Diagnostic extension

Overview

The purpose of this extension is to allow the content of the course to be tailored to the learner's knowledge of the subject matter.

This can be achieved by asking the learner to sit an up-front assessment - referred to as the 'diagnostic assessment' so as to differentiate it from the final assessment (where used) - successfully answering questions in this assessment causes content to be removed or made optional.

A feature can be configured for learners to opt out of the diagnostic. Providing this option can be useful for new joiners or learners who perhaps do not feel confident and wish to sit the full course.

If the course contains a final assessment, the learner will not be required to sit it if they pass the diagnostic assessment.

It is therefore possible for a learner who gets a perfect score in the diagnostic assessment to 'test out' of all the content, with nothing further to do. Equally it is possible to include mandatory content in the course, which all learners must complete - even those who get a perfect score in the diagnostic assessment.

Usage

The blocks containing questions in this introductory 'diagnostic assessment' are given a new property to link them to target content objects by adding the following to the relevant entries in blocks.json:

"_diagnostic": {
    "_relatedTopics": [
        "co-05"
    ]
}

Or, if you want more than one content object to be associated to the question(s) in the block:

"_diagnostic": {
    "_relatedTopics": [
        "co-05",
        "co-10
    ]
}

You can link a content object to multiple blocks of questions. This allows you to use both 'question randomisation' and 'question banking' in the diagnostic assessment - just like you can in a regular assessment.

If the user correctly answers all questions associated with a particular content object, that content object will either be removed from the learner journey (by setting _isAvailable to false) or become optional (_isOptional is set to true).

If a content object is not associated with any of the questions in the diagnostic assessment, it will be considered mandatory content i.e. all users will need to complete it to complete the course, regardless of how well they perform in the diagnostic assessment.

The main configuration for this extension is in course.json:

"_diagnostic": {
    "_isEnabled": true,
    "_shouldSubmitScore": true,
    "_diagnosticAssessmentId": "diagnostic",
    "_finalAssessmentId": "final",
    "_passedRelatedTopicsBecome": "optional|unavailable",
    _diagnosticChoice: {
        _onOptInNavigateTo: null,
        _onOptOutNavigateTo: null
    }
}

If _shouldSubmitScore is set to true, the score the learner attains in the diagnostic assessment will be reported to the LMS. Note that, if the course contains a final assessment, and the learner is required to complete that, the score for the final assessment will overwrite any score recording from their attempt at the diagnostic assessment. This is because SCORM only allows for one score per SCO to be recorded.

The setting _diagnosticAssessmentId is the 'assessment ID' of the diagnostic assessment. This setting is mandatory. If the course includes a final assessment, you must set _finalAssessmentId to the 'assessment ID' of the final assessment. These settings are vital to allow the extension to know which assessment is which!

When all diagnostic questions associated with a topic are answered correctly that topic can either be removed from the learner journey or made optional. Set _passedRelatedTopicsBecome to unavailable or optional to determine this behaviour respectively.

If the user is allowed to opt out of the diagnostic then a single diagnosticChoice component should be defined and presented upfront. Appropriate labelling should be defined in course.json by _globals._components._diagnosticChoice (see example.json). Once the selection to opt in or opt out has been made the user can optionally be routed to a particular part of the course. Use the _diagnosticChoice property in the global _diagnostic configuration to define the routes.

Learner Journey Scenarios

The following scenarios are all supported by this extension

No final assessment, no mandatory content

Diagnostic Assessment Result	Learner Journey Outcome
Opt out	All content objects must be completed
Fail	All content objects related to failed blocks must be completed
Pass	All content objects related to failed blocks must be completed
Perfect	Course marked as complete

No final assessment, mandatory content

Diagnostic Assessment Result	Learner Journey Outcome
Opt out	All content objects must be completed
Fail	All content objects related to failed blocks & mandatory content must be completed
Pass	All content objects related to failed blocks & mandatory content must be completed
Perfect	All mandatory content must be completed

Final assessment, no mandatory content

Diagnostic Assessment Result	Learner Journey Outcome
Opt out	All content objects & final assessment must be completed
Fail	All content objects related to failed blocks & final assessment must be completed
Pass	Final assessment disabled. All content objects related to failed blocks must be completed.
Perfect	Final assessment disabled. Course marked as complete.

Final assessment, mandatory content

Diagnostic Assessment Result	Learner Journey Outcome
Opt out	All content objects & final assessment must be completed
Fail	All content objects related to failed blocks, mandatory content & final assessment must be completed
Pass	Final assessment disabled. All content objects related to failed blocks & mandatory content must be completed.
Perfect	Final assessment disabled. All mandatory content must be completed.

Diagnostic assessment configuration notes

The diagnostic assessment functionality is handled entirely by the standard adapt assessment extension. However, there are some configuration options that need to be set correctly for it to be able to function as a 'diagnostic assessment'...

The diagnostic assessment must:

use the adapt-diagnosticResults component to show its results, rather than the standard adapt-contrib-assessmentResults component!
be set to 1 attempt only (set _attempts to 1)
have _isResetOnRevisit set to false
have _includeInTotalScore set to false
have all blocks within the assessment associated with at least one content object

Course configuration notes

Similarly there's a few settings in config.json that need to be set correctly in order for all this to work.

In the _completionCriteria section, the setting _requireContentCompleted must always be set to true. If the course is also to contain a final assessment (which the learner is required to be pass should the fail the diagnostic assessment), you should also set _requireAssessmentCompleted to true. The diagnostic extension will handle setting this to false if the diagnostic assessment is passed (and the learner therefore is not required to sit a final assessment)
In the _tracking section of the _spoor configuration, _shouldStoreResponses needs to be set to true so as to prevent the learner from resetting the diagnostic assessment by quitting the course and relaunching.

elearningdifferently / adapt-diagnostic