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Release notes assessmentQ 1.10

  • Updated

Overview

In these release notes

assessmentQ 1.10 contains the following new features and improvements:

Defining the order of elements in Order Vertically and Matching

By default, the elements in an Order Vertically or Matching item are displayed in a randomised order in the player. The author of the question can only define the correct order in the backoffice. However, in some cases, he may want to define the initial order of these elements himself, as this order may have an influence on the difficulty of a question.

For example:

  • The correct order of elements is A, B, C, D, E
  • A random order of B, A, C, D, E is easier to solve than a random order of B, E, D, A, C

That is why an author can now choose if he still wants to use the random order, like before, or define the order himself:

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When he chooses “Manually set”, he can define both the correct order (solution) and the initial order for the elements in the backoffice:

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Additional validation on the level of the item prevents that an author would choose the correct order as the initial order.

Upgrade to Identity Server 4

To sign in to assessmentQ, every user is using assessmentQ's Identity Server. Upgrading to Identity Server 4 makes everything related to signing in to assessmentQ future-proof again. We can now implement new Single Sign On integrations with third-party platforms more easily, or add a feature like two-factor authentication to the sign in process. 

Increase robustness and scalability of the player

In order to allow more users to work in the player simultaneously, it was required to reduce the number of requests sent to the server by each user (or session).

Technical improvements in the player in version 1.10 have

  • Reduced the number of requests sent to the server for each session, so the server can manage more simultaneous users in the player.
  • Made sure that answers are always stored locally in the browser if the user experiences a temporary internet connection issue. As soon as the connection is restored, the answers are then sent to the server. The user might not even notice this, as it will happen in the background.

Note: there are a few cases where the user will still notice that his internet connection is interrupted:

  • When he is saving a recording: he will not be able to navigate away from the current item where he made a recording until the recording has been uploaded. So when the internet connection remains broken for e.g. half a minute, he will see a screen saying that assessmentQ is trying to upload his recording.
  • After 5 attempts to save the recording, the user will be able to download his recording to the local PC. This is a fallback mechanism to make sure that no recording is never lost. However, this is not a recommended approach as the Grading module will not contain a recording for that user and that item, so grading will have to happen offline as well.
  • When he wants to move to the next item but the next item’s media was not preloaded yet. In that case, he will also have to wait until the connection is restored. If the next item does not contain any media or the media was preloaded already, he will be able to continue without an internet connection.
  • When his internet connection remains interrupted for 5 minutes, he will see a notification that he needs to contact the supervisor.

Rate limits on the new assessmentQ API

It is possible that customers or integrators who use the API of assessmentQ do so many simultaneous calls to the server that the performance of the application is impacted.

By implementing a rate limit in the assessmentQ API, we limit the number of simultaneous calls to the server and prevent that one customer can cause performance issues for other customers by using the assessmentQ API. The new rate limits are documented in the assessmentQ API documentation.

Support for Safe Exam Browser 3.1

assessmentQ has a seamless integration with Safe Exam Browser (SEB). The version supported so far was SEB 2.4. However, a new version of SEB is available: SEB 3.1. This version is now equally supported in assessmentQ.

SEB 3.1 is now correctly identified by anti-malware applications. Some of these thought that SEB 2.4 was malware and tried to block the software. Sometimes users had to turn off their anti-malware applications when using SEB. So this is an important improvement in the SEB software.

Warning: Do not use SEB 3.1 in combination with the Recording item, as this will not work. If you want to use the Recording item with SEB, use SEB 2.4. This limitation is related to SEB itself, not assessmentQ.

Deleted users cannot be re-activated anymore

When you deleted a user in assessmentQ, it was possible to re-activate the same user. When you re-activated the user, you could again see the results of this user.

In assessmentQ 1.10, when you delete a user, the deletion is permanent:

  • Deleted users are anonymised
  • They are unlinked from their results (however, their results remain available in the reporting so deleting users does not affect the global results)

So when a customer wants to create a user with the same e-mail address again, he will be able to do so, but this will be a new user without any results.

New direct link to a publication

In assessmentQ 1.10 you can copy the direct single-sign-on link to a publication on the publication's Properties tab.

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When you make this link available to your assessmentQ users (via your intranet, a third-party platform, email, etc.), they will be able to start the publication. The publication is only accessible for users who have an account in assessmentQ:

  • If they start the link from an environment with single-sign-on (SSO) to assessmentQ, they will be signed in automatically and immediately see the publication.
  • If no SSO is used, the users will first be asked to enter their assessmentQ credentials.

You can choose between a URL or an HTML link. When you use an HTML link, you can give a name to the link. This will result in HTML code for a link to the publication with the name you entered on your clipboard:

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