[bladetech932]

1) is simple. The controller is treated as 1 joystick with four axis
Ly=1 Lx=2 Ry=3 Rx=4 so use it in the same way you used other joysticks.
2) I am curious why you used axis 3 for speed instead of the normal y or x axis but the answer to your question is yes you can assign the speed to any axis even if its on a different controller
3) is a little harder but one thing you could do is if your joystick is out of a certain value, for example if the x or y value of your joystick is greater than the absolute value of .1 then, you have control if not then the student has control.

Hope that helps.
~Jon