Courses (Professional only)

To manage all your courses, click the [Courses] icon from the dashboard to access.

All courses are displayed including those created within your branch and those supplied by Ideagen. Each row shows the last updated date of the course and the number of learners within your branch assigned to the course. You can use the toggle switch in the ‘Active’ column to activate/deactivate a course (note: you cannot deactivate a course supplied by Ideagen).

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

• - Edit course

• - Course reports

• - Export course

• - Clone course

• - Delete course

Note: You will not have the option to clone or delete courses supplied by Ideagen and the edit feature will be limited to course data for your branch and its users.

The course list can be downloaded as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

To assign a course to learners, select the course from your course list and click the [Users] tab.

From here, you can select to enrol specific users individually by clicking the 'Enrol' button. To assign the course to multiple learners, use the checkbox in the ‘Select’ column to select all required learners, then click the green ‘With Selected’ button that appears in the top right of the list. Change the status to ‘Not started’ and click [Submit]. This will enrol all the selected learners on to that course.

Before adding your content, we recommend you consider the structure of your courses to ensure a consistent and unified approach. See the diagram below for our recommended structure.

To add a new course, click the [Add Course] button. The drop-down arrow next to the button lets you import a course you have exported from another system.

• Course image: This is optional, but an image can help a user identify the correct course quickly
• Name: This field is mandatory. When naming the course, ensure it accurately describes the course content to give learners a clear awareness of what is it is about. The course name cannot exceed 255 characters.
• Category: You should either select "My organisation's courses" or one of its sub-categories. If you cannot find a suitable category, you can create your own.
• Type: Select either eLearning (default) or blended learning (if the course is to be an instructor-led training course).
• Short description: This should contain a summary of the lesson to give learners an understanding of what is covered. It would also be worthwhile including the course learning outcomes. The toolbar above the description field provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert pictures, tables and hyperlinks.
• Show advanced settings: Click this link to show the following options
• Course code: Not currently in use
• Language: Not currently in use
• Options:
  • Active: Tick this box to make the course available to users
  • Enable discussions: Ticking this option will allow users to create discussions on this course. See Discussions for more information..
  • Show on catalogue: Allow users who are not enrolled in the course to access it in the catalogue
  • Assignment requires approval: Not currently in use
  • Automatically assign to new users: Any new users added to the Academy will automatically be enrolled in this course
• Base price: Not currently supported
  
• Available for: Enter how many days from today this course will be active. Once this time has elapsed, an "Expired" label will appear beside the course and users will no longer be able to take it.

  • Upon Expiration: This option is only available if you specify the “Available for” days option:

    • Prevent access to all: After the course expires, NO user will be able to view the course, even if they have completed

    • Prevent access unless completed: After the course expires, only users who have COMPLETED the course will still be able to access it

    • Allow access to all: All users will still be able to view the course, even after it expires

• Available from / until: Enter the date/time the course will be available from and to using calendar and time options
• CEUs: Determine how many continuous education units (CEUs) the course corresponds to
• Depends on: You can select one or more prerequisite courses that the users must take before this one
• Certification: Assign a certificate template to the course. If you select a certificate, you will be shown several other options.
  • Duration: You can specify how long the certificate will last before needing renewed (i.e. the user will have to do the course again). Select [Days] / [Months] / [Years], then specify a number. Alternatively, select [Forever] if the certificate should never expire.
  • Reassign: This can be used in conjunction with the Certificate Expires notification to warn the user in advance. If you select this option, choose how many days in advance of the certificate's expiry that the user should be notified.
  • Recertification behaviour: If you select a certificate AND an expiry date, you should choose one of the following:

    • Renew existing: When the user retakes the course, their previous certificate will be updated with the new completion information (i.e. so the user only ever has one certificate)

    • Issue new: When the user retakes the course, they are given a brand new certificate (i.e. so the user can have more than one certificate)

 

Once you have completed the fields, click [Add]. You will be taken to the course dashboard where you can upload content and edit the course.

Categories

 

Categories are a way of organizing your courses (and curricula) by their key topic. Whenever you create a new course, you must select a suitable category for the course.

The Academy provides a nested hierarchy of global categories for you to organise your courses. All courses you create should be listed under the main category called "My Organisation's courses", or one its sub-categories (e.g. "My Organisation's courses / Standard Operating Procedures”).

 

The Categories section lets you see a list of all existing categories, including the number of courses assigned to each one (across the entire Academy).

 

 

To create a new category, click [Add Category], then enter a name for your category. You can also choose to make it a sub-category of an existing category.

 

When you create a new category, it will appear in the list with your branch name in blue. You can only edit or delete categories that you have created.

 

• - Editing a category: When you do this, you can view all the courses and curricula that currently use this category. You can only do this for categories you have created.
• - Deleting a category: You can only delete categories that you have created yourself AND that aren't assigned to any courses / curricula. If you wish to delete a category that is in use, you will need to edit each course / curriculum that uses the category first.

 

Your course catalogue will contain courses that you have assigned to it as well as courses created by Ideagen. Courses that belong to your branch will only appear in your course catalogue if you have selected so from the advanced course settings when adding the course.

When a learner of your branch logs into the Academy, they will see the courses on which they are enrolled on their home screen. A link to the course catalogue displays on their home screen, where they can view all other courses in your course catalogue.

You can set a course scoring method and/or a rule or multiple rules for your courses such as whether learners must complete all units in order, complete a specific unit, and/or complete all tests in the course. This allows you to structure the courses and set a sequence of steps for a course, or between courses. If you do not set rules for a course, this will mean that learners can take the units in any order they wish.

To set the rules for a course, click the [Course Rules] button on the course dashboard.

Use the ‘Set the course score equal to’ drop-down list to determine how the course will be graded. The options include:

• The average score of all completed units
• The average score of all completed tests
• The score of a specific unit

To set a rule whereby learners must complete each unit the order you set, enable the [Serial rule] button at the top of the Course rules page. When enabled, the button turns green and shows as ‘Serial rule enabled’. This means that learners must complete the previous unit before progressing to the next unit in the course.

All existing course rules are displayed on the page. You can add new rules or edit / delete existing rule(s) using the icons in the operations column.

To add a completion rule to the course whereby you define the way in which a course is marked as “completed”, click the [Add Condition] button. You can add a new rule using the options available in the ‘Condition’ drop-down list:

• Completed all units (making all content units mandatory)
• Completed all tests (making all tests mandatory)
• Completed a fraction of units (making a set percentage of the units mandatory)
• Completed a specific unit (making one or more units mandatory)
• Spent an amount of time (set in minutes)

You can then define whether the conditions relate to another condition using the AND/OR options in the ‘Relation with other conditions’ drop-down list. For example:

Please note that by default, ALL new courses have the "Completed All Units" rule applied.

To set other rules for the course, such as prerequisites, go to the course dashboard and select the [Properties] tab. In "Advanced Settings", the ‘Depends on’ field can be used to set any prerequisites (see Adding a course).

You can add your own eLearning content to the Academy such as videos, documents or SCORM compatible content, tests/quizzes, and surveys, etc.

The options to add or edit your course content will become available after creating the course, or you can edit any course by clicking the icon from the Courses screen.

Note: course content can be added or modified by the user that created the course (course owner). Branch administrators can add and modify course content and Instructors can be assigned to the course giving them the ability to add and modify content.

You will be taken to the course dashboard where you can upload content and edit the course details. Your content may be a series of units (containing videos, documents, Powerpoint files, Youtube links, SCORM compatible content etc) and/or tests, surveys.

To upload new content, click [Add Content] from the [Dashboard] tab. A drop-down list of options will display:

To add a new unit, select the [Add Unit] option from the [Add Content] drop-down list. You can also add a unit by dragging and dropping a file into the course dashboard.

• Unit name: When naming the course, ensure it accurately describes the course content to give learners a clear awareness of what is it is about. The course name can be a maximum of 255 characters (note, this will be automatically populated with the file name when using the drag and drop method)
• How to complete it: Choose how the unit should be marked as completed:
  • With a button: Requires the learner to click a [Complete] button to mark the unit as complete
  • After a period of time: Specify the number of seconds
  • Automatic: The unit will mark as complete as soon as the learner opens it
  • None: See when uploading SCORM / TinCan content.
• Source: Select the source of the content. The options include ‘Editor’, ‘H5p Editor’, ‘URL’ or ‘File’. See below for more information on these.

• Show advanced settings: Click this link to show the following option

  • Parent unit: If this unit is to be a sub-unit, select its parent unit from the drop-down list.

   

Editor

 

Allows content to be added manually using the ‘Content’ field. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert pictures, videos, tables and hyperlinks.

 

H5P Editor

 

Lets you post interactive content, such as quizzes, hotspots, and videos.

 

If you select H5P Editor, the content area will display a drop-down list of all available interactive H5P content types as shown in the table below. Select the required content type and you will be presented with the corresponding template to start building your content.

 

Please note that Ideagen do NOT support the H5P editor. To access tutorials and help on creating H5P content, go to h5p.org.

 

H5P Content Type	Description
Arithmetic Quiz	Create time-based arithmetic quizzes.
Audio	Audio recorder, useful for open-ended questions and language courses (note, this content type has limited browser support).
Board game	Create an interactive board game.
Dialog cards	Create dialog cards to help learners memorize information.
Drag text	Create textual expressions with missing pieces of text. The learner drags a missing piece of text to its correct place to complete.
Drag and drop	Create drag and drop questions using both text and images as draggable alternatives using either one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one or many-to-many options.
Fill in the blanks	Create textual expressions with missing pieces of text. The learner types the missing words in to complete.
Find the hotspot	Upload an image and define a hotspot corresponding to details or sections of the image. The learner clicks the correct place (hotspot) on the image to complete.
Guess the answer	Upload an image and add a suitable description. The learner can guess the answer and press the bar below the image to reveal the correct answer.
Image hotspots	Upload an image and define multiple interactive hotspots. When the learner clicks a hotspot, a popup containing text or video is displayed.
Impressive presentation	Images, text and other H5P content can be combined to create presentations with 3D transitions between steps (note, this content type has limited browser support).
Interactive video	Create a video with interactions such as explanations, extra pictures, tables, and multiple-choice questions.
Mark the words	Create textual expressions with a defined set of correct words. The learner highlights words according to the task description and is given a score.
Multiple choice	Create questions where the learner needs to identify one or more correct choices.
Question set	Create quizzes with various question types (or combination of) such as multiple choice, fill in the blanks, drag the words, mark the words, and drag and drop. Also supports video to be played at the end of the question set.
Single choice set	Create question sets with one correct answer.
Summary	Create tasks with a list of statements where the learner is to choose between statements and build the correct summary. Summaries can be presented in text, video or presentation.
Timeline	Create a timeline of events whereby the learner has to place a sequence of events in a chronological order. Event can be added as text, images or multimedia assets from Twitter, YouTube, Google Maps and others.

 

 

URL

 

Allows the content of any URL to be posted, such as a YouTube video or a Wikipedia link.

• - If you use the Document Retrieval Service in Q-Pulse through a secure connection (SSL), you can also display attachments from the Q-Pulse Documents module as courses. To do this, enter the URL of the document and its primary attachment will be displayed as a course. For more information, contact Academy Support.

 

You will be prompted to enter the URL of the web address containing the content in the ‘Use URL’ field. Please note that if the URL of the website is NOT secured (i.e. with SSL), you will not be able to display it in your course.

 

• If the URL is a webpage link, you can embed the content in the page by clicking the [Embed] button.
• To embed a video from another website (e.g. Vimeo or YouTube), just paste the URL of the page where the video is displayed, then click the [Embed] button
  • To embed a video from Google Drive, you will need to edit the URL slightly. At the end of URL, remove "/edit" (if it is present), and replace with "/preview". For example ,if the video has the URL: "https://drive.google.com/file/d/123456" then you need to embed "https://drive.google.com/file/d/123456/preview".
• Alternatively, you can parse your URL to extract all page content and inject it into the content of your unit. To do this, click the drop-down arrow next to the [Embed] button and select ‘Parse’.

 

File

 

This option lets you upload any file (up to 100MB) containing e-Learning content.

 

1. Click the [Upload New] button to search for the file containing the content

   • Alternatively, if you have already uploaded the file to your lesson library, you will be able to select the file from the drop-down list.

2. Once you have selected the file, the content of the file will be injected into the content of your unit. Note that depending on the file type, the content will either be embedded in the unit or it will be presented as a link for learners to open or download.
   • When uploading files containing SCORM content, you can choose to embed the content as an iFrame or as a pop-up and set the height and width dimensions of the content
   • If you choose to embed your content as a pop-up, the content of the unit will be replaced with a [Click to start] button which will be used to start the unit and open it in a pop-up window.

    

   Notes:

   When uploading SCORM/TinCan content, the ‘How to complete it’ unit setting will automatically be set to ‘None’ (because the SCORM content can have its own progression rules)

   To avoid exceeding the upload limit when uploading videos, refer to the File Upload FAQ.

 

Drag and drop

 

You can use the drag and drop method to quickly add a new unit using the content of a file. On the course dashboard screen, drag the file(s) containing the content to the course content section of the screen.

 

 

A progress bar will display at the top of the browser window whilst the content is uploading to the server.

 

Once the upload is complete, and if the course contains only one lesson, a new unit will be automatically created. Note: the unit name will use the file name by default although you can change it if required.

 

If the course contains more than one lesson, a notification will appear allowing you to select which lesson to import the file to or create a new lesson for the file. Select a lesson or type your new lesson name in the ‘Select lesson or type new’ field and click [Import].

 

 

Go to files

 

To access the files dashboard, go to the course dashboard, click [Add Content] and select 'Go to files’.

 

The files dashboard displays a list of all the files available to the lesson. You can either use the [Add File] button to upload more files or drag and drop files directly to the page.

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

 

• - Copy file to clipboard
• - Import as content (to add the file as a unit)
• - Preview file
• - Download file
• - Delete file

 

The file list can be downloaded as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

You can make files available to the learners enrolled on the course, giving them the ability to download or print the files. To share files with your learners:

 

1. Click the switch in the ‘Shared’ column.
2. When enabled, the button turns green, meaning the learners will have the option to view the file(s) from the course homepage.

 

 

 

It is possible to clone a unit - meaning that the unit will be accessible from multiple courses.

From the course dashboard select the [Clone Unit] option from the [Add Content] drop-down list.

- Remember that if you clone a unit and then make changes to it, the changes will also be applied to the original unit.

You will be prompted to select which course and lesson contains the unit you wish to clone using the drop-down lists. All units in that course/lesson will then be available in the ‘Unit’ drop-down list to select from.

At the bottom of the pop-up, a checkbox is available to ‘Retain relationship with original content (link)’. Checking this will maintain a link between the units which means that any updates made to the original unit will automatically be applied to the cloned unit. If you leave it unchecked, the newly cloned unit will stay independent of the original unit (which means you can change its title and content, etc. without affected the original unit). You also have the option to include all subunits in the clone action.

Finally, click [Clone] to clone the unit, or click [Clone and clone another] to clone the unit and select another unit to clone. The cloned unit will then appear in the list of units in the course dashboard.

To add a new test to a course, select the ‘Add test’ option from the [Add Content] drop-down list. You can also import questions by selecting the GIFT / AIKEN option.

• Name – Give the test an appropriate name. The test name can be a maximum of 255 characters
• Description - The description should include a summary of the test to give learners an understanding of what they are being tested on. The toolbar above the description field provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and videos.
• Show advanced settings- Click this link to show the following options:
  • Time limit: Choose whether the test should have a time limit applied overall (set in minutes), per question, or no time limit
  • Repetitions: Specify the number of times a learner can repeat the test. Leave the field blank to allow infinite attempts, set to ‘1’ to limit the learner to one attempt only, and so on
  • Maintain history: A completed test is kept in the learner’s training history record which is available to the learner and their instructor. Enter ‘0’ to disable, ‘1’ to maintain a history record of one completed test, and so on
  • Mastery score: This is the minimum score (as a percentage) required to pass the test. If this is set to ‘null’ the test will be passed regardless of final score
  • Test password: A password can be specified here if you would like the test to be available only to learners that have been supplied the password. Note, this option is ignored if the ‘Splash screen’ is disabled
  • Request personal job: Select this checkbox to request the learner to enter their job position during the test

  • If the test is passed: This is the action that will happen when a learner submits the test if they have passed. Note: any feedback text entered in the ‘Explanation’ field when setting the question will always display (see adding test questions). The options include:

  • Show a thank-you message’
  • ‘Show only questions’ (displays the questions asked during the test)
  • ‘Show questions + given answers’ (displays the questions asked during the test and the learner’s responses)
  • ‘Show questions + given answers + score’ (displays the questions asked during the test, the learner’s responses and their score)
  • ‘Show questions + given answers + score + correct answers’ (displays the questions asked during the test, the learner’s responses, their score and the correct answers)
  • If the test is not passed: This is the action that will happen when a learner submits the test if they have failed. Note: any feedback text entered in the ‘Explanation’ field when setting the question will always display (see adding test questions). The options available are the same as those if the test is passed (listed above)
  • Traversal: Select the ‘One by one’ checkbox if you would like each test question to appear on a separate page, or leave it unchecked if you would like all test questions to be presented on the same page. Select the ‘Move forward only’ if you would like to prevent the learner from being able to navigate back to previous questions (if this is selected, you must also select the ‘One by one’ checkbox). Select the ‘Submit on leave’ checkbox if you would like the test to be submitted if a learner abandons the test (the learner will see a warning message when this happens). Select the ‘Force answer all’ checkbox if the learner must answer all questions in the test
  • Completion: Select the ‘Redo only wrong answers’ checkbox to allow learners to complete only questions previously marked as wrong when repeating a test. Select the ‘Immediate feedback’ checkbox if you would like to present feedback to the learner immediately after they submit their answer (only applies if 'Traversal' set to 'one by one')
  • Shuffle: Select the ‘Answers’ checkbox if you would like all available answer options to appear in a random order (for example, multiple choice options). Select the ‘Questions’ checkbox if you would like all test questions to appear in a random order
  • Display: Select the ‘List’ checkbox if you would like the question number to appear next to the question. Select the ‘Weights’ checkbox if you would like the question weight to be displayed next to the question. Select the ‘Splash screen’ checkbox if you would like the test splash screen to displayed to the learner before the test starts (if unchecked, the test will start immediately)
  • Test mode: This specifies the type of test to be presented. The options include:
    • Normal’ (used for a standard test)
    • ‘Self assessment’ (where the learner assesses their own knowledge/skills. Note, the score of self assessment tests will not be considered when calculating the overall lesson score)
    • ‘Knowledge parity assessment’ (each lesson can contain a maximum of one knowledge parity assessment. Note, if any lessons in the unit already contains a knowledge parity assessment, it will be changed to a normal test)

Once you have completed the fields, click [Save and Select Questions]. You will be taken to the [Questions] tab where you can view all existing questions which you can re-use in your test, or add new questions (note, when using existing questions, any changes made to the original question will be passed through to all tests using that question).

GIFT / AIKEN

 

This option lets you add multiple questions at once by entering them into a text editor using a specific format. When you select the GIFT / AIKEN format, you must enter the following information:

 

• GIFT / AIKEN - you must choose which method you would like to use. AIKEN lets you import multiple choice questions with a single correct answer, whereas GIFT lets you upload other question types. The format that you must use for both types is explained below.
• Import to unit - Select one of the unit's tests to upload the questions to. If you leave this blank, the questions will be available in every test in this course.
• Data - This area lets you enter your questions (see below for more information). When you've finished, you can click [Preview] to test how the questions look, and [Import] to import all your questions. Once you have imported them, you may need to edit them, e.g. to change the difficulty or to apply a time limit to the question.

 

AIKEN format

 

AIKEN is a simple format that supports multiple choice questions with a single correct answer. The inputted text for each question must occupy a single line. Each answer must be preceded by a single letter, followed by a full stop or bracket. The correct answer line must appear at the end and begin with "ANSWER: " followed by the correct answer's starting letter.

 

Here are some examples:

 

Pick the odd one out

a. Europe

b. Asia

c. Greenland

d. Australia

ANSWER: c

 

Which number completes the series 1, 5, 21, 85, ...?

A. 149

B. 253

C. 341

D. 405

ANSWER: C

 

GIFT format

 

GIFT (General Import Format Technology) is a more advanced format that supports an array of question types, although not all question types found in the Academy can be imported using GIFT. Here is a list of question types that can be imported:

 

Multiple choice

 

Each option must be preceded by a "tilde" character (˜). The correct answer(s) must be preceded by an "equals" character (=). For example:

 

Pick the odd one out {

˜Europe

˜Asia

=Greenland

˜Australia

}

 

True or False?

 

For simple "true or false" questions, you have to type the question followed by "{TRUE}" (if the statement is true) or "{FALSE}" (if the statement is false). You can also use the shorter versions "{T}" and "{F}". For example:

 

Grant is buried in Grant's tomb.{FALSE}

The sun rises in the east.{T}

 

Fill in the gap

 

For "fill in the gap" questions, youmust type the full sentence (question) with the missing words (answers) enclosed inside curly brackets {}, preceded by an equals character = . For example:

 

The {=quick} brown {=fox} jumps {=over} the lazy {=dog}

 

Drag-and-drop

 

For drag-and-drop questions, you have to type the question and then enclose the correct answers inside curly brackets {}. Each option must occupy a single line. It must be preceded by an equals sign = and followed by its matching option with a hyphen - and a greater-than character > between them. For example:

 

Match the capitals {

=England -> London

=Germany -> Berlin

=Greece -> Athens

}

 

Free-text

 

For free-text questions, you must type the question followed by empty curly brackets {} ... For example:

 

Write about the Spanish civil war {}

 

 

Adding test questions

 

The ability to add a new test question will become available after creating a test, or by selecting Go to tests - from the course dashboard and clicking the [Questions] tab.

 

To add a new question, click [Add Question] and choose the question type required from the list. The Add question page displays the required fields based on the question type selected.

 

 

• Type: Automatically populated based on the question type selected. You can change the question type using this drop-down list
• Question textt: Free text field to enter the question text. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and/or videos. Additional guidance will display below the question text field for certain question types
• Options: Depending on the question type selected, various options may be available (see table for details).
• Show advanced settings: Click this link to show the following options
  • Associated unit: Select a unit from the lesson which relates to the topic covered by the question (optional)
  • Difficulty: Select the difficulty rating for the question. This can be used to categorise questions, and/or to create random question pools (mandatory field, set to ‘Medium’ by default)
  • Seconds to complete: If the question should have a time limit applied, set it here in seconds, or leave blank for no time limit (optional)
  • Explanation: Free text field to enter any feedback for the learner after the test has been completed. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and/or videos (optional - please note that the explanation will always be displayed to the user upon completion, whether they passed the quiz or not)
  • Associated skill: Not currently in use.

 

Once you have completed the fields, click [Save Question]. You will be taken to the [Questions] tab where you can view the newly created question and all existing questions

 

Question Type	Description	Options
Empty spaces	Create textual expressions with missing pieces of text. The learner types the missing words in to complete.	Display alternatives in select box: Checking this option will display a list of all possible alternatives for the learner to choose from instead of a text box. If this option is enabled, the correct answer must be entered as the first option. Case sensitive: Checking this option will make the answers case sensitive.
Free text / file upload	Create open-ended questions whereby the learner enters their answer in a free text field and/or by uploading a file (e.g. an essay in .docx format), which will be manually graded later.	Input type: Select either ‘Text area’ for free text question only; ‘Upload’ for file upload question only; or ‘Text area and upload field’ for free text field with a file upload area. Question correction: Select ‘Manually’ to manually grade the answer (see Manually grading free text / file upload questions); or ‘Do not take it into account in correction’ for the answer to not count towards the overall test score Example answer: Optional field to provide an example to the learner. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and/or videos.
Free text with keywords	Create open-ended questions whereby the learner enters their answer in a free text field. This type of question can be automatically graded based on the presence, or absence, of keywords (and variants of) in the text (up to a maximum of twenty keywords/terms can be checked). Points are then associated with the presence/absence of each keyword.	Consider correct when points are greater or equal to: Enter the total number of points which must be achieved for the question to be marked as correct (note: each keyword can achieve up to 5 points each, or up to -5 for the absence of a keyword). Example answer: Optional field to provide an example correct answer which will be displayed to the learner after completing the test.
Multiple choice – single answer	Create questions with a single correct answer. The learner selects their answer from a choice of two or more options (up to a maximum of twenty).	Stabilize last option: Check the box to prevent the final option from being randomised (only applicable if the test uses ‘Shuffle answers’ option). Often used for "all of the above" type answers. Use HTML in answers: Check the box to present the options as HTML links.
Multiple choice – many answers	Create questions with multiple correct answers. The learner selects their answers from a choice of two or more options (up to a maximum of twenty).	Score calculation mode: Select ‘Default’ to apply a score between 0-100% based on how many correct options are selected. Select ‘OR’ to apply a score of 100% if at least one correct option is selected. Select ‘AND’ to apply a score of 100% only if all correct options are selected (otherwise a score of 0%). Use HTML in answers: Check the box to present the options as HTML links.
Match	Create questions whereby the learner must match two or more related items (up to a maximum of twenty). Note that unlike drag-and-drop, the same answer can be used multiple times.	Use HTML in answers: Check the box to present the options as HTML links.
True/False	Create questions whereby the learner must determine if the statement provided is true or false.	Correct answer: Select either ‘True’ or ‘False’.
Drag and drop	A variation on the Match question type. Create questions whereby the learner must match two or more related items by dragging and dropping the items together (using one-to-one or many-to-many options, up to a maximum of twenty). Please note that unlike "match questions", the order of items on the left is never randomised, therefore you should use this for questions where you need to put items in the correct order (e.g. first, second, third).
Matrix	Create questions presented in a table/grid whereby the learner can select checkboxes in the grid which correspond to correct information (up to a maximum of twenty rows/columns can be used).	Score calculation mode: Select ‘Full Matrix’ to make each checkbox a single answer. Select ‘Per Matrix Row’ to make the entire row a single answer (this means that if the learner selects an incorrect checkbox in the row, all other answers in that row do not achieve a score). Reply mode: Select ‘Many checkboxes per row’ to allow the learner to select multiple checkboxes per matrix row (displayed to the learner as radio buttons). Select ‘One checkbox per row’ to allow the learner to select only one checkbox per matrix row (if the learner selects a second checkbox in the row, the first checkbox chosen is automatically de-selected). Note: Click [Create Matrix] at any time to preview the matrix.
Hotspot	Upload an image and define a hotspot corresponding to details or sections of the image. The learner clicks the place (hotspot) on the image to complete.	Select image: Use the drop-down list to select an image which has previously been uploaded as a hotspot image. Alternatively, drag and drop an image file to this area or click the green [Upload an Image] button to upload a new image. Once uploaded, drag your mouse over the image to define the hotspot area (use [Clear All] to clear the hotspot).
Fuzzy correctness	Create questions with multiple correct answers and set a correctness percentage for each option. The learner selects a single answer from a choice of two or more options (up to a maximum of twenty) and is graded according to the percentage applied to that option.	Use the slider bar to set the score (percentage) to be applied to each option.

 

Creating a randomised text

 

You can create a test where the questions are randomly selected from a pool of questions. Once all your test questions have been created for the lesson (see Adding test questions).

 

1. Select ‘Go to tests’ from the [Add Content] button on the course dashboard.
2. Go to the [Questions] tab, click [Add Question] and select ‘Randomized’ from the list of question types.

3. You will be prompted to enter a title for the randomised pool of questions.

4. Once entered, click [Save and Select Pool Questions].
5. Select which questions you want to be included in the randomised pool by clicking the [No] button (it will turn to a red [Yes] when selected). To include all your questions, click the [Add All] button.
6. You can also include questions from other lessons. To do this:
   1. Click the [Show Questions From] button
   2. Select the lesson which contains other questions you wish to re-use.
      • Note: if the original question(s) from other lessons are subsequently changed, the changes will be reflected across all tests which use the question.
7. Go back to the [Tests] tab and click [Add Test].
8. Enter the name of the test, and optional description and adjust the advanced settings if required (see Adding a test).
9. Once complete, click [Save and Select Questions].
10. Select the randomised test you created by clicking the [No] button.
11. To specify the number of questions to be randomly selected for the test, click the arrow next to the [No] button and select the number of questions from the drop-down list.
12. To set the randomisation to include a specific number of questions based on question difficulty level, click ‘Select with criteria’ from the drop-down list. A new window will allow you to choose the criteria.

 

 

13. Use the drop-down lists to select how many questions with a low difficulty level should be included in the test, and/or the number of questions with a medium and/or hard difficulty level.
14. The number displayed in each drop-down list is based on the number of available questions in your question pool with that difficulty level applied (set in the ‘Advanced settings’ of the test question – see Adding test questions).
15. To exclude questions of a specific difficulty level, leave the field blank.
16. Once complete, click [Save].
17. The randomised question pool will then display in your question list.
18. The red [Yes] button will show the number of questions included the test (this number will be presented in brackets if the questions have been selected with criteria).

 

 

Go to tests

 

To access the tests and test questions, go to the course dashboard, click [Add Content] and select 'Go to tests’.

 

Tests tab

 

The [Tests] tab displays a list of all the tests available to the lesson. You can use the [Add Test] button to add another test to the lesson (see Adding a test).

 

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

 

• - Preview test
• - Print test
• - Edit test
• - Delete test

 

You can download the test list as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

Questions tab

 

The [Questions] tab displays a list of all existing questions for the lesson, the question type code and difficulty level indicator (hovering over the question type code and difficult level indicator will display more detail). You can use the [Add Question] button to add another question (see Adding test questions).

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

 

• - Preview question
• - Edit question
• - Delete question

 

You can download the question list as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

Recently completed tab

 

The [Recently Completed] tab displays a list of all recently completed tests for the lesson including the test name, the date it was completed, the learner name, whether the test is pending, and the score. Any completed tests displaying as pending, will be those waiting to be manually graded (see Manually grading free text / file upload questions).

 

Note: The number of completed tests stored per learner is based on the ‘Maintain history’ entered when adding the test to the system (see Adding a test).

 

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

 

• - View completed test
• - Delete completed test

 

You can download the list of recently completed tests as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

Manually grading free text / file upload questions

 

If your tests include the free text / file upload question type, you will need to grade these manually (note: this is only available if you have not enabled the option ‘Do not take it into account in correction’ when adding the question to the system).

 

To access the completed tests, go to the course dashboard, click [Add Content] and select 'Go to tests’. The [Recently Completed] tab displays a list of all recently completed tests for the lesson. Any completed tests displaying as ‘Pending’, will be those waiting to be manually graded.

 

Click the icon to view the test taken by the learner.

 

On the details page, you will see the completed test with all the questions and the answers entered by the learner. Questions marked as passed display in green shading; questions marked as failed display in red shading; and questions pending a score display in blue shading.

 

Click the score percentage link for the pending question.

 

 

A text box will display to enter a new score for the question. Insert the score and click [OK]. To add feedback for the learner (optional), click on the ‘Add feedback’ link, enter your feedback and click [OK].

 

 

 

To add a new survey to a course, select the ‘Add survey’ option from the [Add Content] drop-down list.

• Name: Give the survey an appropriate name (mandatory). The name can be a maximum of 255 characters
• Description: The description field is optional. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and videos
• Submit action: This is the action that will happen once the learner submits their survey answers. The options include:
  • ‘Show a thank-you message’
  • ‘Show questions + given answers’ (displays the questions asked during the survey and the learner’s responses)
• Message: This is the message that will display once the learner submits their survey answers. You can set this message to display in a different language if required using the language button (usually displayed as [English (US)] unless your system is set to use a different language)
• Traversal: Select the ‘One by one’ checkbox if you would like each survey question to appear on a separate page, or leave it unchecked if you would like all survey questions to be presented on the same page. Select the ‘Move forward only’ if you would like to prevent the learner from being able to navigate back to previous questions (if this is selected, you must also select the ‘One by one’ checkbox). Select the ‘Submit on leave’ checkbox if you would like the survey answers to be submitted if a learner abandons the survey (the learner will see a warning message when this happens). Select the ‘Force answer all’ checkbox if the learner must answer all questions in the survey
• Display: Select the ‘List’ checkbox if you would like the question number to appear next to the survey question. Select the ‘Splash screen’ checkbox if you would like the survey splash screen to displayed to the learner before the survey starts (if unchecked, the survey will start immediately)

Once you have completed the fields, click [Save and Select Questions]. You will be taken to the [Questions] tab where you can view all existing questions which you can re-use in your survey, or add new questions (note, when using existing questions, any changes made to the original question will be passed through to all surveys using that question).

Adding survey questions

 

You can add a new survey question after creating a survey, or by selecting ‘Go to surveys’ from the course dashboard and clicking the [Questions] tab.

 

To add a new question, click [Add Question] and choose the question type required from the list. The add question page displays the required fields based on the question type selected.

 

 

• Type: Automatically populated based on the question type selected. You can change the question type using this drop-down list
• Question text: Free text field to enter the survey text. The toolbar provides various formatting options, and allows you to insert tables, hyperlinks, pictures and/or videos. Additional guidance will display below the question text field for certain question types
• Options: Depending on the question type selected, various options may be available (see table for details).

 

Once you have completed the fields, click [Save Question]. You will be taken to the [Questions] tab where you can view the newly created question and all existing questions.

 

Question Type	Description	Options
Free text / file upload	Create open-ended questions whereby the learner enters their answer in a free text field and/or by uploading a file (e.g. feedback in .docx format).	Input type: Select either ‘Text area’ for free text question only; ‘Upload’ for file upload question only; or ‘Text area and upload field’ for free text field with a file upload area.
Multiple choice – single answer	Create questions with a single answer. The learner selects their answer from a choice of two or more options (up to a maximum of twenty).	Stabilize last option: Check the box to prevent the final option from being randomised
Multiple choice – many answers	Create questions with multiple answers. The learner selects their answers from a choice of two or more options (up to a maximum of twenty).
Matrix	Create questions presented in a table/grid whereby the learner can select checkboxes in the grid which correspond to their chosen feedback response (up to a maximum of twenty rows/columns can be used).	Reply mode: Select ‘Many checkboxes per row’ to allow the learner to select multiple checkboxes per matrix row (displayed to the learner as radio buttons). Select ‘One checkbox per row’ to allow the learner to select only one checkbox per matrix row (if the learner selects a second checkbox in the row, the first checkbox chosen is automatically de-selected).

 

Go to surveys

 

To access the surveys and survey questions, go to the course dashboard, click [Add Content] and select 'Go to surveys’.

 

Surveys tab

 

The [Surveys] tab displays a list of all the surveys available to the lesson. You can use the [Add Survey] button to add another survey to the lesson (see Adding a survey).

 

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

• - Preview survey
• - Print survey
• - Edit survey
• - Delete survey

 

You can download the survey list as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

Questions tab

 

The [Questions] tab displays a list of all existing survey questions for the lesson and the question type code (hovering over the question type code will display more detail). You can use the [Add Question] button to add another question (see Adding survey questions).

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

• - Preview question
• - Edit question
• - Delete question

 

You can download the question list as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

Recently completed tab

 

The [Recently Completed] tab displays a list of all recently completed surveys for the lesson including the survey name, the date it was completed, and the learner name.

 

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

 

• - View completed survey
• - Delete completed survey

 

You can download the list of recently-completed surveys as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

 

While you can add a variety of quiz questions you can use to test your learners, you may want to test your their knowledge in more detail, e.g. through an essay or by completing a questionnaire in a Word document.

To add an assessment to a course:

1. In the course's dashboard, click [Add Content], then select 'Add Assessment' (to create a new assessment) or 'Go to Assessments' (to use an existing assessment)

2. You must give the assessment a name. You can also add the following information:

   • You must decide whether the assignment is automatically marked as complete as soon as the learner submits it, or if it needs to be reviewed by the administrator first.
   • Description
   • You can add a file for the learner to download (e.g. a template for an essay). To do this, click [Choose File] and add the file from your computer.
   • If the assessment is only to be available between specific dates, you can enter the dates in the 'Available From' and / or 'Available To fields'.

3. Click [Add] to save.

Marking Assignments

Once you have activated the course and the user reaches the assessment unit, they will be prompted to enter text and / or upload a file, then click the [Submit Answer]. The Academy can notify you to inform you when a learner completes an assessment by turning on the "Assignment Submitted" message. For more information, see Notifications.

To view all the completed assessments:

1. Open the course's properties.
2. Click the menu button beside the assessment's edit button, then click [View Submissions]

3. A list of all submitted assessments will be displayed. You can either download them all by clicking [Download All Submissions], or view an individual submission by clicking its button.

4. To mark an assessment, click its button, click the [Grade] tab, then provide the following information:
   • Status: This can be "Incomplete", "Passed", "Failed" or "Pending". This status will be visible to the user when they view the course in their training plan.
   • Score: This will generally be a percentage. The score can be used to calculate the overall score for the course for the user. See Course Rules.
   • Comments: These will be visible to the user against the assessment in their training plan

5. Click [Grade Submission] to save your changes.

Lessons are a collection of units (course content) and help to organize and structure your eLearning material. A lesson is created when you create a course, using the same name as your course.

To access the lessons library of a course, go to the course dashboard, click [Add Content] and select 'Go to lessons library’.

The lessons library contains a list of all lessons available in your branch. All lessons assigned to the current course display a red [Yes] button in the 'Assigned to course' column. You can assign other lessons to the course or remove a lesson(s) from the course by toggling the [Yes]/[No] button in the 'Assigned to course' column.

The ‘Operations’ column allows additional actions:

• - Edit lesson
• - Export lesson
• - Delete lesson

You can download the course list as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon at the bottom of the page.

Adding / importing / exporting lessons

 

Note: lessons only appear on the course dashboard when two or more lessons have been added to the course.

 

To add a new lesson:

 

1. Click the [Add Lesson] button.
2. Enter a name for the lesson and an optional description then click [Add].
3. Once complete, the new lesson will be added to the course and you will be taken to the course dashboard.

 

You can also import a previously exported lesson or export an existing lesson.

 

To import a lesson:

 

1. Click the drop-down arrow next to the [Add Lesson] button at the top of the lessons library, then select "Import lesson"

2. You will be prompted to select a zip file and upload.

 

To export a lesson:

 

1. Click the Export Lesson button in the Lessons library

2. This will download an archive of the lesson in a zip file

 

- If you edit a course that was created by another admin in your organisation who has a different default language against their profile, then this can cause the language of the course to change as well. Therefore, where possible, you should only edit courses that you have created yourself.

The options to edit your course will become available after creating the course, or you can edit any course by clicking the icon from the Courses screen.

There are several options displayed across the tabs to see and edit the course Dashboard, Properties, Users, Reports, Branches, Skills and Jobs:

• The [Dashboard] tab displays key information about the course, and allows you to add content and set the course rules (such as whether learners must complete all units, a specific unit, and/or complete all tests in the course.
• The [Properties] tab contains the information entered when the course was created (see Adding a course).
• The [Users] tab displays a list of all users in your branch (including Administrators and Instructors) and their registration date. You can enrol individual learners onto the course from this screen and see the status of learners currently enrolled (such as course completion date, score, progress).
• The [Reports] tab displays information as that in the Users tab.
• The [Branches] tab allows you to assign the course to your organisations sub-branches
• The [Jobs] tab allows you to assign the course to users with a specific job.
• Note: The Skills functionality available in the [Skills] tab is currently not supported.

Data from the [Users], [Reports], [Branches] and [Jobs] tabs can be downloaded as an Excel-compatible CSV file by clicking the icon.

You can use the Academy to create and manage instructor-led classroom based courses.

To add a new course as an instructor-led classroom based course, follow the instructions documented for adding a course ensuring that you select the option ‘Blended Learning’ for the type of learning field.