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How to Create an Instructor Led Course (ILC)

Tony Mirasola

An Instructor Led Course (ILC) is a course type in the LMS used to facilitate and track synchronous, live training. The main difference between an Instructor Led Course and an Online Course is the Sessions feature, which allows an Instructor Led Course to facilitate live training. An Instructor Led Course can have multiple Sessions for Learners to select and enroll themselves in, though a Learner may only enroll in one Session for a specific ILC. Sessions can have recurring Classes within them.

If you would like a mix of synchronous and asynchronous training, we recommend creating a Curriculum and using a mix of Online Courses and ILCs. You can learn more about Curricula here.

This article will guide you through how to create and manage an Instructor Led Course, and the various options available to tailor it to your organization's needs.

Important
  • Automatic Enrollments are not an option for ILCs because the Learner must select the Session they wish to attend.
  • Learners can only be enrolled in one Session within an ILC.  When their attendance is marked, they will then receive a completion for the ILC. If the Learner re-enrolls into the ILC then they can enroll in another Session for that Course.
    • Note: If the "Enable ILC Multiple Session Enrollment" Toggle is ON within the Portal Settings, Learners may enroll into multiple ILC Sessions. To receive an ILC completion, Learners must complete each Session they are enrolled in.
  • Add to Calendar will pull information placed in the Session Description field and not from the Session Enrollment email.
  • Cancelling an ILC Session will not unenroll Learners from the ILC itself. Learners will need to choose a new Session or be unenrolled from the ILC.
  • A Waitlist will expire either 24 hours prior to a Session start time, or once the Enrollment End Date has passed, whichever occurs first. 

Creating an Instructor Led Course

The following steps will walk through setting up an ILC. These are the required steps for creating an ILC; for additional options and common settings in ILC Courses, please see the An Overview of ILC Course Settings article.

How to Create an ILC

Navigate to Add ILC.gif

  1. In the Admin Experience, navigate to the Courses Report from the Courses tab on the left.
  2. Select Add Instructor Led on the right. This will open the Add Instructor Led Course page. 
  3. Begin by expanding the General tab and entering information such as Course Name and Description.
  4. Next, move to the Sessions tab. This section is where you will add upcoming Instructor Led Sessions for Learners to enroll into. If you require further details on how to set up a Session, please see the Sessions section of this article. 
  5. Configure the Enrollment Rules and Course Administrators tabs to select which Users have access to this course.
  6. Click Publish.

 

Sessions

A Session allows you to facilitate asynchronous, live training in a physical or virtual location as part of an ILC. Once a Learner is enrolled in an ILC, they will then select the Session that they would like to attend. A Venue is not required for an ILC Session but is a valuable way to communicate where your live training will be held.

A Session can have a Class that occurs once or several times. The cadence for Recurring Classes must be on a regular schedule, just like setting up an Outlook calendar invitation. Recurring Classes occur with the Time, Instructor(s), and Location fields remaining the same for each Class occurrence.

Creating a Session

Follow these instructions to add a new Session to an existing ILC:

Navigate to Add Session.gif

  1. In the Admin Interface, navigate to the Courses Report from the Courses tab on the left.
  2. Select the ILC you would like to add a Session to from the Courses list.

    Note: You must create an ILC before you can create a Session, as every Session must be associated with an ILC.

  3. Click Edit in the left-hand menu.
  4. Expand the Sessions tab, and select Add Session. This action will launch the Add Session pop-up modal.
  5. The Session modal is where you will configure Session settings. The settings are divided into three sections: Details, Enrollment, and Attributes. These sections are detailed in the succeeding topics of this article, with required fields marked by an * asterisk.

 

Details Tab

Details Tab

Field Name Description

Title*

 The name of this Session. This information is visible to both Learners and Admins.

Description

The description of this Session. This field is visible to Learners and is typically used to communicate information about the Session.

Note: The LMS includes this field in the ICS calendar invite file that is emailed to Users. Formatting is removed in order to avoid readability issues with programs such as Microsoft Outlook or Apple Calendar.

Change Log / Notes

 This field is used to share information with other Admins about adjustments made to the Session. It is not visible to Learners.

Instructors

 The Instructor that is facilitating the Session. Click this field to search for and select the Session Instructor(s). Users in the LMS that have the Instructor Role toggled to ON in their User Account will display in this drop-down list.

Note: The LMS will validate the Instructor’s schedule before allowing the Admin to assign that Instructor to the Session. This prevents them from being scheduled into more than one Session that occurs at the same time.

Venue

The location where the Session will be held. The Venue displays as the Location on the Session Details when a user is enrolling or has enrolled in the Session. The Venue can also be included in the Enrollment Email and the Session Enrollment Email. For more information regarding Venues, please see the Instructions: Add Venue article. 

Note: The Hide ILC Location URL feature can be used to remove the URL from the Catalog view and will only allow Learners enrolled in the ILC to see the URL. This feature is found in Manage Templates > Courses.

Class Start Date and Time*

The time that the Session will begin.

Note: Learners viewing ILC Session dates and times will automatically see the date and time converted to their computer's time zone. 

Class End Date and Time*

The time that the Session will finish.

Note: Learners viewing ILC Session dates and times will automatically see the date and time converted to their computer's time zone.

Time Zone*

The Time Zone that this Session will be held in. The Default Time Zone selected in Portal Settings > Default will default in this field.

Note: If you would like an ILC Session's start or end times to reflect the Learner's local time, the time zone must be set to UTC. If this field is not set to UTC, the Session times will not reflect the Learner's local time.

Add Recurring Classes*

This field allows you to schedule a Session to have more than one recurring Class. The default selection is None, which means that the Session will only occur one time.

Note:

  • Sessions can have recurring Classes. In this case, Learners will have to attend more than one Class to complete the Session.
  • Recurring Classes occur with the Time, Instructor(s), and Location fields remaining the same for each occurrence. The cadence must be on a regular schedule, just like setting up an Outlook calendar invitation.

 

Enrollment Tab

Enrollment Tab

Field Name Description 

Allow Self Enrollment

This field is used to determine which Learners, if any, can enroll themselves in a Session. The available options are as follows:

  • Off: Learners are unable to self-enroll in or see the Session.
  • Specific: Only the Learners who meet the Self Enrollment Rule conditions can enroll in the Session. Select the Add Rule button to create Enrollment Rules.
  • All Learners: All Learners can self-enroll in the Session. If E-Commerce is enabled, the Session will also be publicly available.

Note: Learners must be enrolled in the ILC or be able to self-enroll in the ILC to enroll in a Session.

Approval

This field is used to determine which Admin, if any, will be required to approve a Session enrollment before a Learner is successfully enrolled into the Session. The Learner will select which Session they would like to enroll in, and then an approval request will be sent to the Admin identified by the following options:

  • None: No approval is required for Learners to enroll. When a Learner self-enrolls in a Session, it will automatically be successful (assuming max capacity has not been reached).
  • Instructor: The Session Instructor approves requests.
  • Supervisor: The Admin whose name is assigned to the Supervisor field of the Learner who enrolled in the Session approves requests.
  • Administrator: All Admins who are assigned to the Learner's Department can approve requests.
  • Other: You will manually identify the Admins who are responsible for approving enrollment requests.

Enrollment Start Date

The date when Learners can begin to enroll in the Session. The system will automatically set the start time to 12:00 AM UTC once a date is selected. Select the clock icon to adjust the time.

Enrollment End Date

The last day that Learners can enroll in the Session.The system will automatically set the start time to 12:00 AM UTC once a date is selected. Select the clock icon to adjust the time. 

If no date is entered, the End Date will automatically be the date and time that the Session begins.

If you prefer to allow Learners to enroll in the Session after it has begun, set the Enrollment End Date to the date and time that the Session ends. This is useful if you allow walk-in Learners to join.

Learners will not be able to enroll into or change their Session enrollment if either of the following is true:

1. An Enrollment End Date has been set, and the Enrollment End Date has passed.

or

2. An Enrollment End Date is not set and the Session Start Date has been passed.

Min Class Size*

The minimum number of Learners required for a Session.

Note: If Min Class Size is not met, the LMS will not cancel a Session automatically.

Max Class Size

The maximum number of Learners that can enroll in a Session. If Maximum Class Size is met, the Learner will either not be able to enroll in the Session or they will have the option to be added to a Waitlist (if enabled).

If Self Enrollment is Enabled, each Session available for a Learner to enroll in will display the number of available remaining seats based on the Maximum Class Size for the Session.

Enable Waitlist

When toggled ON, this field allows Learners to be added to a Session Waitlist if the Session has reached maximum capacity. When a seat opens, the LMS will automatically enroll Learners from the Waitlist into the Session on a first come first serve basis. You can override max capacity by manually enrolling a Learner into the Session.

Note: Please navigate to the How to Configure Session Waitlists section of this article for more information on Waitlists including E-Commerce considerations.

 

For additional information about Enrollment configurations, please see the Enrollment Methods + Options article.

 

Attributes Tab

Attributes Tab

Field Name Description

External Id

 This field allows you to manually enter a unique identifier for this Session. An External ID is helpful when using RESTful API or file Imports. This value is only visible in the Admin Interface and is not visible to Learners.

 

Waitlists

The Waitlist feature allows Learners to be added to a Session Waitlist if the Session has reached maximum capacity. When a seat opens, the LMS will automatically enroll Learners from the Waitlist into the Session on a first come first serve basis. You can override max capacity by manually enrolling a Learner into the Session. Considerations for E-Commerce ILC can be found below.

How to Configure Session Waitlists

Follow these steps to create a Waitlist for a Session:

Enable Waitlist on Session.gif

  1. Navigate to the Courses Report from the Courses tab on the left, then select Add Instructor Led from the Actions on the right. This will open the Add Instructor Led Course menu. 
  2. Expand the Session tab and select Add Session. This action will open the Add Session pop-up modal. 
  3. In the Add Session modal, expand the Enrollment tab and toggle ON Enable Waitlist.

 

To enable a Waitlist for an existing Session, follow these steps:

  1. In the Admin Experience, navigate to the Courses Report from the Courses tab on the left.
  2. Select the Instructor Led Course you would like to enable a Waitlist for.
  3. Click Edit in the Actions menu on the right-hand side of the page.
  4. Navigate to the Sessions section.
  5. Select the Session you would like to add a Waitlist for.
  6. Click the pencil icon next to the Session time.
  7. In the Edit Session modal, scroll down to the Enrollment Tab and open it.
  8. Scroll down to the Enable Waitlist button and toggle it ON.
  9. Click Save.
  10. Closes the Sessions modal.
  11. Click Publish to save your changes.

Learners will receive the Session Full email when the Enrollment End Time is reached or when the session starts, whichever is sooner. The Learners will remain enrolled in the ILC and see upcoming available Sessions to select from. 

If the Waitlist is toggled off for a Session, any Users on that Waitlist will be automatically enrolled in the Session.

Waitlist Expiration

A Waitlist will expire either 24-hours prior to a Session start time or once the Enrollment End Date for a Session has passed, whichever occurs first. Please consider the following: 

  1.  In the 24 - hours prior to a Session start time, no new Learners will be added to the Waitlist, nor will existing Waitlist Learners be moved to the session if another Learner cancels their Session. 
  2.  The list of Learners who were on the Waitlist will disappear as it expires. 

Note: We can not retrieve the Waitlist after it expires. A best practice would be to have an Admin or Instructor export the Waitlist prior to the Waitlist expiring. This cannot be automated. 

Waitlist User Experience

When a Learner has enrolled into an ILC Session and been placed on a Waitlist, they will receive a System Message and email indicating that they are on the Waitlist (this assumes that your Waitlist email is in the Message Templates menu is enabled to be sent to Learners).

When the Learner navigates to the ILC while on the Waitlist, they will see the following banner:

Waitlists with E-Commerce

It is important to configure a Waitlist if you are selling an ILC with a Venue that has a max capacity. Physical meeting rooms are a good example of a Venue that you do not want to oversell past capacity. In order to configure Waitlists for E-Commerce, follow these steps:

E-Commerce Best Practices for ILC.gif

  1. Navigate to the Courses Report from the Courses tab on the left, then select Add Instructor Led from the Actions on the right. This will open the Add Instructor Led Course menu. The following steps are the same when editing an existing ILC.
  2. Expand the Enrollment Rules tab, and toggle ON Enable E-Commerce.
  3. Toggle ON Require Learner to Choose Session. When this toggle is enabled, the LMS will ask the Learner to select an available Session before they are able to complete their purchase. If there are no available Sessions, they will be unable to select that ILC for purchase.

 

Instructor Schedules

Instructors are able to check their teaching schedule in the Admin Interface. They can do so by following these steps:

How to View Instructor Schedules

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  1. Navigate to the Reports tab on the left of the Admin Interface, and select ILC Sessions. 
  2. Filter the Instructor column for their name, this will filter for the Sessions that they are teaching. Additional filters can be applied to streamline the information further. For example, if the Instructor only wants to view upcoming Sessions they can add a filter using the field Start Date.

 

Tip

It is recommended that Instructors save their ILC Session Report Layoutand set it as their default layout so that their preferred filters will automatically be applied in the future. Additionally, the Instructor could schedule this saved report layout to be emailed to themselves on a recurring schedule.

 

Roles and Permissions

Creating, or editing an ILC requires Admin access to the LMS. By default, the Admin role will have permission to perform these actions. If you are using a Custom Admin Role, the permissions below are required when interacting with ILC. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your local System Administrator to review your current permissions.

Required Role Permissions

Role: Section Access Permission(s) Needed
Courses > Sessions Add, Modify (Details, Enrollments, Metrics), Delete and/or Duplicate permission

 

Suggested Role Permissions

Role: Section Access Permission(s) Needed
Courses > Instructor Led Courses View, Modify and/or Delete permission
Courses > Venues View or Modify permission
Users View or Modify permission
Reports ILC Sessions
Reports ILC Activity
Reports ILC Grades

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