For the product updates of 2023, see Product Updates 2023.
We have added a description field for repositories. For users with many repositories and for organisations using organisation repositories to share materials across their organisation, only having a name to explain where the repository is for was limited.
To help content creators to organise their content, we have now added a description field of the repository. This allows you to write a description for yourself or others using your (organisation) repository such that users know how to use the content in the repository.
To read more about how to use repositories and how to share materials across your organisation.
In the past month we have been improving the accessibility of our platform. Today we made bigger UI updates, mainly regarding colors and tables. These changes are specifically designed to make the interface easy to use for all kind of users.
For example, the colors of the buttons have changed, but also the background color of the feedback sections a student receives when answering a question or reviewing their previously given answers.
The coming months we will continue to make updates, both in the UI as in the HTML code to ensure that all leaners with different abilities can use Grasple to learn. You can read more about the changes already made in this specific article. That article will be updated regularly in addition to updates in this article itself.
It has long been possible to place students in your course in different groups. This is helpful for giving a select number of students additional time for a test, setup different opening and closing times for a test, or monitoring a specific set of students. While groups could be added, renaming them or removing (empty) groups was not possible up until today.
To make working with groups even easier we added a page to edit the groups within your course. This page can now be accessed via the course groups button in the monitor screen:
This button will lead you to a new page which shows you the current course groups and allows you to edit them:
More information about how to add students to your course groups can be found in this help article.
To make it easier for you to identify what is in your repository we updated the navigation of the main repository page to include statistics about your content. As of now, you can see how many items you have for each category on each page of your repository:
More information about repositories can be found in this help article.
12-11-2024 - Updated repository selection
It was already available in the course editor, but now available platform wide: the new and improved way of selecting repositories! For all functionality in which you need to select a repository we made sure that you can:
search for the repository on the name
see the main statistics of the repository content
identify what type of repository it is
It has been possible to add (parameterised) graphs to your exercises. Unfortunately, creating slightly different variations of a single graph has been labour intensive since it was not possible to copy the graphs. We are happy to announce that this has become a lot easier, since it is now possible to copy-and-paste these graphs!
This works inside a single editor field, but also across editor fields. Read more about (parameterised) graphs in this article.
Based on user feedback we extended the list of supported operators in an exercise with the argument operator. This operator allows you to calculate the main argument of a complex number given in an expression.
Read more about this and other available operators in this article.
We are very happy to announce the immediate availability of the new and improved editor for Exercises and Subjects!
These new editors are completely backwards compatible with your existing content and are now available transparently within the platform. Read more about what has changed in this article.
Creating a course from scratch takes time which you don't have readily available. At the same time you are interested in enhancing your course with more interactive learning for your students based upon trusted high quality learning materials.
Therefore we created "Ready to use Courses" in Grasple: courses based upon renowned openly published learning materials and courses, already used by many teachers and students to teacher and learn.
These courses and the platform complements you as a teacher, supporting a blended learning approach where teachers retain control over material, course setup, and lessons.
At Grasple we have launched a new version of the exercise editor!
This editor is still in beta to gather feedback, before we fully migrate the old editor to the new editor. Therefore we want to ask you to try it out and provide feedback to us.
Two things to pay attention to:
IMPORTANT 1: do not use this editor yet on content used in the platform. Best is to only use this on dedicated exercises (e.g. within a specific repository).
IMPORTANT 2: if you do not “switch back to old editor” it will remember that you are using the new editor anytime you will click “edit” in an exercise. Please be aware of the info box on top of the new editor.
You can reach the new exercise editor via the more menu at the bottom of the current editor:
Giving feedback
Our goal is to migrate the old editor to the new editor without any breaking changes/issues. Therefore we would like to get the feedback including a category. We have the following categories:
Must be fixed/changed before teachers can use it. For example:
Feature is missing
Feature is broken
There is a bug
UI is not functioning as it should
Would be a significant improvement and would be best to fix before the old editor is replaced with the new editor. For example an unclear or difficult to use UI.
Would be a nice improvement, but not strictly necessary. For example a small change to make UI a bit better
New ideas to improve the editor.
Please provide the feedback either via the chat OR via email. Make sure to attach any assets needed to understand the feedback (e.g. screenshots, links to example exercises. If you have any feedback please provide this to use before September 15th, 2024.
As organisation (administrator) you are in control of your data. At any moment you can reach out to use about how we handle your data or about removing/moving/deleting your organisational data.
To further simplify this process for you, we now added a way for you to independently delete a user from your organisation without our help. This is a feature only available for organisation administrators and for organisations where this is enabled.
Reach out to us if you are interested in enabling this feature or if you have any other questions related to your data!
Organisations can combine a Single-Sign-On solution and an LTI integration when using Grasple. When doing so, these two authentication methods will be combined for a user via an account connect request flow by default.
To further enhance the ease of use, we updated the automatic coupling feature for SURFConext and Canvas (in addition to the already available automatic coupling between SURFConext and Brightspace).
If you want to use this new feature or want to see if it is possible to integrate your Single-Sign-On solution with your LMS, please reach out!
In the test settings you can set the opening/closing times of the whole test. With this new feature you can override the test's opening and/or closing times per course group.
Within larger courses, splitting your students into groups can have many benefits:
26-06-2024 - Updated Test Results Dashboard
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Test Results Dashboard for teachers.
This page allows you as teacher to view the results of a single test within your course. On this page you can see:
Aggregated statistics such as number students who started the test, number of students who finished the tests and the average score.
Aggregated results per item. For manual tests you can see the average score and coverage per exercise and for automated tests you can see the average score and coverage per subject.
List of students and their summarised test results, including a link to the full result for each of their attempts.
Within the update of the page we added/changed the following:
For each test type the page now contains 4 sections:
Header and navigation breadcrumbs
Summary with overal statistics, including a graph of the distribution of scores within your course
Aggregate results allowing you to sort on coverage and average score per item (e.g. sort on subject with lowest average score for automated tests to determine which subject is being answered incorrect the most)
Student results, allowing you to see a list of results and go to specific results
We now allow for filtering on multiple groups at the same time instead of just one group. This ensures that all analytics pages can now have multiple group filter present.
The live dashboard (mainly used during summative testing) is now moved to a separate page allowing a more dedicated interface (including a dedicated refresh button) for managing student's test sessions during a (summative) test. The way to get there is via a button at the same location as where the dropdown for switching was located.
Have a better outlined and structured UI, with foldable sections allowing you to easily focus on the most relevant part of the analytics.
04-06-2024 - Improving the Area Calculator painted area
Within Grasple student have access to multiple tables and tools helping them learn and answer statistics exercises. Within these helpers we also have an "Area Calculator" which is a visual representation of the Z-table.
Based on feedback of teachers we updated the logic behind the painted area to correspond better with the probability to a certain z value.
04-06-2024 - Organisation and Community Repository Labels
Within Grasple you use repositories to organise and collaborate on your learning materials. To facilitate collaboration and usage of materials within your organisation, across organisations or even across the platform (e.g. our curated content in the community repositories) both Organisation Repositories and Community Repositories are used.
To help users who are working on Organisation and Community Repositories, we have updated the UI in the following ways:
show whether a repository is an organisation repository and/or a community repository on the repository page itself
show whether a repository is an organisation repository and/or a community repository on the list of repositories
show a repository which is an organisation repository and also a personal repository (e.g. since you are an admin/editor within that repository) show them in both lists on the repositories overview page.
These updates should help creators and users of organisation and community repositories to make it easier to find and identify these repositories.
23-04-2024 - Filtering Learning Analytics on Multiple Groups
In the past days we updated most of the learning analytics pages with a new UI. Within this new UI also a new feature is introduced: filtering on multiple groups at the same time.
This allows you to select multiple groups at the same and view the subject progress/mastery or test exercise answers for the students in those groups. This feature is currently available on the following pages:
Course Dashboard Students
Course Dashboard Subjects
Course Dashboard Subject (the analytics for a specific subject)
Course Dashboard Subject Exercise (the analytics for a specific exercise within a specific subject)
Test Dashboard Exercise (the analytics for a specific exercise within a specific test)
In the coming weeks, this feature will also be added to the Test Dashboard Page allowing you to filter the test results and analytics for multiple groups at the same time.
23-04-2024 - UI Update for Unevaluated Test Answers page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Unevaluated Test Answers page.
Within Grasple there is an option to view the answers given in a test which could not be automatically graded (e.g. because the student used invalid Latex which could not be parsed). We updated the page which allows the teachers in a course to check which answers are unevaluated and manually grade them.
23-04-2024 - UI Update for Course Test Exercise Analytics page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Test Exercise Analytics page.
This page allows you get a more in depth insight into an exercise within a test, such that you can analyse why for example students are struggling with that specific exercise.
This new UI allows you to filter the given answers on multiple groups at the same time. In addition, the page is using newer accessibility guidelines and have both UX and performance improvements.
23-04-2024 - UI Update for Course Subject Exercise Analytics page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Subject Exercise Analytics page.
This page allows you get a more in depth insight into an exercise within a subject, such that you can analyse why for example students are struggling with that specific exercise.
This new UI allows you to filter the given answers on multiple groups at the same time. In addition, the page is using newer accessibility guidelines and have both UX and performance improvements.
23-04-2024 - UI Update for Course Subject Analytics page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Subject Analytics page.
This page allows you get a more in depth insight into a subject, such that you can analyse why for example students are struggling with that specific subject.
This new UI allows you to better sort data in the table, hide/show columns and filter on multiple groups at the same time. In addition, the page is using newer accessibility guidelines and have both UX and performance improvements.
22-04-2024 - UI Update for Course Students Upload page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Students Upload page.
This page allows you to upload large group of students and assign them directly to a course group as well. This page now has better validation of your uploaded CSV file, allowing you to quickly construct a valid CSV and add your students to the course.
22-04-2024 - UI Update for Course Dashboard (i.e. Monitor)
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Dashboard, also known as "Monitor".
This page is the central hub of the teacher. Here you can monitor the course by viewing how each student is progressing, which other teachers and tutors are involved in your course and learning insights about each subject within your course. These pages are now updated to the new UI.
This new UI allows you to better sort data in the tables shown, hide/show columns and filter on multiple groups at the same time (for both students and subjects). In addition, the pages are using newer accessibility guidelines and have both UX and performance improvements.
12-03-2024 - Improved Accessibility for Math Answer Box
At Grasple we aim to make math and statistics accessible for all. Within this mission we also continuously improve the accessibility of our platform for anyone wanting to learn math and statistics.
Based on the WCAG guidelines and feedback from users we further improved the math answer box accessibility for screen readers and non-mouse users. This updates makes it both easier to navigate between the help buttons to insert math and receive more unambiguous explanations (via the screen reader) when using those buttons to enter the mathematical answer to a question.
12-03-2024 - UI Update for Course Edit Page
As a next step in our migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the Course Edit page. On this page you can change the name, code, and description of your course. The page is now updated with a new style more inline with the current course landing page, and we moved the settings to a separate block to make it easier to determine what students will see.
In addition, this page offers you a first change to experience our new html-content editor. The description field of the course is now editable via a completely redesigned editor which provides a better editing experience, especially related to tables and images. Feel free to try this editor out and provide us with any feedback you have.
Read more about changing the name and description of your course in this help article.
27-02-2024 - UI Update for Course Student Monitor Page
The 'Course Student Monitor' page has been updated with a look and feel similar to the course page. The icon legend makes it easy to check the exact meaning of the various icons, and the accessibility mode from the course page is also present.
Please let us know if you have any feedback!
Read more about monitoring the activity of your students in this article.
19-02-2024 - UI Update for Start Test Session Page
As part of our ongoing migration efforts we have deployed an updated version of the 'Start test session' page. This update should provide a better experience by loading faster, and bringing the style of the page in line with the styling of the other pages involved in taking a test.
In addition, a new message block in the preview page of a test makes it more clear how the page looks inside your course, and provides a more convenient way to start a preview of a test session if the actual test is closed for students.
We hope you enjoy this update, if you have any feedback please let us know. If you want to know more about how tests work within the platform check out this collection of articles.