This article describes best practices for testing an online Course in Absorb LMS before you open it to a wider audience. The most reliable way to test a Course is to experience it exactly as a Learner would, so the recommended workflow below centers on creating a dedicated test Learner account and taking the Course through Impersonation. This article also covers supporting methods such as previewing individual Lessons, controlling Course visibility, verifying results, and troubleshooting common issues.

Why Test a Course Before Launch

Testing confirms that a Course behaves as intended before Learners encounter it. Taking the time to validate a Course helps you catch issues that are difficult to correct once Enrollments and Completions have started to accumulate. Testing typically confirms the following:

• Content launches correctly and displays as expected.
• Progress, scoring, and Completion record accurately on the Learner's Transcript.
• Certificates, follow-up Enrollments, and messages trigger as configured.
• The Course is visible to the correct audience and hidden from everyone else.

Recommended Approach: Test With a Dedicated Learner Account

Because Absorb LMS does not offer a single control that plays an entire Course as a Learner, the most accurate end-to-end test is to create a test Learner, enroll that Learner in the Course, and then experience the Course as that Learner through Impersonation. This exercises the same content launch and Completion tracking your real Learners will use.

Create a Test Learner Account

Start by creating a dedicated User whose only purpose is testing. Keeping this account separate from your own Admin account keeps your test Enrollments and Completions out of live reporting. When creating the account, place it in a Department and assign any Groups that match the intended audience so that visibility and rules apply the same way they will for real Learners.

For step-by-step instructions, see How To: Create a User.

Enroll the Test Learner in the Course

Next, enroll your test Learner in the Course you want to validate. Enrolling the test account directly lets you confirm the Course is reachable and that the Enrollment experience matches your expectations. Manage the account's Enrollments from the User Enrollments report.

For guidance on managing a specific User's Enrollments, see User Enrollments. For a broader overview of enrollment methods, see Enrollment Overview.

Experience the Course Through Impersonation

Impersonation allows an Admin with the required permission to view and use the LMS as if signed in as another User. To test the Course, locate your test Learner, click Impersonate, and then complete the Course the way a Learner would: launch each Lesson, work through the content, and finish any assessments. When you are done, click Stop Impersonating to return to your own account.

For instructions, see How To: Impersonate a User. 

For additional detail on the feature, see User Impersonation.

Additional Testing Methods

Beyond the full end-to-end test, the following methods help you validate specific parts of a Course or test in a safer environment. Choose the methods that match what you need to confirm.

Preview Individual Lessons

When editing an online Course, each Lesson in the Lesson list displays a Preview icon (labeled Preview Lesson Content). Click this icon to launch that Lesson the same way a Learner would see it, without enrolling or impersonating. This is a fast way to spot-check a single piece of content. Preview supports third-party content formats, including SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Experience API (xAPI) (also known as Tin Can), and AICC.

For background on these formats, see Third Party Courses: SCORM, AICC and Tin Can.

Verify Completion Signals for xAPI Lessons

For Experience API (xAPI) content, the Preview window can display a Debug Log that shows the statements a Lesson sends as you move through it, such as progress, score, and Completion. Click Show Details to display the log and Hide Details to collapse it, then click Close when finished. Watching these statements is a reliable way to confirm a Lesson is reporting Completion correctly before you rely on it in production.

For the statements Absorb recognizes, see Supported SCORM and xAPI Statements.

Test in a Sandbox Environment

A Sandbox Environment is a near-exact replica of your live Production Environment that lets you test new content and configuration changes without affecting live data or Learners. Use a Sandbox when you want to validate larger changes in a production-like setting before deploying them.

For details on requesting and using one, see Sandbox Environment.

Test E-Commerce Checkout

If the Course is sold through E-Commerce, test the purchase flow using approved test card numbers rather than a real card. These numbers pass validation on a test gateway so you can confirm the checkout and resulting Enrollment behave as expected.

For the list of numbers, see E-Commerce - Test Credit Card Numbers.

Control Course Visibility During Testing

Managing visibility keeps a Course hidden from Learners until it is ready. A Course is made visible or hidden using the Is Active status, which you set to Active or Inactive on the Course edit screen. Keep a Course set to Inactive while you test, then set it to Active once testing is complete.

When revising a Course that is already live, you can work on an unpublished duplicate and use the Publish action to release your changes only when they are ready. This lets you test a new version without disturbing the live Course.

For the difference between making a Course inactive and deleting it, see Deletion vs Inactivation for Courses, Curricula and Users.

Verify Results After Testing

After completing the Course as your test Learner, confirm that the results recorded correctly. Reviewing the outcomes closes the loop on your test and surfaces any tracking issues before launch.

• Check the test Learner's Transcript to confirm the Course shows as complete with the correct date and score.
• Confirm any Certificate generated as expected.
• Confirm follow-up Enrollments and messages triggered if the Course is configured to send them.

For help reading a Transcript, see The User Transcript. 

For how online Courses record Completion, see Online Courses and Completions.

Troubleshooting Common Testing Issues

The following table lists issues that commonly appear during testing, along with what to check. Work through the relevant row before escalating.

Related Testing Resources

For broader validation of your Portal before go-live, and for testing Courses authored in Absorb Create, the following articles are useful companions to this one:

• How To: Perform User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
• User Acceptance Testing
• Testing and Optimizing Your Course for Publishing (Absorb Create)