Customize a Practice Mode
Practice lets Learners work through a workflow with reduced support and a hint when they need one, and this article shows Content Developers and Instructional Designers what to change on the Practice tab, how to set an expected value for text entry, and how the Action setting changes what a step asks of the Learner.
What is Practice mode for?
Practice is where the Learner does the work. The guidance of Talkthrough and Walkthrough drops away, and the Learner completes the workflow with a hint available when they need one.
It sits between Walkthrough, where every step is prompted, and Knowledge Check, where there is no help at all.
How is Practice different from Walkthrough?
Walkthrough tells the Learner what to do at every step. Practice expects the Learner to know, and offers a hint when they get it wrong. Same workflow, less support.
What is built on the General tab, and what is built on the Practice tab?
The foundation of every mode is built on the step's General tab. That is where the step's name, description, and the control the Learner acts on are set. Every mode starts from them.
Practice is then customized on the step's Practice tab. Like Walkthrough, most of Practice comes free once the steps are built, so expect to change little here. Most steps need only:
- Include in lesson mode, to confirm the step plays in Practice.
- An Expected Value, for a text entry.
- The Action setting, when a step should not ask the Learner to do anything.
- Auto Scroll Control, when the control sits off the visible screen.
If the foundation is wrong, such as the wrong control on the step, fix it on the General tab.
How do you customize Practice mode?
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open the Lesson in Lesson Builder. |
| 2 | In the View Steps row, choose Practice. The Practice Lesson Mode Settings panel opens, and every step switches to its Practice tab. |
| 3 | Complete the Practice Lesson Mode Settings for the whole mode. Include the background image Learners see in Skyllful Simulator, and a description written for Practice, such as "In this Practice, you will check and accept your schedule on your own." |
| 4 | On each step's Practice tab, confirm Include in lesson mode, then set the Action and anything the step needs. |
| 5 | Select Update to save your changes. |
Note: Update stays unavailable until you change something, and your work is saved only when you select it. Leaving Lesson Builder without selecting Update discards your changes.
What is in Practice Lesson Mode Settings?
These settings apply to Practice across the whole Lesson.
Setting |
What it does |
|---|---|
| Estimated time | The time in seconds you expect a Learner to need for Practice. It feeds progress tracking in Skyllful IQ and is required before you can publish. A default is filled in when the Lesson is built, so change it only if Practice should take more or less time. |
| Skills Covered | The skills this mode builds. |
| Background image | The image Learners see behind Practice in Skyllful Simulator. Choose or upload an image, or select Generate Thumbnail to create one. Images cannot exceed 5 MB. |
| Mode Name Override | Renames Practice for Learners. |
| Title Override | Replaces the title Learners see for Practice. |
| Description Override | The description Learners see for Practice. Write it for this mode rather than reusing the Lesson description. |
What can you set on a step?
Setting |
What it does |
|---|---|
| Include in lesson mode | Whether the step plays in Practice. |
| Auto Scroll Control | The control the screen scrolls to before the Learner acts. |
| Action | Whether the Learner has to do anything at this step. |
| Action Type | The kind of action, such as Tap/Click. This is shown for reference and comes from the control on the General tab. |
| Expected Value | For a text entry, what the Learner has to type. |
| Hint | The help the Learner sees when they need it. |
Note: A step has one control. A screen can also have a text entry, which is not a control and appears alongside it. Select the caret beside either panel to expand its settings, or use Expand All and Contract All to open and close them together.
Note: What you set depends on which panel you are in. A control shows Action Type and Hint. A text entry shows Expected Value and Hint.
What does the Action setting change?
Action decides whether the step asks anything of the Learner, and it changes what the rest of the tab shows.
Choice |
What the step does |
What you set |
|---|---|---|
| User Must Do The Following | The Learner acts on the control. | The settings under each control. |
| No Action Required Of User | The Learner watches. | Delay In Seconds, the pause before the Lesson moves on. |
Use No Action Required Of User for a step that only shows a result, such as a confirmation screen the Learner reads before continuing.
Where does the hint text come from?
Practice starts from the description written on the step's General tab. Leave the Hint on the Practice tab empty and the Learner sees that text when they need help.
Enter text in the Hint only when Practice should say something different, such as a nudge rather than the full instruction. What you type here does not change the General tab, and it does not change what Talkthrough or Walkthrough say.
How do you set the answer for a text entry?
Expand the text entry and enter the text the Learner has to type in Expected Value.
Expected Value accepts an exact match or a regular expression. Use a regular expression when more than one answer should count as correct, such as a date the Learner might type several ways, or a reference number with or without its prefix.
The value does not have to match the example text Walkthrough shows for the same entry. Using different text in each mode gives the Learner variation instead of the same entry three times.
What counts as a wrong answer?
The Learner has to act on the control the step expects. If they tap or click anywhere else on the screen, it counts as a wrong answer and the hint becomes available.
Those inaccurate taps are recorded. To see where Learners go astray, so you can fix the step, the hint, or the workflow itself, use the Lesson Step Heatmap Viewer.
How do you know a step is included?
Each step carries a tab for every mode. A tab with a crossed out eye means that step is excluded from that mode, so it will not play for Learners.
To include a step in Practice, open its Practice tab and select Include in lesson mode.
How do you preview your work?
Select Toggle Preview on the step to see that one step as the Learner sees it. Select Preview in the bottom bar to run the whole mode.
Work through the mode the way a Learner would. Check that every step can be completed, that the hint helps without giving the whole answer, that any Expected Value accepts what a real Learner would type, and that controls the Learner has to reach are on screen when they need them.
What if Practice mode does not work as expected?
Symptom |
What to do |
|---|---|
| A step does not appear in Practice | The step is excluded. Its Practice tab shows a crossed out eye. Open that tab and select Include in lesson mode. |
| You cannot publish the Lesson | The estimated time in Practice Lesson Mode Settings is required before you can publish. Enter a value in seconds. |
| The hint repeats the full instruction | An empty Hint uses the step's description from the General tab. Enter a shorter nudge in the Hint on the Practice tab. |
| A correct looking entry is marked wrong | The Expected Value is an exact match. Use a regular expression so every reasonable version of the answer is accepted. |
| The control the Learner needs is off screen | Choose that control in Auto Scroll Control so the screen scrolls to it. |
| A step asks the Learner to act when it should not | Set Action to No Action Required Of User, then set Delay In Seconds. |
| The step has no control for the Learner to act on | Controls are set on the step's General tab, under Selected Controls. Fix it there, then return to the Practice tab. |
| Your changes disappear | Changes are saved only when you select Update. |
Where can you get help?
If you need help, start with your manager, then your Local Administrator. If additional assistance is needed, your Local Administrator can submit a support ticket to Skyllful.
Skyllful Knowledge Base | Content Developers, Instructional Designers