A core relationship in Absorb LMS is found between a Course and a User. This relationship is known as an Enrollment. A User cannot access a Course unless they are enrolled in that Course. Enrollment into a Course provides access, and tracks actions taken while interacting with the Course such as Completion Status or Score. From this perspective an Enrollment can be considered both an entrance ticket, and a container for User specific Course activity.

An Enrollment is only ever associated with one User. The relationship between Enrollment and User is 1:1. If multiple Users all require Enrollment into the same Course, even if they are enrolled at the same time, they will each possess their own unique Enrollment into that Course.

How Enrollments are Created

Most commonly, an Enrollment is created when a Learner navigates to a Course they are interested in, and Self Enroll into the Course. An Enrollment of this kind is based on Enrollment Rules, Course Availability and Prerequisites.

There are multiple different methods a User can become Enrolled in a Course. Automatic Enrollment Rules will enroll any User who meets the definition set. Enrollment Keys may be distributed to directly enroll existing or new Users into content. If you are using E-Commerce a Learner may purchase the Course which grants Enrollment.

It is important to manage the methods of Enrollment used by your organization and document this information so as to prevent unexpected Enrollments. Make sure to test Automatic Enrollment Rules, or confirm the correct content is available for Self Enrollment.

Enrollments Methods

As there are multiple methods for a User to enroll into a Course. Absorb LMS differentiates between the methods of enrollment by tracking Enrollment Method. The different types of Enrollment Method are:

• Admin
• API Re-enrollment
• Automatic
• Mandatory
• Re-enrollment
• Self
• System

For more information about Enrollment Methods review the following documentation:

• Enrollment Method Legend

Enrollment Approval

This section will cover the different ways that Enrollment Approval is handled within Absorb:

Enable Enrollment Approval for Courses

Courses can be configured to require Approval upon Self-Enrollment. This can be configured under the Availability tab when editing a Course. With approval settings in place, the User in charge of Approval will receive a notification requesting Approval following a Learner's Enrollment in a Course. Once an Admin approves an Enrollment, the Learner will then be able to access the Course.

As displayed in the above image, there are five different settings for Approval:

You will then want to determine whether or not an Approval Request message is sent to the individual responsible for performing the approval. You can toggle this message on under the Messages Tab. This option will only appear if the Course requires Approval.

Bypassing Approval

Enrollment Approval is only enforced when Learners Self-Enroll in Courses via the Course Catalog. Enrollment Approval following other means of Enrollment would contradict the intended functionality.

The following enrollment types will bypass a Course's Enrollment Approval process:

• Admin enrollment
• Automatic enrollment
• Enrollment Key enrollment
• E-Commerce purchases
• Course enrollment through a curriculum/course bundle

Messaging

When a Learner enrolls in a Course that has Approval settings in place, there are a number of different Message Templates available. The following Templates are pre-built in the LMS:

Our pre-built Message Templates are particularly useful for Learners who may not be familiar with the Approval process, and receiving these can help to avoid confusion on their end. For Users in charge of Approval, this is a great way to automatically keep up to date with Enrollments for your Courses.

Approval for Instructor Led Courses and Sessions

The process of Approval is a little bit different for Instructor Led Courses, as Approval settings can exist both at the Course level and the Session level. While Course Approval can be found under the Enrollment tab when editing a Course, Session Approval can be found under the Enrollment tab when editing a Session. If an ILC and its Sessions have Approval Settings in place, in order to gain Enrollment to a Session you will need to:

• Self-enroll into the Course
• Have your Course Enrollment approved
• Self-Enroll in a Session belonging to that Course
• Have your Session Enrollment approved

This process is particularly useful for ILC and Sessions because it allows each Session to have its Enrollments approved by different Users. For instance, when various Instructors are in charge of different Sessions all belonging to the same ILC, they can approve Enrollments in their own Sessions.

When building your Instructor Led Courses, it is important to consider whether you would like Approval at the Course level and/or the Session level. There are unique Enrollment and Approval Messages for each option.

How To Approve Enrollments

There are two ways a User can approve an Enrollment:

• Via the Approval Request email.
• Via the Admin Experience.

To Approve or Deny an Approval via an Approval Request email, you will need to select the relevant hyperlink which you will receive in the email. The following is an image of how those links will appear to you in the email:

Users in charge of Approval can also grant Approval via the Admin Experience. This may be your preference if you expect to Approve/Deny a large volume of Enrollments and do not want excessive emails. Approvals in the Admin Experience are performed from either the Course or Session Approvals Report:

The Report will display Enrollments awaiting Approval:

To Approve or Deny an Enrollment, select a User from the list and use the appropriate Action on the right-hand side of the Report:

The Learner Experience

A Learner will be able to discover, and Enroll into a Course that requires Approval like any other Course. Once the User Enrolls into the Course, they will discover the Pending Approval advisory. This advisory indicates that the User requires Approval prior to accessing the Course Content. Once Approval is granted, if the Message Template is enabled, the Learner will receive an email confirmation their Enrollment is approved.

If Session Approval is also required, they will see the below notification message indicating that their registration is Pending Approval. Once this too has been approved, they will receive another email notification that they have been Enrolled in the Session.

More Information

The following section addresses additional information related to Enrollment in Absorb LMS.

Admin Enrollment

When an Administrator performs an Administrator Enrollment, this will bypass all Enrollment Rules, Course Visibility Rules or Prerequisites. An Admin Enrollment is intended to supersede any restrictions placed on Enrollment, so long as the Admin has the required permissions and visibility.

Other restrictions placed on the Course such as Access Date or Expiry Date will not effect a User who has received an Admin Enrollment.

When using Admin Enrollment, consider this to be a use of the Administrators ability to manually apply change, compared to a Self or Automatic Enrollment which follows the standard order of operations.

Creating a Historic Enrollment

A Historic Enrollment only exists when a User has been Re-enrolled into a Course. Re-enrolling into a Course sets the current/original Enrollment into an inactive state known as Historic. The User then receives a new Enrollment into the Course following the Re-enrollment.

Un-enrolling a User from a Course does not create a Historic Enrollment as this is not replacing the active Enrollment with a new one, but removing the active Enrollment altogether. Only Re-enrolling a User into a Course will create a Historic Enrollment.

Course Expiration Prevents Enrollment

If a Course has set an Expiry Date and the set date has been exceeded, Learners will not be able to Self Enroll into the Course even if they correctly meet the Availability Rules.