How do I create a Course in Connect Training?

Posted on by ianjustingetconnect

‘Connect Training’ is the LMS side of the Connect family.   It is essentially a tracking module for connect that allows you to manage the progress of a learner in your system.  You can track pass and fail, completion, scores etc.


To understand the options within Connect Training please see here


This article covers creating a Course (single learning module) in Connect Training


The Course is essentially a ‘tracking-wrapper’ that we can put around content under the ‘content’ tab in Connect.  The content that can be uploaded into the Content tab is limited to *.ppt, *.pptx, *.flv, *.swf, *.pdf, *.gif, *.jpg, *.png, *.mp3, *.zip, *.html.  You can also move Connect Meeting recordings over to the Content section and use these in conjunction with Connect Training


Some of this content can be tracked at the question and progress level (Adobe Presenter for example) and other content is essentially something that can be marked as ‘complete’ or ‘incomplete’ (an .flv video for example)


Note – an object without inbuilt tracking will be marked ‘complete’ is it is opened, Connect Training does not determine for example that an .flv video was watched all the way through, just that it was opened.  The best way to check that it has been watched is to ask questions about it in another module and test retention and comprehension (see creating a curriculum here)


To create a course, first navigate to the ‘Training’ tab in connect Central and then select ‘New Course’


We will walk through the form and aim to explain the significance of each field as we go (see Figure 1 for the first page)


‘Course Name’ – is required and needs to be unique


‘Course ID’ –  you can choose to add an identifier that works with your internal tracking systems if you desire


‘Custom URL’ – this is the only time you will have the option to add a unique URL for the course that simplifies the link sent to Learners.  This cannot be duplicated elsewhere in Connect (note that you do not need to add the ‘/’ you see in Figure 1, that is added by connect, you just type ‘hs1’ in this particular case)


‘Summary’ – a more detailed description of the Course


‘Course Start’ and ‘Course Close’ information – I think you can work this one out for yourselves!  Just remember that if you have a ‘Close Date’ on the course then it will no longer be available to Learners


‘Max Attempts’ – if you do give people multiple attempts then be conscious that you might want to shuffle questions, answers and use the options to draw form a ‘pool’ of questions in the content creation tool to ensure that the learning is not just by memory of the answer order as opposed to true comprehension of the materials


‘Max Possible Score’ – I have personally always set this in the content so it is not typically relevant to me as the content will override the Course score settings


Click ‘Next’ to move to the next page


Figure 1


You will now have the option to choose the content around which you will ‘wrap’ the Course, navigate to the content you desire and select it (see Figure 2), then click ‘Next’


Figure 2

Now you have the option to enroll Learners into your course.  You can select individual or multi-select people to add, or select a ‘Group’ you have created to move many people at the same time.  In this case (Figure 3) I have just added myself by selecting the name in the lefthand column and then selecting ‘Add’

Again, click ‘Next’ to advance to the next page

Figure 3
You now have the option to send initial ‘Notifications’ to your enrolled Learners, let’s walk through the form and the options (Figure 4).  An example e-mail notification can bee seen in Figure 4a

‘Do not send a notification’ – in this case no notifications will be sent to the Learners (you may prefer to send a notification yourself through your own mail system)

‘Send notification now’ – this will send a notification immediately you complete the Course creation

‘Send notification on start date’ – this will look to the dates you set for the Course earlier in the creation process and send the information at that time (if you want to defer notice and maybe set your training to start say at the start of the month)

‘Send on’ – allows you to choose the notification timing specifically

The message itself is determined in the next section

Note – the e-mail notification messages will be sent from the Training Manager, in this case, most likely yourself.  some mail systems do not allow messages to be sent by employees form outside of the company (as it assumes this is a malicious ‘spoofing’ of the address).  In that case you might want to speak to your IT folks on how to address this, maybe even create a special e-mail address that you can use to create Courses in Connect that will be more friendly to your mail system)

‘Recipients’ – you can determine whether you want to send the messages to just to a few folks or everyone in the Course form here.  The message body itself can be changed from the next section and you can include the information to add the Course as an appointment to either Outlook  or Mac (iCal) by using the checkbox for that purpose

Note – any of the fields in parentheses are ‘run-time’ fields that are populated with Course information at the time of sending so although you can edit the text, be sure to use these fields thoughtfully and in the correct context.  the run-time fields are shown to the top-right of the page for your reference

Click ‘Next’

Figure 4
Figure 4a

You are enrolled in the following course that you may be required to complete.

course: Freds Bicycle Repair Shop Health and Safety 1 (fred-001)

To access the course go to this URL: http://getconnect.acrobat.com/hs1/

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat and Acrobat Connect are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Now you have the option to set up ‘Reminders’.  these are ongoing messages to the Learners (as opposed to the initial ‘Notification’ we made earlier.  A typical scenario for these reminders is outlined in Figure 5 and below

First we choose to ‘Send course reminders’ (the default is to ‘disable course reminders’), as this is a course limited to one month in duration, I have chosen to set the reminders to begin 3 weeks into the Course and to be send ‘Daily’ to ‘Enrollees who have failed or not completed the course’.  Essentially I am giving the enrollees 3 weeks to complete the Course and then sending them a daily reminder if they have failed to complete the requirements

You may have your own scenarios of course, but this give you an idea of how this can be used to automate some of the processes

Click ‘Finish’ and you are done completing your Course.  Notifications will be sent and your Learners can being their training

Figure 5

Post Course Creation options

Notifications and Reminders – If you want to send more messages to your Learners then you can still select the ‘Notifications’ tab and send additional reminders to your enrolled Learners

Adding Learners – you can add additional Learners to the Course by using the ‘Manage Enrollees tab.  Similarly if you have added a Group to the Course then you can ‘drop’ Learners into that Group to ensure they have the right to take the Course.  When you add Learners after the Course has been created you have the option to also send them a notification from the ‘Manage Enrollees’ section

Training Catalogue – you may make the Course available as a part of your Training Catalogue for ‘self-enrollment’.  This process is covered here