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Ten of Compose’s block types are interactive. This page covers how each behaves for the learner and how you author it.

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What “interactive” buys you

Two things, and they are not the same:
Marking a Flashcards, Timeline, Accordion or Interactive video block as Required has no effect — there is no completion condition to check. Use one of the six gateable blocks when you need a learner to demonstrate something before moving on.

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Multiple choice

A question with a list of answers. Learners pick one, press Check answer, and either get the correct-answer feedback or are told to try again. How it behaves
  • One answer is selected at a time.
  • A wrong answer can be retried as many times as the learner likes — the block only completes when they get it right.
  • Only the first attempt counts towards the score. Retrying to reach the right answer does not recover the mark.
Settings
Wrong-answer feedback is the most valuable field on this block. “Not quite” teaches nothing; “Close — remember that the manifest lives at the root of the package” teaches the point you were making.

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Fill in the blank

A sentence with words removed. Learners type into each gap and press Check answers. Authoring it: write the sentence in the text field and wrap each answer in square brackets.
That produces two blanks. An unclosed bracket stays as literal text rather than becoming a blank. How it behaves
  • Each blank is marked individually — right ones lock, wrong ones stay editable.
  • Matching is case-insensitive and ignores surrounding whitespace.
  • The block completes when every blank is right. Only the first attempt scores.
There is no support for alternative accepted answers. [colour] will not accept “color”. Choose answers with one obvious spelling, or ask for a term rather than a phrase.

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Drag & drop

Learners sort items into categories. Each pair you author is one item and the category it belongs in — so several items can share a category. Items can be dragged, and can also be tapped and then placed, which is what makes it work on a touchscreen. Shuffle is available and on by default.

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Matching

Two columns to pair up: left items with right items. Same mechanic as drag and drop — drag, or tap one then tap its partner. Needs at least two pairs; Compose warns in the status strip if a pair is left half-empty.

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Hotspots

An image with numbered points on it. Tapping a point reveals its label and body text, and the block shows how many of them the learner has explored. Completes when every hotspot has been opened, which makes it a good “look at each part of this interface” check. Author it by adding an image to the block, then placing hotspots on it — each has a position, a short label, and a body.

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Flashcards

Cards with a front and a back, flipped by clicking. Good for terminology and recall practice. There is no completion state and no scoring — a flashcard block is study material, not an assessment.

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Branching

A scenario made of steps. Each step is a prompt with several options, and each option carries its own feedback. Options are marked good or not:
  • Choosing a good option shows its feedback and advances to the next step.
  • Choosing any other option shows its feedback and leaves the learner on the same step to try again.
  • Working through every step completes the block.
This is a linear decision list, not a branching node graph: there is one path through, and wrong choices teach rather than diverge. That keeps a scenario authorable in a list rather than a diagram editor, at the cost of not being able to model genuinely divergent outcomes.

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Interactive video

A video that pauses at times you set. Each cue has a time, a label and a body; when playback reaches it, the video pauses and the note appears with a Continue button. Seeking backwards re-arms the cues you have passed, so a learner who rewinds sees them again.
If the block has no video source, the export lists the cues as plain text rather than failing silently — useful while you are still assembling a lesson.

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Timeline

An ordered list of entries, each with a heading and a body. Learners click a heading to reveal its body. Any number of entries can be open at once.

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Accordion

Collapsible sections, each with a heading and a body. Unlike the timeline, an accordion shows one section at a time — opening a section closes the others. Use the accordion for alternatives (a set of options where only one applies to the learner), and the timeline for a sequence.

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Validation

The status strip flags problems as you author:
  • A quiz with no question, fewer than two answers, or no correct answer marked
  • A matching block with fewer than two pairs, or a pair with an empty side
  • A flashcards block with no cards, or a card with an empty side
  • An empty custom code block
None of these prevent an export. They are all things a learner would hit.