Sorting List Widget

Use sorting list when order matters. Learners drag list items until they match the correct sequence you set as the author.

Select the list on the canvas and click the floating ⚙ Configure button to open its setup dialog — the items (whose order is the answer key) and scoring all live there. See Configuring a Sorting List for the full walkthrough.

Settings to know

• Items are the cards learners drag into order. Each card can show text or, optionally, an image — useful when the thing being ordered is easier to recognize than to describe.

An item can also be a shape Berdee draws: click the shapes button on an item, then its thumbnail to open the shape editor, as for multiple choice shape choices. Use it to order shapes from smallest to biggest or by how many sides they have. Every card draws its shape in the same-sized space, so the size you choose is the size students compare. A shape card is read by its description, and with read choices aloud on it says "this one" unless you give it other words.

Add items in the correct order while authoring. Learners will rearrange them during the activity. See Configuring a Sorting List for how to attach an image to a card — and give each picture card a name, which is what a screen reader says for it. _Step by step: Put a plant's life cycle in order with pictures._

The cards share the height of the list, so a taller list gives every card a bigger drag target (never smaller than a fingertip-sized 44 pixels). If the list is too short for all its cards, learners can scroll it.

Learners can sort with a mouse, a finger, or the keyboard: Tab to a card, press Space or Enter to pick it up, use the arrow keys to move it, and press Space or Enter to drop it (Escape cancels). A screen reader announces each card by its name and its position ("Picked up Egg, position 3 of 4"). The list itself is announced by the widget's Alt text, so write the ordering rule there, like "Put the life cycle in order".

Read choices aloud

Each card can say itself, so a pre-reader can put pictures or words in order. Turn it on in the Read choices aloud section of the ⚙ Configure dialog; it's off until you do.

• Tap to hear (the setting you get when you turn it on): a plain tap on a card says it. Dragging still moves it, so hearing and sorting never get mixed up.
• Speaker on each choice: a speaker in each card's corner says it.
• Read all (on by default): a speaker button on the widget's corner says the cards in the order they're in right now, outlining each one. Any tap stops it.

Hearing a card never moves it or records an attempt. Each card has Spoken words (blank means its text) and Say nothing. Voice, Generate audio for all choices and the one-voice-at-a-time rule work as they do for multiple choice. Keyboard users press H to hear the card in focus.

On the attempt page, the order gets a line like "Heard 3 of 4 items before answering".

Grading setup

Sorting list supports grading. The grading controls are in the Scoring section of the ⚙ Configure dialog.

• Scoring (the On/Off switch at the top of the section) turns grading on or off for the ordering activity.
• The widget's name is the readable label for this answer in results and conditions. Rename it at the top of the properties panel — see Widgets and widget settings.
• Points sets how much the activity is worth.
• While Scoring is on, the activity counts toward both the scene score and the lesson score.
• Group lets you include the activity in a custom grading group.

How to set up the content

Write items so the ordering criterion is clear: chronological, procedural, numerical, strongest to weakest, and so on. If two items could be debated, add more context first.

Useful setting combinations

• Short item labels + grading on:

Best for sequence checks.

• Reset button + sorting list reset:

Best for retry-friendly practice. Reset reshuffles the cards, and the new shuffled order becomes the learner's answer — so a Submit after a Reset grades what is on screen, not the order from before. Reset does nothing once the list has been submitted.

• Score widget + scene score:

Best for timed or game-like ordering tasks.

• Hidden feedback + correct answer condition:

Best for explaining why the correct order matters.

Strong use cases

• Put the steps of a process in order.
• Sequence historical events.
• Order claims from weakest to strongest evidence.
• Sequence images — order the stages of a life cycle or the frames of a story.

Step-by-step: Put events in order with a sorting list builds a five-card history activity with a celebration and a Shuffle again button.

Great pairings with other widgets

• Pair sorting list with text for the ordering rule.
• Pair it with button to submit after learners finish arranging.
• Pair it with timer for quick recall drills.
• Pair it with score for quiz-style sequencing scenes.