đź“„ How to Add a Resource Item (PDF or File) to the Player in Atomic Assessments

Atomic Assessments supports the use of resource items—non-question content such as PDFs or reference materials—that appear as a separate tab in the student player interface.

âś… Use Case

While we are working on a self-serve UI option, the current method involves manually editing the source JSON of the activity.

This feature is ideal for showing reference materials, instructions, or supplemental content that students can access while answering questions in the same assessment.

🛠️ Steps to Configure a Resource Item

1. Create a Resource Item

•In Atomic Assessments (from the Content Manager), create a new item to be used as the resource.

•This item can include a passage with a PDF or other embedded files and optional descriptive text.

•Important: Do not include any questions in this item.

2. Copy the Item Reference

•After saving the item, copy its item reference ID.

•It will look something like: 

9648a322-e02e-4439-82b0-a0ea6d90ce88

•Do not add this item to the assignment via the question list—it will be added manually in the next steps.

3. Open Source Editor

•Navigate to your Assessment (in the Activity Manager) or Activity (in the content manager).

•Go to the Edit Question list (inside the Activity).

•Click the three-dot menu and select “Source”.

4. Insert the Resource Item JSON

•Find a suitable place in the JSON structure (inside the "config": {   section, but after the "}," ).

•Add the following snippet:

"navigation": {

  "resource_items": [{

    "id": "9648a322-e02e-4439-82b0-a0ea6d90ce88",

    "reference": "9648a322-e02e-4439-82b0-a0ea6d90ce88"

  }]

},

Replace the id and reference values with the item reference you copied earlier.

•Ensure the JSON formatting is correct—matching brackets, commas, and quotation marks are essential.

5. Validate and Save

•Click “Apply”.

•If the JSON is valid, it will be accepted. If not, you’ll receive an error—carefully check the syntax and make sure commas and brackets are properly placed.

•Once validated, save the activity.

 

đź‘€ What Students Will See

•When the assessment is launched, a “Resources” tab will appear in the Player.

•Clicking this tab will show the PDF or file you embedded in the resource item.

 

đź’ˇ Notes

•This method is temporary until the self-serve UI option is available.

•You can include multiple files in your resource item using the Passage + File embed tools.

•Avoid inserting any interactive question elements in the resource item.