An introduction to restricted access and conditional activities

1. Restricted access

Within Moodle 1 it was possible to show and hide individual resources manually.  Assignments could also have dates assigned to make them available on a certain date but all other resources could not be programmed to open and close automatically.

However, within Moodle 2 it is possible to 'enable conditional access' that allows us to  restrict access to resources.

All activities can have start and end dates assigned to them to enable Moodle to automatically control the access for you (so you don't have to remember to manually do it!).  You can still manually show or hide resources.

It is also possible to restrict access to resources and activities based on the completion of other activities.  Access to the resources is based on other conditions set in the online course so they are known as 'conditional activities'.

2. Conditional access

In order for conditional activities to work, activity completion must also be used within the course.

To restrict access to a resource based on conditions you need to choose which other activities need to be completed before the resource is made available.  Therefore, Moodle needs to know when the original activity is complete.

When setting the restrictions we can choose to tell the students that some activities are not available and tell them what they need to do to make it available or we can choose for the restricted activity to hidden completely until they have met the conditions required to release it.   A teacher will always see the restrictions in place on the main course screen.

Confused?  It is quite hard to understand so the best way to understand how it works is to see them in action! 

3. See conditional activities in action

This is the first activity in the series of resources that will help you to understand conditional activities before you have a go at adding options yourself.  

The activity completion on this book resource has been set to be marked as complete when you have viewed it.  When you return to the main screen, a tick will appear next to this resource to show it completed.

This will activate a page resource with some instructions for the next task.  You will work through a series of resources (including a link to a website and a forum) to develop your understanding.  When you have completed them all, the instructions for adding restrictions to your own activities.

Go back to the main course screen (by clicking on 'setting restrictions and conditional activities' text on the breadcrumb menu above).  Work through the resources and follow the instructions.

The activities are shown with the restriction details to enable you to see what is happening!