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Pathway Preview Tab

Overview of the Preview Tab

The Pathway Preview tab is where the Pathway Administrator works to create the pathway. The Pathway Category and Pathway details are created in preparation for the Pathway. The Pathway is the main course and desert of the e-Learning module.

Understanding the layout of and functionality available on a pathway screen is important to help a pathway designer be as efficient as possible.

Focus Areas: Pathway Preview tab

Back to the Treeview

Click on the Maintain TreeView link to go back to the Pathway Treeview. After creating a Pathway, it is good to confirm that the Pathway was created in the correct Category. You can also confirm this by reviewing the Breadcrumb trail.

View Modes: Preview as User and Edit Pathway

The system remembers which mode you last accessed the Pathway in as an Administrator, so make sure to switch back to Edit Pathway before you navigate away from the Pathway.

The Pathway Preview tab has two view modes the Administrator can use when building and testing a pathway. Edit mode and View mode.

Edit Mode

Edit mode is the default mode when viewing a Pathway for the first time. It is used by administrators when creating and editing the pathway.

How will you know you are working in Edit mode? Make sure to look out for the following:

  • The Preview as User button is displayed - Click on this button to view the Pathway as a User
  • View/Edit Mode is set to Edit
  • You can see the Legend with options such as Edit Item, Remove-Item, etc.
Preview as User

View mode is used by Administrators to view the Pathway through the eyes of a regular user.

How will you know you are working in View mode? Make sure to look out for the following:

  • The Edit Pathway button is displayed - click on this button to edit the Pathway
  • Track Mode is set to User Mode
  • View/Edit Mode is set to View
  • You can see the Legend with very limited options - only Edit Item and View/Update/Rollback Item is available
Legend

Edit Item:

  • Click on this icon next to a step to edit the step details.
  • Only the details of the step are editable, the step type cannot be changed after the step is created.

Remove Item:

  • Click on this item next to a step to delete a step from the pathway.

Pre Requisites:

  • Click on this icon to add prerequisites for a step.  
  • These prerequisites are always dependent on steps preceding the current step. Where a prerequisite was added to a step, that prerequisite becomes part of the step and the user cannot continue unless the prerequisites have been met.
  • Pre Requisites can only be added from the second step onwards.

Add Item in position:

  • Insert a new step in the position of the current step.  
  • The current step and all subsequent steps will be moved one step up.

Update Pathway Step Order:

  • To update the Pathway step order click on the up or down arrows as indicated below.

Toolbox

The toolbox is the heart of pathway design and is used to control the type of step added to the pathway.

General Guidelines

The following general guidelines should be kept in mind when using the Toolbox:

  • When a toolbox item (e.g. Comment) is selected, it creates a new step and this step is always added at the end of the pathway.
  • When a toolbox item is selected, the system will open a screen requiring information pertaining to the particular step e.g. if Comment was selected, the details of the comment must be completed.
  • Once a step of a certain kind has been selected, the step type cannot be changed.  If the incorrect step type was selected, the step must be deleted and a new step of the correct type must be added.

Text box element:

  • Some of the fields available in the Toolbox can be formatted in terms of font color, font size, font type etc.  Even images can be loaded into these fields.
  • Care must however be taken because the formatting tools available to these fields are limited.
  • Do NOT copy and paste large blocks of formatted text from other programs (Word or Excel, for example) straight into these fields.  The existing formatting in these blocks of text will cause the field’s own formatting to misbehave.
  • Always copy text from other programs to Window’s Notepad (to remove any pre-existing formatting) and from Notepad into the toolbox element’s field.  Then apply the required formatting IN the field.
  • Text typed into these fields is NOT checked for spelling.
Toolbox Items to add

When adding a new step  to a pathway, consider the following:

  • What type of content do you want the user to have access to?
  • Where in the Pathway do you want the step to be displayed?
  • What information will the user need in order to get the most out of the Pathway step?

The different types of steps is discussed in more detail in the next section.

Get Started: Click on the Comment item in the Toolbox and complete the required details to create your first Pathway step.

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