Activities Guide

Activities are assignments for students to create new patient charts, access existing ones, work through Learning Modules, pull from a Medication Cabinet, or run live simulations.
 

Create a New Activity

 
  1. Ensure a course is created, as activities can only be added within a course. For detailed instructions on creating a course, please refer to our Courses Guide.
  2. Navigate to your Home page or access the Courses page from the left sidebar. From there, find the course you wish to add an activity to and click Manage Course to enter the Course settings, then open the Activities tab.
  3. Click the Add Activity drop down and select 'New Activity' to build an activity from scratch, or 'Activity From Template' to use a pre-built activity template. For guidance on creating templates, refer to the "Creating Activity Templates" section below.
  4. Proceed to fill out the New Activity form according to your preferences. (More detailed information about the new activity form can be found in 📋 New Activity Form Details info box below.) Utilize the +Add Patient button at the top right to add patients to your activity. You can select one of ChartFlow's prebuilt patients, use patients shared by your institution, or add ones you created. For detailed instructions on creating a template patient, refer to our Patient Template Guide.
  5. Press Save to create the Activity.
  6. After hitting save you'll be in the details tab. Where you can edit the activity details and make your activity into a template. This feature allows you to convert your activity into a template for future use and can be added to any course later.
  7. Your activity has been successfully added to your course and is now prepared for sharing with students.
  8. You can Preview the Activity as a student using the green Student View button on the right of the activity. The button's dropdown also offers Reset My Student View, which clears only your own preview data (patient records, submissions, cabinet snapshots) — other students' data is not affected and the action cannot be undone.

📋 New Activity Form Details

📝 1. Activity Name: Choose a descriptive name for your activity.
📦 2. Activity Modules: Select which modules are available in this activity. Options are Patient Chart (default; includes the sub-modules Simulation and Medication Cabinet) and Learning Module. See the 📦 Activity Modules info box below for full details. Note: Simulation and Learning Module cannot be used together.
🌟 3. Activity Experience: Select from New Patients or Template Patients. Each option has a short description directly in the dropdown. See the 📝 Activity Experience Types info box below for more details.
👥 4. This is a Group Activity: When the experience is Template Patients, this checkbox lets you enable shared patient charts for student groups. When Simulation is checked, group work is on by default. The New Patients experience is always independent and the checkbox does not appear.
🏥 5. Available Visit Types: Limit the activity to one or more of the four visit types using a multi-select dropdown: Inpatient, Long-Term Care, Outpatient, and Run Report. Leave blank to allow all four. For more information on visit types please refer to our Patient Template Guide.
💯 6. Grading Type: Choose how this activity will be graded. The dropdown offers three modes: Basic (review the student's chart manually or from the Grading Report), Inline (score and comment directly next to each student entry), and Rubric (grade using a structured Rubric Template — selecting this reveals a rubric picker with scope tabs and search). For full details, see our Grading Help Page and our Rubric Templates Guide.
📥 7. No Submit Button: Toggle this on if you don't want students to have a final Submit button — activity progress is automatically saved (traditional behavior). For more information on the Activity Submit feature and how to enable a submit button, see our Activity Submit Help Page.
👁️ 8. Visible: Establish a release date for the activity. Students cannot access the activity prior to the specified date; on the release date it becomes available automatically. The course Activities list also has an inline Visibility column with a per-row toggle so you can flip visibility without opening the form.
📅 9. Due Date: Optionally set a due date for the activity. Students won't be able to access the activity past the due date.
📢 10. Student Instructions: Provide instructions visible to students inside the activity. This field is a rich-text editor with a formatting toolbar: alignment, bold, italic, link, an Insert content (+) menu for images and videos, bulleted list, code view, and clear formatting.
🔒 11. Instructor Description: Add notes visible only to instructors. Uses the same rich-text editor as Student Instructions.
➕ 12. +Add Patient: Open the patient picker to incorporate patients into your activity. The modal has scope tabs (All / System / Organization / My Patients), a search box, and an Events badge on patients with unfolding simulation events. Each patient card has a View Template link and a chevron that expands the card inline to reveal the full scenario (clinical summary, "Designed for," "Start," "Visits," documentation, medications). Add a single patient or multiple patients depending on your needs.

📦 Activity Modules

📁 Patient Chart (default):
Gives students the full EHR experience for the attached patient — Patient Details, Visit History, Allergies & Immunizations, Results, Notes, Orders, MAR, Vital Signs, Flowsheets, Screenings & Scales, Problem List, and more. Patient Chart is enabled by default and contains two sub-modules: Simulation and Medication Cabinet.
🎬 Simulation (sub-module of Patient Chart):
Adds live-simulation capabilities to the activity. Group work is automatically enabled when Simulation is checked. Activities flagged as simulations show a pulse/waveform icon next to the name in the course Activities list, and a third action button — Simulation Control (slider icon) — appears in the Actions column to launch the Simulation Control Panel. For detailed instructions, please refer to our Simulation Control Panel Guide.
💊 Medication Cabinet (sub-module of Patient Chart):
Enables a stocked medication cabinet inside the patient chart. With this module on, the student's MAR shows a green + on the Medication row that opens a Select Medication modal — a searchable cabinet of meds (with dose and route/form) the student pulls from to document administration. Without this module, the cabinet isn't available. For more info see the Medication Cabinet help page.
📚 Learning Module:
Adds a paginated, instructor-built content player to the activity (instructions, reading material, embedded media, and assessment questions). Students see a "Learning Module" card with an Open Learning Module button, and the player offers Back / "Step X of Y" / Next navigation. When this module is enabled, the instructor's Grade & Manage view gains a third tab — LEARNING MODULE — for building the pages. See the 📚 Learning Module Builder section further down. Note: Learning Module cannot be combined with Simulation; checking one disables the other.

📝 Activity Experience Types

👤 New Patients:
Students create their own patients, intended for clinical assignments. Please note that due to HIPAA regulations, names cannot be changed. Group work is not available with this experience — every student works independently.
📚 Template Patients:
Add pre-built patients from the library, including ChartFlow's system patients or those created by you or your institution. By default, students receive individual copies, but you have the option to enable group work for students to share patient charts.

🎯 Activity Status Icons (in the Activities List)

Small icons appear immediately to the right of an activity's name in the course Activities list. Each has a hover tooltip. A row can show none, one, or several depending on which modules are enabled:
👁️ Eye → Student Preview
💓 Pulse / waveform → Simulation
📖 Book → Learning Module
💊 Cabinet / shelf → Medication Cabinet
 

Manage and Modify Existing Activities

 
  1. Find the activity you wish to manage or modify under its corresponding course's Activities tab. The list shows columns for Activity Name (with status icons), Patients, Due Date, Visibility (with an inline toggle), Activity Experience, and Actions. Actions: Grade & Manage and Student View, plus a Simulation Control button on simulation-flagged rows (scroll the table horizontally if it's not visible).
  2. Click on "Grade & Manage" located to the right of the activity you want to manage or modify.
  3. Click on the DETAILS tab on the top to the left of the GRADING tab. (If Learning Module is enabled, a third LEARNING MODULE tab also appears — see the Learning Module Builder section below. For more information on grading see our Grading Guide.)
  4. Feel free to make any necessary modifications to the activity form.
  5. You can modify almost any aspect of the activity — add or remove patients, change the activity name, adjust due dates or visibility dates, toggle Activity Modules (Simulation, Medication Cabinet, Learning Module), switch Grading Type or select a different rubric, update student instructions or instructor notes, and convert the activity into a template for future use.
  6. Once you're done managing or modifying your activity, just hit Save.
 

📚 Learning Module Builder

When the Learning Module is enabled on an activity, a LEARNING MODULE tab appears in Grade & Manage with a page builder for content + questions.
  1. Open Grade & Manage on the activity and click the LEARNING MODULE tab.
  2. Set the module-level Grading Mode from the dropdown:
    ➤ Auto Grade — the system grades questions automatically based on correct answers you mark.
    ➤ Instructor Review — submissions are routed to the instructor for review.
    ➤ Practice Mode — no grading pressure; great for low-stakes practice activities.
  3. Click + Add First Page to start your module, then + Add Page for each additional page. Pages have drag-to-reorder handles and per-page Delete buttons. Use the Preview link (eye icon) to view your module as a student.
  4. For each page, fill in:
    ➤ Page Title — a short, clear title.
    ➤ Content — a rich-text body with a full toolbar (bold, italic, strikethrough, underline, subscript/superscript, horizontal rule, link, insert image/video, blockquote, bulleted and numbered lists, indent/outdent, code, clear formatting).
    ➤ Attach Question — toggle on to add a question to the page.
  5. When Attach Question is on, configure:
    ➤ Question Type — choose from Multiple Choice, Select All That Apply, Ordering / Sequencing, Fill in the Blank, Cloze / Drop-Down, or Matrix / Grid.
    ➤ Question Prompt — the question text the student sees.
    ➤ Points — defaults to 1.
    ➤ Explanation (shown after submission) — a rich-text field that displays after the student answers, explaining the correct answer.
  6. Save the page (auto-saves on most field changes). Watch for the green "Saved" indicator.
  7. When ready, use Preview to walk through the module exactly as a student will. The student-side view presents a paginated content player with Back / Step X of Y / Next navigation.
 

Creating and Adding Activity Templates

 
  1. After creating an activity following the steps in the "Create a New Activity" section above.
  2. Find the activity you created under its corresponding course and click "Grade & Manage".
  3. In the DETAILS tab, locate the white "Make Activity into Template" button at the bottom of the page.
  4. Click this button to convert your activity into a template. (Any previously made activity can be made into an activity template.)
  5. You will get a notification on the top right that your activity has been made into a template.
  6. The activity template will be added to the Activity Templates page, accessible from the Templates dropdown menu on the left sidebar.
  7. Alternatively, to create a template activity directly:
    ➤ Click on the Templates dropdown on the left sidebar.
    ➤ Select "Activity Templates".
    ➤ Click "+ New Template Activity".
    ➤ After creating your activity here it will automatically become a template.
  8. Activity templates can be set as Private or Public for your organization. To adjust the privacy settings, open the template's edit view and use the Template Visibility dropdown at the top of the page (Private = just you, Public = shared with your organization).
  9. To add an activity template to a course or template course:
    ➤ Navigate to the course or course template where you want to add the activity, then click "Manage Course" or "Edit Course" as appropriate.
    ➤ Open the Activities tab and click "Add Activity", then select "Activity From Template".
    ➤ Choose the desired template and click 'Add'.
    ➤ Activity templates will be saved and a part of the course template. For more information on course templates see our Courses Guide.
 

Manage and Modify Activity Templates

 
  1. Click on the Templates dropdown on the left sidebar.
  2. Select "Activity Templates".
  3. Use the scope tabs at the top of the page to filter your view:
    ➤ 🌐 All: Every activity template available to you.
    ➤ 💻 System: Pre-built templates from ChartFlow.
    ➤ 🏫 Organization: Templates shared by other instructors at your school.
    ➤ 👤 My Activities: Templates you created or copied to your own library.
  4. The actions available on each row depend on the template's source:
    ➤ Preview Activity — quickly view a System or Organization template without making changes.
    ➤ Edit Activity — modify a template you personally created (only shown on your own templates or ones you have already copied).
    ➤ Copy & Edit — duplicate any template to your personal library so you can customize it for your specific needs.
  5. Click Edit Activity to open your template. There you can edit the activity name and description in the DETAILS tab, adjust the Template Visibility dropdown (Private/Public), manage patients, toggle Activity Modules, change Grading Type, or update any other setting. You can add new patients, modify existing ones, or remove patients as needed.
  6. To create a new copy of an activity template while keeping the original unchanged:
    ➤ Click "Copy & Edit" next to the activity template.
    ➤ This creates a new copy that you can modify without affecting the original template.
    ➤ Make your desired changes to the new copy.
  7. Remember, changes made to an activity template will not affect activities that have already been created from that template.
 

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