---
title: "Lesson Activity"
canonical: "https://helpcentre.macewan.ca/space/ETS/2624783421/Lesson%20Activity"
format: markdown
---
**AUDIENCE: ****FACULTY**** | ****STAFF**
The Lesson activity is one of the most powerful adaptive learning tools. Students are presented with course content (that keeps the user within mêskanâs), and they are then guided to subsequent pages (branched learning path) dictated by their understanding of the material. For example, students can not move on to Module 2 content until they have successfully completed the Module 1 assessment. Insufficient responses will lead them to further content, where they can try the assessment again. Once successfully completed, they move on to Module 2.
It can be customized in various ways to suit the instructional purpose. Further documentation on branch structure is available on the Moodle website: [https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Branch_structures](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Branch_structures)
## Adding a lesson to the course
With editing turned on, navigate to the course section where you want to add the activity and select **+ Activity or resource**.
In the new window that appears, select **Lesson**.
In the **Name **box, type the lesson name. Provide a brief description in the description box, but it is not mandatory. Select the Display description on the course page checkbox to make the description visible on the course page.
## Settings overview
**Appearance**: Clicking **Yes **in the** Progress bar **drop-down menu** **will display a progress bar to the student.
Enabling the **Display menu** will allow students to navigate the topics in the lesson freely. To turn off this option, select no to have the students proceed in a linear fashion.
**Availability**: Use these settings to set the date range for when the activity will appear.
**Flow control**: If **Allow student review** is set to Yes, the student will be asked to confirm their response and will be given an opportunity to revise by clicking **Yes, I’d like to try again** or** No, I just want to go on to the next question**.
Adding a 0-point second attempt to the question can be done by clicking **Yes** from the drop-down menu next to **Provide option to try a question again**. Set the number of times a student can do this in the **Maximum number of attempts per question **menu. Select **Show more** to reveal all settings. In the **Action after correct answer **drop-down menu**,** the default is **Normal -** **follow lesson path**. Can also set randomly ordered unseen pages by clicking **Show an unseen page**, or you can have students directed to a page with unanswered questions by choosing** Show an unanswered page**. The number of pages shown setting only applies if **Show an unseen page** is selected.
**Grade**: Under the grade settings, set the value for the lesson to be graded by scale or points. There is also an option to assign a point grade from 0–100 or use a predetermined scale (scales must first be created; see *Creating Scales* tutorial). Rubrics and marking guides are not compatible with the lesson activity. If the gradebook is already set up, assign a category from the **Grade category**. To customize the minimum **Grade to pass** and set the **Re-takes allowed** setting.
**Common module settings**: Choose whether or not to **Show** or **Hide** the activity from students in the drop-down menu under **Availability**. To modify group settings in the drop-down menu, go to **Group mode**. Refer to the Groups tutorial for detailed information on how these settings work.
**Restrict access**: Access can be restricted based on a variety of parameters. Select **Add restriction** and adjust the settings accordingly. This will vary based on the restriction being applied. A detailed overview of access restrictions is covered in the *[Assignments Overview ](https://macewan.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ETS/pages/1813743184)*[tutorial](https://macewan.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ETS/pages/1813743184).
**Activity completion**: Students can **manually mark activity as complete**, or **Show complete activity as complete when conditions are met** and adjust conditions accordingly.
**Tags**: Enter any tags to make this activity searchable by tag.
# How to Create Lesson Content
Before beginning, it is a good idea to roughly plan where the lesson will go and start building its structure.
## Add content
1. Navigate to the lesson to edit and click on the title.
2. Under the **Editing lesson**, there are four choices: Import questions, Add a cluster, Add a content page, Add a question page. We will begin with **Add a content page** underneath the title **What would you like to do first? **The following options include: **Import questions**, **Add a cluster,** **Add a content page**, **Add a question page**.
3. The first page to create is the starting/landing page. This is the overview and primary content page unless otherwise specified in settings. Place the content in the text box under the **Page content **toolbar.
4. Below the **Page content** editor are the **Content** links. Can add up to five content links from the initial page. For clarity, the level of pages in this tutorial are preceded with a number, 0 for the main level and one number higher for each subsequent level. Because we are building the lesson's structure, we will return to this page after setting up each level of structure. Decide how many links to create from the initial page and title them in the text boxes next to **Description**. When finished, select **Save Page**. It is recommended that the name in the **Description** box matches the name of the page it will jump to from this page.
5. Once the first page is created, it will display as seen below. To create the next page in the lesson, duplicate the page (which can be useful for question pages) by clicking the stacked paper icon or by clicking **Add a new page** from the drop-down menu underneath **Actions**. > Macro (anchor)
### Add a new page options
**Add an end of a cluster**: This brings an end to the cluster and allows the student to move on to the next section of the lesson. It functions similarly to **Add an end of branch**, but it relates exclusively to groups of question pages.
**Add a cluster**: A cluster is a group of question pages. Pages in a cluster are shown to students in random order. If choosing to have students see question pages in the same order, cluster pages are unnecessary. More detailed documentation on clusters can be found on the Moodle website: [https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Lesson_clusters#What_are_clusters.3F](https://docs.moodle.org/311/en/Lesson_clusters#What_are_clusters.3F)
**Add a content page**: Content pages can include text, images, and video. These content pages are generally considered the main part of the lesson, so the question pages are set up about this content.
**Add an end of branch**: This page type stops the adaptable content features. It will allow for the presentation of a final piece of content and then have a link back to the main starting page of the lesson. This type of page is helpful for content-only lessons. After a student reaches the end of one content branch, they return to the beginning of the lesson and can proceed to the next content branch.
**Add a question page**: This type of page allows you to ask multichoice, matching, numerical, true/false, short-answer, and essay questions. They can be assigned in a specific order or randomly using the cluster feature.
1. In this example, we clicked **Add a content page**. We will now create the first of the three pages we indicated in the first page by repeating steps 3 and 4. This time, we will only add one subsequent content page instead of three as we did before.
> ℹ️ Note: It is a good idea to build all the pages that will be used at each level of the branch. In this example, there was ONE starting page, followed by THREE pages on the next level. Build those three pages first before adding the next level down.
2. From the second level down from the start/landing page, we will **Add a question page **to evaluate the students’ understanding of the content presented. Click **Add a question page** from the drop-down menu under **Actions** as done earlier in **[Step 5](#actions)**.
3. Select the question type you want to add by clicking the selection on the **Select a question type **drop-down menu. Click **Add a question page** when finished.
4. In this example, we have selected **Multichoice**. Title the page in the **Page title **box and enter the question in the **Page contents **box. Check the Multiple-answer box below the Page contents box to enable multiple correct responses. > Macro (anchor)
5. There is a limit of *five* responses. Enter the **Answer** in the box. A justification can be added in this selection in the **Response **box, but it is unnecessary. **Jump** drop-down will be revisited in the next section. To indicate this Answer as correct, enter a positive number to indicate a correct response or enter zero or a negative number to indicate an incorrect response in the **Score **box. Repeat this process for as many **Answers** (1–5) that were created. Click **Save page**.
6. As a final follow-up for this example, we will add a Short answer question by repeating step 4 and selecting Short answer instead of **Multichoice**..
7. Title the page in the **Page title** box and enter the question in the **Page contents **box. Specific words can be added to the correct responses in the **Answer **box, but given the varied responses, it will likely be easier to review them manually. To do this, enter the **Answer** and type the message students receive in the **Response **box.
8. Alternatively, if you want specific answers but also want to allow for varied responses, scroll to the bottom of the answers and enable **All other answers** by checking the **Enabled box**. Type the feedback the student will receive in the **Response text box**. Make sure the value of the **All other answers score **box is set to 1 or higher, and click **SAVE PAGE**.
## Add a cluster
A cluster is a group of question pages. Inserting a cluster amid lesson content can be useful for checking student comprehension as they move through the lesson.
1. Select **Add a cluster** from the **Actions** drop-down menu *before* the page in the lesson where you want to add the cluster. In this example, a cluster is added **after** *0 – Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory*, and **before** *1 – Criticism of Kohlberg’s Theory*.
> ℹ️ **Note**: It is a good idea to immediately change the title of the cluster for organizational purposes, especially if adding more clusters later. Give it a name that indicates what the questions are about. Click the gear icon to access the Cluster editor. Leave the selection in the **Jump** drop-down menu to **Unseen question within a cluster**.
2. Add the question pages by selecting **Add a question page** from the **Actions** drop-down menu in the cluster.
3. Type in a **Page title** in the box. Type the answer in the **Answer box**. For incorrect answers, set the value in the **Score **box to 0. In the **Jump** drop-down menu, select the **Unseen question within cluster**. This will mean that if the student gets this question wrong, they will be asked another question before being allowed to move on. Repeat this process for the rest of the incorrect answers.
4. Add the rest of the question pages in the cluster. Follow the same steps from above.
5. After adding all question pages for the cluster,** Add an end of cluster page** from the **Actions** drop-down menu of the last question page in the cluster. This will signify the end of the cluster and let students move to the next section.
6. For the correct answers on all question pages in the cluster, select **End of cluster** in the drop-down menu, then click **Jump**. This will allow the student to move on to the next section, having accurately answered a question. Type 1 into the **Score** box to indicate this as the correct answer.
## Ending the lesson
Depending on the lesson's focus, there are two general ways to end.
**Method 1** is to create a circular lesson. In this method, once students get to the end of one branch, the final page will bring them back to the start of the lesson, where they can explore other branches.
**Method 2** is a quiz style, where students proceed through the lesson and finish once they have reached the end.
### Method 1: Circular lesson
1. Conclude the lesson by adding either **Add an** **end of branch** or **Add an** **end of cluster** page from the **Actions** drop-down menu on the right side of the last created page.
Select the page settings by clicking on the gear icon for the **end of branch/cluster**.
2. Choose where the end of branch page jumps to by selecting the page from the **Jump** drop-down menu. Then, click **Save Page**.
### Method 2: Quiz-style lesson
1. Conclude the lesson by adding an **Add an end of branch or Add an end of cluster**. From the drop-down menu underneath **Actions** on the right side of the last page added.
2. Title the page End of Lesson in the **Page title **box. Type a message to students in the **Page contents **box. In the **jump **drop-down menu under **Content 1**, select **End of lesson**.
3. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select **Save Page**.
## Linking all content pages> Macro (anchor)
Once all content pages have been created, there is an option to go back and link them. This can be done at the end or at the start of linking pages, as soon as the second page is created.
1. Choose the page you want to edit first by selecting the gear icon under the **Actions menu** of that page. It is recommended to start from the beginning.
2. Scroll down to the **Content 1–5** editors. Select the page to jump to from the page editing by selecting from the **Jump** drop-down menu. Click the **Save page** when finished.
> ℹ️ **Note**: The name in the **Description **box should match the name of the page to jump to if followed best practice advice when building out the lesson! This step will need to be repeated for each Content on the page (up to five).
## General notes on page jumps
When setting the jumps between pages, select **Next page** or **Previous page**.
**Note:** Both **Next page **and **Previous page** refer to the ordering of pages on the editing dashboard.
To change the item's location within the list, use the arrow icon on the right side of the page to reorder. In this example, the previous page is 2 – The Solution to Heinz’s dilemma, and the next page is 4 – End of Lesson.
On the next screen is a list of pages with the option to move the page.
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