The SI Lab Portal was designed to give faculty members more control over their course with the inclusion of numerous policy settings that can be applied to lessons and assignments. These include lesson and assignment time limits, attempts number, due dates, and forced grading, among others.
This article will provide an overview of the available lesson policies. Select the links below for more details on how to:
- Create a policy set
- Apply a policy set to multiple lessons
- Set policies for an individual lesson or assignment
General Policies
Use this feature to set the maximum number of times a student can attempt the activity.
- Unset (Default/Blank) - allows for an unlimited number of attempts
- Set (Integer up to 999) - allows for a specific number of attempts
If a student exceeds the maximum number of allowed attempts, they will be presented with a message prior to the start of the final attempt indicating that they have met the limit. Students may request an exception once they have hit the maximum number of attempts. A proctor or instructor may permit the additional attempt.
Feature Tips
- For a similar experience to the historic SI Cloud, set the maximum attempts to 1.
- When grading a lesson with multiple attempts allowed, you can grade each submission, or elect to view the best attempt.
Use this feature to set a time limit on an activity in the SI Lab Portal.
- Unset (Default) - allows for an unlimited amount of time to perform an activity.
- Set (# of Minutes) - allows a certain number of minutes to complete the activity
If a time limit is set, the time remaining to complete the activity is continuously displayed while the activity is in progress. When the student reaches the 5 minute mark, the timer will flash red for 10 seconds. The timer will remain red for the remaining time and will flash red when the time limit has expired.
If the time limit expires while the activity is in progress, the student will not be able to input additional responses or navigate to another questions. However, they can still submit their activity.
Feature Tips
- For a similar experience to the historic SI Cloud, do not set a time limit on a lesson.
- Use the Time Limit feature on the Evaluation section to create a more formal post-lab assessment.
- Science Interactive does not recommend setting a time limit for the Exploration and Experimentation section, as students may take more or less time than expected to complete the experiment.
The launch page is displayed at the start of a lesson or assignment. This page will display any specific lesson policies you have set so your students are aware prior to beginning the lesson/assignment.
- On (Default) - Displays the lesson policies when a student begins an attempt of a lesson/assignment.
- Off - Students do not view the lesson policies prior to beginning a lesson/assignment.
Feature Tips
- Science Interactive recommends leaving the lesson policy page on for students.
- If you have set a maximum number of attempts for an activity, the Show Launch Page feature will automatically be enabled.
Use this feature to set when an activity is visible to students based on the start and end dates/times you have added to the course.
- On - The activity will only be visible to the student on the Class Homepage and Calendar from the defined start date/time until the end date/time.
- Off (Default) - The activity is always visible to the student on their Class Homepage and calendars, regardless of start and end date/times. However, students can only attempt the lesson within the confines of any set start/end date and time.
Use this feature to set when an activity is visible to students based on the satisfaction of the Advanced Policies.
- On - The activity will only be visible to the student on the Class Homepage and Calendar when the advanced policies are satisfied.
- Off (Default) - The activity is always visible to the student on their Class Homepage and calendars, regardless of the advanced policies. However, students can only attempt the lesson within the confines of the advanced policies.
Feedback (During)
Settings in the Feedback (During) section will control whether students can view their grades or receive feedback on their responses while the lesson or assignment is in progress.
| Property | Default Setting | Explanation of Property |
|---|---|---|
| Show Hints | Off |
This setting will allow you to display any available hints for each question.
Please note that Science Interactive DOES NOT include hints when creating questions. Turn this feature on only if you have added hints to your course. |
| Show One Hint at a Time | Off | This setting will allow you to display one hint at a time in a question, if there are multiple hints available.
Please note that Science Interactive DOES NOT include hints when creating questions. Turn this feature on only if you have added hints to your course. |
| Show Current Grade | Off | This setting will allow a student to view their current grade for the activity while in progress.
Given the number of manually graded questions in the SI content, we recommend leaving this feature turned "off." |
| Allow Resubmit | On | This setting will allow a student to return to a question and resubmit a response.
|
| How Did I Do? | Off | This setting allows a student to get immediate feedback on a question while the activity is in progress.
In the SI Portal, the How Did I Do? button will appear on both multiple choice questions and some upload-based questions (tables, photos). For multiple choice questions, students will receive immediate feedback on their answer. For upload-based questions, students will receive a message that their response will be graded by their instructor. |
| Maximum "How Did I Do?" Uses | Unlimited | This setting allows a maximum number of uses of the How Did I Do? button when answering a question.
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| Show Correct Answer | Never | This setting determines when a student can view the correct answer when using the How Did I Do? function. Choose from:
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| Feedback | Never | This setting determines when a student can view response-level and question feedback when using the How Did I Do? button. Choose from:
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Feature Tip
- For an experience similar to the SI Cloud, allow disable "Allow Resubmit" and enable the "How Did I Do?" button. Set "Show Correct Answer" and "Show Question Feedback" to Always. This will result in students getting immediate feedback on their responses to all multiple choice/autograded questions with remediation if incorrect.
Use caution with some combinations of settings. For example:
- Enabling Allow Resubmit and How Did I Do? provides students with the equivalent of a solution manual while attempting the activity. Students can check the feedback and change their response to the question.
- Enabling Show Current Grade and How Did I Do? will permit students to get immediate feedback on questions and then retry the activity.
Feedback (After)
Settings in the Feedback (After) section will control what feedback a student can view after a lesson is graded.
| Property | Default Setting | Property Description |
|---|---|---|
| Show Final Grade | On | This setting controls whether a student can view their final grade for an activity after grading.
|
| Show Correct Answer |
If Incorrect | This setting controls whether a student can view the correct answer for a question after an activity is completed. Choose from:
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| Show Question Feedback | Always | This setting controls whether a student can view feedback after grading is complete. Choose from:
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Only Applicable to Lessons
Set the Only Applicable to Lessons properties of the Policy Set to control how a lesson is determined to be complete.
As stated in the section name, these policies will only apply to lessons (Exploration + Experimentation section). They do not apply to assignments (Evaluation section).
| Property | Default Setting | Explanation of Property |
|---|---|---|
| Complete When | Viewed & Attempted & Passed All Sections | Choose when the lesson will be considered completed based on the student meeting the conditions from the drop down list. This will determine when to show a green check mark on the Class Homepage and in the Gradebook. Choose from:
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| Allow Submit | Off | This feature allows you to turn on and off the Submit Lesson button. Note that assignments (the Evaluation section) will automatically include a "submit" button.
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Feature Tip
- Because of the manually graded questions in the ESL content, we recommend using "Viewed + Attempted" for the Complete When setting.
- For an experience similar to SI Cloud, turn on the Submit button for lessons.
If you have the submit button turned on and need to reopen a lesson for a student, all current work will need to be resubmitted. As an alternative, you can remove the submit button and set up forced grading. This will allow students to freely access the lessons up until the forced grade date, at which time all students' work will be submitted.