[DEPR]: xqueue and xqueue-watcher

[leangseu-edx]

Proposal Date

2023-08-08

Target Ticket Acceptance Date

2024-08-15

Earliest Open edX Named Release Without This Functionality

Sumac release, October 2024

Rationale

xqueue is an application for managing queued tasks in edx-platform LMS. It primarily supports two use cases, one of which has already been deprecated:

1. Certificate creation was already deprecated and removed when the edx-certificates repository was archived as part of DEPR-155.

2. Grading of student-submitted code, for which there are two well-known clients:

   1. MatLab xQueue, which has already been deprecated
   2. xqueue-watcher, which is part of this deprecation issue.

xqueue-watcher is an xqueue client for running and evaluating student-submitted code.

Maintaining and updating two different applications to serve one uncommon use case is not the best user of resources – in particular when there are many more-functional alternatives that are under active development.

Removal

• xqueue repo
• xqueue-watcher repo
• capa problem support for xqueue, including https://github.com/openedx/edx-platform/blob/master/xmodule/capa/xqueue_interface.py
• configuration from https://github.com/openedx/configuration
• remove internal configurations
• remove internal terraform configurations

Replacement

• Certificate creation has already been moved to Studio as part of DEPR-155 and DEPR-160.
• Student-submitted MATLAB code be graded via LTI with MATLAB Grader from Mathworks
• Grading of student-submitted code via xqueuewatcher can also be replaced by LTI. There are several saas platforms for code grading, like Codio or Vocareum.
• There is also an open source xBlock for code grading, https://github.com/EmpowrOrg/CodeEditorXblock

Deprecation

No response

Migration

No response

Additional Info

No response

[NotoriousMKD]

Hello! We use xqueue and xqueue-watcher in our on-campus instance of open edX. Our faculty won't be able to devote time to rewriting their problems for a new system until next summer, so we request that the deprecation be postponed until the 2024-12 named release.

[dianakhuang]

We have updated the acceptance date to October 2024 to accommodate migrations off xqueue problems that need to happen.

[dianakhuang]

@pdpinch would you be interested in being the owner for this ticket and helping to push it forward? We're trying to ensure that all active deprecation tickets have owners.

[e0d]

@dianakhuang and @pdpinch I will be the owner for this with the goal of landing it for Sumac.

An open question we had was whether MIT was using XQueue in any of the deployments they directly manage.

[e0d]

@jristau1984 Our belief is that 2U are ready for this to DEPR to be finalized, please confirm that I have that right. This has been open for a minute, and we'd like to land it for Sumac to get if off the board.

[kdmccormick]

@e0d is the goal to have this accepted by Oct 10 (a ten week comment period)? or would you rather have a 2-week comment period, with Oct 10 being the earliest removal date?

either way, as it's been a year since this was communicated, can you put quick update in that thread, x-post it again to #open-edx-proposals, and then mark this as Communicated ?

[e0d]

I've updated the acceptance date to be August 15th. So everyone should comment ASAP. As Kyle notes, this has been for about a year.

[jristau1984]

@e0d - We have the same belief as you about 2U's use of xq, but I have tasked the team to confirm that belief before your Aug 15 target date. Thanks!

[shellyu]

MIT has four active courses on edx.org using xqueue graders.

[e0d]

MIT has four active courses on edx.org using xqueue graders.

@shellyu Can you share which courses and when they run through?

[NotoriousMKD]

Additionally, MIT is still using xqueue in our on-campus instance.

[shellyu]

MIT's courses on edx.org:
6.00.1x 08-28-2024 - 10-30-2024
6.00.2x 10-16-2024 - 12-18-2024
7.QBWx open now until 12-17-2024
6.86x (SDS Micromasters) open now until 09-03-2024 and another run already in development from 01-28-2025 - 05-13-2025

Last I heard there was at least one other edx partner using xqueue, so if edx signed off on this and missed our four courses, they may want to review other partners who might not see this DEPR.

[e0d]

@NotoriousMKD Are there any plans to migrate off of XQueue for oncampus grading? I was under the impression there was a move to migrate to TurnItIn, for example.

[NotoriousMKD]

@e0d we were considering other tools at one point, but plans to migrate off of xqueue for on-campus use are on hold.

[pdpinch]

A few more comments and questions that have come up since last we discussed this deprecation

• In further discussions around MIT, several course authors and faculty identified code grading as a distinctive feature of the platform. They were surprised to hear that it would be removed.
• It's not clear what the plan is for the 2U courses that use xqueue/xqueuewatcher when this code is removed.
• We looked into moving to 3rd party services, like Vocareum and Codio but found their cost models didn't work well with residential courses or for MOOCs. They all required paying a monthly fee per active users, which would balloon quickly for open-enrollment online courses on campus and for MOOCs.

[e0d]

Thanks @NotoriousMKD and @pdpinch this is helpful input. As you probably know, we're trying to rationalize the maintenance of the software platform. Prior input suggested XQueue was a good candidate for deprecation. However, we don't want to remove a feature that is important and will circle back and discuss other approaches.