. The changes include:
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The ability to change the colour of the highlight via the tooltip. This hover menu also has the options to delete the highlight or add a comment. The tooltip can be accessed on click.
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For written assignments, the tooltip will appear when clicking on the speech bubble.
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Annotations can be accessed via a side panel in the review screen
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Comments on highlights can be edited or deleted in the side panel
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When adding an annotation for a written assignment the side panel will open automatically. For digital tests, this is not the case, allowing you to highlight relevant sections without necessarily having to leave a comment, making it easier to mark important information efficiently.
Added the possibility to create and modify annotations within a self-reviewed digital test
Along with the improvements to the annotations workflow, we have made it possible for students to create and modify annotations within a self-reviewed digital test they participated in.
Users can skip the Ans two-factor authentication (2FA) when signing in with SURFconext Level of Assurance 1.5 or higher
Users will now skip Ans 2FA if it's enabled for them when signing in with a SURFconext Level of Assurance 1.5 or higher. This ensures secure access while eliminating the need to enter a second factor twice.
Users without a Level of Assurance will be required to complete Ans 2FA if it's enabled.
Added school setting to configure SURFconext Level of Assurance
It is now possible to set a Level of Assurance (LoA) for signing in to Ans via SURFconext, providing an extra layer of security. This option is available on the new Authentication page in the school settings. You can set a specific LoA for users with school roles, including custom roles (if your school has access to this campus feature).
Changing a base role’s LoA automatically updates the custom roles tied to it. However, each role can also be configured separately. You can remove the LoA requirement or align edited custom roles with their base role in the levels menu.
If users don’t meet their role's LoA during sign-in, they will be redirected to SURFconext to complete the required authentication steps.
Allow employees to be added to a course as learner
In the release of January 5th 2025, we removed the option to add employees as learners in a course. Based on your feedback, we are reintroducing this functionality. Additionally, we are expanding support for employees within groups and classes.
To better support schools that allow employees to take assignments within Ans, we are making the following changes:
- Employees can once again be added to courses as learners.
- Employees can now also be added to groups and classes, allowing you to schedule timeslots for them.
Instructors can now view uploaded scans that belong to their course
In addition to allowing department administrators to view scans of their department, we have added support for instructors to view the uploaded files associated with their course on the new scan page. Instructors will be able to view uploaded files based on the assignments in the uploaded file. If a file contains an assignment linked to their course, they will have access to view it.
We recommend not including scans from multiple courses in a single zip or PDF file if you do not want instructors to see scans from other courses.
Please note that instructors will not be able to see the uploaded file until the first page in the file has been processed, and it is determined which assignment the uploaded file belongs to.
Department administrators can now view uploaded scans that belong to their department
Based on your feedback, we have added support for department administrators to view the uploaded files associated with their department on the new scan page. Department administrators will be able to view uploaded files based on the assignments in the uploaded file. If a file contains an assignment linked to their department (via studies and courses), they will have access to view it.
We recommend not including scans from multiple departments in a single zip or PDF file if you do not want department administrators to see scans from other departments.
Please note that department administrators will not be able to see the uploaded file until the first page in the file has been processed, and it is determined which assignment the uploaded file belongs to.
Increased leniency in recognising single response multiple choice questions in written assignments
Previously, when recognising multiple choice questions, we would only grade the question if we were more than 97% confident about every single option. Now, we will grade the question if we are more than 90% confident that an option is either blank or selected. This adjustment will reduce the amount of multiple choice questions that will have to be reviewed manually. By lowering the confidence, the chance of wrongly recognising an option increases slightly, however, based on our test data, the chance of this happening is less than 0.1%.
This change only applies to newly processed scans. If you have a lot of unrecognised multiple choices questions in your written assignment and have not started grading them manually, you can remove your scans and upload them again.
For multiple response questions, the confidence is kept at 97%, with approximately 10% of the questions expected to require manual review.
It is now possible to use code editor variables in a written assignment
Variables can now be used in written assignments, allowing to parameterise questions. Similar to digital tests and question banks, variables can be added via the code editor. When generating forms, these variables will be automatically replaced in the PDF. This update also ensures that digital tests containing variables are correctly copied over, eliminating the need for manual adjustments.
In addition to question content, variables can also be utilized in multiple-choice options and grading criteria.
In the preview, variables will remain consistent, even if the assignment or script is modified, as they are generated using a fixed seed.
We now support PDF files when uploading missing pages to solve an incomplete form
Previously, the new scan page only allowed JPG files to be uploaded for missing pages. Now, PDF files are also supported. When a PDF is uploaded, its first page is automatically converted to a JPG in the browser and uploaded to Ans, while any additional pages are ignored.
We now display only the number of learners per course to indicate student activity
To make it easier to determine if a course is active, we now only display the number of learners next to the members icon in the course overview. Previously, we included all users, including staff, which didn’t accurately reflect student participation. Now, the number gives a clearer picture of student activity.
Combined the tabs 'Security', 'Domain names', and 'Single Sign-On' into a single 'Authentication' tab in the school settings
The tabs 'Security', 'Domain names', and 'Single Sign-On' in the school settings have been combined into a single tab called 'Authentication'. This allows you to manage everything related to authentication on one page. The order and descriptions of settings have been improved to better set up authentication for all school users. Additionally, the setting to adjust the student number length has been moved to the 'General' tab of the school settings as it is not related to authentication.
We now display involved employees per course and question bank
You can now see which employees are involved in each course and question bank directly from the course and question bank overview. The first 7 users are displayed as icons in alphabetical order, with additional users shown as a counter.
Improved text editor
Formatting text is now easier with the improved, more organised text editor. Heading sizes have been reduced to one, the code block option is now directly accessible, and image and file uploads, where possible, are combined into a single button that opens the file selection instantly. We've also introduced a new quote formatting option to help you structure text.
The simplified colour menu offers a basic selection of colours, ensuring enough contrast between any combination of text and background for better readability.
The new editor is available in some, but not all, input fields yet. It adapts to different locations, showing only the formatting options that are relevant to where you're working. In some fields, it's always visible, while in others, you can expand it when needed. When expanded, the editor toolbar stays fixed at the top of the field, so you can always reach it while typing without losing focus.
API changes
Added the possibility to allow studies to be connected to question banks via the API
It is now possible to connect a question bank to one or more studies via the API by updating the study_ids attribute of a question bank.
Included empty attributes in all API responses
As announced in the important changes article, we now send empty attributes on all API endpoints.
The following endpoints are impacted by this change:
- User show (courses)
- Covers
- Domains
- Objectives
- Question bank labels
- Question bank show (labels)
- Requirements
- Assignment show (requirements)
- Schools
The ID for the variables in the Result API has been removed
We have removed the ID for variables in the Result API as this ID cannot be further used within the API. Any internal logic that relies on storing or associating data with this ID must be removed accordingly.
Bug fixes
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Fixed an issue where the mark calculation setting in the assignment log was always shown in English
Previously, the assignment log would always display the mark calculation setting in English. Now, the mark calculation will be displayed to match the user's language settings.
| Version | Date | Information |
| v1.1 | 21-02-2025 | Removed the last dot point "For written assignments, we will update the unrecognised student number screen to support employees by allowing selection based on name from a dropdown menu." from the change "Allow employees to be added to a course as learner". This will be included in a future release instead. |
| v1.0 | 14-02-2025 | Initial version |
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