Features & Improvements
Some big stuff in tests today...
Integrity Controls adds new "anti-cheating" capabilities:
- Require Fullscreen: The student can't answer test questions unless his browser window is in fullscreen.
- Track copy-and-paste: If the student copies and/or pastes text into the test, that is recorded.
- Webcam monitor: At frequent but random intervals, the student's webcam will snap a picture of him for your review.
When you enable any of these controls, incidents are logged and flagged for your review in the test's integrity log and the new To Review tab in the main Tests view. These new controls join our existing, built-in Proctoring, IP Address filtering, and Password options for tests (not to mention LTI integration with Proctorio). Students who run afoul of any of these can be required to write "I am a dishonest student" on the chalkboard 100 times (that's not a Populi feature; it's just a suggestion from our technical writer).
There's a new fill in the blank question type. Surround correct answers with brackets and students will have to enter the missing words. F'rexample, "The {quick brown} fox {jumped} over the lazy dogs" would display to the student as "The ________ fox ___ over the lazy dogs."
Test questions and individual answers for certain question types (multiple choice, short answer, multiple answer) now let you add automated feedback.
Essay questions let you add grading notes for profs and TAs to keep in mind when evaluating student essay answers.
0-point questions are now excluded from the To Be Graded list.
The Comments & Feedback setting lets you decide when to make feedback, comments, and grades available to test-takers.
The test answer display now makes it more clear what the student got right and wrong for automatically-graded question types (multiple choice, put-in-order, etc.).
Embedded videos now have transcriptions and better options for picking a thumbnail image.
The Attendance report in Academics > Reporting has a new Show: By Course & Meeting option. You used to have to aggregate that with a couple exports, but now you just pick it from the drop-down.
Added cumulative unit data to the Advised Students report.
There's a new option in the Applications > Fields report to download all uploaded files (it's called Download Answer Files). When you do this, Populi emails you a link to download a .ZIP of all the files you've requested.
Do you need custom specialization types? Now you can email us and ask us to set those up for you.
Do you not want faculty to marked students as Excused when taking attendance? A new setting in Academics > Settings > Grades & Attendance lets you restrict that ability to Academic Admins and Registrars.
We've gone and added a Student Role Status filter condition to the Financial > Reporting > Enrollment Agreements report.
Bugfixes
Bulk-changing invoice posted dates was sometimes causing a mismatch between the total student balance listed and their actual amount of unapplied payments. We've put an end to this.
Financial Auditors with the Staff role were able to add transactions using the Make a Payment button. No longer! Now only Financial Admins and Student Billing staff can do that.
Events on the School calendar were not using your timezone, sometimes causing events to show up at different times for users on different timezones. The calendar now shows proper deference to your timezone, even if it's something weird like Mountain Standard Time.
Videos and Focus Session
Focus Sessions comin' in hot:
- Introduction to Admissions: Jump in for a low-flying flight over application settings, designing your application, processing applications, managing leads and so on. This will be most useful to Admissions and Admissions Admin users. It's scheduled for March 4th, 2025, 11:00 AM Pacific time.
- Introduction to Running Courses: Climb aboard for a one-hour cruise along the shores of course settings, lessons, assignments, discussions, tests, grading, and so on. This will be most useful to Academic Admin, Faculty, and Teaching Assistant users. It's scheduled for March 6th, 2025, 11:00 AM Pacific time.
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