Triggers
Triggers assign materials to learners when they reach one of several types of milestones.
With Triggers, you can:
hide specific Courses until the learner is ready for them
assign appropriate Certifications as they progress
Certifications
Certifications can be assigned through Triggers.
They are used to:
specify a collection of Courses learners need to complete
have learners repeat certified Courses on a timely basis
Triggers and Certifications
To keep it simple:
use Certifications to group required themed Courses together
use Triggers to assign individual Courses, Courses required by Certifications, and Certifications
How Triggers Work
As there are several milestones, let's use "Learner completes specific courses" for this example.
- Without a Trigger -
A Group's learners will see and have access to all available Courses, regardless if they should or shouldn't play them.
Hidden Courses will remain hidden. Once you link it to a Group, everyone within that Group can access it immediately.
Let's say you have a series of Courses on Construction. Each learner would see:
Construction Site Attire
Work Safety
How to Use a Chainsaw
Even if it's expected that a new learner starts with "Construction Site Attire" and "Work Safety," they could instead complete "How to Use a Chainsaw" first and ignore the rest.
- With a Trigger -
A new learner would only see appropriate Courses, and those they shouldn't have access to won't be seen. This can be used for many reasons, like hiding higher-level Courses or keeping bonus ones secret unless the learner completes certain milestones.
Going back to our Construction example, if you wanted learners to complete the first two before accessing the Chainsaw Course, they'd see:
Construction Site Attire
Work Safety
Once the learner completes the required Courses, previously hidden Courses will appear in their library:
Construction Site Attire
Work Safety
How to Use a Chainsaw
This is a great way to:
make sure learners are completing Courses in the right order
reveal appropriate-level Courses as a learner progresses
add to the fun by unlocking new "special" Courses
How Certifications Work
When you want learners to learn several things to be considered an "expert" at something, or have them learn key Courses first, set up Certifications!
Certifications are a way to:
group together Courses on the same subject
require minimum grade thresholds
confirm learners have learned all necessary Courses
schedule regular reviews of the learning content
- Assigning Certifications using Triggers -
Let's pretend you want learners to learn proper Food Handling:
CREATE several Courses that cover all aspects of the subject
CREATE a Certification that specifies all the Courses required
CREATE a Trigger that ASSIGNS the Certification and ASSIGNS associated Courses
When the Trigger's milestone is achieved, the learner will be assigned a Food Handling Certification! With its assignment, the Certification's Courses will automatically be assigned (and revealed, if hidden) to the learner.
- Renewing Certifications -
Want learners to stay up-to-date with their knowledge?
Have them periodically review Courses to keep their Certification valid - you decide how often that is!
If they don't re-do those Courses within the specified time frame:
their Certification (and qualification) will no longer be valid