Overview 

Through our Next Generation Learner Experience, we have worked to streamline online course workflows to adopt a pattern similar to many industry-standard content platforms (ex. YouTube). These changes meet our overall goals of simplicity, efficiency, and engagement. We have accomplished this by adding the following new elements: 

• Online Course Discovery Modal that is consistently accessible by clicking on dashboard elements.
• Online Course Player that:
  • A) is consistently and quickly accessible by clicking on an action button from dashboard elements and the discovery modal, and
  • B) fully immerses the learner in lesson playing in the context of course information. That is, the Start action will take the learner directly into the course and lesson playing (removing the cumbersome interstitial Course Details page that required learners to jump in and out to complete multiple lessons and tasks associated with their training course).

This article will discuss the workflow changes in Online Course Discovery and Playing.

Admin & Learner Impact

Once the Next Generation Learner Experience toggle is enabled, the online course workflow will appear different to Learners. Learners will be able to experience the workflow enhancements by clicking on dashboard elements and the discovery modal.

Setup Instructions

Enabling the Next Generation Learner Experience

For Admins and Learners to take advantage of the streamlined online course workflow, the Next Generation LE toggle must be enabled. 

A System Admin can navigate to Portal Settings > Users Tab to enable the Next Generation LE toggle. You must be a System Admin to access Portal Settings. Learn more.

Improvements

As Learners navigate through the Dashboard, there is different information needed by a learner. That is when in discovery mode, they are trying to decide which course or learning opportunity to pursue next, versus when they have the knowledge and are ready to dive into learning content.  Absorb has reworked the Dashboard elements of the Learner Interface to encompass both discovery and playing workflow.

Discovery 

• Dashboard card & list elements will afford clicking on the element, including the thumbnail & title, to discover more about the course.
• The new Discovery modal displays all of the information the learner needs to determine if this is the learning opportunity they are seeking. That information includes: 
  • Overview with course description, Expiry & Due Dates, & Outcomes
  • Lessons
  • Resources
  • Reviews with peer Ratings & Comments
  • Pre-requisites, etc.
• The new Discovery modal affords even more effective use of course Poster(s) 
• There will still be secondary actions to simply Enroll in the course from both the Dashboard elements and the Discovery modal
• Secondary actions, like Pin, Share & Unenroll, will also be available from both dashboard elements and the Discovery modal

Playing 

• Dashboard card/list elements will afford to click on the action button (e.g. Start, Resume) to take the Learner directly into playing the content at the first lesson or at the lesson that they left off
• The Learner is fully immersed and encapsulated in the context of the Course details (at the bottom of the player) and the Lessons and Course Tasks (e.g. Uploads, Evaluations) required (on the right navigation of the player)

Note: There is no longer a “Course Details” page from which a Learner needs to launch in and out of lessons. See below: 

Changes

The above Course Details page has been removed from the Learner workflow. 

The new Course Player ensures the following are still supported:

• • All course access (e.g. pre-requisites, terms & conditions, expiry)
  • Lesson types (Object, Video, SCORM, Tin Can, Assessment, etc.) 
  • Lesson transition states (Third-party completion, Proctored lessons, etc.)

In addition, the learner receives a warning and is less likely to exit the course player before third-party lesson completion is received by the LMS, which reduces the likelihood of lost progress.

There will still be secondary actions to simply Enroll in the course from both the Dashboard elements and the Discovery modal, but to reiterate, the primary action is jumping into and streamlining time to learning.

Tips

• If a Learner attempts to Start an online course, that has incomplete pre-requisites, from a dashboard element, they will be directed to the Discovery modal to see and navigate to the required pre-requisite training.