Overview
Online courses contain one or more modules of any type. This article covers the process of creating an online course and the menus involved.
To create an online course:
Access Manage courses from the Courses menu then select the green Add course button.
Enter the new course name and ensure the Online (Stand-alone) radio button is selected then click Next.
Course status
The course status is either Draft or Active. A new course will maintain the status draft until it is changed to active by an administrator. To set a course's status to active all mandatory fields must have been completed. Mandatory fields are contained within Course details only, therefore when this section has been completed, it will be possible to set the course's status to active.
When set to active the course will be ready for learners to be enrolled onto and, if set to open or conditional enrolment, will be displayed within the course library.
A courses status can be changed from active to draft, however, if learners have enrolled onto the course they will need to have their enrolments withdrawn before it is possible to amend the course status.
Course details
Description
The course name entered will be displayed at the top of the page followed by the word 'Draft'. This will cease to be displayed when the course status has been changed to active, please see Course status above.
The course name entered will be imported into the Course name field, a unique Course code will also be created from the course name, these can be amended if required.
A Course provider must be chosen from the drop-down menu. Providers can be added, edited and deleted through Manage providers.
A Course duration (e.g. 20 minutes, 1 hour) must be entered. This will be visible for learners in the course library and on the course page.
The Course introduction field should be used to provide learners with some basic information about the course.
The purpose of the Course objectives field is to inform the learner of what skills or knowledge they can expect to obtain from the course. Information entered here is often introduced with a sentence such as 'This course will enable you to:' followed by a bullet point list of objectives.
Course content informs learners of topics contained within the course. This could be a list of module names or sections within modules.
The Audience field is to inform of who the course is aimed at (e.g. Managers or All staff).
The Further information field can be used if it is necessary to provide additional information related to the course which does not fit into the above categories.
A Course thumbnail can be added. This could be a screenshot from the course or a title page which makes the course visually appealing for learners and provide a suggestion of the content.
Details entered in the Description section will appear on the course page.
Modules
The core module(s) comprise the content of the course.
Click the green Add module button to access the Find module screen from where a module can be either selected or uploaded. For more information, please see How to upload modules.
If more than one module has been added to the core modules it is possible to change the order by dragging and dropping the modules displayed within the table. When the modules are in the correct order, select the Set sequence button. The modules will now be displayed in the desired order within the course.
Selecting the Learners must complete the modules in the order listed button will force the module order and mean that learners cannot access subsequent modules until the preceding modules are completed.
Certificate
The course certificate is activated by default and can be deactivated by selecting the No radio button.
A custom certificate template can be selected if required from the Course certificate template drop-down menu. Certificates can be managed and custom templates created through Manage certificates.
Any information entered into the Course objectives field will appear under the text "Learning outcomes include:" on the learner's certificate. This field can be left blank if desired, in which case no text relating to outcomes will appear.
The Course objectives for certificate field will generally contain the same information as the Course objectives field in Description. Each objective should be separated by a semicolon.
Category
Tags can be applied to make the course easier to find for learners searching the course library. These can be managed through Manage tags.
Select the appropriate subject for the course. Subjects can be managed through Manage subjects.
Enrolment and course visibility
Enrolment type for the course can be selected along with options to limit the course to specific sectors and services (if the course type is open or conditional).
A timeframe within which learners must complete the course can be selected if necessary.
Course workflows can be used to automate re-enrolments. Click the Add workflow button to create rules surrounding course completion and re-enrolment within specified time frames.
CPD
If CPD is activated, a number of CPD hours must be assigned for a course. For more information on CPD please see CPD overview.
By default E-learning is selected for Structured CPD study type, more study types can be selected if necessary.
If the course falls into a CPD category, select the relevant radio button.
Selecting CPD accredited will cause the CPD logo to appear on the course page. This must only be selected if the course has been accredited by The CPD Certification Service.
Selecting CPD verified means the course has been internally agreed to conform to CPD standards within an organisation. This does not necessarily mean the course is CPD accredited.
Some CPD accredited courses will have an activity reference code, this can be entered in the Activity reference code field.
References
Documents or links which are relevant to the course can be added in this section. The Refresher guides, Course documents and Useful links sections will only be visible to learners when documents or links are added to them by an administrator.
Course evaluation
Please see the articles regarding course evaluations.
Marketing
Adverts
It is possible to add an advert to the course page if desired. This can be in the form of an image, file or link.
The location on the course details screen can be chosen from the drop-down menu.
Highlighted course
Making a course highlighted will cause it to appear in the course filter list, if the highlighted courses function has been enabled by an administrator.
Courses of interest
Courses of interest which may have relevance to the new course being created can be added. These will be displayed for learners on the course details screen.
Course rating
Activating course rating will display the course's rating on the course details screen after the desired number of learners have rated the course.
It is also possible to view the course rating from this section.
Flyer
The course flyer can be enabled from here, this is a flyer displaying course information which can be downloaded by learners from the course details screen.
Organisation objectives
Goals alignment
If organisation objectives have been added via Manage organisation objectives, courses can be aligned with these from this section.
Clicking or typing into the text fields will produce a list of objectives entered, site-wide and departmental.
Course emails
There are a number of system-generated emails regarding courses which can be sent to learners automatically. From this menu course emails can be activated and deactivated, templates chosen, and any applicable time limits and extra rules can be set.
For more information on system emails and email templates please see articles within the Communication category.
Course enrolment
This is the email a learner will receive when they are enrolled onto a course.
Course completion
This is the email a learner will receive when a course has been completed.
Course not completed reminder
This is the email a learner will receive if they begin a course but do not finish it. It is possible to choose the period after which the email will be received and also how many time the email is to be sent if the learner does not complete the course.
Course not started reminder
This is the email a learner will receive if they have been enrolled onto a course but have not started it. It is possible to choose the period after which the email will be received and also how many time the email is to be sent if the learner does not begin the course.
Pre-course evaluation email
This is the email the a learner will receive with a link to the pre-course evaluation when they are enrolled onto a course or they enrol themselves onto a course.
Level 1&2 evaluation email
This is the email a learner will receive when they complete a course and the level 1&2 evaluation is activated.
Level 1&2 evaluation reminder email
This is the email a learner will receive when they complete a course but do not complete the level 1&2 evaluation after a set number of days. It is possible to choose the period after which the email will be received and also how many time the email is to be sent if the learner does not complete the evaluation.
Level 3 evaluation email
This is the email a learner will receive when they complete a course and the level 3 evaluation is activated.
Level 3 evaluation reminder email
This is the email a learner will receive when they complete a course but do not complete the level 3 evaluation after a set number of days. It is possible to choose the period after which the email will be received and also how many time the email is to be sent if the learner does not complete the evaluation.
Archive
From here the course can be archived. This function should be used when a course is no longer required but it may still be necessary to report on. Archived courses will no longer appear in the course library and it will not be possible to enrol learners onto them.
Archived courses can be viewed by administrators by checking the Show archived only box in manage courses. The word Archive will appear next to the course title.
Courses can be un-archived at any time. 