Reset Knowledge Slide

Intro

This post is for Captivate versions before 9. In version 9 real knowledge slides are introduced. In this post the workaround to use normal question slides as knowledge check slides is treated.

Not a shared actions post this time (still busy with the third post), but a quick tip describing a work flow that I already posted multiple times on the Captivate forums. It is an answer to this question:  "How can I reset a question slide immediately, if it is a pure knowledge check, no scoring". 

Principles

You are probably aware of the fact that the function 'Reset' in Captivate is only possible for the whole quiz, and has to be triggered by using the Retake button on the score slide. There is no simple way to reset one question, once it has been submitted. Before submitting it is possible to Clear the answer by the Clear button. For more details about question slides and score slide, check some of my previous posts:

Question Question Slides - part 1

Question Question Slides - part 2

For knowledge slides, where scores don't have to be saved, you will not want to insert a score slide. But if you can cope with the fact that all answers will be cleared also for other knowledge slides in the file, you can create a 'Reset' button for a slide, without having to show the Score slide. 

The Retake button will appear on the score slide if the attempts on quiz level are not exhausted. The attempts are tracked with a system variable cpQuizInfoAttempts.  That variable is incremented when a new attempt is started. 

The idea for the Reset action is simple: navigate the user to the score slide, and immediately back to the slide where he was answer in knowledge question. And that slide will be reset!

Example Movie

Watch this movie, to see the functionality of the Reset button. On each question slide you can use the two-step Submit work flow. Nothing will happen, you'll be able to Reset the answers as many times as you want. You need to click the Next button to go to the next Question. 

Setup Step-by-step

  • Edit the Quiz Preferences, set the number of Attempts to Infinite (or to a high number), it is not really necessary to show the Retake button. Be sure to hide the playbar, to check 'Show Score slide...' although you'll never show that score slide to the user, you need it. Do not allow Backward Movement. Check the two images below.
  • With the setup used in the example, you'll need to have the Next button visible. Do not drag it under the Clear button as I often advice to avoid confusion with the Submit button. 

  • You can use any type of questions, with one exception: Hotspot. Problem with Hotspot is that when the user clicks on the Reset button, it will be considered as a click on a hotspot (and the animation will appear). You see in the example that I even used partial scoring for some MCQ-multiple answer questions.

  • The setup for the question slides: I kept the attempts to 1, but changed the actions both for Success and for Failure to 'No Action', hence the need for a Next button. If you want, you can keep the 'Go to Next Slide' as Success Action, but if you have have partial scored slides, you have to know that partial correct answers will trigger the Success action, which means that the user will not be able to reset and correct his answer.

  • Create a shape button as Reset button. In the example movie I used one of the images from the theme as Fill for a rectangle shape with no stroke, to have a look that is similar to the embedded quiz buttons. To have this button on all the question slides, you can either put it on the Quiz Master slides, or put it on the slide before the first question slide, make it invisible (Properties panel), time it for the rest of the project. I choose for the second work flow, because the shape button gets an ID, can be shown/hidden as wanted. It is not possible to put it on the first question slide, but I made it visible with the On Enter action of the first question slide. More information about buttons on question slide is to be found in a previous blog post: http://blog.lilybiri.com/want-a-button-on-question-slide-in-captivate.

  • The advanced action triggered by the On Success event of the button Bt_Reset is pretty simple:
    • jumps to the Score slide, which will increment the variable cpQuizInfoAttempts, start a new attempt, clears all answers
    • returns to the original slide, using the system variable cpInfoLastVisitedSlide
  • To avoid the user seeing the score slide, you'll need at least one slide before the score slide, and prevent navigation to the last slide. In this case I added one slide, that has no navigation button. Because the Reset button is still visible, I use the On Enter action of this slide to hide it.

Tips

  • If you plan to use this action in multiple files, create a shared instead of an advanced action. It is easier to reuse a shared action because it is in the library which you can use as an external library.

  • This type of knowledge questions will probably be between content slides. You have to be aware that all answers are reset with each Reset button on one question slide. Maybe better warn the user if you allow free navigation with a playbar, a TOC or custom buttons.




14 responses
I'm new to Captivate and have been trying to do something similar. I'm going to try your method, but though I'd describe what I've been fiddling with. On a multiple-choice question where I don't care about scoring, I want to deliver answer-specific feedback -- for example, if the desired answer is not choicen, the feedback acknowledges the actual answer and provides a hint so you can try again. I've done this through the Advanced Answer option, assigning text to a variable based on the answer chosen. (Different text for each of the four possible answers, assigned to the same variable.) A text caption on the slide contains the variable, which is blank when the slide first appears; the feedback text appears when the learner clicks Submit. However, I wanted to clear this text out (set the variable to null) when they press the Clear button, and couldn't figure out how.
You will have to assign a null-variable to the variable so that it shows up empty again: http://blog.lilybiri.com/where-is-null
Thanks for that advice; I imagine it'd take quite a long time to discover it on my own. I liked the way your link begins: "Today I realized that one of my (hidden) reasons for starting this blog 5 months ago, is ... my laziness!" I suspect that like me you learn by puzzling over things and then writing ideas down, both during and after the solution. Many times I've said my own blog is for me more than for anyone else.
We use this system in a course and it works fine. However when we published the course for a larger group of students some of them sometimes get stuck on the result slide. Of course they shouldn't get to see the result slide, because you automatically jump back to the original slide. Any idea what might cause this hitch? We tested the SCORM in different browser and we can never replicate this behaviour.
Could be a bandwidth problem... especially if the jump back on the score slide is far away.
hello, I am trying to utilize this function, I have it all set up to work with my course. It has Quiz, Hot Spots and multi choice, that are not scored ( none of my quizzes for the module are scored) So this would work perfect to have the questions reset, client complain about Hot spot not resetting when you go back to the question. And this is The Perfect solution! Works great when I test publish ( ctrl + Enter). Then I zip and put onto Scorm.cloud for testing and it breaks. Does not rest, just jumps back to the slide the button was 1st place on. Any ideas as to why this would be happening? Project do by 11am today. and is the last fix on my project!! HELP!!!
@Rose This is a personal blog, I'm offering free tutorials probably more than anyone else in the Captivate community. Why do you expect me also to answer urgent consultancy questions for free?
Because you answered others questions? And I wasnt sure if you had experienced the same issue? I don't know how often you check your blog. But my apologies it won't happen again.
Your question cannot be answered without checking the file, as you probably well know. Not the same as questions I did answer. And I was abroad for several weeks.
I had to move on, I am still trying to trouble shoot it, not sure why it will not go back to the quiz question slide, but will return to the slide I have the button sitting. 1 slide before Question slide, for rest of project. It resets, but jumps back to the wrong slide (aka, original instance of the button). I will have to find a new work around is all. I will figure it out and maybe try this again when I have time. No need to explain that you were away. I just noticed other comments, etc. not a big deal. since captivate likes to be so buggy, I just went into my own panic mode.
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