Content visibility & release conditions

Summary

Manage visibility of content items for all users or based on certain conditions.

Relevant VLE site design principles

• 5.1 Recommended: Ensure that students can see and access module materials and content.

Accessibility

It is best practice to make all materials available at the start of the module. If this isn't possible, materials should be released at least a week in advance to allow students to prepare appropriately.

Items in the Course Content area can be set to Visible to students or Hidden from students. By default, all new items are automatically hidden from students. You can check that items are shown or hidden correctly using the Student Preview tool.

Show/hide a single item

This method applies visibility changes to the specific item only. Making a Learning Module or Folder visible using this method does not automatically make the items inside visible too (ie. hidden nested items will remain hidden). To change visibility of a container and its contents, use the Batch Edit tool to change all at once, or manually update the content items' visibility.

1. Open the item's visibility menu from either:
   • Course content area: under the item title
   • Within the item: in the top right, near the cog settings icon
     
2. Select the required visibility option:
   • Visible to students: all students can access.
   • Hidden from students: no students can access the item. You can choose whether it is completely hidden or whether to show the item without allowing access.
   • Release conditions: visibility managed based on certain conditions (see section below).
     

Show/hide multiple items

Use the Batch Edit function to quickly change the visibility of multiple items at once. For example, you can use this to make a Learning Module and the items nested within it visible with only a few clicks.

This is accessed in a different way to single item visibility. See our Batch Edit guide for details.

Release conditions

Items can also be shown based on certain conditions:

Condition	Details	Example uses
Select members	Show item to specific course members or groups	Teaching: release different topic to each project group Assessment: limit access to resit submission point only to resit students
Date/time	Show/hide item at a specific time	Teaching: Release module materials at appropriate time Assessment: show submission point from a specific date
Activity: Opened	Show item if students have opened another item	Teaching: release workshop materials after opening a safety briefing Assessment: not recommended in assessment contexts
Activity: Performance	Show item if students submit, complete or receive a certain score for another markable item	Teaching: release workshop materials after completing a pre-workshop quiz Assessment: release extension activities only for high quiz scores

For greater control, conditions can be combined (eg. date and specific group) and multiple rules can be set (eg. different dates for different groups).

Create a rule

Tip

Release conditions are very flexible; each rule can contain multiple conditions, and each item can have multiple rules applied.

1. Open the item visibility drop-down menu and and select Release conditions.
2. Set conditions:
   • Select members: select the Specific members or groups option, then select relevant Individual member(s) and/or Group(s) from the drop-downs. There is also the option to create a new group set here.
     
   • Date/time: click the Date/time check box. Check the Access from and/or Access until check boxes and enter the relevant date and time (during work hours).
     
   • Activity: Opened: click the Activity check box, then search for the relevant item in the Item menu. In the Requirement menu, select Opened.
     
   • Activity: Performance: click the Activity check box, then search for the relevant markable item (Test, Assignment, Discussion etc.) in the Item menu. In the Requirement menu, select Submitted, a minimum mark, or enter a custom mark range.
     
3. Click Save and check the summary is correct.

When will content appear?

If you have added Date/time or Activity conditions, select whether to Show (default) or Hide the item in the content area before the release conditions are met.

This is useful if students should be able to see the item in the site content, but not be able to open it until the release conditions are met.

Multiple rules

Multiple rules can be added to the same item to set different release conditions for different students. For example, use two rules to give one group early access to an item before releasing it to all students :

• Rule 1: release to the early access group on date 1
• Rule 2: release to all users on date 2

To add multiple rules:

1. Set up Rule 1 as above. It may be helpful to also click the pencil icon and set a descriptive rule name.
2. Click the Add new rule button under When will content appear?.
3. Repeat as needed.

Edit or delete a rule

Tip

If all release conditions are removed, the item visibility defaults to Hidden.

To make changes after setting up a rule:

• If using multiple rules, click the relevant rule to show the options.
• Edit conditions: make changes as above and click Save.
• Delete the rule: click the three dots icon alongside the rule name and select Delete.