• How to Navigate to the Cohort Admin Page - Leadership Academy

    This article shows how to navigate to the area of the platform where admins can set up their cohort, including configuring dates, adding members, admins, and featured users, set up events, and launch the course.

    There are two ways to navigate to the cohort admin page:

    Navigating to the cohort admin page using admin tools:

      1. Click on the admin tools gear icon on the top right of any page.
        admin tools
      2. On the subsequent screen, click on the desired course from the list. Tip: Use the filters if you’re having trouble finding the course.
      3. Next, navigate to the course version containing the cohort you’d like to view. Tip: Each course version is listed above the corresponding cohorts in larger font.
        course version and cohorts
      4. Click on the cohort name you’d like to view (Note: Click on the cohort name itself, not the View button).

    Navigating to the cohort admin page from a course home page:

      1. From the course home page header, click the cohort admin icon and select Edit Cohort.

    cohort admin icon

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  • How to Create a Cohort - Leadership Academy

    This article goes over how to create a cohort under a course version. After a course version has been added to a course, site owners, site admins, and content admins can add cohorts.

    What is a cohort?

    A cohort in our platform is a group of people taking a course together at the same time, similar to a classroom of people taking a course in a school. Each classroom of learners consists of a different cohort, even if different classrooms are taking the same course. 

    How do I create a cohort?

    Cohorts are typically constructed to support a design goal – for example, they may be constructed to drive diversity across a set of criteria, or they may be grouped together by geography or other criteria.

    A cohort is automatically created when you create a course version in the platform. If you are running a single cohort you can use this cohort and begin setting up your cohort by clicking on the cohort name in the course admin page. If you are running multiple cohorts, you will need to create new cohorts using the instructions below.

    To create a cohort:

      1. Click on the admin tools icon on the top right of any page.
        admin tools
      2. On the subsequent screen, click on the desired course from the list. Tip: Use the filters if you’re having trouble finding the course.
      3. Next, navigate to the course version that you’d like to add a cohort under. Tip: Each course version is listed above the corresponding cohorts in larger font. In the screenshot below, the course version is named Original.
        course version and cohorts
      4. Click on the +add new button to add a new cohort. You will automatically be taken to the configure page where you can begin setting up your new cohort.

        add new cohort button

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  • Cohort Setup: Launch - Leadership Academy

    This article provides instructions for launching a cohort once it is set up. Before launching a cohort, make sure you have completed the following cohort setup components:

    What does it mean to launch a cohort?

    Unlike other e-learning experiences, cohort-based learning involves a group of people going through a learning experience in the same timeframe, together. As a result, courses in our platform have content laid out over a certain period of time and paced in a specific way (learn more about pacing your course), and courses must be opened to all learners at the same time. The process of opening the course to learners is called launching a cohort.

    How to launch a cohort

      1. To begin, navigate to the Launch page.
        cohort admin panel launch
      2. Check on the page for any errors and/or warnings. The Platform will display errors, which will prevent you from launching a cohort, as well as warnings, which will allow you to launch but which include issues you should address prior to launch.
        13hYSJH8UjyM1WvecsbnH8KXha55QzvVj.png
        The most common error is trying to launch a cohort when the course version is still in draft and hasn't been published. Learn more about publishing your course. Common warnings include not adding cohort members and not setting up course events.
      3. Do one final review of all of the cohort setup pages and course page to make sure everything is ready to go. Once you have reviewed the details of your course and cohort, you are ready to launch. Remember, once you launch the cohort it will be available to learners in the cohort.
      4. Click the Launch Cohort button. 
      5. Optional: On the next screen, you will be able to compose a “launch letter”, which is a configurable message that is sent to learners to let them know the course is now available to them. While you can disable the launch letter, it is a best practice to send this message from this screen rather than your email provider. Emails that come from the platform include a button in the email to go directly to the relevant page related to the email. For example, when a launch letter is sent, the email includes a button that takes the learner to the course page.
      Notes regarding launch letters:
    • A subject line is required for the launch letter. Your subject line will automatically read “[Course Name]: [whatever you add in the Your Subject line]”
    • If a launch letter is sent, it will come from the user logged in when it’s sent. The sender’s name, picture, and email will be located at the bottom of the Launch Letter, along with a link to the course.
    • You cannot resend the launch letter or un-launch a course.

    launch letter page

    • Launch your cohort by clicking the Let’s Go button. Note: The Let’s Go button must be clicked in order to open the cohort to learners. This will change your cohort status from 'Preview' to 'Live.' Cohort members will not be able to view the cohort until it’s changed to ‘Live’.
    • Once the cohort is launched, the Launch page will now list the date of the launch and will display the launch letter, if applicable, under Launch Summary. Additionally, on the course admin page that lists all course versions and cohorts, the Status column will now show the cohort as Live.

    Note regarding cohort status

    Cohorts have a Status field on the course admin page that allows admins to see the launch status of an individual cohort. By default, all cohorts are in Preview status when created. Cohort status types include the following:

    • Preview: Cohort is not live and is not accessible by learners. No email notifications will be sent to learners.
    • Live: Cohort is live and able to be accessed by learners. Cohort member invite, launch letter and daily progress notifications will be emailed to learners.
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  • Cohort Setup: Breakout Groups - Leadership Academy

    This article describes what a breakout group is and how they are used in some courses, as well as how to add cohort members to breakout groups.

    What is a breakout group?

    A breakout group is a subset of a cohort that completes one or more activities together as part of a course. Examples of breakout group activities include meeting as a group to discuss a case study or work through an exercise, as well as using a Discussion activity in the platform to have a dialogue about a particular topic.

    The recommended size of a breakout group is about 6-10 learners, with the ideal size around 8 learners. Too large of a group and learners won’t get the value that comes from a small group, and scheduling a meeting will be too difficult. Too small of a group and learners won’t get the value of a breakout group if a few members can’t make the scheduled group meeting. 

    Note: Not all signature courses involve breakout group activities.

    Learn more about the creation of breakout group activities when building a course, including a Breakout Group Discussion as well as Private or Public Breakout Group Results activities.

    How are breakout groups constructed?

    There are several ways to construct your breakout groups, each with its own merits, but it’s ultimately up to you how the groups are constructed. You can randomly assign learners to a breakout group, for example. You can also go through your cohort roster and distribute learners from each division in the company (or use another data field) between all of the breakout groups. 

    Another option is to group people from the same region together to make scheduling a group meeting easier. If the course is part of a larger program, consider whether or not you want to keep the same groups throughout the whole program or change the groups each course. There are many considerations when constructing breakout groups and you can consult your Customer Success representative for additional help.

    How to add cohort members to breakout groups

    breakout groups

      1. To begin, navigate to the Breakout Groups page.
        cohort admin panel breakout groups
      2. Next, add breakout groups that will later be filled with learners. You can determine the number of groups to include based on the size of your cohort and the size you’d like for each group. Add a breakout group by entering the group name (e.g. Group 1 or EMEA) under “Add a Breakout Group” and clicking Add Group. Repeat the process for each breakout group. 
        add breakout group
      3. You are now ready to add cohort members into each group. All learners will begin in the Unassigned Users section of the left side of the page. You can add learners individually to a group by clicking on their name and then dragging and dropping them into their group. When a learner has been added, you will see the number of members on the right increase by one. Tip: To randomly assign cohort members into breakout groups, click the “Auto Shuffle Members into Groups” button at the top of the page.
        edit breakout group
      4. To edit a group name or remove a member, click on the pencil icon to the right of the group name or click on the group you’d like to edit. To remove a member, drag and drop them from the group into the Unassigned Users section or into another group. To delete a group, click on the trash icon to the right of the pencil icon. 

    Tip: To see all of the breakout groups expanded so you can see each group’s members, click the Toggle All Groups button in the top right corner of the page.

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  • Cohort Setup: Events - Leadership Academy

    This article shows how to set up your cohort’s live events, typically for course capstones, using the Events page in the cohort setup menu. 

    Why do I need to set up a live event?

    If your course includes a Live Event activity, you will need to set up the details for each event and each cohort. This is different from creating a Live Event activity when building the course. Learn more about the difference between creating a Live Event activity and setting up a live event for a cohort

    • In essence, when building the course you create the template version of a Live Event Activity, including a description. Then, as you prepare for a cohort to go through the course, you set up the event specifically for that cohort, including the link to register and/or launch the event, the event date and time, and an updated description if you’d like. Since, over time, each cohort taking the course will likely have a different event date, link, etc, the platform allows you to set up each event this way without requiring a new course version.

    How to set up an event

      1. To begin, navigate to the Events page.
        cohort admin panel events
      2. Next, click on the Live Event link in order to edit the live event.
        live event setup button
      3. On the next page, you will be able to name the event, select an event type (the platform automatically selects Interactive Webinar), update the description if desired, add start and end date and time, and provide the registration and/or launch URL. The URL will appear as a Launch button to the learners in the course and, when clicked, will open the event using the link you added.
        live event setup button
      4. After configuring each event, click Save at the bottom of the page. If there are multiple events in the course, you will repeat this process for each of the Live Event Activities.

    Tip: If you record your live event, you can add the recording and/or attachments (such as the slides used in the event) to the activity for learners who couldn’t attend.

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  • Cohort Setup: Featured Users - Leadership Academy

    This article describes the Featured Users section of the cohort admin pages, including how to add Featured Users, as well as how to add and modify featured user “containers” (i.e. categories).

    What are Featured Users?

    Featured Users are users in the platform that are selected to appear in the right sidebar of the course page for a cohort. By featuring users, learners can easily see who to contact with course questions (the Moderator), who from a leadership position is paying attention to the cohort (Sponsor), etc. This helps motivate the learner and create a more seamless learning experience.

    There are three containers of Featured Users by default, titled Instructor, Course Moderator and Sponsor. You can rename these containers and add additional featured user categories as well.

    Note: Adding a person as a Featured User does not give them access to the course or Admin permissions. You will need to add them in the Admins page to do so.

    To begin, navigate to the Featured Users page.

    cohort admin panel featured users

    featured users page

    How to add someone to a Featured User group

    To add someone to any Featured User group, simply type their name or email address into the Add User section under the respective container and click on their name when displayed. Because they already have an account, as you begin typing the desired Featured User should display. Note: It is common to have more than one user included in each container.

    add featured user account

    How to rename a Featured User group

    You may rename a Featured User group by clicking on the pencil icon next to the name you wish to change and then entering a new name. For instance, you could change the label of Instructor to something else representing a person or group of people you’d like displayed on the course page.

    rename featured user group

    How to change the appearance a Featured User group

    You may also change the size of a Featured User group’s appearance on the course page. Click on the dropdown in the Style options to change the size. All groups are set to large by default.

    featured user style

    How to add a new a Featured User group

    To add a new Featured User group, navigate to the Add Featured User Group section at the bottom of the page, add the name of the new group, and click Add.

    add new featured user group

    How to change the order of Featured User groups

    You may prefer to have certain groups listed above or below others on the course page. If so, you can change the order in which they appear. To change the order of the groups, click on the colored panel on the left of the group you wish to move, drag the container to its new placement, and drop it. You will see an arrow next to the colored panel pointing to the new location before you drop the container into place.

    featured user group order

    Permissions granted in the Featured Users page

      1. Moderator: All individuals in the Moderator container will have an envelope icon next to Moderator group (or whatever it is renamed as) listed on the course page (see screenshot above). When clicked, this icon allows learners in the cohort to email the Moderator, typically for any questions about the course. Additionally, if your course includes a Cohort Update Activity, the individual creating and uploading the video for the activity must be added to either the Moderator or Sponsor container to have the permissions granted to upload the video.
      2. Using the Admin page: When people are added to a container in the Featured Users tab, they are not granted permissions other than those listed above. If you’d like to give any Featured Users admin permissions, it is necessary to give them the desired permissions in the Admin page. For example, someone listed as a Moderator in the Featured Users page will be able to receive emails from learners, but if you do not also add that person in the Admin page and give ‘Moderator’ admin permissions, they will not be able to access the cohort, email the cohort, manage breakout groups, or view completion reports.
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  • Cohort Setup: Admins

    This article explains the different admin roles in a cohort and the permissions granted to each admin.

    What is a cohort admin?

    In each cohort, there are several people that need permissions above those of the learners, including but not limited to the Moderator and the Sponsor. Each type of admin may need a slightly different set of permissions based on their role in the learning experience, so the platform offers several admin role options that can be selected when assigning an admin to a cohort.

    How to add an admin

      1. To begin, navigate to the Admin page. 
        cohort admin panel members
      2. Type in the email address or name of the admin you’d like to add and select them when they appear. admin email address
      3. Next, from the dropdown, select the admin role for the admin. Note: As you hover over each admin role, a popup will appear showing the permissions granted for that admin role.

    admin roles

    The admin roles and their respective permissions include the following:

    Role Permissions
    Auditor
    • No rights / View only
    Cohort Champion
    • Can send emails and other notifications
    • Can view all of Community’s Diagnostic results
    • Can view the reports related to a cohort
    Course Manager
    • Can add/edit community items
    • Can delete community items
    • Can manage breakout groups in this community
    • Can manage events in this community
    • Can add and remove members from a community
    • Can add and remove news stories for this community
    • Can add and remove resources for this community
    • Can manage update activities in this community
    • Can edit and remove discussion topics
    • Can send emails and other notifications
    • Can view all of Community’s Diagnostic results
    • Can view the reports related to a cohort
    • Can hide/show Assets in Course Instance
    • Can Manage Dropboxes in Community
    Instructor
    • Can add/edit community items
    • Can delete community items
    • Can manage breakout groups in this community
    • Can send emails and other notifications
    • Can view all of Community’s Diagnostic results
    • Can view the reports related to a cohort
    • Can Manage Dropboxes in Community
    Moderator
    • Can add/edit community items
    • Can delete community items
    • Can manage breakout groups in this community
    • Can manage events in this community
    • Can manage featured users in this community
    • Can manage update activities in this community
    • Can edit and remove discussion topics
    • Can send emails and other notifications
    • Can view all of Community’s Diagnostic results
    • Can view analytics dashboards for this community
    • Can view the reports related to a cohort
    • Can hide/show Assets in Course Instance
    • Can Manage Dropboxes in Community
    Sponsor
    • Can view all of Community’s Diagnostic results
    • Can view the reports related to a cohort

    Click Add to add the admin. To remove an admin, click Remove.

    add and remove admin buttons

    If you would like any of your admins to appear on the course page and be visible to the learners in the cohort, you can add them as Featured Users.

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  • Cohort Setup: Members - Leadership Academy

    This article covers how to add learners to a cohort by bulk adding cohort members, individually adding cohort members, or copying members from another cohort. It also shows how to remove cohort members.

    How do you decide who to include in a cohort?

    When creating your cohort’s roster, it’s important to clearly define the intended audience. Consider the following questions:

    • What criteria do these learners meet that qualify them for this course?
    • Are they from the same division or should there be a mix of divisions and/or functions in the cohort?
    • Is a cohort of learners at the same career level preferred or is a mix of career levels better?

    These questions and others are important to consider when determining who to include in your cohort as well as what data fields you decide to include in your roster.

    Contact your Customer Success representative to learn more and collaborate on cohort construction for your initiative(s).

    Once ready, you can add learners into a cohort by following the steps below.  

    How to add cohort members individually

    Note: If your organization uses Single Sign On (SSO), you must add learners in bulk via CSV using the instructions below rather than adding individual learners.

      1. Navigate to the Members page. 
        cohort admin panel members
      2. Enter the learner’s email in the ‘Add a Member’ box.
        cohort add a member
      3. If the learner is already in the system, their name and email will populate in the dropdown and you can click on the name to add them as a member of the cohort. If the learner does not already have an account, you can create an account for them by clicking “Create New User Account”. 
        add member create new user account
      4. If a new account needs to be created, you will be prompted to fill in the learner’s information (learn more about what is required to create an account).

    How to add cohort members in bulk via CSV

      1. From the Members page, select the Bulk Add Members option.
        bulk add members copy members buttons
      2. There are two options for bulk adding learners, each with a step-by-step guide and an example template for your batch file.

    If all of your cohort learners are existing users in the platform, you should select the first option, Assign existing members to cohort. This option only requires a .csv file containing all learners’ email addresses in order to load them into the cohort. A template is provided for your convenience.

    bulk add members existing users

    If you are loading all new learners to the Platform or you have a mix of new and existing learners in the roster, you should select “Create new user accounts and assign them to this cohort.” A template is provided for your convenience. 

    Be sure to consider the importance of consistent, accurate, and clean data before uploading your file, as the data you include for each learner is included in reports throughout the platform. While only first name, last name, and email address are required (as well as External GUID for organizations using Single Sign On), adding data to additional fields will help provide value to your organization through our analytics capabilities.

    Please note: Accurate data is critical to both a seamless learner experience and accurate reporting. It is important to adhere to your company standards regarding the fields that should be populated and where you should obtain the data. We cannot stress enough the importance of accurate data.  An incorrect learner email address or external guid may result in that individual not being able to access the course and/or their performance data not displaying properly in our analytics dashboards.

    bulk add members new users

    How to add cohort members in bulk by copying members from another cohort

    If your cohort consists of the same learners from another cohort, you can simply copy the members into your new cohort.

      1. From the Members page, select the Copy Members option
        bulk add members copy members buttons
      2. Next, choose the cohort containing the members you’d like to copy to your new cohort. You can also optionally copy admins and featured users to the new cohort.
        copy cohort members
      3. Click Copy. The copied learners will now appear as cohort members in your new cohort.

    copy cohort members button

    How to add cohort members using self enrollment

    To learn how to use self enrollment to populate your cohort, read our article about self enrollment using course splash pages. Once learners have signed up to be a cohort member for a course, they will appear in the Members page as members of the cohort.

    How to remove a cohort member

    To remove a cohort member, simply find their name in the cohort list in the Members page and click Remove. They will no longer be able to access the course and will no longer receive emails from the platform regarding the course. Their performance data will not be included in any reports generated for the cohort.

    remove cohort member button

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  • Cohort Setup: Configure - Leadership Academy

    This article shows how to set up your cohort’s launch date, blackout dates, pacing, weekend days, and optional self-enrollment using the Configure page in the cohort setup menu.

    Once your cohort is created, you can add specific details about the cohort on the Configure page. 

    To begin, navigate to the Configure page.

    cohort admin panel configure

    Cohort Detail

    cohort admin panel configure

    In this section, you can change the name of your cohort, which can be done at any time, including after a course has launched. Best practice is to be as specific as possible when naming cohorts so that as time passes, the cohorts are easily identifiable from one another. 

    For example, we recommend including the course name, time of year, and/or audience in the cohort name. The default cohort naming convention will be <Name of Course> YYYY-MM. Note: Learners will only see the course name, not the cohort name. Only administrators and people with access to multiple cohorts at the same time will see the cohort name to ensure they find the cohort(s) they’re looking for.

    Self Enrollment

    self enrollment

    In this section, you can enable self enrollment via the course splash page. Learn more about how to create a splash page for self enrollment in a course. 

    You can also set a self enrollment limit for the cohort which will restrict the number of learners that can enroll themselves in this cohort to the number you include (Note: You can create multiple cohorts for learners to sign up for if you’d like). Additionally, you can set an enrollment close date so learners can only sign up for a certain period of time. 

    If self enrollment for a cohort is enabled in the Configure page and if a splash page has been created, learners that visit the splash page will be able to enroll in the course by adding themselves to the cohort. If self enrollment is not enabled for a cohort, learners will not be able to add themselves to that cohort.

    Note: If the maximum number of enrollments is reached, learners will no longer see the Enroll button on the splash page. Also, be sure to periodically check the number of enrollments on the cohort Members page so you can increase the maximum number of enrollments or communicate to your audience as needed if the maximum is reached.

    Pacing

    cohort pacing

    Pacing determines the dates on which course lessons and activities are to be completed by learners. By default, the platform sets each cohort to auto-paced pacing, which lays the course out such that each day of the course contains one lesson only. Learn more about course structure and the difference between activities, lessons, and modules

    If you would like to adjust the pacing of the course (e.g. having two lessons per day) to support your course design or the timeframe you’d like the course to run in, you will need to select a custom pacing, which must be created separately before appearing as an option in this section. Learn more about how to create custom pacing options for a course. 

    Start Date

    cohort start date

    The start date you select will be the first day of the course, meaning the first day on which activities are scheduled. This does not include any welcome/pre-work module activities, which are not included in pacing. Learn more about prework modules.

    For example, in the example image, the first day of course activities will be 4/4/2022. If there is a pre-work module, you would want to open the course to learners to complete the pre-work activities ahead of 4/4/2022. 

    Blackout Dates

    blackout dates

    When scheduling a course for a cohort, there may be specific dates that you do not want learners to complete activities, for example due to a holiday or a company meeting. You can skip over these days by clicking on the appropriate date(s) on the calendar in the Blackout Dates section. Since this will alter the course schedule, it is important to review the schedule of activities after adding blackout dates to ensure the course is set up as desired. This is especially true if the course contains live event activities.

    It will be helpful to toggle back to the course page for the cohort to check how the pacing, start date and blackout dates set up the schedule for your course to ensure it will run the way you’d like. You can do so by clicking View Course on the top of the Configure page. Tip: Use two tabs in your browser to toggle between the Configure page and course page.

    view course button

    Notifications

    In this section, you can optionally specify the date on which an automated email reminder will be sent to learners ahead of the course launch. The date specified in this section is the date that the reminder will be sent, not the course launch date. Best practice is to send a reminder one week ahead of the course launch date. Note: For the email to be sent, Course Enrollment Notifications must be turned on for the site by the site owner.

    cohort reminder date

    Cohort Settings

    cohort reminder date

    When the upper box in this section, related to learners viewing completion progress, is checked, learners will be able to view the completion progress of all other learners in the cohort via the red, yellow, and green Module Completion Bars and Participant Roster Report that typically only course admins have access to. Best practice is to leave this box unchecked.

    Based on best practice, the lower box is checked by default. When unchecked, the cohort’s performance data will not be visible in the High Impact Learning Dashboard, Current Courses dashboard, or Completed Courses dashboard.

    Make sure to click Save at the bottom of the page to save your work.  

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