Creating Gates

You can create Gates in one of two ways:

• Add a Gate to a Transition Line
  • Create a transition line between two activities.
  • Double-click the transition line to bring up a prompt where you can select a type of Gate.
• From the Flow Menu
  • Click the Flow Menu, then select Gate.
  • Click on the Authoring Space to place the Gate in the sequence.
  • Create transition lines to and from the Gate.

Gates do not have Properties pages, as all options can be changed by using the Properties Inspector.

Authoring Permission Gates

Permission gates have no additional features in the authoring environment.
All configuration is performed through the Monitoring environment while the sequence is running.

Monitoring Permission Gates

Whenever a sequence contains a Monitoring gate, a user with Monitoring permissions for that sequence must log in to LAMS and allow learners to pass through the gate.
Any permission gates in a sequence are listed on the Lesson Monitoring tab under Required tasks.

'Go' buttons on the 'Lesson' tab.

The lesson monitoring tab displays the status of any permission gates in the sequence. This allows monitors to quickly open a gate for learners, without having to locate the stop point on the sequence view. If a sequence contains one or more Permission Gates, a 'Go' button appears for each gate on the Lesson tab tab, under the heading Required Tasks. See the figure opposite.

Annotated view of a Permission gate Summary screen.

If a Permission Gate is double-clicked on the Sequence tab, a Summary sheet appears, displaying the number of Learners who are currently waiting at the gate position (ie: have reached the position of the gate in the sequence), as well as a 'Open Gate' command button. This has the same function as the 'Go' button on the Lesson tab. Monitors can choose to open the gate for All learners in the class, or select individual learners who are allowed to pass the gate.

Authoring Sync Gates

Permission gates have no additional features in the authoring environment.
All configuration is performed through the Monitoring environment while the sequence is running.

Monitoring Sync Gates

When a Sync Gate is double-clicked on the Sequence tab, a summary sheet opens displaying the number of Learners waiting for the gate to open (ie: have reached the position of the gate in the sequence) alongside a graphic showing the current state of the gate, either open or closed.

Sync gates can now be manually opened from the Sequence Monitoring tab, by double-clicking the gate icon and clicking Open. This will apply even if all learners have not yet reached the gate.

From LAMS version 2.1 and onwards, the behaviour for Sync Gates has now changed (See LDEV-1773 on bugs.lamsfoundation.org)

• The Schedule gate will now distinguish between learners who are assigned to the lesson, and learners who are active in the lesson. This means that if there are learners who have not yet started the sequence, the gate will open for the active learners, rather than waiting for the late learners to join.
• Also, a Sync gate now requires at least two learners to be waiting before it opens. This means a Sync gate in a lesson available to only 1 learner will need a monitor to manually open the gate for them; but then again, a sync gate in a lesson for 1 doesn't make sense.

Authoring Schedule Gates

Schedule gates require the author to specify an amount of time that the gate will remain closed for, after the sequence is finished.
Gate opening times are specified in the Properties Inspector.
For example, if the gate is to open 3 hours after the sequence starts, the author should select 3 hours as the opening time.

Monitoring Schedule Gates

When a Schedule Gate is double-clicked on the Sequence tab, a summary screen identical to the ones described above is shown, with the addition of the timestamp for when the gate will open.
Remember that Schedule gates open based on the time elapsed since the sequence was started, either directly or through the monitoring environment.

Monitors can manually open Schedule gates ahead of time, by double-clicking the stop icon on the Sequence Monitoring tab, and clicking Open.

Authoring Condition Gates

Condition gates are special in that they require another tool to provide outputs for the gate to open. This means that gates can open or close based on the number of questions a learner correctly answered in a Multiple choice activity or how many contributions they made to a Forum.

When a condition gate is placed, authors must first select which activity will provide the outputs (LAMS automatically populates the input list with available tools), choose the conditions set to use for the gate, and then map the conditions to whether or not the gate is open or closed.

(For more information on the conditions created by each activity, view that activity's help page by clicking the icon in LAMS.)

Monitoring Condition Gates

Monitoring condition gates is completely automatic, but monitors can choose to open the gate summary page by double-clicking the gate icon on the Sequence Monitoring tab.
This will allow them to view the learners who are waiting for the gate to open as well as learners who have not met the conditions for the gate to open.
Monitors can manually open the gate for the entire class, or allow specific learners through the gate, bypassing the conditions check.

This area is for members of translation groups.