ERROR: "Status cannot be edited because activity assigned to same learner as part of different assignment"; activity has no edit dropdown in Edit Status
| Article ID |
5817 |
| Product |
PLATO Learning Environment (PLE) |
| Issue |
When you try to edit the status of an activity for a student, the dropdown list is not available for an activity and a question mark in a triangle appears next to the activity name. When you hover the mouse over the question mark, you get this message: "Status cannot be edited because this activity was assigned to the same learner as part of a different assignment." You are prevented from saving the change and you get this message: "There are activities in this assignment that have been previously assigned to this learner. Your status changes on these activities will not be saved." |
| Resolution |
Click (?) to view list of other assignments containing activity; remove student from duplicate assignment, then edit remaining assignment's status if necessary |
Details
Resolution
When you click EDIT STATUS, the Edit Status window lists one or more activities with the status but no dropdown option to edit the status. A question mark appears to the left of the activity name. When you hover the mouse over this question mark, you see this message:
When you click on the question mark, you will see a list of the student's other assignments that contain the activity listed on that line:
Why does this message appear?
The "lifetime mastery" rule in PLE means that, if a student has completed and/or mastered activities in an assignment given previously, the completion/mastery status will be recognized if those activities are also part of other assignments now or in the future. The system may allow the student to complete the work again, but an account administrator or teacher cannot edit activity status in the assignment as long as the student is assigned the activities in more than one current or past assignment.
This message can appear in several different situations:
- A duplicate assignment currently exists for the student
- A past assignment (meaning that the due date has passed) exists for the student in the same or previous class, if, for example, the student is retaking the assignment for credit recovery
- A custom course containing overlapping activities was previously assigned to the student
What options are available?
The options are to:
- Leave the status unchanged. Students can retake tutorials to unlock mastery tests if this is a reason the status needs to be edited. In some courseware, the student needs to complete activities that are prerequisites to other activities.
- Create a new PLATO account for the student. The PLATO name needs to be unique and different from the current one, but the other information can stay the same. By creating a new PLATO account for the student, the system will not recognize that the student has taken the assignment or activities previously. Assign the assignment to the student under the new PLATO user name, and then the student can complete the assignment and you can also edit the activity status if necessary.
Note: If you create a new PLATO user name, have the student use it for that assignment only. This will make reporting easier and will be less confusing for the student.
- Locate the other assignment in which the student is assigned the same activities. If all of the activities in the assignment are a duplicate of the assignment you are trying to edit, you may remove the student from that other assignment, although if it is current, consult with that instructor so that there is no misunderstanding. If only some of the activities in the other assignment are duplicates, however, it may be necessary to leave the student in that assignment.
To locate and remove a duplicate (or overlapping) assignment, proceed to the "Remove the student" section directly below. If, after reading through the process, you have questions or would like assistance, please feel free to contact PLATO Support at 800-869-2200 or http://support.plato.com/email.
Remove the student from any duplicate (or overlapping) current or past assignments to be able to edit the student's status on the activities in the assignment to be retained:
Note: Usually, the status of any lesson that the student has worked on in one assignment will be carried over that evening to any other assignment in which the same lesson is found. You may sometimes see that the status is not the same, because the student has worked on the lesson that day and the data have not yet been copied to the other assignment(s).
For this reason, it is recommended that, if you are going to remove a student from a duplicate assignment, you do it before the student has logged in that day.
To remove a student from any duplicate assignments:
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Run report on progress: Run and save a progress report for the affected students and assignments. This ensures that you have a snapshot of the student's current progress in case the progress does not display correctly after the removal of the duplicate assignment. There is no way to reverse the results once you have removed the student from the assignment. Usually, the status will be identical on the same activities in different assignments.
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Find duplicate assignment(s): As shown above, clicking on the question mark/triangle icon in the Edit Status will display all other assignments that contain the activity. These may include any of:
- An assignment with exactly the same activities
- An assignment with activities that have overlapping content with the assignment you are trying to edit
- An activity that is part of the activity in the assignment to be edited
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If the student has worked on the duplicate assignment today, wait until tomorrow, then proceed to remove the duplicate before the student begins work on any assignments.
Review the progress report on the duplicate assignment to see if the student has worked on it today. As explained above, if the duplicate assignment is still available to the student and the student has earned any progress on the duplicate assignment today, wait until the following day so that the progress can be synchronized overnight and be applied to the assignment you are going to keep the student in. Proceed with Step 4 before the student begins working on any assignments that day.
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From Account Administration, select Classes & Assignments, then click the Assignments tab.
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Select filter settings: select a District and a School, then optionally select Grade, Class and/or Assignment.
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Select Go. You will see a list of current assignments.
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If the desired assignment does not appear, it may be an expired ("past") assignment; you must change its due date to make it a current assignment in order to be able to remove students from it:
- Select All Past Assignments, then click Go. The list of all past assignments, if any, will appear.
- Find the assignment on the list and select it.
- From the dropdown list next to the assignment, select View/Edit Assignment.
Change the date in the Due Date box that is above the list of learners to some future date, by clicking the calendar icon and selecting a new date.
The assignment will no longer be on the All Past Assignments list. In order to refresh the assignment view, rerun Steps 4-6 above and reset the filter to locate the assignment, which will now appear among the list of current assignments.
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Click the gray menu button next to the appropriate assignment you want to remove. Select Add/Remove Learners from the dropdown box. If you are looking at only the one assignment, you may see an Add/Remove button instead; if so, click that button.
- An Add/Remove Learners window will open. Click the learner you wish to remove from the assignment on the right pane. If you wish to remove additional learners, hold down the Ctrl key and click additional learner names.
- You may need to scroll down so that the Remove button is visible at the bottom of the window. Select Remove to move the selected learners' names to the left pane.
- You may see the prompt "Student has already started or completed the assignment. Are you sure you want to remove learner from assignment?" If you are not sure if this is the assignment from which you wish to remove the learner, select Cancel, then review Step 1 above. To proceed, select OK.
- The learner(s) you have selected for removal from the assignment will appear in the left pane. Click OK.
- You should now be able to view and edit status on the remaining assignment for that student. If you receive the same message, wait 24 hours and then attempt to edit the status in the assignment again.
Learn more about PLE! Use our Tutorial video series, Quick Start Guides and Quick Reference Cards to find out more about the features available to you.
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