Create a New Learning Program

There are essentially two parts to a learning program. The first part is the learning program itself which contains the title, description, business objective and content. The second part is the cohort which is the group of people who go through the program together at the same time. A learning program can contain multiple cohorts that each have different due dates, different social collaboration spaces, and different notifications.

Site Admins: Site Admins and any other admin role with the manage Programs privilege.

To create a new learning program

1. From the left navigation bar, select Learning > Learning programs. The Learning Program page displays.
2. Select Create Learning Program. The Create Learning Program workflow displays with five steps.



3. Step 1: Describe your program

   Enter all the details describing your program.

   1. Program title: Use a convention that makes sense to learners and that is easy for you to find in the Learning program list.
   2. Program description: Enter text that describes what the learners can expect to get out of the learning program. This displays to your learners in the program details. This also helps other admins understand why the program was created.

   3. Category: Using the drop-down list, select a category for the program you are creating.

      Available Categories

      • Certification: Use when the goal is to help learners earn a certification.
      • Compliance: Use when the goal is focused on compliance.
      • Cultural: Use when the goal is to promote or inform learners about company culture.
      • Leadership: Use when the goal is to advance and encourage growth for managers and leaders.
      • Onboarding: Use when the goal is to facilitate new employe training and orientation.
      • Upskilling: Use when the goal is to help learners acquire or advance a skill set.
      • Other: Use when none of the other available types apply.
   4. Business objective: Using the drop-down list, associate the business reason as to why you are creating the program.
      This association is used to build alignment metrics for your organization. You can select from 10 Skillsoft objectives and up to 10 custom objectives. If you do not yet have 10 custom objectives defined, you can create a new one by selecting Create new from the drop down list as long as you are a user with a site or domain admin role. Any custom business objectives you create here also show on the Business Objective list page. These metrics are available from the Learning programs dashboard.
      
      Available Business Objectives

      • Cost control: Formal and informal efforts made by managers to monitor, evaluate, and reduce expenditures.
      • Customer satisfaction: Efforts focused on increasing the number of customers whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services exceeds specified satisfaction goals.
      • Employee engagement: Quality and quantity of discretionary effort employees are willing to apply to the organization and its goals.
      • Revenue Growth: Efforts designed to increase the revenue an organization derives from its products and services to customers.
      • Innovation: The creation and capture of new value in the marketplace, including new products and services
      • Operational effectiveness: Practices that enable the organization to better utilize its operations resources and better implement its processes and procedures
      • Quality: Improvement in the quality of products and services produced and delivered by the organization
      • Workforce productivity: Amount and impact of work delivered by an employee or group of employees in a specific period of time.
      • Legal compliance and risk mitigation: Effort to remain compliant with legal requirements.
      • Workplace safety and health compliance: Effort to remain compliant with safety and health regulations.
   5. Add a goal: Optionally enter, using free form text, what you are trying to achieve by implementing this program. Defining a goal helps you define success criteria.
   6. Program feedback: Select Feedback survey on program page if you want to give the learners an opportunity to provide feedback about the learning program. You can choose a standard Skillsoft survey or your own survey. If you choose a standard Skillsoft survey, you see results on the Learning Feedback dashboard.
   7. Completion certificate: Select this option if you want to allow learners to download a certificate of completion once they complete the program. If you choose to send the End of program email, learners see an option to download the certificate in the email. This certificate is different from the course and journey completion certificate. You can add logos to the completion certificate from Site Branding.

      

4. After you describe your assignment, you can do one of three things:
   1. Cancel: closes the learning program without saving changes.
   2. Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
   3. Next: Add journey: saves your current changes and takes you to the next step.
5. Step 2: Add content

   1. Indicate whether you require learners to complete the content in the designated order by selecting Content items must be completed in the display order specified. If you select this box, learners cannot access the next item in the list until they complete the previous item.
   2. Add any content items by selecting Add content.
      Note: When choosing content to add to an program, you can choose any content from all license pools installed on your site. If your users do not have access the content because their audience is not associated with the appropriate license pool, they see the learning program without any content and cannot complete it.
   3. In the search field, enter keywords or titles of the content you want to include. Select the magnifying glass  or press Enter.
   4. Select  next to the content you want to add to the learning program.
   5. Select Add Content.
   6. Use the handles or the up and down arrows on each content card to change the order of the content. Arrange it in the order that you prefer learners to go through it.
6. After you add content and have it arranged in the appropriate order, you can do one of three things:
   1. Cancel: closes the program without saving any changes up to this point.
   2. Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
   3. Next: Manage cohort(s): saves your current changes and takes you to the next step.
7. Step 3: Manage cohort(s)

   A cohort is a group of learners who move through a learning program together. You can add learners individually or as part of an audience.

   You can create two types of cohorts:

   • Required/optional: In this type of cohort you either enroll the learners automatically requiring them to participate or you invite them to participate.
   • Self-enrolled: In this type of cohort, you allow learners to self discover the program and enroll themselves. You can only create one self-enrolled cohort.

   To create a required/optional cohort, select Create required/optional cohort, then:

   1. Give the cohort a name in the Cohort name field. This only shows to admins on the Learning Program page.
   2. Select Add users and audiences.
      1. In the search field, enter the name of an audience or individual learner.
      2. Locate the audience(s) or user(s) you want to add to the cohort and select . If you select audiences instead of individual users, then users automatically get added to and removed from a program based on the values in the user attribute set in the audience.
      3. Repeat these steps until you've added all users and/or audiences.
      4. Select Done.
         Note: If you remove a learner from an audience that is part of a cohort and the learner is enrolled in the program but has not completed the program, the program still displays for the learner in their program list. If the learner has not yet enrolled in the program, the program is removed from their program list.
   3. Choose how you want users in the cohort to join the program. You can select either:
      • Required: Enroll learners: When you select this option, learners are automatically enrolled and cannot unenroll. They are required to complete the program unless an admin unenrolls them.
      • Optional: Invite learners to enroll: When you select this option, you are inviting learners to participate. To participate they must enroll. If they change their minds, they can unenroll.
   4. Enrolled by: This is the name your learners see as the person who enrolled or invited them to enroll. By default your name is selected. Select the other radio button and enter another name if they should see something else like perhaps a department or a leader's name.
   5. Set program start and end dates: Choose by when learners must complete the learning program.
      Specific date

      If you add a user or audience to this learning program cohort while it is in an In Progress status, those learners must complete the learning program by the specified End date. If you want all users to have the same number of days to complete a program, regardless of when you add them to it, use the Number of days option or create another cohort.

      Start and end dates are in GMT.

      1. Enter a Start date.
      2. Enter an End date.

      Note: If a learner is added to an audience of a program cohort that has a specific end date, and that end date has passed, the learner will receive the program as overdue in their program list. To avoid this scenario, add the user to a different cohort.
      Number of days

      If you add a user to a program (or if you add a user to an audience that is part of a program cohort), they receive the program with a relative due date.

      Start and end dates are in GMT.

      1. Enter a Start date.
      2. Enter the number of Days to complete.
      Note: Days to complete is calculated for each user based on the day the user is added to the cohort for required programs and when the learner enrolls for optional programs. For example, if you create a cohort on October 1 and set the Days to complete to 15, the due date for the users and audiences is October 15. If a new user is added to the cohort on October 5 (when the cohort has a status of In Progress), their due date is October 20.
      No due date

      You can also choose to specify No due date. This keeps the learning program active for the cohort indefinitely or until you archive it. The best use case of a no due date learning program is a wellness program where you want learners to build a habit of a healthy life style and keep up to date week after week.

   6. Optionally, link to a Social platform: Choose whether to add a link to a dedicated space in a social platform where learners in this cohort can collaborate on this program. The link shows to the learner when they access the learning program and in email notifications.

      To add a link to a social platform

      1. Select the type of social platform, either Microsoft Teams or Slack.
      2. Go to your social platform and create a space or channel for the cohort to collaborate.
      3. From the platform, copy the link to the channel.
      4. Paste the information into the Channel field.

   7. Optionally, Set leaderboard visibility. When checked, this option allows learners to view a leaderboard to see how they rank with others enrolled in the cohort for progress in the learning program. Leaderboards are great ways to keep learners motivated and engaged to achieve completion.

    

   To create a self-enrolled cohort, select Create self-enrolled cohort, then:

   1. Give the cohort a name in the Cohort name field. This only shows to admins on the Learning Program page.
   2. For self-enrolled cohorts we recommend that you keep the default of All users audience. If you want to be selective, select Add users and audiences.:
      1. In the search field, enter the name of an audience or individual learner.
      2. Locate the audience(s) or user(s) you want to add to the cohort and select . If you select audiences instead of individual users, then users automatically get added to and removed from a program based on the values in the user attribute set in the audience.
      3. Repeat these steps until you've added all users and/or audiences.
      4. Select Done.
         Note: If you remove a learner from an audience that is part of a cohort and the learner is enrolled in the program but has not completed the program, the program still displays for the learner in their program list. If the learner has not yet enrolled in the program, the program is removed from their program list.
   3. Set program start and end dates: .
      Start date

      Start and end dates are in GMT. Enter a Start date that the program becomes visible to the cohort.

      End date: Number of days

      If you add a user to a program (or if you add a user to an audience that is part of a program cohort), they receive the program with a relative due date.

      Enter the number of Days to complete.

      Note: Days to complete is calculated for each user based on the day the user enrolls in the program. For example, if a user enrolls on October 1 and the Days to complete is set to 15, the due date for the users is October 15. If another user enrolls on October 5, their due date is October 20.
      No due date

      You can also choose to specify No due date. This keeps the learning program active for the cohort indefinitely or until you archive it. The best use case of a no due date learning program is a wellness program where you want learners to build a habit of a healthy life style and keep up to date week after week.

   4. Optionally, link to a Social platform: Choose whether to add a link to a dedicated space in a social platform where learners in this cohort can collaborate on this program. The link shows to the learner when they access the learning program and in email notifications.
   5. To add a link to a social platform
      1. Select the type of social platform, either Microsoft Teams or Slack.
      2. Go to your social platform and create a space or channel for the cohort to collaborate.
      3. From the platform, copy the link to the channel.
      4. Paste the information into the Channel field.

   6. Optionally, Set leaderboard visibility. When checked, this option allows users to view a leaderboard to see how they rank with others enrolled in the cohort for progress in the learning program. Leaderboards are great ways to keep learners motivated and engaged to achieve completion.

8. After you add the details for the first cohort, you can do one of three things:
   1. Cancel: closes the new program without saving any changes up to this point.
   2. Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
   3. Next: Finish creating cohort: saves your current changes and returns you to the Manage cohort step where you can add another cohort. When you are done adding cohorts, you can select Next: Manage notifications.
9. Step 4: Manage notifications

   This is where you specify how you want to notify learners in each cohort about the program. You can choose initial notifications, reminder notifications, and completion notifications separately for each cohort. You can customize each email. To see sample emails, see Learning Program Notifications.

   From the Manage emails step, first select the cohort whose emails you want to manage. Then under each of the three notification tabs, select and configure the three types of notifications you want to send.

   

   • Initial notifications: There are up to three types of initial notifications. If your program is required for the cohort, you only see the Welcome email. If you configured your cohort with a social collaboration platform, you see the option to post a notification to that platform. If your program is optional for the cohort, you see an additional notification that invites learners to enroll. After they enroll, they then get the Welcome email.

     Some important information about initial notifications:

     • When you first launch a program, you can choose when learners receive the first email by specifying a date. If the program is required, you specify a date for the Welcome email. If the program is optional, you specify a date for Invitation email.
     • If the learner enrolls after receiving the Invitation email, they then immediately get the Welcome email.
     • If learners get added after the initial email launch date, they automatically receive the first email as soon as they are added to the cohort.
     • Turn off the settings if you don't want to send that notification email.
     • You can have any of these notifications off and still send reminder emails.
     • Learners can choose to manage the frequency of the email notifications for self-enrolled programs.
     • If you want Percipio to send an email to the social platform, you must add the email address by selecting Add channel email address and turn on the Welcome message.
     • You can add a custom message to each notification when you select Customize and preview email.
       • Add a customized subject for the email or keep the default.
       • Add customized header text for the email or keep the default
       • Add any introductory text to the email template.
       • If you will be adding more cohorts to your learning program in the future, you can select the option to Use this as the default welcome message for new cohorts. Any customizations you make carry forward to the new cohort's notifications. You can edit notifications independently for each cohort if you want by changing the cohort at the top of the Manage notifications page.
   • Reminder emails: You can turn on this option if you want learners to receive emails after the notification email reminding them that they have a learning program. You can configure how often these emails go to learners.
     • If you set up a social platform, you can send reminders to the platform. If you did not add a channel email address for initial notifications, you must add it here.
     • Reminder emails are off by default.
     • You can add a custom message to each notification when you select Customize and preview email
       • Add any introductory text to the email template.
       • If you will be adding more cohorts to your learning program in the future, you can select the option to Use this as the default welcome message for new cohorts. Any customizations you make carry forward to the new cohort's notifications. You can edit notifications independently for each cohort if you want by changing the cohort at the top of the Manage notifications page.
     • Learners get the reminders until either they complete the learning program, you turn the reminders off, or you archive the learning program.
     • From the Learning program page, when you choose to Send a reminder from the actions menu, the reminder email with any customizations you added for that cohort sends to all learners in the cohort.
   • Completion notifications: You can turn on this option if you want learners to receive a celebratory email after they complete the program. Completion notifications are off by default.
10. After you configure and preview your emails, you can do one of three things:
    • Cancel: closes the learning program without saving any changes up to this point.
    • Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
    • Next: Review and launch: saves your current changes and takes you to the next step.

11. Step 5: Review all your settings for this learning program. Edit anything that looks amiss.

12. When you are ready, select one of the following options:

• Cancel: closes the learning program without saving any changes up to this point.
• Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
• Next: Launch program: Takes you to the final confirmation page.

13. When you are ready, select one of the following options:

    • Save as draft: closes the new learning program, saves your changes into a Draft status, and returns you to the Learning Program page. You can modify this program later.
    • Launch program: Places the learning program for each cohort you added into one of the following statuses:
• If the Start date is today, the learning program and cohort is placed in an In progress status and the program is immediately available to your learners. The initial email notification with the program details sends at the date and time you specified in step 9. Modifications to the program content cannot be made, but you can make changes to the journey and edit the program and cohort details.
• If the Start date is in the future, the learning program is placed In progress and the cohort is placed in a Scheduled status and the email notification, if enabled, sends at the date and time you specified in step 9. Modifications to the program content cannot be made, but you can make changes to the journey and edit the program and cohort details.

Learning programs with the same due date are listed by when the program is launched, in ascending order, on a learner's Program page and on the home page.