MaplePrimes - answers and comments on Question, Coping with the Maple T.A. 5 Question Repository

Sigh...

pmccann — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 10:55:06 Z

Apologies for the tags in the above post, which the preview facility seems to have included in my "plain text": maybe a moderator can strip them out? Unfortunately I don't seem to be able to edit my initial post, only this comment!

Paul

Maple T.A. 5 Question Repository

Lark — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:52:56 Z

Hello Paul

(1) I'm not sure why the instructor would be taking the assignment in the first place, but you should be able to authorize additional attempts just as you would for students. If the instructor tries to take a test and has already exceed the maximum number of attempts, they can click the "Request exception" button and use their own username and password to authorize another attempt. Are you seeing something different (e.g. no "Request exception" button, an error message when the instructor clicks the button, etc.)?

(2) Questions can now be shared across all classes in the system with the Question Repository. To prevent an instructor from accidentally overwriting the content of another instructor, uploading two .qu files with the same name (e.g. questions.qu) will not overwrite each other. The easiest way to correct an error in a question is to locate the question in the Question Repository and select "edit" button. You can then make the corrections in the Question Editor.

(3) It's possible that incorrectly editing the source could cause problems loading the question. If you'd like you can upload the .qu file or email it to Maplesoft Technical Support and we can see if we can track down the problem. Again the recommended way of editing a question is through the Question Editor.

(4) Currently you need to click the + or - buttons to change the value of a question. I will submit a feature request to see if this field can be changed in the future so that it accepts numbers from the keyboard.

It isn't clear what problems you're running into editing a "live" question using the Question Editor, but again if you could send us an example (through Mapleprimes, to Maplesoft Technical Support, or through your reseller) we can certainly have a look.

Bill L.
Maplesoft

testing

Alex Smith — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:42:06 Z

Paul,

It's clear as day that Maplesoft did not test the new MapleTA Question Bank Repository structure with real users before pushing out MapleTA 5. If they did, then certainly they would have noticed the problem of question bank flattening and other issues that you point out.

I was amused at the Maplesoft response to your problem (1) pertaining to problems with instructors retaking an assignment.

They responded with puzzlement as to why an instructor would be taking an assignment in the first place. With this perspective, it is no wonder that they would not think to test the new Question Bank Repository structure with actual users.

Thanks Paul!

Lark — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:31:01 Z

We received your email with the example that you sent technical support. Someone from our support department or our Maple T.A. group will be in contact with you shortly. Thanks again!

Bill

Similar experience for us

wschwarz — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:52:53 Z

We've had similar frustrations and the nickname "Question Supository" was coined by one of our faculty members has started catching on!

The good news is that in MapleTA6 all of our major complaints in this area have been addressed, the Question Repository is much improved. It doesn't do everything we'd like but the nickname no longer applies.

If you are able upgrade to version 6, otherwise you may want to see if you can go to version 4. Given our trouble with version 5 I would have preferred to run the fully hotfixed version of 4 until 6 became available.

just repost it using full html

roman_pearce — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:34:36 Z

deleted, since the original post was fixed.