Read on to find the answer:
Padlocks in Joomla
Sometimes when you look at a a Joomla article you'll see a little yellow padock next to the article. Hover over the padlock and you'll also information about a particular use together with a date and time. This is what the student mentioned when they asked about "Checked Out (name) (date) (time)"
You can also see the same effect on modules ...
... and menu links.
What Does This Mean?
When a user edits an article, module or menu link, Joomla! changes the file's status to Checked Out (represented by the padlock). The file is locked and only the User who has checked it out can modify it. This is a safety/security feature that prevents two Users from editing an Item at the same time, thus preventing the loss of any data upon saving.
Now here's the important bit that can often be confusing: the article, module or menu link remains "Checked Out" until the User clicks Apply, Save, or Cancel while editing it. If they don't (for example if they hit the back button instead) the padlock will stay for quite some time.
Removing the Padlock
Fortunately removing these padlocks is very easy. Simply go to Tools >> Global Check-in. Joomla will then show you all the items that are now free for editing as below:
However, if you have a site with multiple users, please be careful to ask your colleagues before doing this. If people really are editing the item, you don't want to bump them out before they've finished. If you do have large number of writers on your site, you might consider using this AutoSave plugin to avoid such mistakes.
