Following a number of queries about Clarity’s approach to timing and time-out, Product Manager Sky Chan explains the situation.
Duration of activities within the products
- Interactive exercises, and other Practice Zone activities. These are timed according to the precise duration the student spent on the exercise, including marking and looking at feedback.
- Video. Video duration is treated as the length of the video. When the users click to start a four-minute video, a record of four minutes will be saved irrespective of whether the video is finished or not. Each video will only be counted once per student.
- PDF downloads. Each item will have an estimated duration, and when the user downloads the PDF, this is saved. The estimated duration is based on the nature of the material and the average time needed to finish it. For example, an IELTS Reading test practice requires an hour to finish. A simple worksheet may take as little as five or ten minutes. Each PDF will only be counted once per student.
Session timeout and licence release
- Learner Tracking licence users. Once they have signed in, their session will last until the licence expiry date. Within this period, no further sign-in is required on the same device. They can, of course, sign out at any time.
- Anonymous Access licence users. If a user closes the device, browser or tab, their session will expire and the held licence will be released after five minutes. If they keep the program open and do nothing, the maximum idle time allowed is 15 minutes. One minute before expiry, a warning message will display. If they do not respond within that minute, they will be signed out automatically and the held licence will be released immediately.
Where do users go when they reopen the program?
This applies mainly to Learner Tracking licences. If a user opens the program again, they will return to where they left.
Certificates
Some programs (Tense Buster, Study Skills Success, etc.) provide students with a certificate once they have completed the course. To obtain the certificate, a user is required to complete all the exercises in the Practice Zone. Non-exercise materials, such as videos and PDFs, are not counted.
Progress pages
This is how time is counted in the Progress section of a program:
- Analysis. The stated duration includes all videos, PDF files and exercises.
- Score details. This covers only Practice Zone exercises, and does not report on videos or PDFs.
If you would like further details on this, please don’t hesitate to send me an email: support@clarityenglish.com
