Problem archive
How to find and organise shared problems, who sees and changes them, and when a problem can be deleted or only archived.
The Problem archive is where every course’s problems live. Each problem is stored once: course topics use it through problem sets instead of copying it. Open it from the sidebar (Problem archive) or from search (Ctrl K); the address is /library/problems.
The pills at the top switch between the three parts of the library:
| Section | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Problems | Programming problems and Excel tasks. |
| Problem sets | Ordered lists of problems that course topics use. See Problem sets. |
| Quiz questions | Question banks for quizzes. See Question banks. |
Who can use the archive
Section titled “Who can use the archive”The archive is a staff tool. It is open to:
- course owners, teachers and assistants;
- organisation teachers, even before they teach a course;
- group and organisation admins;
- system administrators;
- users with a personal grant on a collection, or who own a collection.
For students the archive pages don’t exist: opening the address shows a page-not-found. They only see problems in the topics of their courses.
Who sees a problem
Section titled “Who sees a problem”Every problem has a sharing setting:
| Sharing | Who can find it and use it in their courses |
|---|---|
| Public | Every archive user. |
| Organisation | Staff of the problem’s organisation. |
| Private | The owner, admins of the problem’s organisation and people with a grant on its collection. |
In addition, anyone who can browse a collection the problem is in can see the problem (see Collections). System administrators see every problem.
A new problem starts private or shared with your organisation. You make it public later, in the Sharing card (see Problem settings).
Who can change a problem
Section titled “Who can change a problem”Editing the statement, publishing versions, managing tests or rules, archiving and deleting are open to:
- the problem’s owner;
- admins of the problem’s organisation;
- editors of a collection the problem is in;
- system administrators.
Everyone else can view, test and reuse the problem in their courses, but not change it. Its page tells them You can view and reuse this problem, but not change it. and names who can. Problems imported from the old system have no owner (the list says Shared archive), so only admins and collection editors can change them.
Only system administrators can give a problem to another owner (Change owner…): not the owner, not an organisation admin. The new owner can edit it at once; the previous owner can’t any more. See Problem owner in the administrators’ guide.
The problem list
Section titled “The problem list”staff/library/problem-archiveThe collection tree is on the left and the problems on the right, sorted by problem number and then by title. A page holds 50 problems; at the bottom you see which ones are shown, with Previous page and Next page.
Each row shows:
- the type glyph: a programming problem or an Excel task (the green Excel glyph). When the statement needs review, a warning sign takes its place;
- the title, which opens the problem in a tab of its own;
- labels: Needs review, Archived, the first collection, the first skill (+N for more), the difficulty band with its number (Easy 2), the source, File I/O (the problem reads and writes files), and the owner or Shared archive;
- the sharing: Public, Organisation or Private;
- how many courses use the problem and how many submissions it has;
- the date of the last change.
Search and filters
Section titled “Search and filters”Search and filters are part of the address, so a filtered list can be bookmarked or sent to a colleague.
| Filter | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Search | Problems whose title contains the text, or the problem with exactly that number. Type and press Enter. |
| In use / Archived | Active or archived problems. |
| All / Public / Organisation / Private | Problems by sharing. |
| Needs review | Statements imported from the old system whose conversion produced warnings or failed. Their number is shown beside it. |
| Mine | Problems you own. |
| A collection in the tree | The problems of that collection and every collection inside it. All problems shows the whole archive. |
| Skill, Difficulty, Source | Problems with the chosen skills, difficulty bands or sources, each with a count. See Skills, difficulty and source. |
Needs review and Mine combine with the other filters; click again to turn one off. How to review a converted statement is described in Drafts and publishing.
On narrow screens the tree is hidden: a Collection list with every collection’s full path and a Collection actions menu take its place.
Row actions
Section titled “Row actions”The ⋯ menu at the end of a row:
| Action | Shown to | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Editors, unless the problem is archived | Opens the problem editor. |
| Test in editor | Everyone who sees a programming problem | Opens the code editor outside any course (see Test in editor). |
| Add to collection… | Everyone | Adds the problem to a collection you can edit. |
| Archive… or Delete… | Editors | See Archive or delete. |
| Restore | Editors, for archived problems | Brings the problem back. |
Selecting several problems
Section titled “Selecting several problems”- Tick the rows’ checkboxes, or Select all on this page.
- In the bar that appears at the top (N selected), choose:
- Add to collection… – every selected problem goes into the collection you pick;
- Remove from “…” – shown while you browse a collection you can edit: the problems leave it but stay in the archive;
- Skills… and Source… – add or remove skills, or set the source, on every selected problem you can edit (see Skills, difficulty and source);
- Change owner… – system administrators only: the selected problems get a new owner (see Problem owner);
- Clear selection.
If you don’t have a collection you can edit yet, Add to collection… offers to create one and puts the selected problems in it.
Archive or delete
Section titled “Archive or delete”An unused problem (a mistake, say) can be deleted for good. A problem with history can only be archived, so students’ results stay exactly as they are. The row menu and the problem’s Where it is used card offer the right action.
A problem has history when:
- someone submitted a solution or uploaded a workbook to it – including staff submissions made while testing the published version;
- it is in at least one problem set, even one no course uses;
- it is in a topic’s task pool for individual tasks, or assigned to a student as an individual task.
Delete
Section titled “Delete”- In the row menu choose Delete….
- Confirm with Delete problem.
The problem is deleted with all its versions and tests and leaves its collections. This cannot be undone.
Archive
Section titled “Archive”- In the row menu choose Archive…. The dialog says how many submissions it has and how many problem sets use it.
- Confirm with Archive problem. A notice with Undo stays at the bottom of the screen for a few seconds.
After archiving:
- the problem leaves In use and is listed under Archived;
- it can’t be added to new problem sets or topics;
- courses that already use it keep it, and every submission and result stays exactly as it is.
To bring it back, open Archived and choose Restore in the row menu.
If students submit while you are deciding, deleting fails: the app tells you the problem can now only be archived.
- Skills, difficulty and source – classify problems and filter by them.
- Collections – organise the archive in folders.
- New problem – create a problem.
- Problem settings – sharing, limits, languages and usage.