Overview
Assessment elements follow the same publishing process as the rest of your topic.
When you save changes to an Assessment element in a published topic, learners receive them the next time you publish the topic to a new version.
Tribal Habits checks every Assessment element before a topic is published and manages assessment versions automatically. Learners’ results are always based on the questions and settings they were actually given. Changing an assessment never changes a result that has already been recorded.
When an Assessment element is ready to publish
Most Assessment element settings are checked when you save: If a required setting is missing or outside its allowed range, the editor shows an error, and you can’t save until it’s fixed.
The question pool is the exception. You can save an Assessment element before its pool has enough questions. However, the topic can’t be published until every Assessment element’s pool contains at least as many questions as Questions asked.
While a pool is short, the editor shows the notice ‘You can save, but the topic can’t be published until this assessment is ready.’
If you publish while any assessment is short of questions, the topic isn’t published.
Instead, you see the Assessment elements are not ready message. It lists each affected assessment by label and part, with the number of questions needed (for example ‘Assign at least 5 questions to this assessment’).
Note: In a topic that has never been published, learners see your changes as soon as you save, as with other elements. An Assessment element in an unpublished topic is hidden from learners until its pool has enough questions. After that, it updates each time you save it.
How changes reach learners
When you publish a topic, Tribal Habits automatically creates a new version of any Assessment element whose settings or question pool have changed. You don’t need to manage versions yourself.
After you publish a change:
Learners who haven’t started: They receive the updated assessment.
Learners partway through an attempt: They finish that attempt with the questions and settings they started with.
Learners who have passed: They keep their pass.
Learners awaiting review: They keep their submitted results until an admin or assessor reviews them.
Learners who have failed: They receive the updated assessment on their next retake. On that retake:
Retakes they have already used still count.
Their retake allowance is the higher of the old and new Retakes allowed.
Any retakes granted by an admin or assessor are kept.
With Retake only failed items in assessment, their correct answers carry forward if those questions are still in the pool. If the carried-forward answers cover every question asked, they get a full retake instead.
The new Retake event and Fail event settings apply.
Changes that work differently
Label and instructions: Changes reach learners at the next publish but don’t create a new version.
Editing a question’s wording or answers: Learners who have already started keep the original question. Learners who start after the next publish see the updated question.
Deleting a question: The question is removed from every assessment pool it belongs to. If a pool is left with too few questions, add more before publishing.
Examples
Example 1: Changing questions after a learner has failed
An assessment allows 4 retakes, and a learner has failed and used 3. You change the questions and publish the topic. The learner’s next retake uses the updated assessment, and after that retake they have none left.
Example 2: Increasing retakes allowed
In the same scenario, you also increase Retakes allowed to 6. The learner now has 2 retakes left after their next retake.
Example 3: Deleting a question with Retake only failed items in assessment
An assessment asks 5 questions with a pass mark of 4. A learner answers 3 correctly and does not pass. You delete one of those 3 questions and publish. On their next retake, 2 correct answers carry forward and the learner is asked 3 new questions.
FAQs
Why can’t I publish my topic?
An Assessment element doesn’t have enough questions. Add questions to each assessment listed until it has at least as many as Questions asked, then publish again.
Do I need to manage assessment versions?
No. Tribal Habits creates new versions automatically when you publish.
Do learners who have passed need to complete the assessment again?
No. Learners keep their pass after you publish a change.
How do I make every learner start an assessment again?
Issue the learner with a retake enrolment, which will enrol them into the newest version of the topic and its assessment.