Known Issues with ANGEL 7.4
The following issues have been identified by the ANGEL Support Team based on our testing and information provided by the MSU Community. We appreciate your help in identifying these issues as we work with the vendor to provide resolution. Reviewing this list will inform you of existing issues with the system and their workarounds.
Terms to know:
Hotfix – Fix patches provided by the vendor, outside of the monthly patch cycle
Workaround – Alternate means of completing the task at hand, barring an immediate fix
DLS Helpline – Distance Learning Services help hotline for ANGEL issues, reachable at 355-2345, 1-800-500-1554, or reachout@msu.edu
Roster Synchronization/Merged Non-Credit Courses
The functionality of merged courses has changed; it is known as Roster Synchronization in ANGEL 7.4. Instead of working with the merged course manager, users will now work with the Roster Synchronization tool located in the Roster Editor on the Manage tab.
Roster Synchronization Tool not working properly for merged courses
The Roster Synchronization Tool should provides a way for instructors with multiple sections to bring all of their students into one course space while keeping the rosters automatically populated with the correct students throughout the drop/add period, much like the merged course functionality did in ANGEL 7.4.
There are three known issues affecting this tool:
- While initially problematic, this problem has been resolved for nearly all sections. Instructors should be able to merge together any section in which they hold Course Editor or Course Administrator rights. If you can access both courses as an Editor or Administrator, but they don't show in the list of courses eligible to merge, please contact the helpdesk.
- If you previously tried to synchronize rosters for two sections, and the tool didn't work, you will need to remove the roster synchronization and then resynchronize the rosters before the configuration will take effect. The helpdesk can assist you with this operation.
- There is presently no way to unsynchronize individual roster entries once they've been synched. You must manually remove the students that were synchronized into a section to restore it to the state where it only contains native students. Again, it is best to obtain assistance with the helpdesk for large sections where manually removing the students would be prone to human error.
Issues with Assessments and Surveys
Automated quiz to assessment conversion complete
Automated conversions of quizzes to assessments as part of the 7.2 to 7.4 upgrade process are now complete. However, some users who have editor or higher rights in sections may still encounter a prompt to convert quizzes to assessments upon their first entrance into a section.
Workaround: Users that encounter this prompt should attempt a manual conversion when this prompt appears, by clicking "convert to assessment" in the window that displays. The quizzes that continue to have issues will be passed on to the vendor to be fixed as bugs.
Quiz to assessment conversion may break images
Some users are reporting that after converting quizzes to assessments that some images used in the assessments appear to be broken.
Workaround: Users experiencing this issue need to re-upload images to the assessment and re-link the images.
Survey submission data inaccessible after upgrade
Survey submission data from versions prior to the 7.4 upgrade cannot be exported or manipulated. This issue is caused by a bug introduced in the upgrade process by the vendor.
Workaround: There is no user workaround at this time. Until ANGEL service sponsors and the vendor are able to create a workable solution, users who need survey submission data from prior to the upgrade should contact the DLS Helpline with their course ID, and request a CSV export of their survey data. Surveys and data created after the upgrade to 7.4 are not affected by this issue. The DLS Helpline can be reached at 355-2345, 1-800-500-1554, or reachout@msu.edu.
Some users reporting a blank submission screen when submitting an assessment
Some users are experiencing a screen with only a "submit" button on it after submitting their assessments. Subsequent submits can result in a "Maximum Attempts Exceeded" message if an upper limit on attempts has been set for the assessment
Workaround: This issue has been reported to the vendor. This issue is mostly cosmetic, as the user's work has been submitted as expected. The work around is to submit the item, navigate back to your course, verify the submission, and continue working.
Assessment feedback erroneously displays correct answers as incorrect
In some cases, feedback to students shows as "Wrong Answer" or a red "X" for correctly answered questions. Users are still receiving points even though the feedback is incorrect.
Workaround: There is no workaround at this time. However, this issue has been reported to the vendor. For most questions, users can simply check to see if points were received. In the case of multiple select questions, this can be addressed by confirming the total points for the correct answers equals 100% of the points possible. For example: 33%, 33%, and 34%; instead of 33%, 33%, and 33%.
Course Setup Issues
Course/Group content Copy/Import issues for some courses
Some users are reporting that attempting to import data from previous sections can cause errors. Many of these issues were resolved by the 8/28/2009 patch, but a few issues remain so we've decided to leave this item posted. If you have experienced problems before, please try your operation again and report if the problem continues or close your previous incident with the helpdesk.
Workaround: You can attempt to copy or import content in smaller chunks by going to your new course space and using the Add Content menu and choosing the 'Import from Course or Group' option. Try copying one folder at a time to isolate which cause problems and then copy sub-items from those. This issue has been reported to the vendor, but we need the specifics of your case. Users experiencing the copy/import error should contact The DLS Helpline and provide them with your course ID and the details of the error message. This will help the ANGEL Support Team more quickly address your specific issue.
Anonymous settings do not result in anonymity
Anonymity settings for lesson objects (assessments, surveys, etc.) do no result in anonymity as expected. Reports generated from these items still reveal identity. This issue has been reported to the vendor, but until a fix is received users should be careful when developing identity-sensitive course components and assignments.
Workaround: There is no workaround at this time. This issue must be repaired with a patch from the vendor.
Discussion Forum Issues
Copying discussion forums can result in loss of settings
After creating a discussion forum with customized read, write and post settings, attempting to copy the discussion forum will cause the copied forum to retain none of the same read, write and post settings. This has been reported to the vendor and acknowledged as a bug.
Workaround: There is currently no workaround for this, aside from replacing the settings that were lost.
Other Issues
ANGEL user interface looks "unexpected" due to stylesheet errors
Users that have had personal themes or custom course themes in the past may have issues with the ANGEL user interface not looking or behaving as expected. This is caused by changes in the underlying page structure of ANGEL. These changes were made for accessibility and require new and updated stylesheets. Themes that are not functional for ANGEL 7.4 can cause loss of functionality as well as being visually unappealing.
Workaround: To fix these issues, reset both your personal theme, if set, and your section theme to a known theme such as Beaumont or ANGEL 7.4 Light.