Recommendation engine

Since the content is recommended from 'Library', you must make the profile setting Enable personal library in the profile of the relevant user (Admin > Profiles). Alternatively, this can be achieved with a policy assigned to this user.

In addition, you must use the working portfolio in the course. This is where assigned tasks will be created. If you want to recommend content in existing courses too, you need to enable portfolio assessment under Settings > Course properties and features.

After you tick the Allow tasks to be assigned directly from the report option, all new courses for this organisation have the working portfolio enabled by default.

The column Personalized tasks shows the number of outstanding tasks this student has been recommended in the course. This column is hidden if Allow tasks to be assigned directly from the report is disabled for the organisation to which the course is connected. If the icon is shown, at least one outstanding task is already assigned for this specific learning objective.

When you click on a specific status – in this example, 'Does not meet' – all students with this status are automatically selected.

In the first step, the recommendation engine tries to select two resources from 'Library' for each student. Only resources that have been connected to the specific learning objective in question can be recommended.

The recommendation engine first looks at which format(s) the student prefers. If he or she prefers video, it attempts to pick video resources only. The following icons are used to label the content:

In addition, the recommendation engine looks at the popularity of the various resources. Popularity is calculated on the basis of the number of times a resource has been added for a course and the number of times it has been marked as a favourite in 'Library'.

If the engine finds more than two resources, the most popular resources in the preferred format is picked. If not enough resources can be found that are in the student's preferred format, the most popular resources overall are selected. If two resources are equally popular, the most recently shared one is recommended.

Upon clicking on the name of a resource, a new preview tab or window (depending on the browser settings) opens. If the teacher decides that the resource is unsuitable for one or more of the students, it can be deleted by clicking on the 'X' behind the resource name.

It is also possible to assign resources to one or more students manually. When you open the 'Assign resources for' box, all resources connected to the current learning objective are shown, sorted by popularity. Clicking the resource name opens a preview. To assign a resource to one or more students, click on the '+' behind that resource.

You can filter both students and resources by preferred format, for quick assignment of a resource to all students who prefer, for example, audio. In filtering of students, they are automatically selected for action, so that the teacher can assign the resource to all filtered-in students with ease.

Finally, it is possible to remove students from the process – for instance, students who already have a heavy workload – by selecting the relevant student(s) and clicking the Delete button.

In the second step, the personalized task wizard allows the teacher to provide students with more information – such as a description of the task and a deadline for it.

By default, the description includes the name of the learning objective and the teacher assigning the task, though this can be changed. The '[Firstname]' placeholder is replaced automatically with the first name of the student when the task is created.

In addition, it is possible to select or create a follow-up activity. For example, when students are struggling with a learning objective, a follow-up activity can be used for reassessment of these students.

Only activities for which learning objectives' assessment is allowed – currently, those involving the assignment tool and custom activities – can be selected as follow-up activities.

The last step verifies and sums up the task. Clicking the Assign button creates a task in the working portfolio of each student. Depending on the number of students, this operation may take some time.

To view the task details, either in the task list or from the Task tab, click on the task name. From here, the student can directly open one of the recommended resources. When a resource is opened, its status is automatically set to 'Read'.

The overall task status needs to be set manually through selection of the current status of the task, from the top of the page.

Each student can choose how long completed tasks should be visible in the list. By default, a task disappears 10 days after being set to Completed.

The Participants tab gives access to the individual students' working portfolios.

The Task overview tab provides an overview of all tasks in the working portfolios of students in this course. This way, the teacher can quickly see the status of each task and determine whether assistance or other intervention is needed.