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Act as User

Act as User

by matt mccallum -
Number of replies: 4

When I "Act as User" to see a student's version of a problem I've assigned, the "Show Correct Answers" checkbox is still present. Is this just b/c the system knows I'm still the instructor in disguise? This checkbox will not actually be available to the student until after the "Show Answers" date that I've selected for the problem set, right? I expected that "Act as User" would literally show me the exact problem page as it visually appears to the student.  Thanks a lot --

Matt McCallum

Loyola Univ. Chicago

In reply to matt mccallum

Re: Act as User

by Michael Gage -
When acting as user you see the user's problem, but you still have instructor permissions -- hence you can check what the computer thinks is the correct answer.

This can be quite useful. For example if the student claims they have the right answer but the computer won't accept it you can do the student's version of the problem while possessing the instructor's capabilities for checking the expected answer and modifying the template for the problem if necessary. If the problem is new and not yet tested on dozens of students it's entirely possible that the computer is wrong and the student is right.

Once you know what to ignore (the instructor features you mention and the instructor options in the left margin) the "act as ..." view is pretty faithful to what the student sees. The other difference is that as an instructor you can't actually submit an answer for a student that will be recorded (you can only "check answer" which submits an unrecorded attempt)-- this is intended to prevent accidental submissions by instructors, but there have been requests that instructors have the power to submit answers on behalf of students.

To see exactly what a student sees, add some practice students to your course (import the classlist demoCourse.lst) and then login as
practice1 (password practice1) or add yourself to a course as a student using a different login and login with your student account.
In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Act as User

by matt mccallum -

Thanks for this helpful response. However, I still have the issue that when I act as different users, I see the same version of the problem for all of them. Shouldn't I be able to see the different versions of the problem for each student?  Thank you --

Matt McCallum

In reply to matt mccallum

Re: Act as User

by Michael Gage -
That can depend on the problem. Most problems use a pseudo-random number generator to produce different versions.

to see this in action go to set0 problem1 and click "edit this problem"

On the problem editor page there is a "view using seed ...." option. change the seed number -- it doesn't matter to what --
and click "take action". This will bring up a new version of the
problem corresponding to the new seed. You'll see that some of the numbers have changed between the two versions.
In reply to Michael Gage

Re: Act as User

by matt mccallum -
OK -- this particular problem is a fraction problem from the general library. Different students have the same problem; the only difference seems to be that the multiple choice answers are listed in different orders. This doesn't exactly confer the advantage of randomizing the problem for different students. Is there a reason why some problems change and others don't? Is there a way to tell a priori what kind of problem will change or won't change?