Instructors can control the release of resources and activities to students based on specific criteria, such as designated dates, received grades, or profile information, using the Restrict access settings. This feature, also referred to as conditional release, proves particularly valuable in asynchronous online courses, where students progress through the CLE (Course Learning Environment) at their own pace.
To implement this functionality, both instructors and content assistants will encounter a dedicated Restrict access section in the setup screen of each resource and activity. Once the Restrict access settings are configured according to the specified conditions, the associated activity or resource will remain hidden on the CLE course page until all the predetermined criteria are met.
It's worth noting that these access restrictions, or conditional release settings, can be applied to either a newly added resource or activity on the course page or to one that has already been integrated into the course's materials and content. This capability empowers educators to tailor the learning experience effectively and ensure that students gain access to the appropriate resources and activities at the right time in their individual learning journeys.
To restrict access to an activity or resource:
- Log onto CLE, locate your course site, and turn Edit mode on.
- Click Add a new activity or resource, or click Edit settings for an activity or resource that was previously added to the course.
- From the Edit Settings page, scroll down to the Restrict access section and expand.
- Click the Add restriction… button to set up a restriction
- After clicking the Add restriction button, a choice of conditions appear
- Restrictions can be based upon completion of activity, date, grade, group, grouping, mobile app, user profile fields, or a set of nested restrictions
- Activity Completion: Require students to complete (or not complete) another activity(Note this button only appears if you have Activity completion enabled in your CLE course)
- Date: Prevent access until (or from) a specified date and time
- Grade: Require students to achieve a specified grade on an activity
- Group: Control access based on if students belong to a certain group (Note the groups and grouping button only appears if you have Groups enabled in your CLE course)
- Grouping: Control access based on if students belong to a certain group
- Mobile App: Require students to access (or not access) using the mobile app
- User Profile: Control access based on fields within the student’s profile
- Restriction Set: Add a set of nested restrictions to apply complex logic
After selecting an initial release condition, further restrictions may be added by clicking the Add restriction button again. It is possible to specify that ALL the conditions or ANY of the conditions are required before the activity is made available. Thus, it is possible to use Or as well as And conditions.
The example below shows an access restriction using a Date condition, preventing students from accessing the activity outside of the designated times (February 17 at 8 am until February 17 at 10:25 pm).
The example below shows an access restriction using a Grade condition, preventing students from accessing the activity until they have completed the previous activity.
The example below shows an access restriction using a User profile condition, preventing students from accessing the activity unless their first name is Ryan.
Choose how the resource or activity displays on the course page for students both before and after the access restrictions.
If groups or groupings are used in a course, it’s possible to restrict an activity or resource to a certain group or grouping.
Use Cases:
- Restrict access can be used to assign an activity to a particular group. For example, you can create an activity for only one section of a multiple-section course, such as an honors or graduate section.
- You can also use Restrict access to assign an activity to course members who are not in a particular group or grouping or, by adding multiple restrictions, a mix of Groups or Groupings.
Click the appropriate tab above for instructions on how to apply group restrictions in your course or click the button below to learn about additional restrictions settings.
Access restrictions can be applied to restrict the activity to a certain group or grouping.
You have the option of using Common module settings or simply using restrict access settings. You’ll need to use Common module settings to select a group mode for an activity, which will allow you to restrict interactions between students or filter assignment submissions by groups. If you don’t need to set a group mode, then you can skip common module settings and just use restrict access.
Common Module Settings use cases:
- Use Common module settings when creating a discussion forum group, this will allow the instructor to restrict interactions between students. Separate groups mean only students in the same group can see and participate in discussions within a particular forum. Visible groups allow students to see other groups’ discussions but only participate in their own group’s discussions. The instructor can also filter the forum posts by groups.
- Use Common module settings to enable separate or visible groups on an assignment to filter student submissions and only see those from a particular group when grading.
Restrict Access use cases:
- Apply Restrict Access settings to activity or resource and allow only students who belong to specified groups or groupings to access them.
Common Module Settings
To restrict access to an activity or resource for a group or grouping:
- Click turn Edit mode on in the CLE course.
- Click Add a new activity or resource, or click Edit settings for an activity or resource that was previously added to the course.
- Click Commons module settings to expand and open the section (you can skip the Availability and ID number sections since they are not needed to set restrictions).
- If you are using Groups, select one of the three group modes available in the drop-down menu:
- No groups
- Separate groups – Each group member can only see their own group, others are invisible
- Visible groups – Each group member works in their own group but can also see other groups.
- Select the grouping from the dropdown menu. Select none if you will be restricting the activity to groups.
- Once the grouping is chosen, click the Add group/ grouping access restriction button to add a restriction.
Restrict Access
In the Restrict access section, if the eye is open, the activity will display greyed out for students who are not in the grouping specified. If the eye is closed, the activity will be hidden completely from students who are unable to access it (this is likely to be the most common setting required, but it is not the default, so you must click on the eye to close it and hide the activity).
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