iLearn Help for Instructors

Conditional Release Tool

• Conditions and Associations
• Accessing the Release Conditions Tool
• Creating New Conditions
• Org Unit Enrollment
• Grade Value on a Grade Item and Score on a Quiz
• Completed Quiz Attempt and Completed Survey Attempt
• Adding an Existing Release Condition
• Deleting Associations and Conditions
• Best Practices for Setting Release Conditions
• Example Conditional Release Scenarios
• Copying Release Conditions

By setting release conditions, you can direct students to complete certain requirements before they can view specified tools and content.

For example, you can require that students view the content in Topic A before they can see Topic B material. Or, you can make a discussion forum visible only to students in particular groups, or to students who have achieved certain grades on defined course items.

Release conditions can be applied to the following tools:

• Content Topics and Modules
• Quizzes
• Discussion Forums and Topics
• Dropbox Folders
• Surveys
• Checklists
• Chat Rooms
• Grade Items
• News Items
• Custom Widgets

Release conditions can be based on:

• Checklist completion
• Group or section enrollment
• Organizational unit enrollment
• Roles
• Visiting a content topic
• Visiting all content modules in a course
• Posting to discussion topics and forums
• Dropbox submissions
• Receipt of Dropbox feedback
• Grade value on a grade item (minimum,
• Score on a Quiz (minimum, maximum,
• Completion of quiz attempts
• Completion of survey attempts

PLEASE NOTE: In order for Conditional Release to work properly, you must disable all POP-UP blockers.

You can disable your popup blocker through internet explorer by going to the Tools Bar in Internet Explorer, Highlight the Pop-up Blocker option and then select Turn-Off Popup Blocker.

You must also disable the popup blocker in any Toolbars (Google, Yahoo,etc.) you are running by selecting the picture that says "X Blocked" in the toolbar. This will temporarily disable popup blocking in google.

For Yahoo toolbar users, you must disable popups by selecting the popup box, and disabling the popup blocker.

Failure to disable popup blockers will result in Conditional Release NOT working properly.

Conditions and Associations

Conditions and Associations are the two key terms used in association with the Conditional Release tool.

A condition is the requirement that you create. For example, Student must attempt Quiz 1 . You must then associate a condition with an item in your course. For example, if you want to require that a student must attempt Quiz 1 before they can see Quiz 2, you would create the condition Student must attempt Quiz 1 and associate it with Quiz 2.

Notes

• You must create your content and course items (quizzes, surveys, discussion forums, etc.) before you can create release conditions and associations for them.
• It is strongly recommended that you complete all of your conditional release settings before a course is made available to students.
• It is not possible to “reset” release conditions. Once a student has satisfied a release condition, you cannot erase this information and force them to go back and satisfy the condition again.

Example

A release condition has been set that requires students to view Topic 1 before they can see Topic 2. Several students view Topic 1 and proceed to Topic 2. Afterwards, the instructor makes changes to Topic 1, and wants to require students to go back and read Topic 1 again before they can access Topic 2. It is not possible for the instructor to reset the release condition so that all students have to read Topic 1 again before proceeding to Topic 2. Instead, the instructor could add an additional release condition to Topic 2. Students would then have to satisfy the new release condition before proceeding to Topic 2.

Accessing the Release Conditions Tool

Release Conditions are set from within various tools. For example, when you create or edit a survey or quiz, you will be able to edit the release conditions associated with that tool. (See above for the full list of tools that release conditions can be applied to.)

Release Condition Buttons available during the creation of some tools

Creating New Conditions

To create a new release condition from a tool:

1. Click the Add Existing button. Then Select the Create New Condition icon.

The Create New Release Condition popup displays.

2. Select the Condition Type from the drop-down list. Your options are displayed in the following table:

Another drop-down list displays, containing a list of available tools of the type you

chose in the Condition Type drop-down list (e.g. if you chose Group Membership in

the Condition Type drop-down list, a list of groups will display).

3. Choose the applicable tool from the new drop-down list.

4. Depending on the Condition Type you selected, additional options may display in

the Create New Release Condition page. Refer to the sections below for details on the additional fields.

5. Click Save .

Notes If you assign more than one release condition to a tool, students must satisfy all of the assigned conditions before they can view that tool. You cannot make duplicate conditions.

Org Unit Enrollment

If you chose the OrgUnit Enrollment option from the Condition Type drop-down list, then you are presented with the following options:

1. Select the applicable type of org unit from the Org Type drop-down list. For

example, Departments and Terms are two types of organizational units.

The Org Unit drop-down list displays.

2. Select the applicable org unit from the Org Unit drop-down list. For example, if you chose Department for the org type, you might choose the English Department as the org unit. Or, if you chose Term as the org type, you might choose Fall 2005 as the org unit.

Discussion Messages Authored in Topic/Forum

If you chose the Discussion messages authored… option from the Condition Type drop-down list, then you are presented with the following options:

1. Specify how many messages participants must post in the discussion topic/forum that you selected in the Discussion field.

2. Select an option from the Type drop-down list:

• New Messages Only The system will only count messages that a participant

posts as a new discussion thread. It will not count messages that participants

post as replies to other students' posts.

• Messages and Replies The system will count all messages that a participant

posts, including messages posted as replies to other students' posts.

Note If you choose a forum in the Discussion drop-down list, the system counts messages that students post in any of the topics within that forum. If you choose a topic from the Discussion drop-down list, the system only counts messages within that specific discussion topic.

Grade Value on a Grade Item and Score on a Quiz

The additional fields for the Grade Value on a Grade Item and Score on a Quiz Condition Types are the same. If you chose one of these options from the Condition Type dropdown list, then you are presented with the following options:

1. Select an option from the Criteria drop-down list, as described in the following table:

2. Type the applicable percentage value in the Grade field.

Note The iLearn system considers a grade value or grade item score condition met if a student's grade satisfies the condition at any point in the course . For example, suppose an instructor sets a condition that Topic B is only accessible to students that have achieved 80% or greater on Quiz 1. Student A receives 85% on Quiz 1 and can view Topic B. Later, the instructor realizes that Student A's quiz was graded incorrectly, and changes Student A's grade to 75%. Student A will still be able to view Topic B , because they had previously met the release condition.

Completed Quiz Attempt and Completed Survey Attempt

The additional fields for the Completed Quiz Attempt and Completed Survey Attempt Condition Types are the same. If you chose one of these options from the Condition Type drop-down list, then you are presented with the following options:

1. Choose the number of times a participant must attempt the quiz or survey from the

Number of Attempts drop-down list.

Note The options available in the Number of Attempts drop-down list depend on the maximum number of attempts you specified for the quiz or survey. For example, if students can only attempt a quiz or survey once, you will only be able to choose “1” from the drop-down list. If students can attempt a quiz or survey up to 5 times, 1 through 5 will appear as options in the drop-down list.

Adding an Existing Release Condition

To add an existing release condition to a tool:

1. Click the Add Existing button.

The Create Add Condition popup displays.

2. Select the condition(s) you want to add.

3. Click Add Selected .

Deleting Associations and Conditions

To delete conditions associated with a tool:

1. In the tool's Additional Conditions section, click the icon beside Remove All

Conditions ( ).

Or

2. Click the trash can icon beside the individual conditions you want to remove.

3. Confirm you decision.

The associations you selected are deleted and the page will update.

Note A condition will be deleted if it is not associated with any tools. However, if a condition is associated with several tools and you delete only one of its associations, the condition will still remain associated with the other tools.

Best Practices for Setting Release Conditions

Avoid Circular References

A circular reference occurs when a set of conditions reference each other in such a way that makes it impossible for a user to satisfy any of the conditions.

Example A course has three content topics: Topic A, Topic B, and Topic C, and the following conditions are set up:

• Topic B is only released after Topic A has been viewed.

• Topic C is only released after Topic B has been viewed.

• Topic A is only released after Topic C has been viewed.

In this example, students will never be able to see any of the topics

because none of them will ever be released.

This problem can be fixed by simply removing one of the conditions.

In this case, the condition that Topic A is only released after Topic C

has been viewed would likely be removed. Students could then start

by viewing Topic A, and Topics B and C would become available as

the conditions for each topic are satisfied.

Avoid Unnecessary Conditions

Each condition that you associate with a tool will take additional time for the iLearn system to process. Using as few conditions as possible to achieve your desired learning path minimizes the amount of time that students will have to wait for pages to load.

Example A course has three topics: Topic A, Topic B, and Topic C. The instructor wants to set up release conditions so that Topics B and C are only released after a student has viewed the previous topic. The following conditions are established:

• Topic B is only released after Topic A has been viewed,

• Topic C is only released after Topic A has been viewed, and

• Topic C is only released after Topic B have been viewed.

In the example above, it is unnecessary to specify that both Topics A and B must be viewed in order to access Topic C because students can only see Topic B after they have already viewed Topic A. The same results can be achieved, but faster when only the following two conditions are set:

• Topic B is only released after Topic A has been viewed, and

• Topic C is only released after Topic B has been viewed.

Avoid Impossible and Contradictory Conditions

Ensure that your conditions are not impossible for students to satisfy. For example, a condition that students must achieve greater than 100% on a grade item would be impossible (unless bonus marks are available for the item). If students are unable to satisfy a condition, they will be unable to access the content or tools associated with the condition. Contradictory conditions occur when two or more conditions that cancel each other out

are associated with a tool. For example, the conditions User must achieve greater than 49.9% on Grade Item 1 and User must achieve less than 50% on Grade Item 1 are contradictory. Students would never be able to satisfy both conditions at the same time, so they would not be able to see the tools or content associated with the conditions.

Set up your Release Conditions before Students Access your Course

Avoid changing release conditions once a course has begun. Adding or changing release conditions after students have already accessed your course could confuse course participants if they are suddenly unable to view tools that they could previously access. Setting up your conditions before a course is released also allows you an opportunity to check for circular, contradictory, and unnecessary conditions.

Example Conditional Release Scenarios

This section outlines some common scenarios in which Conditional Release might be used.

Release Content Based on User Learning Ability and Course Performance

Scenario You wish to provide extra content to students that are having difficulty with a certain assignment.

Solution You can provide an extra content topic or module to students based on the grade they achieve on a certain quiz or grade item. You must create the extra content or module before you can set your release conditions for the extra content.

1. On the Manage Associations page, click Create New Condition.

2. Choose Content Topic or Content Module in the Tool drop-down list (depending on whether you want to release a single topic or an entire content module as extra content).

3. Choose the name of the topic or module in the Instance drop-down list.

4. Choose Grade Value on a Grade Item or Score on a Quiz from the Condition Type drop-down list. Grade Value on a Grade Item allows you to specify what grade students must achieve on a particular grade item in order to view the extra content, whereas Score on a Quiz allows you to specify the score a student must achieve on a particular quiz to view the grade item (a quiz might not necessarily be a grade item).

5. Choose the applicable Grade Item or Quiz name from the drop-down list that displays.

6. Set the Criteria and Grade fields as applicable.

7. Example To release the extra content to students that received 60% or less on the quiz or grade item, you would choose “<=” (less than or equal to) in the Criteria field, and type 60 in the Grade field.

8. Click Save.

Your extra content will now only be visible to students that receive 60% or less on

the selected Grade Item/Quiz.

Release Content Only after Students have Viewed Previous Topics

Scenario A You want to ensure that students read content Topic A before they can view Topic B.

Solution A Create a release condition associated with Topic B that requires students to view Topic A.

1. On the Manage Associations page, click Create New Condition.

2. Choose Content Topic from the Tool drop-down list.

3. Choose the topic that you want to restrict from the Instance drop-down list. For example, following the scenario above, you would choose Topic B from the Instance drop-down list.

4. Choose Content topic visited from the Condition Type drop-down list.

5. In the Topics drop-down list, choose the topic that students must read before they can view the topic you chose in the Instance drop-down list (for example, Topic A from the scenario above).

6. Click Save.

Scenario B You want to release an entire content module (Module B) only after students have read an entire previous module (Module A).

Solution B It is not currently possible to set a condition that checks if a student has completed an entire module. Instead, you can create a condition that requires students to have viewed the last topic of the previous module :

1. On the Manage Associations page, click Create New Condition.

2. Choose Content Module from the Tool drop-down list.

3. Choose the module that you want to restrict from the Instance drop-down list. For example, following the scenario above, you would choose Module B from the Instance drop-down list.

4. Choose Content topic visited from the Condition Type drop-down list.

5. In the Topics drop-down list, choose the name of the last topic from Module A.

6. Click Save.

Customize Content for Groups or Sections within a Course

Scenario You have several groups or sections within your course and want to provide customized content to each group or section. For example, perhaps each group has been assigned a different project to work on and you would like to provide different instructions or resources to each group or section. For this scenario, suppose Topic A, Topic B, and Topic C should be released to Group A, Group B, and Group C respectively.

Solution Create a unique content topic for each group or section. Then assign a release condition to each topic that specifies which group or section can see it.

1. After you have created your content topics, access the Manage Associations page and click Create New Condition.

2. Choose Content Topic from the Tool drop-down list.

3. Choose Topic A from the Instance drop-down list.

4. Choose Group Membership from the Condition Type drop-down list (if you use sections instead of groups in your course, choose Section Enrollment instead).

5. Choose Group A from the Group drop-down list.

6. Click Save.

7. Repeat steps 1 to 6 for each group and associated topic.

Tip You could substitute discussion forums or topics for content topics in the instructions above to assign each group their own private discussion area.

Copying Release Conditions

When you copy release conditions (by checking conditional release in step 4 in the section above), the iLearn system only copies conditions that apply to other course components that you have copied from the same course.

Example

In Course A, an instructor has created release conditions that allow students to view Quiz 1 and Quiz 2 only after they have viewed Content Topics 1 and 2, respectively. The instructor then creates Course B and wants to copy the release conditions from Course A. The instructor must also copy all of the quizzes and content from Course A in order to copy the release conditions.