# Managing Questions and Libraries in IMathAS

## Purpose of this document

This document will guide you through managing questions and libraries in IMathAS. These tasks are commonly done when you are writing new questions or recategorizing existing questions. This is not a comprehensive guide; please refer to the help file for more detailed information.

## Managing Libraries

The question libraries categorize questions on the IMathAS system. Having a clear library structure makes it easier for instructors to find the questions they need when writing assessments

On busy systems with many instructors who write questions, it is advisable for each instructor to create a Private "scratch" library in which they can create and test questions before making them available by assignment into public libraries

Additionally, an instructor might find it useful to create a library for each of their classes, and assign to those libraries the questions they feel might be useful in assessments

#### Accessing Library Management

Click on the "Manage Libraries" link in the grey control box on the course page. The entire library structure will be displayed

#### Adding Libraries

You can add a library by clicking the "Add New Library" button. Enter a name for the library. Then select the library Rights. There are six levels of library rights:

- Private: Only the library owner can access the library. It is not displayed on other instructor's library lists.
- Closed to group, private to others: Anyone from the owner's group can view and access the library, but only the owner can add new questions. The library is hidden from instructors outside the owner's group.
- Open to group, private to others: Anyone from the owner's group can view, access, or add new questions to the library. The library is hidden from instructors outside the owner's group.
- Closed to all: Anyone can view and access the library, but only the owner can add new questions to the library
- Open to group, closed to others: Anyone from the owner's group can view, access, or add new questions to the library. Anyone from outside the owner's group can view and access the library, but can not add new questions to the library.
- Open to all: Anyone can view, access, or add new questions to the library

Library rights are also influenced by child libraries. For example, if a child library has Open rights and the parent is set as Private, the parent library will still be displayed so that users can access the child library.

Depending upon the system configuration, you may be limited to creating libraries that are private to others outside their group. If this is the case, a you will need to contact your Group Administrator to create a library that is closed or open to all.

After selecting Rights, select the Parent library. Click the "Select Library" button to pop up a list of libraries. Only parent libraries and empty libraries can act as parents. The new library will be created as a child library inside the selected parent library (like a subdirectory in your computer file system)

#### Modifying Libraries

To change a library's name, its rights, or its parent, click the "Modify" link next to the library's name. If you move a library with children, the children will remain inside the parent after it is moved.

You can change the parent of several libraries at once by clicking the checkboxes next the libraries' names and clicking the "Change Parent" button near the top of the page

#### Deleting Libraries

You can delete a library by clicking the "Delete" link next the library's name, or by selecting the checkboxes next to several libraries and clicking the "Delete" button near the top of the page. When you delete a library, you will be given the option to delete the contained questions, or move them to the unassigned library. A couple notes:

- A library with children cannot be deleted until the children libraries are deleted
- If a question is contained in more than one library, deleting the library will never delete the question.

#### Transferring Libraries

If you are the owner of a library and want to transfer that ownership to another user, you can do so by clicking the "Transfer" link next the library's name, or by selecting the checkboxes next to several libraries and clicking the "Transfer" button near the top of the page.

## Managing Questions

The Question Set contains the actual IMathAS questions. The Question Set Manager allows you to browse the question set, add new questions, reassign questions to libraries, and make other changes.

#### Browsing the Question Set

Begin a search by clicking the "Select Libraries" button. You can select one or more libraries to view at a time. The contents of the library will not actually be displayed until you click the "Search" button. You can optionally add a search term in the search box to limit the questions displayed. Currently the search box can only handle single word search terms

In addition to the question description, the question type, how many assessments the question is current being used in, and the ownership of the question is displayed. You can click any of the column headers to sort the table by that value

#### Previewing Questions

Click the "Preview" button next to the question's description to pop up a window allowing you to preview and test out the question

#### Adding Questions

To start a new question from scratch, click the "Add New Question" button. By default, the question will be assigned to the libraries you are currently viewing, but you can the assignment in the question writing form

To create a new question based on an existing question, click the "Template" button next the question's description. This will create a new question, leaving the original untouched, copying the code from the original

#### Modifying/Viewing Questions

Click the "Modify" link next to a question's description to modify its code. If you see a "View" link instead of a "Modify" link, then the question owner has not given permissions that allow you to modify the question. You can view the question's code by clicking the "View" link.

The "Modify / View" link also allows you to change a question's library assignment. Click "Modify" or "View", then change the "My Library Assignments:" selection. Note that library assignments can be made by anyone, but only the person who made the assignment can remove the question from that library.

#### Assigning Libraries

As mentioned above, you can change a question's library assignment by clicking the "Modify" or "View" link.

Alternatively, click the checkbox next to the question(s) description, and click the "Library Assignment" button near the top of the page. Select the library/libraries you wish to assign the question to. You can deselect libraries to remove the questions from existing library assignments you've made.

#### Deleting a Question

You can delete a question by clicking the "Delete" link next the question's name, or by selecting the checkboxes next to several questions and clicking the "Delete" button near the top of the page.

#### Transferring Ownership

If you are the owner of a question and want to transfer that ownership to another user, you can do so by clicking the "Transfer" link next the question's name, or by selecting the checkboxes next to several questions and clicking the "Transfer" button near the top of the page.

© 2006 David Lippman
This guide was written with development grant support from the WA State Distance Learning Council