Month: October 2025

No More Lost Work: Introducing Automatic Versioning and Essay Recovery

We’re excited to announce a significant upgrade to our writing assessment platform: a robust, automatic versioning system. This change is designed to eliminate the anxiety and frustration caused by unexpected browser crashes, internet connection drops, or power outages.

This system ensures that if your computer fails, you can recover nearly every word you’ve written.

1. How the System Works: Two Tiers of Protection

We’ve implemented a two-tiered saving system that balances constant crash protection with efficient storage of long-term history.

Tier 1: Crash Recovery (Every 50 Seconds)

Our primary safety net remains the quick, frequent autosave.

  • Function: Every 50 seconds, your application sends your work to our server.
  • Purpose: This aggressively updates the main copy of your essay on the server. If your browser crashes, the most you can lose is the work you completed in the last 50 seconds.
  • Where it’s Saved: This content is saved to the primary database record, which is what your instructor sees.

Tier 2: Historical Versioning (Every 5 Minutes)

This is the new feature that protects against data loss and provides a long-term audit trail.

  • Function: Every 5 minutes, a separate, dedicated process takes a full snapshot of your essay.
  • Purpose: This snapshot is saved as a complete, new record in a separate History Vault. If a crash happens, you now have a series of historical versions (from 5, 10, 15 minutes ago, etc.) that you can use to piece together your lost work.
  • Storage Efficiency: To avoid using up too much server space, the system is smart. It only keeps the last 5 versions for immediate recovery.

2. Using the New Essay Recovery Tool

If your browser or computer crashes, you’ll find a new recovery button when you reload the writing task. This process allows you to retrieve a specific version and append it to your current working document.

Step-by-Step Recovery:

  1. Relaunch the Task: Close your browser and reopen the writing assignment. The system will load the last successful Tier 1 save (up to 50 seconds before the crash).
  2. Click the “Recover Version” Button: A new modal window will open, showing a list of available historical snapshots.
  3. Review the Snapshots: The list will show the time and date of each of your last five saved versions (e.g., “Saved at 10:15 AM,” “Saved at 10:10 AM”).
  4. Select and Append: Click the “Append to Essay” button next to the version you want.
    • The system retrieves that entire version.
    • It automatically inserts the recovered text to the bottom of your current essay, clearly marked with a timestamp (e.g., --- Recovered version (10:10 AM) ---).
    • You can then quickly cut and paste the recovered sections back into the body of your essay.

Why Append?

We use the “append” feature to prevent accidentally overwriting good work. This method gives you full control, allowing you to manually review the recovered text and integrate it precisely where it was lost.

3. Best Practices for Test Takers

While this new system offers powerful protection, you still have a role to play in preventing crashes. The vast majority of work loss incidents are caused by an overwhelmed computer.

To ensure a smooth, crash-free experience, please follow these rules before starting your assessment:

  1. Close All Unnecessary Tabs: Close all social media, streaming video services (YouTube, Netflix), and other assignment tabs.
  2. Minimize Background Applications: Close file downloads, large games, or other applications that consume significant memory.
  3. Ensure a Stable Connection: Although the versioning system protects against brief internet drops, a stable connection ensures your 50-second autosaves are always successful.

This system is now live and ready to keep your writing safe! Happy writing! ✍️

Chromebook Crash? Your Test Answers Are Safe.

We know that a browser crash—especially a memory-related issue on a device like a Chromebook—is the last thing any student wants to deal with during an important test or assignment.

We’ve designed our online assessment system with a robust, multi-layered data saving architecture to make sure that a client-side crash results in minimal, if any, lost work. The result? At worst, you might lose only the last few seconds of work on the single question you were answering.

Here’s a look at how our system ensures maximum resilience against unexpected interruptions.

1. Answers Save Instantly (Per-Question Saving)

We don’t rely on a single “Save” button or a large, infrequent auto-save. Instead, we use a technique called asynchronous saving that pushes your answers to our secure server the moment you make a change.

  • Multiple-Choice & True/False: As soon as you click an option, that selection is immediately sent to the server and recorded. Data loss for these question types is virtually impossible unless the crash occurs mid-click.
  • Short Answer & Essay: When you are typing, your response is saved frequently and on critical events (like clicking out of the answer box). This means the work you’ve completed on previous questions is secure, and only the latest few seconds of typing on the current question might be lost if the crash happens before the final save request completes.

2. Time Used is Tracked and Recovered

For timed assessments, losing time due to a crash is just as frustrating as losing answers. Our system actively tracks and saves your elapsed test time to ensure a fair recovery.

  • Periodic Time Logging: A small, background function logs the total minutes you’ve used to the server at regular, short intervals.
  • Seamless Resumption: If your browser crashes, simply closing the crashed tab or restarting your device and logging back in will resume your test. The system immediately retrieves your last logged time, deducts it from your original limit, and starts the countdown from your remaining time. You will see a “Resuming” message before you continue.

3. What Isn’t Saved (And Why It Doesn’t Matter)

While core data like answers and time are continuously saved, some non-critical, client-side items might be lost:

  • “Mark for Review” Status: Any questions you had flagged for later review will need to be re-marked upon logging back in.
  • Window State: Settings like “full-screen mode” will revert to default and will need to be re-initiated.

These minor losses have no bearing on your score or the integrity of the test. Our priority is making sure the data that counts—your answers and your remaining time—is secure and waiting for you when you log back in.