Background
A teacher wants to reinforce learning and improve long-term retention by prompting students to complete a quiz four weeks after finishing the course. This quiz serves multiple purposes: it re-engages students with the topic, provides them an opportunity to evaluate their learning, and gives the teacher valuable feedback on whether the course is meeting its expected outcomes.
Proposed solution
We will use the automation engine to send a notification to each student four weeks after course completion, prompting them to take a quiz.
Prerequisites
To send an email with a direct link to the quiz, you first need to create a quiz activity in your course. You can set up the quiz according to your preferences, but it is essential that the quiz has the availability set to “Make available but don’t show on course page”. Additionally, ensure that the section containing the quiz activity is not hidden from students when they are prompted to complete the quiz. This ensures that students cannot see the quiz while working through the course, but they can access it directly via the provided link.
For more information about setting up a quiz activity, refer to the official Moodle documentation.
Implementation
Due to the architecture of the automation engine, it is necessary to first create a template. Once the template is created, an associated automation instance can be created within a course to trigger the notification. For this use case, we will keep the automation template settings more general, making it flexible for providing additional content after course completion. The specific details will be configured within the associated automation instance.
Create a template
Create a new template in the templates overview and configure the settings as follows. Generic link to templates overview: yourmoodleinstallation.com/mod/pulse/automation/templates/list.php
Under ‘General’ configure the following settings.
Title: Post course content
Reference: PostCourse-
Internal Notes: This automation sends a notification to students a set time after they have completed the course. It can be used for purposes such as knowledge retention checks, requesting feedback, providing continued learning resources, and more.
Under ‘Condition’ configure the following settings.
Course completion: Upcoming
Under ‘Notification’ configure the following settings.
Sender: Course teacher
Delay: After
Delay duration: 4 weeks
Recipients: Student
Header content:
University of DecencyFooter content:
You are receiving this email because you successfully completed the course {Course_Fullname}.
Save changes made to the template.
Create an instance
Inside the course you have added the quiz, go to automation, select the template ‘Post course content’, and add an automation instance. Then, configure its settings as follows.
Note: If you need to override the inherited settings, activate the override toggle next to or below the setting.
Under ‘General’ configure the following settings.
Reference: Quiz
Under ‘Notification’ configure the following settings.
Subject: Challenge Your Knowledge: The {Course_Fullname} Quiz Awaits
Static content:
Dear {User_Firstname},We hope you’re doing well! It’s been four weeks since you completed {Course_Fullname}, and now is the perfect time to check in on how much you’ve retained from the course.
To help reinforce your learning and ensure the knowledge sticks, we’ve created a quick post-course quiz. This is a great opportunity to see how far you’ve come, revisit key concepts, and boost your confidence in the material.
Why should you take the {Mod_Name} quiz?Reinforce your knowledge: Refresh the key concepts to make sure they stay with you.
Track your progress: See how much you’ve remembered and identify areas to revisit.
Build your confidence: Strengthen your understanding and celebrate your growth!
Link to quiz: {Mod_Url}
The quiz will only take a few minutes, and your results will help us ensure that the course is achieving its learning goals. Plus, it’s a great way to continue your learning journey and keep that momentum going!
Thank you again for being a part of the course, and we look forward to seeing how you’ve progressed!
Best regards,
{Sender_Firstname} {Sender_Lastname}Dynamic content: Select the quiz activity you have added to the course.
Content type: Placeholder
Save changes made to the instance.
Result
Every student who completes the course with the added instance will receive a personalized email four weeks after completion, prompting them to take a post-course quiz. Students who already have completed the course before the instance’s activation will not be affected.
Customizing settings for different or extended use cases
Use case #3a: Adapt the automation in the instance settings to send the quiz just to a specific cohort.
Condition:
Cohort member: All
Cohorts: Select the cohort, the quiz should be sent to.
Use case #3b: Add hidden but available Pulse activities to send personalized feedback depending on quiz results.
General:
Title: Feedback for Quiz result lower than 5 points.
Content: This Pulse activity gives feedback about the post-course quiz.
Invitation:
Send Pulse notification: Enable
Use notification content instead of general content: Enable
Notification subject: Quizfeedback
Notification content: Add a personalized message with feedback for students according to their quiz performance.
Restrict access:
Add grade as restriction. Then select the post-course quiz and the range or cut off value for the grade.
You can add multiple Pulse activities to configure personalized feedback for different grades earned by students in the post-course quiz.