Absorb Aura is Absorb’s AI agent for the Learner Experience. Learners can use Absorb Aura to find Courses, discover resources, request recommendations, and ask questions about learning content available to them.

Absorb Aura is available only when your organization has enabled it and granted access to your user account. System Admins can configure the Learner Agent to be available for all Learners or specific Learners. System Admins also determine which content is available for question and answer support, and whether Learners can ask questions about Course content before or after completing a Course.

Aura Learner Agent chats and course extraction for Aura consumes credits. For more information about the Aura credits system, see the Aura Credits System Overview article.

Note that the Aura Learner Agent is only available in English. 

Admin Access Controls

System Admins can control which Learners have access to Absorb Aura. These controls support phased rollouts, internal and external Learner audiences, and governance requirements.

Learner Availability

Learner access is configured from Client Settings > Aura. The selected option determines whether Absorb Aura is hidden or available in the Learner Experience.

When Specific Learners is selected, Learners must match the configured rule set to access Absorb Aura. Learners who do not match the rules will not see the Aura chat option.

Content Availability

System Admins can determine which Courses and external knowledge sources are available to Absorb Aura. This content determines what Aura can use when answering Learner questions. Aura only returns content the Learner is eligible to access, including content with Enrollment Rules.

Course question and answer availability is managed separately from Learner access. Learner access controls determine who can open Absorb Aura, while content availability settings determine which content Aura can use in responses.

For more information about External Knowledge in Aura, see the Aura Learner Agent: External Knowledge article. 

Updating Content

Changes to Course content are not automatically detected by Aura. When you update a Course in the LMS, you must re-extract that Course for the changes to take effect in Aura. 

Deleted content is no longer available after re-processing. 

For more information about Course Extraction in Aura, see the Aura Learner Agent: Course Extraction article. 

Access Absorb Aura

Absorb Aura is available from the Learner Experience when your organization has enabled access for your user account. It opens as a modal overlay, so you can ask questions without leaving the page you are viewing.

1. Access the Learner Experience.
2. Click the Aura button in the header bar.
   
    
3. Enter a question or request in the Chat Input field.
4. Click Send.

Use Absorb Aura

Learners can use Absorb Aura to search for content, request recommendations, and ask questions about learning materials available to them. Focused prompts usually produce the most useful results.

Find Courses Or Resources

Use Absorb Aura to search for Courses or resources using natural language. You do not need to know the exact title of the content.

Example prompts include:

• Are there any courses on leadership?
• Are there any resources on software development?
• I want to learn about finance.

Request Recommendations

Use recommendations when you are not sure where to start. Absorb Aura can surface content recommendations based on available learning content and recommendation data.

Example prompts include:

• Help me find recommendations.
• What should I get started with?
• What do you recommend?

Ask Questions About Courses

Absorb Aura can answer questions about course content when that content has been made available for question and answer support. Depending on your organization’s configuration, this may include completed Courses or Courses available to you in the catalog.

Example prompts include:

• I want to review topic X.
• What are the foundational pillars of topic Y?
• What does speaker X say about topic Z?

Ask Questions About External Knowledge Sources

If your organization has connected external knowledge sources, Absorb Aura may answer questions using content from those sources. External sources may include platforms such as SharePoint, Confluence, or OneDrive.

External sources must be synced by an Admin and assigned availability rules in the LMS. Absorb permissions override any source-level permissions (i.e., SharePoint permissions are not enforced directly). Syncing resources does not automatically make them available to Learners. Admins must configure which sources are connected and who can access them. 

Note that any updated content, including courses, must be re-synced for Aura to access the updated content. 

When Absorb Aura uses an external knowledge source, the response includes source attribution where available.

Review Response Sources

Absorb Aura may provide references to source material used in a response. These references help you review the original content for additional context.

Depending on the content source, Absorb Aura may provide:

• A course reference.
• A lesson reference.
• An external source reference.
• A link back to the relevant course, lesson, or source material.

Absorb Aura Actions

The Absorb Aura chat includes actions that help you start, review, copy, or close a conversation.

Manage Conversations

Absorb Aura may support conversation history so you can return to previous chats and continue where you left off.

Depending on your organization’s configuration, you may be able to:

• View previous conversations.
• Resume a prior conversation with its previous context.
• Start more than one conversation.
• Switch between conversations without losing the current thread.
• Delete individual conversations.

Supported And Unsupported Requests

Absorb Aura is designed to support learning content discovery and content-based questions. It is most effective when prompts are clear, specific, and focused on one topic.

Supported Requests

Use Absorb Aura for requests related to learning content and professional development.

• Find Courses or resources for a topic.
• Request learning recommendations.
• Ask questions about available course content.
• Ask questions about available external knowledge sources.
• Review concepts or key takeaways from learning content.

Unsupported Requests

Some requests are outside the scope of Absorb Aura. If a request is unsupported, Absorb Aura may ask you to rephrase the prompt or ask a different question.

• Questions about skills.
• Requests to perform actions on behalf of the learner.
• Complex questions that combine multiple course or resource attributes.
• Questions that are not related to learning content or professional development.
• Content that is not available to the Learner.
• Lesson types or files that are not supported for extraction.
• Global Resources are not currently supported. 

Tips For Better Results

Clear prompts help Absorb Aura return more relevant answers. The number and quality of Courses, resources, and knowledge sources available to you may also affect the results.

• Ask one question at a time.
• Use specific topics or keywords.
• Separate complex requests into multiple prompts.
• Provide clarification when Absorb Aura asks for more detail.
• Review source references before relying on an answer.
• Start a new chat if a conversation stops returning useful results.

Troubleshooting

The following section describes common issues that may occur when using Absorb Aura and how to resolve them.

Absorb Aura Cannot Support The Topic

This may occur when the prompt is not related to learning content or professional development.

To resolve this issue, ask a different question related to learning content. If the issue continues for an appropriate question, start a new chat and try again.

Absorb Aura Asks For Clarification

This may occur when a question is too broad or cannot be matched to an appropriate answer.

To resolve this issue, provide more detail or ask a more specific question.

Results Do Not Load

This may occur after Absorb Aura indicates that courses or resources are available but the expected content does not display.

To resolve this issue, ask the question again. If results still do not load, start a new chat and ask the question again.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following questions address content recommendations, data protection, and availability for Aura Learner Agent.

Does Aura Recommend Content Learners Can't Access?

No. Enrollment Rules apply to content recommended to Learners. If a Learner does not meet any Enrollment Rules for a Course, Aura will not recommend it to them. 

Does Aura Train on Portal Content?

No, Aura does not use your organization's data to train shared models across clients. Responses are generated using only your configured content and your LMS data. Your data remains isolated in your LMS environment. 

Is Aura Available in Sandbox Environments?

Aura is not available in sandbox environments. 

Related Articles

Looking for more information about Aura? You can review these articles to learn more:

• Aura Admin Assist
• Absorb AI Program Overview
• Aura Extension for Google Chrome 
• Aura for Microsoft Teams 
• Aura Credits System Overview
• Aura Learner Agent: Course Extraction
• Aura Learner Agent: External Knowledge