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How do I add new sections or sub-headings?
How do I add new sections or sub-headings?

You can think of Sections as sub-headings or section breaks within the points of your topic or article.

Lou Monsour avatar
Written by Lou Monsour
Updated over a week ago

Before you can start adding content to a brand new topic or article in Tribal Habits, it's necessary to add a section. Without your first section, all other elements are unavailable.

You can think of 'Sections' as sub-headings within one point of your topic or within your article - they should be used to group smaller amounts of related content together.

Expand the following sections to learn more.

Steps to add sections to a course


Add the element to your topic or article by selecting the 'Section' option from the Content box, then follow these steps:

  1. Optionally provide a section title.

  2. Optionally enable the 'Add minutes' option and add (or subtract) minutes from the section.

You can modify the above settings and options at any time. These options are described in more detail below.

Video demonstration


The following video provides an overview of how sections work. Please note, the UI shown may vary to what you see in your portal as various updates have occurred since the video was recorded.


Settings and options

Let's review some of the options available for section breaks.

Option - 'Add minutes' (time)

Each section has the option to 'add minutes' (time) to that section. With this option, you can add or subtract minutes to the calculation of time in that section (and therefore for that point and topic or article).


Adding time to a section may be useful if we are unable to automatically calculate how much time an explorer should spend on that section. The most common situations are...

  • File download. If you have a Download or PDF element which requires the explorer to download a file and spend time reading or using it, you can add additional minutes for that in the Section element.

  • External link. If you have added a hyperlink to an external file or website (for instance by hyperlinking text or using a Button element), you can add additional minutes for the time required to explore the linked content.

  • Embedded link. If you have used the Embed element in a section, you can add additional minutes of time required to explore that link. Remember that we cannot calculate the length of time of video or audio in the embed element (unlike the Video or Audio elements themselves).

  • Tasks. If you have included a Task element in a section, outlining an activity the learner should undertake, you may want to add additional minutes to reflect the expected time the activity will take.

As Tribal Habits automatically estimates the length of time a topic or article will take a learner to complete, there may be occasions where you want to reduce the estimated amount of time. This can be done by adding a negative number to the 'Add minutes' option within a section. When a negative number is applied, the total estimated time for the topic or article will be reduced by that amount.

Option - 'Share insights'

As part of each section heading, there is an option to enable explorers to share insights at the end of the section.

This is a powerful function. If selected, this will show explorers a 'Share an insight' button at the end of that section.

When clicked, the explorer can add their own insight in the form of written text (with a 450 character limit) which will then be visible (but anonymised) to future explorers of the topic or article.

When providing an insight, explorers must choose from several options to label their insight: FAQ, Example, Mistake, Summary, Scenario, Alternative, Advice, and Important.

Enabling explorers to share their own insights is a great way to encourage peer knowledge-sharing. You may want to encourage explorers to add certain types of insights or insights around a particular idea. This feature essentially allows a topic to expand over time, with new ideas and insights from people other than the topic creator.

Creators can include their own insights in a topic or article using the Insight element.

Option - 'Insight Battle'

Each section allows you to activate an insight battle at the end of the section. This option works well if you have included at least two insights in your article or point which the section belongs to (insight battles won't appear if there are less than two insights).

An insight battle presents explorers with two randomly selected insights from that article or point (within the topic) - this includes insights from the entire point, not just that section. Explorers are then asked to select the most valuable insight for them.

Insight Battles are a fantastic interaction to reinforce key content. They make explorers reconsider insights in a new context, comparing and assessing value.

One Insight Battle (maybe two) per point or article is usually enough.


Tips and suggestions


What are the best practices for using 'Sections'?

Each article or point within a topic should have 3-5 sections to break up the content. However, this number can vary greatly depending on the content.

Sections can have titles or not - it's completely up to you. Either way, using sections to chunk your content allows learners to reveal each section gradually so that they can focus on just the information at hand before clicking the next section break to expand further training content and activities.

How many sections should I include?

Many creators like to add 3-4 sections into each part of their topic or article as a first step in creating their topic. That essentially maps out (or formats) the entire topic or article, providing a structure for you to then add in the necessary content using the other elements.

By having at least three sections, we can ensure each of your ideas has enough breaks and pauses. When other people are exploring your topic, we need to break up your content so it’s easy to read. We do this by using your sections. We put a “Next Up” button just before each new section which pauses the explorer and allows them to understand your knowledge in pieces.

TIP! Put your sections in positions where a break would be natural in your content. This means that each section should group together 2-5 minutes of related content.

How do sections work in review or preview mode?

When an explorer returns to a section they've already completed, the section will show in 'review mode' which means all sections are expanded and they don't need to click through to each section again.

If you're looking at your content in 'preview mode', you can reset the preview to look how it would for a first time user. From the editor click the 'Preview' drop-down button and select 'Reset preview'.

How do 'sections' differ from 'dividers'?

You can also breakup your content into sub-headings using the Divider element. Dividers allow you to group information, highlight key information or break content up within a section.

Sections provide important breaks in your content and are the headings throughout. Dividers, on the other hand, are like subheadings that may or may not be used within your sections. Dividers should not be used as headings.

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