Branching courses
Read the Flow view
Last updated
Once a course has more than a couple of tracks, the content table gets harder to follow. The Flow view draws the same course as a diagram. Each piece of content is a box, and each arrow is a move a learner can make.
It appears once your course has at least one track. Use the Table / Flow switch above the content list to change between the two views. The page always opens in Table.
Flow is for reading, Table is for editing
You can't drag, reorder or connect anything in the Flow view. To add content, move it to another track, reorder it or change a rule, switch back to Table or open the content itself.
The layout
The main path runs straight down the left. Anything that isn't inside a box is on the main path, and every learner receives it.
Each track is a tinted box with its name at the top, placed beside the path it branches off. A track that branches off another track sits inside that track's box.
Each track has its own colour.Content on a track has a stripe of that colour down its left edge, and the arrows onto the track are drawn in it. Colours repeat after six tracks, so check a box's name rather than relying on its colour alone.
Course complete, with a flag, is where learners finish.
Each content box shows an icon for its type: lesson, quiz, assignment or decision point. A quiz or decision point with routing rules is a branch point. It has a highlighted border and a fork icon.
The arrows
Arrow | What it means |
|---|---|
Plain, unlabelled | The learner moves on to the next content on the same path. |
Coloured, with a rulesuch as "If failed", "If score ≥ 80" or 'If answered "Advanced"' | A routing rule sends learners onto that track. If several rules lead to the same track, they share one arrow, with the rules listed together. |
Labelled "Otherwise" | Where learners go from a branch point when none of its rules match. |
Dashed, labelled "If not submitted" | The branch point has an Otherwise rule, so every result is already routed. This path is only for learners with no result at all, for example when a decision point's deadline passes unanswered. |
Dashed, leaving a track | The end of a track: back to where it rejoins the course, or to Course complete. |
Dotted and faded | A rule on unpublished content. It is still drawn so you can see it, but nobody follows it until that content is published. |
An arrow rejoining the course turns just above the content it rejoins, so it doesn't look attached to the content before it.
Unpublished content and unreached tracks
Unpublished content is faded, with a dashed border and a Not publishedlabel. Learners skip it, so the arrow straight past it is drawn solid: that is the path everyone takes.
A track no rule sends learners to is marked No rule routes here. Its content won't reach anyone until you add a rule pointing at it.
Moving around
Drag an empty part of the diagram to move around it, and use the buttons in the corner to zoom in, zoom out, or fit the whole course on screen.
The diagram grows taller as your course grows, so it stays readable at full size rather than shrinking to fit.
Click a content box to open it, just as clicking a row in the table does.
Admins and editors can click a track's name to edit the track.
Checking a course before you publish
Before your first learners reach a branching course, follow each path once from top to bottom and check that:
Every track box has an arrow coming in. Anything marked No rule routes here will never be sent.
Every dashed arrow leaving a track ends where you meant it to. An arrow to Course complete that you expected to rejoin the course usually means the track's rejoin point is missing. See Create a track.
Every branch point has a sensible Otherwise or If not submitted path.Learners who don't answer a decision point before its deadline follow that path, not your rules. See Let learners choose their path with a decision point.
No dotted arrows are left over, unless you meant to keep a branch point unpublished for now.