Feature Overview and Requirements

Are You Ready to Add Courses? 

Readily accessible course content is one of the reasons you want an LMS. Adding courses is easy, if the required data is available when you start. Here are some things to prepare and consider before you start.

Course Codes

You can establish course codes in any manner you wish. Having a coding or naming plan upfront can help make the process more efficient.

Organizations

Before adding courses, you’ll need to have your organization structure established. Courses are tied to Business Units. Make sure you have any additional Business Units (BU)set up prior to starting so that you can add them to each course, as desired. Although you can add new BUs at any time, it’s easier to add them at the same time. Knowing which BUs need which courses ahead of time is very helpful.

Other Considerations

Take time to think about some key configuration points:

• Is Approval Required?
• What are the Enrollment Restrictions?
• Are there Due Dates for completion and do they need reminder messages?

One of the only things that cannot be changed after course creation is the Delivery Method. You can edit most other setting any time after the course is established.

Step by Step Procedure and Field Description

1. From the Administrative menu, select Courses > Add Course. 
2. On the Add Course page, fill out *required and optional fields under the General Information section as described below. 

3. *Organization: Click Choose Organizations to search for and select one or more Business Units whose users should have access to the course.
4. *Code: Enter a unique alphanumeric code for the course. No special characters allowed except hyphen (-) or underscore (_).
5. *Name: Enter a name or title for the course, which will appear on course listings throughout the LMS.
6. *Tuition: Enter the tuition for the course in USD. If none is required, enter 0.
7. Description: Enter text to describe the course or provide other relevant information for potential students.
8. Course Image: Select an existing image from the drop-down list or click Upload Images to add a new image for selection. Must be under 10 MB and ideally 1.73:1 aspect ratio or 194 x 112 pixels.
9. Targeted Learners: Enter free text to describe users who would benefit from the course.
10. Duration: Enter approximate course duration in hours (0.0).
11. *Major: From the drop-down list, select a major to group the course with other related courses. Majors are tied to Business Units so make sure your Majors reflect the business units the course does.
12. *Delivery Method: From the drop-down list, select how the course will be delivered. This will dynamically change field options available for the rest of the form.
13. Approval Required: Select Yes or No to set approval requirements for enrollment in the course. Default: No.  If the course is subject to a Subscription, and additional option to require approval for Non-Subscribers Only is also available.
    This setting is business unit-specific. To add or remove this requirement a different business unit, you must use the option under your header profile to switch to a location in the target business unit. After that, navigate to the course to make the change. 
14. Completion Certificate: Select Yes or No to enable a course completion certificate. Default: Yes.
15. Resources: Click Choose Resources to select items from the Resource Library for attachment to the course.
    Learn More: Resource Library.
16. Topics: Click Select to choose one or more topics to associate with this course for course search purposes. Only available if Topics have been enabled and set-up.
17. Expand the Additional Information section and fill out *required and optional fields as described below.
    

18. Language: Indicate the language used in LMS course records and materials. Default: English.
19. Notes: Enter any additional notes about the course. This is not displayed to the user.
20. Course Display Date: Enter the date the course will be made available to users in the catalog.
21. Enrollment Open Date: Enter the date on which students will be allowed to enroll in the course.
22. Enrollment Close Date: Enter the date on which enrollment will be closed.
23. Course Hide Date: Enter the date on which the course will be hidden from all student catalogs.
    Note: Self-paced courses (e.g. eLearning, Assessment, Self-Study) will also be removed from a user’s homepage, regardless of enrollment status, on this date. The setting’s timing is at the end of the specified day (23:59:00). To hide the course completely on May 1, enter the Course Hide Date as April 30.
24. Accreditation Calculation Date: Enter the date on which a course in an accreditation will begin to count toward completion of certification and curriculum programs.
    Note: If in the future, the course will not be included in the accreditation achievement requirements until the date matures.
25. Days for Student to Complete (Due Date): If a due date is desired, enter the number of days a student is allowed to complete this course after enrollment.
    Note: This is not available for the Classroom delivery method. If the LMS Information setting “Automate Goals from Course Due Date” is enabled, the setting in this field will initiate a course goal with a calculated due date for students enrolled in the course.
26. Days Before Due Date to Remind Student: Enter the number of days before the due date that the system will send an email reminder to enrolled students who have not completed the course. Format: Numbers separated by commas.
    Note: If multiple reminders are desired, enter them separated by commas. For example, entering “30,10,3” would result in a reminder being sent 30 days, 10 days and 3 days before the due date. Reminders for Classroom courses are set at the offering level.
27. Transcript Expiration Days: Enter the number of days after which a student’s completed transcript for the course will expire.
    Note: Expired transcripts do not count as course credit.
28. Days Before Transcript Expiration to Remind Student: Enter the number of days before the transcript expiration date to send a reminder to the student.
    Note: If multiple reminders are desired, enter them separated by commas. For example entering “30,10,3” would result in a reminder being sent 30 days, 10 days and 3 days before the expiration date.
29. Enrollment Restriction: Indicate whether students will be allowed to re-enroll themselves in a course that they have completed. Default: Once Only
    Note: These are the options available:
    Once Only (only one completion allowed; pass or fail)
    Unlimited (enroll as many times as desired)
    Restrict by Number of Days (allow re-enrollment only after X days have passed)
    Restrict by Number of Enrollments (set maximum limit X for total number of course enrollments allowed by any one student)
    

20. *Accumulate Credit: Select Yes or No to determine if students can earn credit for this course.
21. Credit: Enter the number of credits a student will earn for completing the course.
22. Subscription Program: Assign the course to an existing Subscription. Subscriptions are a collection of courses available to a subscribing location.
    This setting is business unit-specific. To add or remove this setting for a different business unit, you must use the option under your header profile to switch to a location in the target business unit. After that, navigate to the course to make the change. 
    
23. Non-Subscribers Can Enroll: Visible for courses tied to Subscriptions. Select Yes or No to determine whether people who are not associated with the Subscription are allowed to enroll in the course.
    This setting is business unit-specific. To add or remove this setting for a different business unit, you must use the option under your header profile to switch to a location in the target business unit. After that, navigate to the course to make the change. 
24. *Enrollment Restricted by Audience: From the drop-down list, select the audience you want to restrict enrollment to. Default: No Restriction.
    Note: Single value only. Restricts enrollment to users who are part of the selected audience at the time of enrollment. Failure to meet the membership requirements results in a hard conflict that can only be overridden by a user with a Portal Administrator, Administrator, or Instructor role.If a user loses Audience membership after enrollment, the enrollment remains. 
25. Instructional Languages: Select the Language(s) in which the course will be taught.
26. Brands: From the drop-down list, select one or more Brands associated with the course. To select more than one Brand, press and hold [CTRL] while selecting entries.
    Note: Requires enabling the LMS Information setting “Brands” and creating a Brands list.Learn more: Using Brands
27. Version #: Enter the version of the course, if there is more than one. This is a notation with no impact on other LMS functions.
28. Allow Use of Interest Lists: Indicate whether or not students can express an interest in taking this course or if automated enrollment processes are allowed to create interests. Default: Yes
    This setting is business unit-specific. To add or remove this setting for a different business unit, you must use the option under your header profile to switch to a location in the target business unit. After that, navigate to the course to make the change. 
    
29. Click Add Course to save the course. A message banner will appear at the top of the page, notifying you whether or not the course was successfully created. Depending on the type of course added, the system may prompt you for your next action.

Frequently Asked Questions