Configuring a Sorting List

A sorting list asks learners to drag items into the correct sequence. The order you set while authoring is the answer key — learners see the items shuffled and rearrange them to match. Its setup — the list of items and whether the ordering is graded — lives in a dedicated Configure dialog with room to work, instead of being squeezed into the narrow right sidebar.

Opening the Configure dialog

Select a sorting list on the canvas. A floating ⚙ Configure button appears just above it.

Click ⚙ Configure to open the dialog. Alongside the settings you'll see a live preview of the sorting list, so you can see what it will look like on the canvas while you edit (you can't see the widget itself behind the dialog). From top to bottom the dialog has:

• Scoring — whether the ordering contributes to the score. The Scoring switch, Points, and Group work the same for every scorable widget.
• Items — the list of items, shown in their correct order.

Setting up the items

Work in the Items section. Each item is a card learners drag into place:

• Reorder — drag the grip handle on the left of a row to set the correct order. The order top-to-bottom is the answer learners are working toward.
• Label — the text on the card. Write items so the ordering rule is unmistakable: chronological, procedural, numerical, strongest to weakest, and so on. If two items could be argued either way, add more context first.
• Image — instead of text, a card can show a picture (see below).
• Add Item — appends a new card to the bottom of the list.
• Remove — the trash icon deletes a row (a list always keeps at least two items, since ordering needs at least two cards to be meaningful — a lesson with a sorting list of fewer than two items can't be published).

Make every item different. Grading follows the cards, not what they say, so two cards that both read "Egg" can make an order that looks right come out wrong. The dialog warns you when two items read the same (ignoring capital letters and extra spaces), or two cards use the same picture.

Add items in the correct order while authoring. The activity shuffles them for learners automatically — you don't need to scramble them yourself.

Using an image instead of text

Click the image button on any item to pick a picture from your media library. The card then shows the picture in place of its text — both in the live preview and for learners — and a small thumbnail appears next to the item's name box. Use the ✕ to remove the image and go back to a text card.

Name every picture card. Learners don't see the name, but a screen reader reads it aloud for the card, and it appears if the picture ever fails to load. Describe what's in the picture — "Caterpillar", not "Step 2" — so the name never gives away the order. Until you type one, the card uses the image's file name (the grey hint in the box). Picking an image clears a card's starting "Item 1"-style name for the same reason: those are numbered in the correct order.

Images are perfect for sequencing things that are easier to recognize than to describe — order the frames of a life cycle, the steps of a recipe by photo, or a set of shapes from smallest to largest.

Using a shape instead of text

Click the shapes button on an item to draw a shape for it, like a shape choice: a triangle to start, then click the thumbnail to change its kind, corners, turn, size and colours. The name box shows the shape's description, which is what a screen reader says for the card. Type over it to use your own words. An item is a picture or a shape, not both.

Reading the choices aloud

The Read choices aloud section sets whether the cards can say themselves for children who can't read yet: Off (the default), Tap to hear, tap again to choose, or Speaker on each choice. With it on you also choose Read all, the Voice (the lesson's narration voice or the device's voice), and press Generate audio for all choices to make every clip at once. Each card gets Spoken words (leave blank to use its text) and Say nothing. See Sorting List Widget for how students use it.

Grading the sorting list

Scoring is on by default, so the dialog opens with the shared on/off, points, and group controls already at the top. There's no separate answer key to fill in — the correct answer is simply the order of the items as you've arranged them.

If you're using the sorting list only for exploration or discussion (no single right order), turn Scoring off.

Saving your changes

Nothing you change in the dialog affects the widget until you save it. The canvas keeps showing the last saved version while you work.

• Save applies your Items and Scoring changes to the widget.
• Cancel throws the changes away and leaves the widget as it was. Pressing Esc, clicking the ✕, or clicking outside the dialog does the same thing. If you've made changes, you'll be asked to confirm before they're discarded, so an accidental click can't lose your work.

What stays in the sidebar

Only Items and Scoring move into the Configure dialog. Style & Layout — the background, item, and text colors, font size, border radius, gap, and cursor — still lives in the right sidebar, the same as every other widget. So do the sorting list's behaviors/triggers, visibility, and position.

Recommended next reads

• Sorting List Widget
• Configuring a Multiple Choice Question
• Widgets and Widget Settings
• Put events in order with a sorting list (step-by-step tutorial)
• Put a plant's life cycle in order with pictures (step-by-step tutorial: picture cards, their names, and read-aloud)