Hi Geraldine,
Thanks for reporting this issue. It sounds like there is a complicated interaction that is causing an issue for you. I suspect there might be a bug, so I would like to gather some more information.
For context: assignments work by creating a point in time copy of the project the first time a student opens the assignment. Subsequent changes to the original assignment will not be reflected in the student's copies of it. This includes not only things like files and installed packages but some project settings like the R version that is in use. Any student who starts the assignment after making changes will receive a copy with those changes, including the R version selected. One thing to note is that changing the R version from R 4.X to R 4.Y will require you to reinstall the packages.
a) why do the assignments open in 4.0.5 for me? But not for my students? I think? Still haven't figured out what is going wrong there?
This should not happen. Students should get whatever R version you have selected in the assignment. Do you have a project ID for a student copy where this happened so we can investigate?
b) Why does re-installing tidyverse manually (as opposed to the "reinstalling packages" function that runs when I get the upgrade message) not work for version 4.0.5?
The reason that install.packages() may not work after the OS upgrade is that the old packages need to be completely removed before installing new ones because the old ones may contain references to operating system packages that could be out of date. The upgrade process handles this correctly by using renv::rebuild() to cleanly reinstall everything.
I totally agree! I just hadn't realized that my "updated version" of the assignment would open in 4.0.5, but then it seems that for the students it opened up in 4.2.1?
Again, this shouldn't happen, so if you are able to provide us with an example project, we would be happy to investigate further.
Also - another question about making assignments and materials available. When I have accidentally had the project set to version 4.0.5 when I made it available to students, and I go into my version of the project (the one they are copying from) and change the version to 4.2.1, will students who make a copy after I make that change get the project in 4.2.1 automatically?
Yes. They should. Keep in mind you will need to reinstall your R packages for the new R version.
When I first taught this class, I made myself a student by adding myself using my gmail account (so I could see what the students see), but since our university has gone to institutional access, it only allows access with institutional emails - which of course is my instructor account...
Allowing instructors to impersonate the student role without having to create multiple accounts is on our roadmap.
Lastly, I want to apologize for the headache this caused you. The more you're able to share with us, the more likely we'll be able to track down what went wrong here. A general bit of advice, I do recommend updating your old projects from time to time to ensure you are on the latest OS version and consider updating to the latest R version at that time as well.
-Andy