What are release conditions and how can I use them?

Aangepast op Oct 23, 2023

What are 'release conditions' and how do I use them?

What are release conditions?

You can use release conditions to set conditions that need to be fulfilled by a student before they are allowed to access to certain course components and/or specific course content. For example:

Students cannot take the week two quiz until they have a score of 50% or higher on the week one quiz.
Students can only respond to a discussion forum if they have created their own thread.
Students cannot see the final assignment until they have handed in all their previous assignments.

You can attach multiple release conditions to a component. For example:

Students cannot see the final assignment until they have submitted all the previous assignments and obtained a score of 50% or higher for the quizzes.

You can also add multiple release conditions to a component, and specify that students only have to meet one of these conditions. For example:

Students will not be able to access week two learning materials until they have submitted week one assignments or achieved a score of 50% or higher on the quizzes or created a discussion thread.

You should always attach a release condition to the activity you want to make available. For example, if you want students to be able to see assignment B, only if they have passed assignment A, then set the release condition for assignment B. This assignment is then invisible to the student until he or she has met the release condition (assignment A being completed with a passing grade).

All the release conditions in Brightspace

You can attach release conditions to almost all parts in Brightspace.

Below you can see which release conditions you can use for each component.

As a student, you can/can not view this activity or section if...

Assignments:
... you have submitted an assignment (Submission to Folder).
... you have received feedback on a submitted assignment (Feedback on Submission).
... you have received an feedback on an assessment with the [help of a] rubric (Linked rubric score/Score on associated rubric).
... you have not submitted anything (No submission to folder).
Awards:
... you have achieved (a) certain award (Earned Reward/Award).
Checklist:
... you have completed the checklist (Completed Checklist).
... you have completed a checklist item (Completed Checklist Item).
... you have not completed the checklist (Incomplete Checklist).
... you have not completed a checklist item (Incomplete Checklist Item).
Group List:
... you are a member of a particular group (Group Enrollment).
... you are a member of a particular course (Organization Unit Enrollment).
... you are a member of a particular section (Section Enrollment).
... you do/do not have a certain/specific role in the current course (Role in current organizational unit).
... a certain number of days have passed since you have been enrolled OR you have been enrolled for a certain amount of days (Date of enrollment in current organizational unit).
Competencies:
... you have achieved (a) competency (Competency achieved)
... you have achieved a learning objective (Learning objective achieved)
... you have received (a) competency with the [help of a] rubric (Score for Linked Rubric/score on associated rubric).
... you have yet to/not yet achieve (a) competency (Competency not yet achieved)
... you have yet to/not yet achieved a learning objective (Learning objective not yet achieved)
Content:
... you have viewed a particular topic (Has visited the content topic).
... you have viewed all topics (Visited all content topics).
... you did not view a particular topic (Did not visit content topic).
... you have completed a subject (Has completed the co-requirement)
... you did not complete a subject (Did not complete the co-requirement)
Discussions:
... you have added at least a certain number of posts/publications in a discussion topic (Posts authored in topic/ Publications arranged in topic).
... you have received an assessment with the [help of a] rubric (Linked rubric score/Score on associated rubric).
... you have not added any posts/publications in a discussion topic (No publications made in topic).
Scores/Grades:
... you have achieved a certain score on a certain grade item (Score value for a grade item).
... you have received an assessment with the [help of a] rubric (Linked rubric score/score on associated rubric).
... you did not receive a rating (Didn't receive a score/No grade received).
The teacher wants to announce the final score under certain conditions (Announce final score)
Testing:
... you have achieved a certain score on a quiz/test (Score for a quiz/test).
... you have completed the quiz/test (Test Attempt Complete/Completed quiz attempt).
... you have received a rating/feedback for certain questions (Score for Selected Questions).
... you received an assessment with the [help of a] rubric (Linked rubric score/score on associated rubric).
... you did not submit the test/quiz (No test/quiz attempt completed).
Surveys:
... you have submitted the survey (Completed Survey Attempt).
... you did not submit the survey (No completed survey attempt).

If you use release terms/conditions, make sure to communicate this to your students at the beginning of the course. That way, they will know that not all course content is available to them yet, and that they themselves are responsible for going through the entire course and unlocking all the new parts with completed parts (of the content in the course). If you do not communicate this clearly or explain the principle of release conditions to students, you may create wrong expectations in them, because the course will end up consisting of more parts and/or assignments than they had at the beginning of the course (based on the visible content at that time) expected.

How do you set release conditions?

Click on 'Content' in the menu bar.
Click an item on the left
Click on the 'three dots'
Click 'View Release Terms'

You will see a new window, click on 'Create'. You will see a new window.

In this window you must first set the 'Condition Type' and then the 'Condition Details'.

In this example, students are not allowed to see the "Introduction to Brightspace" section until they have scored a 7 or higher for "Test 1".

Then select your Condition Details
- Select the test for which they must score
- Specify the criteria
- Enter the score.
Click on 'Create'.

You will see the release condition(s) and here you can indicate whether students must meet 1 or all conditions.
Click on 'Save'.

This part now has an eye icon with the gear behind it, which means that this part will only becomes visible if the conditions are met.

Release terms/conditions when creating new items

As of now it is possible to add release terms or conditions when creating an item. This option can be found under the Availability Dates & Conditions.

Advised practices for release terms/conditions

If you plan to make (a lot of) use of release conditions, it is important to take the following practical matters into account:

Set release conditions before students can access your course; this gives you time to double-check and verify that all release conditions are working properly by carefully reviewing each one.
Avoid unnecessary release conditions; if you use too many release conditions, Brightspace can have an increasingly difficult time loading your pages quickly.
Avoid circular release conditions that students cannot meet. For example, if you require students to view document A before posting to the discussion, and then require students to post to the discussion before viewing document A, it becomes impossible for students to meet course requirements. Therefore, be careful when designing release conditions for your course and keep track of which release condition you attach to which course component.
Once created release conditions are saved in the course (on your computer). This is useful if you want to reuse complex release conditions at a later moment.

Vorige Artikel How do I hide or reveal course content for students?

Volgende Artikel How do I use Assignments?

Brightspace Docent

What are release conditions and how can I use them?

What are 'release conditions' and how do I use them?