From Remindo to Ans
Starting from the academic year 2024-2025, the entire university will be using testing platform Ans for digital assessment. For the Faculty of Humanities, this means we will switch from Remindo to Ans in the second semester (February 2025).
On this page you will find the latest updates on the migration to Ans, its schedule, and answers to frequently asked questions. Instruction materials for Ans and an overview of upcoming workshops will also be made available here.
If you have any questions about the transition to Ans, please contact ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.
Migration delay
It had previously been communicated that the transition to Ans would take place no later than September 1st 2024. This has turned out not to be feasible, and the transition has therefore been postponed to February 1st 2025. This will allow for more time to properly instruct you, as users, and ensure a successful migration.
Current state of progress
All Remindo users have been contacted to make an inventory of questions and tests to be migrated from Remindo to Ans. If you have not received an e-mail, but have hosted tests in Remindo, please contact ECOLe.
From test migrations to completed question banks
We are currently running a large number of test migrations to identify the last discrepancies in the migration. We aim to complete the actual migration of questions before the end of October. We will inform the teachers involved as soon as the migration for their courses has been completed.
Exams
Once the questions have been migrated, we will start working to also assemble the tests in Ans that teachers have indicated they want to keep. For formative users, we will ensure that these will also be offered on Brightspace from semester 2 onwards.
Workshops
To familiarize you with the new assessment system, ECOLe will be hosting workshops from the end of October. The schedule for these will be added to the menu on the right soon. There will be two types of workshops.
- The entire testing process in Ans
In this workshop we will show you how to use Ans for your course. From creating questions in your question bank, to preparing and hosting your tests. We recommend taking this workshop if: you already make use of a question bank in Remindo, are curious about its possibilities, or want to become less dependent on ECOLe (and early deadlines).
- Examination in Ans with support from ECOLe
This workshop series will start later in the semester and is aimed at users who are not (yet) interested in getting started in Ans themselves. We will guide you through managing the tests in your course, hosting an exam, and correction work.
What is expected of you as a teacher?
The transition to a new testing platform may lead to some inconvenience and potential concerns for you as a user. The main goal is to transfer all your work in Remindo to the new system as smoothly as possible, as well as to minimize disruptions to your work in preparing digital exams and formative tests.
If you manage your own item bank in Remindo, you will have to check the migrated questions for correctness after the migration, with (optional) help from a student assistant.
For users who only take summative tests and use ECOLe's test support, it is not necessary to check the migration. The regular testing process already includes a standard step where you check your tests. At that point, you can check the relevant questions and communicate any necessary changes to us. ECOLe will, of course, check your migration to exclude any technical errors.
Q&A
In recent years, the use of testing software within the university has increased significantly. As a result, the university was legally obligated to launch a European tender to purchase a new license for a testing platform. This was issued in September 2022. Remindo, the platform we currently use at Humanities for digital examinations, did not bid for this tender. As a result, the outcome was the purchase of a license for the platform Ans, for up to 10 years. Our faculty will therefore switch to Ans. Faculties that have already used Ans in recent years are very satisfied with the software and experience it as very user-friendly.
ECOLe's digital support team will provide the necessary instructional materials. All available instructions will be published on this webpage. ECOLe will also offer several workshops to teach you how to work with Ans. Of course you can also contact us with any specific questions or requests for aid.
It is possible to start using digital assessment at any time. Just be aware that you will still be working with Remindo in semester 1, after which you will have to familiarize yourself with Ans. We advise you to contact us well in advance if you haven't tested digitally before, so that we can properly inform and instruct you on our test support. The deadline for requesting digital exams is 20 business days in advance of your exam.
After the transition date on February 1st 2025, it will no longer be possible to take tests digitally using Remindo. Until February 1st 2027, Remindo will still be available for consultation upon request through an archive license. Additionally, your tests will be stored outside Remindo for visitation purposes when the archive license expires. This happens automatically for all tests taken in Remindo. You don't have to do anything for this.
Still have questions? We are always here for you. Contact us at ecole@hum.leidenuniv.nl.