Learning Plans are used to structure the content within a course and allow you to control the order in which a student will access and complete the course materials using date and pre-requisite rules. Properly ordering course content allows students to have a more guided and intuitive learning experience.
Courses
Tip: Once enrolled, students will be able to access their Learning Plan from the Course Overview in the Learner Portal. By default, the default tab on the overview will be the Unit Enrolments, but you can set this to be Learning Plans by default from the Learner Portal tab of the System Settings.
Note: Learning Plans are only available on aXcelerate Turbo. If you would like more information about upgrading to Turbo and the features you will get access to, click here for more information.
Create a Learning Plan
After you have created a Learning Plan, add Modules with course materials to structure the student's learning journey. Once you have added all of the appropriate content and set the access rules, publish the plan to be able to link it to a class and begin enrolling students.
- Click New Plan
- Enter the Plan Name
- Select a Qualification
- Set the Plan Overview which will be displayed to students in the Learner Portal
- Click Create Plan
Tip: A Learning Plan Module is a section of content within the Plan that can have its own scheduling and access rules. Learning Plan Elements refer to the course content within a Learning Plan Module that a student will gain access to and complete. Pre-requisite rules, access rules, and unit relationships can be individually set against Elements within the Plan.
Publish a Learning Plan
Once you have added all of the Modules and Elements to a plan and configured all of the rules and settings appropriately, you can publish the plan. After the Plan has been published, it will appear in the list of available Learning Plans when creating a Class.
- Select a Drafted Learning Plan
- Ensure the Plan has at least One Module
- Ensure that each Module contains at least one Element
- Click Publish
Note: All Learning Elements within a Module must be linked to a Unit before the Plan can be published.
Updating a Published Learning Plan
After a Plan has been published and linked to a class, the plan can be updated in Live Edit Mode. For existing enrolments, new Assessments, Learning and Modules will not be added and scheduled dates will not be updated when updating a plan.
- View a Published Learning Plan
- Click Live Edit
- Click Continue
- Make any required adjustments to the Plan
Tip: Any changes made in Live Edit mode will be immediately made to the Learning Plan. You will not need to republish the Plan after the changes have been made.
Note: If new Assessments, Learning or Modules have been added to the Plan in Live Edit mode, you will need to manually apply these changes to existing enrolments. Refer to Updating a Learning Plan Enrolment for further information.
Duplicate a Learning Plan
Learning Plans are able to be duplicated from the additional actions menu when viewing a Plan.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Open the additional actions menu (Click the 3 Dots)
- Click Copy
- Set the Plan Overview which will be displayed to students in the Learner Portal
- Click Create Plan
Archive a Learning Plan
Once a Learning Plan has been created it cannot be deleted, but it can be archived. Archived Learning Plans will not appear in the main Learning Plans list or when selecting a Learning Plan to apply to a Class. To show archived Learning Plans, click on the filters dropdown and set the status to Archived.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Open the additional actions menu (Click the 3 Dots)
- Click Make a Copy
Tip: Archived Learning Plans can be reactivated by republishing them.
Configure Learning Plan Settings
The Learning Plan settings allow you to change the Module Name, Overview, Schedule rules and unit commencement and completion behaviour.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Click on Settings
Plan Overview
The overview will be displayed to students in the Learner Portal when viewing their Learning Plan.
Modules may be attempted in any order
When this setting is disabled, Learners will be required to work sequentially through each Module, starting with the first Module. Enabling the setting allows students to access their course content regardless of what order the Modules are in. However, any Element order/prerequisites that have been configured within each Module will still apply.
If there is a future start date present for the Module, the Learner will still not have access until the date has elapsed.
Prevent Access to the overview of locked Elements
If this setting is enabled, students will be able to view the elements within an unlocked Module, but not be able to open the Overview for those elements until they have been unlocked.
Prevent learners from viewing the elements of locked Modules
If this setting is enabled, students will be able to see locked Modules but not be able to see the content within the locked module.
Prevent learners from viewing locked Modules
If this setting is enabled, students will not be able to see locked Modules. Only Modules that they have access to will be displayed in the Learner Portal.
Prevent learners from viewing Module elements once their certificate is issued
If this setting is enabled, students will be unable to see the content of any Modules that they completed during their course once their certificate has been issued.
Add a New Learning Plan Module
Modules are groupings within a Learning Plan that can contain Learning, Assessments, Resources and Information elements. Modules allow you to control the order in which students undertake portions of their course content.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Click New Module
- Enter the Module Name
- Set the Module Overview which will be displayed to students in the Learner Portal
- Click Create Module
Tip: You can reorder the Modules within a Learning Plan by dragging them to the desired position.
Configure Learning Plan Module Settings
The Learning Plan Module settings allow you to set the Overview of the Module, customize the scheduling settings and control the commencement and completion behavior of units related to elements within the Module.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Hover over a Module and click the Edit Icon
Module Overview
The overview will be displayed to students in the Learner Portal when opening this Module.
Module Schedule Settings
The Module Schedule Settings allow you to control when the student is scheduled to get access to and complete the Module. Any pre-requisite rules that have been set will still apply to content within the Modules. Any Module except the first will allow you to set the Start date to be based on the completion of the previous module. If the Module Start is set as 'Not Specified', the Module will become available as soon as the previous Module has been completed.
Automatically commence related Units
When a learner commences an element within this Module, the start date of any related Units that have not yet been started will be updated. The status of these Units will also be set to CA - Continuing Activity (70) (or equivalent). This setting is independent to the commencement settings on the Web & Other Integrations page.
Automatically complete related Units
When a learner completes an element within this Module, the end date of any related Units will be updated and the status of these Units will also be set to C - Competency Achieved/pass (20) (or equivalent). If a unit linked to the completed element is also linked to elements that appear later in the plan, the Unit will not be completed until each of those elements have also been completed.
Tip: Click Here for more information on Automatic Completion of Unit Enrolments.
Delete a Learning Plan Module
Modules in a Learning Plan cannot be deleted if they contain elements. You must remove all elements within the Module before deleting it.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Remove all of the elements within the Plan
- Click the Delete icon on the Module you would like to remove
- Click Delete Module
Tip: Deleting Modules within a published plan is not currently possible, however, this functionality is currently planned for development.
Add an Element to a Learning Plan Module
Elements make up the course content students will view and complete during their course and are contained within Learning Plan Modules. Elements will appear within a Module and be displayed to students when they expand the Module.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Open a Module in the Learning Plan
- Click Add
- Select which type of Element you would like to add
- Search for the Element you would like to add
Each type of Element that can be added to a Module is described below:
Learning content includes any types of uploaded E-Learning you have in your account (External, Moodle & SCORM), or aXcelerate Online Assessments of the Lesson Type. This will typically contain information for the student to learn early in the Module that will be assessed later in the Module/Plan. Learning content must have a related unit linked, and currently needs to be manually mapped.
Information content can be added to the Module to be displayed to students in the Learner Portal when they access the Module. Images, Video and HTML content can be added to this type of element to quickly give information and context relevant to the Module.
Assessments authored through aXcelerate can be added to Modules to assess the student's knowledge of the course content. Assessments that have been mapped to units of competency will automatically link the mapping as a related unit.
Note: Learning Plans are not compatible with Standard Assessments (sometimes referred to as Legacy Assessments).
Resources that have been added to the aXcelerate Resource Library can be made available to students within their learning plan. This can be used to link information or forms to the student at the appropriate time within their course.
Headings allow for the insertion of simple lines of text within a Module. This can be useful for the display of simple instructions, or as a way of visually grouping elements (e.g. putting all of the Assessments for a Module under the heading text "Assessments").
Dividers are horizontal lines that can be placed between other elements. They are purely visual and have no interactivity.
Tip: You can reorder the Elements within a Module by dragging them to the desired position.
Configure Learning Plan Element Settings
The scheduling, pre-requisite rules and related units can be set for individual Elements within a Learning Plan.
- Select a Learning Plan
- Open a Module
- Hover over an Element and click the Settings Icon
General Rules
An element can be set as Optional which means it does not need to be completed to complete the module, set related units as competent, and progress through the course content. The element can also be set to only require one of its prerequisites to be completed before students will gain access to it. This is only able to be selected if a prerequisite has been assigned to the element.
Scheduling Rules
The Scheduling Rules allow you to control when the Student gets access to the Element. Setting the date that the Overview is available will determine when the student can launch the overview of the element - if one exists - but not launch the content. The access start date will be the day that the student can access the content of the element. The due date will be the expected completion date of the element. The access end date will set the element to no longer be accessible after a certain day.
Prerequisites
Prerequisites allow you to enforce other content within the Module to be completed before a student has access to this element.
Units
Related units can be linked to Elements within the Learning Plan. These units will be updated if the commencement and completion settings have been enabled in the Learning Plan settings. If an Assessment has been mapped to a Unit, it will automatically be set as a Related Unit if it exists in the Qualification linked to the Learning Plan.
Note: eLearning must be manually mapped to related Units within the Authoring area; Assessments will be automatically mapped. Automatic mapping for eLearning is currently under development.
Apply a Learning Plan to a Class
Once a Learning Plan has been published, when creating a new class the Learning Plan can be selected if it is linked to the same Qualification as the class. Only one Learning Plan will be available per Class, all Learners within the Class must utilise the applied Learning Plan.
Courses
- Click Add New Class
- Select the Qualification
- Select whether the students will complete the full course or a statement of attainment
- Select the Learning Plan
- Set the Class Descriptor
- Click Create Class
Tip: You can refer to our Class Management Help Article for more information on the general process for creating classes.
Note: Learning Plans can only be applied when creating a new class, they cannot be applied to existing classes. To enrol existing students in a Learning Plan, create a new class with the Learning Plan applied, and then transfer the students into the new class. Refer to Transferring a Learning Plan Enrolment for more information.
Enrol a Student in a Learning Plan
Once a class has been created with a Learning Plan applied, any students enrolled in the class can be enrolled in the Learning Plan. Any dates that have been updated will be highlighted yellow. Any dates that vary from the Plan schedule will be highlighted orange.
Courses
- View a Class that was created with a Learning Plan
- Click Enrol
- Search for a contact to enrol
- Click the Learning Plan tab
- Adjust which Modules the student will be enrolled in
- Complete the Enrolment
Tip: You can refer to our Class Enrolments Help Article for more information on the general process for enrolling students into classes.
Note: If you deselect Units in the Unit Enrolments tab, elements linked to those units will also be deselected in the Learning Plan.
Update a Learning Plan Enrolment
Once a student has been enrolled in a class with a Learning Plan applied, the access dates of Modules within the Plan are able to be adjusted from the Class Enrolment page. If you didn’t originally enrol a learner into an Element at time of enrolment, you can use the enrolment plan update screen to enrol them into that element by clicking the ‘Enrol’ checkbox against the element you wish to enrol them in.
You can explicitly lock or unlock a module enrolment, which will affect whether students can access the elements within that module. You can also cancel a module enrolment, which will hide that module in the student portal, but will not cancel individual element enrolments within that module.
Courses
- View a Class that has been linked to a Learning Plan
- Select a student's enrolment
- Click on the Learning Plan tab on the Class Enrolment page
- Make adjustments to the Learning Plan Enrolment
- Click Update Enrolment
Tip: Enabling 'Sync dates with Plan Schedule Rules' will force the enrolment to follow all the plan rules. The only dates that will modify the plan are the Commencement or Enrolment Date - all other plan dates will be disabled.
When this setting is unchecked, you are able to manually override individual dates. Modifying any Module Start/End dates will update any future Module dates where the Module Start Date is set to be the Previous Module End Date. It will also update any Element dates in future Modules that have been configured with offset rules that involve the Module start/end dates.
Note: The Module ‘Commencement Date’ and ‘Completion Date’ are not editable fields. These are display fields that store when the learner actually commenced or completed that Module (when they started their first element & completed their final element within the Module). Overriding Element dates will not update any other Elements or Module dates within the Plan.
Transfer a Learning Plan Enrolment
Learning Plan enrolments are able to be transfered between classes if the new class has the same learning plan. To transfer a student, follow the steps in transferring a class enrolment. If a learning plan exists, the system will perform one of the following actions for each module:
- Transfer Module Enrolment - if the original enrolment and new class both have the exact same module
- Leave Module Enrolment - if a completed module does not exist in the new class
- Cancel Module Enrolment - if an incomplete module does not exist in the new class
- New Module Enrolment - if the new class has a module which does not exist in the original class
Note: Due to the complexities around date rules, it is suggested that the administrator review and set module and element dates on the enrolment status page after transferring.
View Learning Plan Enrolments
After a Learning Plan has been applied to a class and some students have been enrolled, you will be able to view the progress of the students in the Plan from the Class Matrix.
Courses
Classes
- View a Class that has been linked to a Learning Plan
- Change the View to Learning Plan on the Class Matrix
Tip: You can click on a specific Module or select a Module from the dropdown list to view the progress of students for the Elements within the Module.
Note: Only Learning and Assessments will appear in this view. Resources and Information blocks will not show as their completion is not tracked in the system.
View Learner feedback on Learning Plan Modules
If "Learners can provide feedback" and "Allow Learners to provide Module feedback"are both enabled in System Settings > Learner Portal & App Settings, you can view feedback that learners have submitted via the Learning Plan Module Enrolments report. Select this report from Reports > Report Builder, add the Module Feedback and Module Sentiment as display fields and run the report to see feedback by learner.
Tip: Report data can be exported for further analysis in spreadsheet tools.
Schedule Class Learning Plan Module Dates
Learning Plan Module enrolment dates are able to be set in bulk from the Learning Plan tab of a Class with a Learning Plan linked to it. After selecting enrolments and clicking 'Update Dates & Sync Enrolments', all selected enrolments will be synced to the Module & Element date rules outlined in the Learning Plan. If any specific Module dates have been selected, they will be used instead. This action will remove any manually overridden Module & Element dates for each selected enrolment.
- Click on the Learning Plan tab
- Select the enrolments you would like to update
- Set any specific dates to be applied to particular Modules
- Click Update Dates & Sync Enrolments
Tip: As this action syncs enrolments with the Learning Plan Module, this can be used to apply updates made to Learning Plan date rules after enrolments have taken place.
Bulk Update Learning Plan Module Enrolments
Learning Plan Module enrolments are able to be bulk-updated from the Learning Plan tab of a Class with a Learning Plan linked to it. This interface allows you to Enrol, Cancel, Delete or Restore learner enrolments in Learning Plan Modules.
- Click on the Learning Plan tab
- Select Bulk Update Modules
- Select Module Enrolment
- Set the Enrolment Action you wish to apply
- Select the Module enrolments you wish to update
- Click Apply Module Statuses
Tip: You can easily choose the Module enrolments you would like to update by using the 'Bulk Select' option and selecting the appropriate status.
You can also update the content shown for each Module enrolment by changing the View Mode. By default this will show the status of the Module enrolment.
Note: Enrolling into Learning plan Module enrolments will enrol into underlying Learning and Assessment. Cancelling or deleting Learning Plan Module enrolments will cancel the underlying Learning and Assessments. 'Restoring' a Module is equivalent to 'un-cancelling' it, which will also restore the underlying Learning and Assessments.
Bulk Set Learning Plan Module Override Status
By default, Learning Plan Module enrolments will be Locked or Unlocked according to the Learner's progress through the Learning Plan content and the rules set within the Learning Plan and Module. However, a Module Enrolment can be overridden to have a specific status applied to it to grant or deny the Learner access to a module. These can either be set at the individual enrolment level or applied via the Bulk Update Modules interface.
- Click on the Learning Plan tab
- Select Bulk Update Modules
- Select Module Status
- Set the Override Status you would like to apply
- Select the Module enrolments you wish to update
- Click Apply Override Status
Tip: You can easily choose the Module enrolments you would like to update by using the 'Bulk Select' option and selecting the appropriate status.
You can also update the content shown for each Module enrolment by changing the View Mode. By default this will show the status of the Module enrolment.
Learning Plan FAQs
Can I use Assessment Plans with Learning Plans?
Learning Plans are intended to supersede the functionality of Assessment Plans. If you have a Learning Plan applied to a class you will not be able to select an Assessment Plan. All enrolments in the class will use the Learning Plan if one has been linked. You will still be able to use Assessment Plans for other classes in the system.
How do I apply a Learning Plan to existing enrolments?
Learning Plans can be applied to an existing class from the class update page. If there are any new Assessments or eLearning that are part of the Learning Plan but not yet linked to the class, you should link them to the class before linking the Learning Plan. After the Learning Plan has been linked to the class, you can enrol a student in the Learning Plan by viewing the Learning Plan tab when viewing their enrolment and selecting the Modules you would like to enrol them in. Alternatively, you can create a new class with a Learning Plan and transfer the enrolments into the new class.
Learning Plans are enabled in my account, why can't I see them?
Learning Plans has a new permission set that you will need to have enabled before you will be able to access the authoring area under the E-Learning tab within the Courses menu. You will need to go to your User Profile and update your permissions or ask an admin user to do so for you.
Can I use Standard Assessments with Learning Plans?
No. Learning Plans are not compatible with Standard Assessments (sometimes known as Legacy Assessments).
What does ‘Commencement Date’ mean when editing Learning Plan Module Settings?
The Commencement Date option within the Learning Plan Module Settings refers to the Commencement Date specified on the students Class Enrolment