A+ v1.16 Release Notes

August 2022 (GitHub milestone)

A+ v1.16.0

• A+ v1.16.0
• MOOC-Grader v1.16.0
• Git Manager v1.16.0
• a-plus-rst-tools v1.5.0 (No changes since A+ v1.15)

Major changes

• Assignments embedded in chapters warn the student when he/she tries to submit an identical solution to the existing submissions (#1006).
• Redesigned the support page (in the A+ site footer).

Minor changes:

• Automatic enrolling of course participants from Sisu begins 14 days prior to the course start (instead of only after the course start).
• Minor usability fixes for the course instance creation under the “Edit course - Instances” menu (#1054, #1056).
  • Updated demo video about creating new course instances
• MOOC-Grader: added support for Scala3 REPL output in the ignorerepl modifier of questionnaire free-text questions (#134).
• Git Manager:
  • Added validations to course configurations:
    • the course unprotected_paths setting may only serve files from the static directory (#14)
    • module and course dates, e.g., opening time must be earlier than closing time
  • Fixed the name of the read-open field in the aplus-json output.

For system administrators and developers:

• Updated the Django REST framework and DRF extensions packages.
• Added database table PendingSubmission for a new feature that will be released in a patch later (#988): automatic retries of incomplete grading jobs.

A+ v1.16.1

• A+ v1.16.1
  • Fixed an issue that prevented making new submissions in assignments that do not include file uploads and are not questionnaires (#1064). In practice, the issue affected assignments that depend on custom frontend JavaScript code.
• MOOC-Grader v1.16.1

  • Added possibility to use the student’s name, student id and email address in the grading container.

    If an assignment is configured as an LTI assignment, the MOOC-Grader may now receive personal information about the student (name, student id, email) via the LTI parameters from the A+ platform.

    How to use as a teacher:

    • In the assignment config.yaml settings, set lti: Grader.
    • The assignment settings must also set lti_aplus_get_and_post to True.

    • The grading container may read the parameters from the file /submission/user/lti.json. The JSON object has the following keys:

      • user_id
      • custom_student_id
      • lis_person_name_full
      • lis_person_name_given
      • lis_person_name_family
      • lis_person_contact_email_primary

    Example assignments in Aplus Manual:

    • A+ page
    • RST file in git
    • Grader code in git

    A+ still uses the A+ grading protocol to connect to the grader, but the protocol parameters include additional information about the user. The extra parameters are named after the LTI standard.

    Note: MOOC-Grader does not support the full LTI protocol and you can not use the grader via the standard LTI version.

    LTI = Learning Tools Interoperability, a standard protocol

    For system administrators:

    Before the LTI parameters may be used in the MOOC-Grader, A+ admin must add a new LTIService in the A+ admin site. Use the following settings:

    • URL: the address of the grader server. The URL path may be just /.
    • menu label: Grader
    • access settings: public service, no API access
    • consumer key and secret are not used in the grader, thus you can set the value grader or anything.

A+ v1.16.2

• A+ v1.16.2
  • Fixed an issue in the identical/duplicate submission check (PR #1069).
    When a checkbox question in a questionnaire included multiple choices in the same question, the submission comparison was incorrectly based on only one selected checkbox instead of all the selected.

A+ v1.16.3

• A+ v1.16.3
  • Optimized a database query that is used in the points cache. The query was slow and took several seconds to finish in the production environment. The query fetches deviations for the student. The points cache is used in at least the points and submission API endpoints and in rendering a student’s personal points page. (#1087)
  • Fixed a crash when a SIS-enrolled student should be redirected to the enrollment questionnaire. (#1074)
  • Fixed the feature: approve late/unofficial submissions in a whole course module. This feature was broken as it tried to modify submission grades for a different student than the teacher was targeting. The feature is accessed in the inspect submission page via the Approve submission button (requires that the selected submission is late or unofficial). (#1086)