Release Conditions

Release Conditions allow content to be made available based on specific parameters. For example, instructors can set release conditions to grant access based on grades, group, date, and completion of other course components. Release conditions are available within a number of different D2L Brightspace tools (see a full list of available tools below) and work essentially the same way in every tool, although you may have to access them differently.

Once a release condition has been met by a student, the condition is cleared for that student and cannot be reset.

Potential Use Cases

WARNING! Students cannot see release conditions, so they may not realize materials are hidden from them or they may think there is a technical problem. It is good practice to inform students what release conditions exist in your course.

Require students to visit a topic in the content tool before they can post to a discussion board.
Require students to submit an assignment before they can take a quiz
Restrict an announcement so that only students who failed a quiz or assignment can view it.
Release an announcement to certain groups.

Tips for Using Release Conditions

Avoid Unnecessary Conditions	Each release condition associated with a tool takes additional time for Brightspace to process. Use as few conditions as possible to set up a path that minimizes the amount of time students spend waiting for the page to load.
Avoid Contradictory Conditions	Contradictory conditions occur when two or more conditions cancel each other out on an associated item. For example, the conditions “User must achieve greater than 49.9% on Grade Item 1” and “User must achieve less than 50% on Grade Item 1” are contradictory. Learners could not satisfy both conditions at the same time, they would not be able to see the item associated with these conditions.
Avoid Impossible Conditions	Ensure that your conditions are not impossible for learners to satisfy. For example, a condition that learners must achieve greater than 100% on a grade item would be impossible (unless bonus marks are available for the item). If learners are unable to satisfy a condition, they are unable to access the content or tools to which the condition is attached.
Avoid Circular Release Conditions	A circular release condition makes it impossible for learners to satisfy the set of conditions. For example, if you set the condition that learners must view a content topic before they can post to a discussion, and then set a condition that they must post to the discussion before they can access the content topic, you have a circular release condition. Learners can’t satisfy either condition and thus cannot gain access to the content.

Best Practices for using Release Conditions

D2L, the Brightspace developers, provide a handy article that outlines best practices for using Release Conditions.

Tools that can have Release Conditions

You can create release conditions for any of the following course tools:

Checklist
Content modules and topics
Custom widgets
Discussion forums and topics
Assignments
Grade items and categories
Intelligent Agents
Announcements items
Quizzes
Surveys

Options for Release conditions

Condition Type	Description

Condition Type	Description
Awards - Awards	The user must have earned a specific award in order to fulfill the release condition
Checklist - Completed checklist	The user must complete all items on the selected checklist in order to fulfill the release condition
Checklist - Incomplete checklist	The user must not complete one or more items on the selected checklist in order to fulfill the release condition
Checklist - Completed checklist item	The user must complete a specific item on the selected checklist in order to fulfill the release condition
Checklist - Incomplete checklist item	The user must not complete the specific item on the selected checklist to fulfill the release condition
Classlist - Group enrollment	The user must be enrolled in a specific group in order to fulfill the release condition
Classlist - Org unit enrollment	The user must be enrolled in a specific org unit in order to fulfill the release condition
Classlist - Section enrollment	The user must be enrolled in a specific section in order to fulfill the release condition
Classlist - Role in current org unit	The user must either: be enrolled as a specific role not be enrolled as a specific role in order to fulfill the release condition
Classlist - Date of enrollment in current org unit	The user must be enrolled in the current org unit for a specified number of days in order to fulfill the release condition. The release condition includes the following options: Use first enrollment date Use last enrollment date
Competencies - Competency achieved	The user must complete a specific competency in order to fulfill the release condition
Competencies - Competency not yet achieved	The user must not complete a specific competency in order to fulfill the release condition
Competencies - Learning objective achieved	The user must complete a specific learning objective in order to fulfill the release condition
Competencies - Learning objective not yet achieved	The user must not complete a specific learning objective in order to fulfill the release conditions
Competencies - Score on associated rubric	The user must achieve a specified Score and Threshold level on a learning objective, based on an associated rubric, in order to fulfill the release condition
Content - visited content topic	The user must visit a specific content topic in order to fulfill the release condition
Content - Not visited content topic	The user must not visit the specified content topic in order to fulfill the release condition. Depending on your organization's security configurations, especially if the d2l.Tools.ManageFiles.UseContentRestrictedSecurity configuration variable is set to ON, users may not be able to access specified content topics at all when this release condition is set
Content - Visited all content topics	The user must visit all content topics in the course offering in order to fulfill the release condition
Content - Completed content topic	The user completes a content topic. The method of completing the topic depends on the type, such as viewing a file or submitting an assignment. This release condition ignores exemptions, meaning that if the learner completes the activity, the release condition can be met, regardless of the activity being required, optional, or exempt.
Discussions - Posts authored in topic	The user must author a specified number and type of posts in a designated module or topic to fulfill the release condition. This can specify either No Threads, No Replies, or No Threads or Replies.
Discussions - No posts authored in topic	The user must not author any number or type of post in a designated module or topic to fulfill the release condition. This can specify either No Threads, No Replies, or No Threads or Replies.
Discussions - Score on associated rubric	The user must achieve a specified Score and Threshold level on a discussion module or topic, based on an associated rubric, in order to fulfill the release condition
Assignments - Submission to Assignment	The user must make a submission to a specified assignment in order to fulfill the release condition
Assignments - No submission to Assignment	The user must not make a submission to a specified assignment in order to fulfill the release condition
Assignments - Receive feedback on Assignment submission	The user must receive feedback on a submission to a specified assignment in order to fulfill the release condition
Assignments - Score on associated rubric	The user must achieve a specified Score and Threshold level on an assignment submission, based on an associated rubric, in order to fulfill the release condition
Grades - Grade value on a grade item	The user must achieve a specified grade value on a grade item in order to fulfill the release condition
Grades - No grade received	The user must not receive a specified grade value on a grade item in order to fulfill the release condition
Grades - Released final grade score	The user must have their final grade score set to released, or set to released plus the final grade meeting a defined threshold, in order to fulfill the release condition. Note: This release condition is evaluated beginning from the first time the grade is released, and cannot be revoked once it is fulfilled. Therefore, if your grade book is set up to release final grades throughout a course, and/or drop ungraded items, the release condition may be fulfilled sooner than expected (i.e. before the end of the course). D2L recommends using this release condition in combination with other release conditions or intelligent agents to ensure that the event or content triggered by the released final grade score occurs at the anticipated time.
Grades - Score on associated rubric	The user must achieve a specified Score and Threshold level on a grade item, based on an associated rubric, in order to fulfill the release condition
Quizzes - Score on a quiz	The user must achieve a specified score on a quiz in order to fulfill the release condition. Score on a quiz is triggered by publishing a score on a quiz attempt or manually overriding a quiz score via Grades.
Quizzes - Completed quiz attempt	The user must achieve a specified number of attempts of a quiz in order to fulfill the release condition
Quizzes - Score on selected questions	When a quiz has a learning objective with associated questions and an assessment method attached to it, the user must achieve a specified grade value on the learning objective in order to fulfill the release condition
Quizzes - Score on associated rubric	The user must achieve a specified Score and Threshold level on a quiz, based on an associated rubric, in order to fulfill the release condition
Quizzes - No completed quiz attempt	The user must not complete any attempt on a quiz in order to fulfill the release condition
Surveys - Completed survey attempt	The user must achieve a specified number of attempts of a survey in order to fulfill the release condition
Surveys - No completed survey attempt	The user must not complete any attempt on a survey in order to fulfill the release condition