This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the branching Activity authoring feature in Learnosity's Author API, which is available on v2025.1.LTS and above. This feature allows you to create interactive and adaptive learning experiences by connecting individual Items in a branching structure.

What Are Branching Activities?

A branching Activity is where a learner's path changes based on their responses and performance so far. This creates a personalized test-taking experience that caters to individual learning needs.

To create a branching Activity, click on the dropdown next to the create Activity button and click on Create branching activity. Note: This needs a configuration option to be enabled for Author API. 

Figure 1: Create branching activity option

Key Terms

• Item (Step): The fundamental building blocks of a branching Activity—individual Items that learners engage with.
• Branch: A connection between two Items, dictating the flow of the Activity.
• Canvas: The visual workspace where you arrange Items and create branches.
• Global Score: A running total of the current score for all presented Items in the branching Activity so far, used for score-based branching (“Global score” branching type).

For more technical information, please see our Building Item Branching Assessments page.

Building Your Branching Activity

1. Setting Up Your Canvas

• Start by creating or adding existing Items to your Activity. Items can be added only once into a branching Activity. The selected Items are shown in the list view on the right.
• Select and add these Items onto the canvas ready for setting up connections. Note: newly added Steps will be put beneath all existing Steps on the canvas. Think of the canvas as a storyboard—map out possible learning paths.

Figure 2: Canvas area

2. Creating Branches

Visual Branch Creation

• Click and hold the Plus icon button  at the bottom of a Step, drag your mouse over to another Step, then release the click to create a connection. 
• Visual cues indicate valid connections, preventing illogical links.
• If a Step already has a branch, creating another one will convert the Step into a conditional one, with the existing branch becoming the “Next correct step” branch, and the new one being “Next incorrect step”.
  • Note: once a branch is created, the configuration panel appears on the right side of the canvas where changes can be made if required.

Branch Configuration Panel

• You can click the step name of a Step (Note: you may need to zoom in first) in order to open up the configuration panel on the right side of the canvas
• Use this panel to:
  • Change the name of the Step
  • Select the branching type (Basic, Conditional, or Global score).
  • Define the percentage for Global score branching
  • Modify the next Step/s if you need to adjust the flow.
  • Signify the end of the assessment via this path by choosing the next Step as “(end of assessment)”

Figure 3:Branching configuration panel

Figure 4: Branching step

3. Choosing Your Branching Type

Basic Branching

• Creates a simple, linear progression from one Item to the next, regardless of learner performance.
• When to Use It: Ideal for sequential content delivery where all learners must see every Item in a fixed order.
• How to Set It Up: Connect two Items with a branch—no further configuration needed.

Conditional Branching

• Directs learners to different Items based on whether they answer correctly or incorrectly.
• When to Use It: Perfect for adaptive learning, offering remediation for incorrect answers and enrichment for correct ones.
• How to Set It Up:
  1. Via the canvas: create a branch between two Steps, then another branch between the first Step and another
  2. In the configuration panel, select different Items for "Next correct step" and "Next incorrect step" outcomes.

Global score (I.e. Score-Based) Branching

• Uses the learner’s cumulative score (as a percentage of the total score) to determine the next Item.
• When to Use It: Ideal for personalized learning paths based on overall performance.
• How to Set It Up:
  1. Click on a Step to open the configuration panel
  2. Set a score threshold (e.g., 70%).
  3. Set the next  Item the learner will see if they are at or above the threshold, and the Item they’ll see if they’re below the threshold.

By leveraging different types of branching, you can create dynamic and engaging learning experiences that adapt to individual learner needs, enhancing both comprehension and retention.

4. Publishing Your Branching Activity

The Branching Activity has the status “unpublished” by default. Once you’ve completed all your paths, you can change the status to “published”, marking it ready for use in an Assessment.

When attempting to save the Activity in “Published” state, validation checks will take place, and saving will be blocked if the Activity is invalid.

The Activity is considered valid when:

• There are no unconnected steps
• There are no unused Steps in the Item list view on the right
• Basic Steps must define a next step (even if it is “(end of assessment)”)
• The below conditions are also checked (though it’s not possible to invalidly configure these via the user interface):
  • All Steps have a name
  • Steps are not used more than once
  • Conditional/Global score Steps must define at least 1 next correct step (they can’t both end assessment)
  • Global score based branching Steps have the percentage defined

Figure 5: Validation message