Module Requirements

[hduck]

At our college, we have a course template that is built out and imported into each online course before any content is added into the course. The first module is titled "Information: Getting Started" and provides students with pertinent information for taking an online course at our institution.

I wanted to be able to lock the first module down so that the student cannot see any other course information until they have read through all the content pages and taken the acceptance quiz, which is stating that they agree to and understand the information that was presented. Once the student reads the information and takes the quiz, all course content in the Modules area will be available. I don't want them to have access to this before the first module had been completed.

Since the eLearning office is the one creating the template, I want us to be able to lock down the first module so that it's already setup for the instructors before they add their content into the class. This way they won't have to remember to go through and lock down all of their other module with a prerequisite of the first module.

Do you have any suggestions of how I can lock down the first module either with the content pages, quiz, or module settings before the template is added to the instructor's course?

[Stef_retired]

 @hduck , you can make completion of the first module a prerequisite for unlocking the subsequent modules. For details on how to do this, please refer to How do I set up prerequisite modules?​ And since it sounds like the first module has multiple items in it, you might also want to employ requirements, as described in How do I add requirements to a module?​

[hduck]

Stefanie,

Thank you for you response!

I thought of that option but wanted to already have the prerequisites set up for the instructors ahead of time so that they don't have to remember to do it. In the template, only the first module, Information: Getting Started, is added to the Modules area. Once the template has been added to the course, the instructor goes in and imports the course specific content to the Modules after the first module that was imported from the template. So they might have Week 1, Week 2, etc. modules after the Information: Getting Started module. I didn't want them to have to put a prerequisite on all the modules they import.

If we decided to go the route of the requirement, how would we need to set up the quiz, which is the last item in the first module, so that the student's couldn't move on to any other module until the quiz was completed? I've tried doing this in many different ways but can't seem to get it to work exactly right.

[Stef_retired]

 @hduck ​, your use case is complicated by the fact that teachers will be adding and importing content to the shell after you have created it for them. This means that, regardless of what requirements and prerequisites you set on the template modules, the teachers are going to have to set up requirements and prerequisites for the newly-added items.

Generally speaking, if you require students to complete all of the items in the first module in order; you set a progression requirement on the the last item--the quiz--so that students must score X in order to proceed; and you make the first module a prerequisite for all of the remaining modules, this will accomplish what you've described. So if the first module is uniform across all courses, you can place the appropriate requirements and progression restrictions in the first module. But from there, since the rest of the course will have modules added by the teachers, they will have to be the ones to set the prerequisites on any subsequent modules they bring into the course. The modules have to be in the course before the prerequisites can be set.

I would note that this is almost exactly how we created courses at our college, and teachers were given clear guidance on how to customize the modules by adding module prerequisites (and lock dates, if they chose!) after they had populated their courses with content. They didn't have a problem with it. I'd love to hear from others if anyone has figured out a way to do this in a template, before the content is in the course.

[hduck]

So on the first module, you would put a requirement of completing the requirements in sequential order and then another requirement that they must score a certain grade to move on.  After this is put on there, the instructors would have to make the first module a prerequisite for the other modules. Is this correct?

I wish that one of the options on the first module requirement was to lock down all other modules until this module was completed. I'm sure I am the only one who would want this feature, but it would save a lot of time of time.

I definitely would like feedback from others on how they are handling situations like this.

[Stef_retired]

Yes, you've got it right,  @hduck ​, at least according to my understanding. I would also put requirements on every other item within the module (must "view the page," at the very least). And regarding:

I wish that one of the options on the first module requirement was to lock down all other modules until this module was completed.

...you might not be the only one who wants this! Why not submit a Canvas Feature Idea​​ after reading How do I create a new feature idea?​

[hduck]

I created a feature request for adding this module requirement option. Click here to access the feature request.

[Stef_retired]

...and it occurs to me that, just to be safe, you probably also want to streamline the course navigation so that only Home and Modules are visible to students (and any other navigation links you have to show in accordance with the design of the course). You'll find more about this in What are the Canvas settings at the course level?​

[hduck]

Instructors put everything under Modules. They don't have assignments, quizzes, discussions, etc. listed in the course navigation. This way it is a "one stop shop" for students.

[Stef_retired]

This is great design!

[kona]

We handle this by making the orientation information a completely different course that students must complete before they get access to their real courses. This way we don't need to require faculty to do anything - which makes them happy - and we know for sure that students are completing the orientation (which has upped our retention rate.

Check out the following for more info on this -

Mandatory Orientation Programming​

[hduck]

This is a great idea! Do you know if this is possible to do if your students are added by a system outside the school's IT department? Is there any way in Canvas or through a script to control where the students are added if we aren't the ones adding the students?

[kona]

For us the students are added as part of the in-between programming of our SIS (student information system - where students formally register for classes) and Canvas.

[Stef_retired]

All,  @hduck ​ has created a feature idea surrounding this design idea, and assuming it sails through the vetting process, it will probably be open for voting in early November:  

[thebert]

Christ is is our midst!

Wouldn't the student benefit from this as a course during their entire enrollment? If the course was perpetual, then they could return to it and repeat sections of it as refresher.

[hduck]

Yes, it would be useful for them. The way ours is set up now is that this module is the first module in each and every online course so that they can refer back to it at any point during the semester.

[safipourafsh]

Thanks for your useful discussion.

I’d like to establish a default setting in Canvas for the whole course that requires the student to go within a module and then from module to module in order, rather than having to do it each time I create a new module or a new unit within the module.  Can I do that?

[kona]

There is no way to automate requirements and prerequisites like this. Sorry!