---
title: "Completion Progress Block"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/2536669201/Completion%20Progress%20Block"
format: markdown
---
**AUDIENCE: ****FACULTY**** | ****STAFF**
The Completion Progress block allows students and instructors to monitor their progress through activities during the term visually. Because it is visual, many students find the Completion Progress block highly motivating.
## Initial Setup
Completion tracking must be turned on at the course level to install a Completion Progress block. Click on **Settings** at the top of the course main mêskanâs page under the course title.
Back on the mêskanâs main page, enable** Edit mode.**
Select **+ Add a block** on the navigation menu.
On the menu that appears, select **Completion Progress**.
Back on the main mêskanâs page, a new block will have appeared at the bottom of the column on the right side of the screen. Within the block, there will be one box for every item in the course.
As shown, all of the items in this course currently have a blue box in the Completion Progress block. While the block can be used in this form, it can be customized to make it more useful.
## Configuring the Completion Progress Block
To customize the block, click the three-dot menu to open the settings menu and select **Configure Completion Progress block**.
The key settings are in the **Block settings** menu. Click on **Show More… **to fully open the menus available.
**Order bar by** – This setting defines the order of the blue boxes in the Completion Progress block by activity completion date or by the order in which items are arranged in the course. The choice will depend on how the block is being used. To order by expected completion date, all the items included in the Completion Progress block must have expected completion dates specified in the activities. This date is set on the activity editing page in the [Activity Completion Settings](#Activity-Completion-Settings) menu. If this option is selected, the **Now **label and pointer triangle move from left to right and indicate which activities’ deadlines have passed. In the example below, the student has missed the **Expect completion on** date for the first activity and can no longer access that activity. The other activities are still accessible.
**How to present long bars** – If there are a lot of items in the Completion Progress block, think about the best way they will appear.
- **Squeeze** – The blue boxes are squeezed together, occupying one line. After a certain point, this can make the blue boxes hard to distinguish or click on.
- **Scroll** – Students can scroll through the boxes from left to right by clicking on the overlaid pointer. Because not all boxes are visible at once, this option may cause confusion.
- **Wrap** – This choice aligns the boxes in rows and then stacks the rows on top of each other. While not the most attractive option, it offers the least chance for mistakes or confusion.
**Use icons in the bar** – Select **Yes** to show the “X”s as part of the Completion Progress block.
**Show percentage to students** – This shows students the percentage of the activities in the Completion Progress block that they have completed.
**Alternate title** – There is nothing “alternate” about this! Just enter the title of the Completion Progress block.
**Activities included** – These are the items to include in the Completion Progress block. Choose between **All activities with completion set** (i.e., almost all of the readings, activities, quizzes, and links in the course) or **Selected activities**. The latter is almost without exception the better choice.
**Select activities** – By default, all course activities with completion status set are selected for inclusion in Completion Progress blocks. It is usually much more helpful to include only selected activities—select activities to include in the block by clicking on their names. To select a contiguous set of activities, click on the first activity, hold the Shift key, and click on the last activity. If the activities you want to select are not side by side, hold the Control or Command key and click on each item individually.
## Example Settings
Here are the settings, as recommended above. This Completion Progress block will monitor students’ progress on nine
readings.
This is what this Completion Progress block looks like on the course page:
## Activity Completion Settings> Macro (anchor)
To decide when an activity is completed, go to the activity’s editing page (click **Edit** to the right of the activity’s name on the mêskanâs main page), scroll down, and open the **Completion conditions** menu. The options available are self-explanatory and vary depending on the nature of the activity.
This menu is also where the **Expect completed on** date is activated and set.
## Colour Codes
**Green** – the activity is complete
**Blue** – the activity is not complete
**Red** – the activity’s deadline has passed and was not completed
**Yellow** – the activity has been submitted and is awaiting grading
## Checking Students’ Progress
Quickly view all students’ progress by clicking the **Overview of Students** button.
## Specifying Order of Completion
Usually, students can access the activities in the Completion Progress block in any order they choose, not just from left to right, as it may appear. However, it is possible to enforce both order and timing of access. To do this, change the settings in the activities themselves.
To compel students to complete activities in a particular order, go to the activity’s **Edit settings**. Once there, scroll down and open the **Restrict access** menu. Click **Add restriction…** and choose **Activity completion**. Use the options displayed to set the condition(s) that must be met before this activity becomes available. The options to choose from are **completion status** (of a different activity), **date**, **grade** (on a different activity), the **student’s profile**, or a combination of conditions.
In the image below, the Reading 2 settings are being edited. The settings displayed in the image will compel students to read Reading 1 before Reading 2 becomes available.
> ℹ️ ## Pro Tips
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ - There is no limit to the number of Completion Progress blocks it can have in a course. For example, have a Completion Progress block for each unit in the course or one for readings, another for multimedia resources, and yet another for weekly review quizzes.
> ℹ️ - Using Stealth Mode (an organizational gambit to simplify the appearance of the mêskanâs course), or use the Completion Progress block as the sole entry point to a series of activities in the course. For more information on Stealth Mode, see the Stealth Mode tutorial.
> Macro (details)
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