Course sessions: create and manage

Introduction

In this article we provide you with an overview of creating sessions in LMS365 and their management. In this guide you can find out where and how to create sessions for instructor-led training, and overview of the session page with its filtering and searching options, management actions available for sessions: register attendance, edit, delete or copy course sessions, manage and message learners, download a QR Code for attendance tracking.

 

Where to create and manage sessions

Required role: Catalog admin or course admin.

Sessions can be added to an instructor-led training in two ways: during creating or editing a course.

To add sessions during course creation, follow the steps:

1. On the Create Training panel, under the Basic Details section, select the Instructor-Led Training course type. If you omit this stage, the Sessions section won't appear on the Create Training panel.

2. Navigate to the Sessions section.

3. Select Create New Course Session. Fill in the fields and save your changes.

 

 

To add sessions to the existing course, follow the steps:

1. In the LMS365 Admin Center, go to the Training Management panel.

2. Select the course to add sessions.

3. On the opened Course Management panel, select the Manage Course Sessions link.

 

 

4. On the opened Sessions section, select Create New Course Session. Fill in the fields and save your changes.

 

Create a session

To create a new course session:

1. Select Create New Course Session.

 

 

2. Complete the form to create or edit a session. The fields marked with an asterisk * are required.

3. Select Save to create or update the course.

 

 

Name

The field is required. 

Enter the Name of the session. This enables users to get a better idea of the content of specific sessions and understand what sessions are relevant to be registered for

Users will see the name of sessions on the course home page, in notifications, and in the session appointments in Microsoft Outlook.

 

Start and End Dates

Both fields are required.

Complete these fields with the dates and times of the session that'll be displayed to users on the course home page. The start and end dates of the session must fall within the course publishing dates.

Start Date. Select the start date and time of the session. By default, the field is automatically filled in with the current date.

End Date. Select the end date and time of the session. By default, the field is automatically filled in with the current date.

 

Time Zone

The field is required.

In the Time Zone drop-down menu, select the relevant time zone for the session to be conducted.

By default, it's set according to the Regional settings of the current course.

 

 

Enrollment Deadline

 

 

The field is optional and empty by default.

Complete the Enrollment Deadline field to set the time limit for users to register for the session. Users won't be able to register for after the deadline you set.

This option doesn't influence admins capabilities to manage user enrollment.

More detailed information can be found in the can be found in this article.

 

 

Let LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting 

Toggle the Let LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting option to the On position.

By letting LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting, participants will see the invitation to the scheduled meeting in their Microsoft Teams app calendar. They can join the session directly from Microsoft Teams.

If the toggle is on, the Meeting URL will be automatically generated when the session is saved.

At the time of session creation, the Meeting URL field is disabled.

Detailed information on the Let LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting option and how to create Microsoft Teams meetings directly from instructor-led training in this article. 

 

 

Meeting URL

The field is required.

The Meeting URL field is the field where the meeting URL is specified.

The meeting URL will be available for learners on the course home page, on My Training Dashboard, in the calendar invitations, in the email invitations and notifications, in the mobile app notifications. By selecting it, learner can join directly the training meeting.

If the Let LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting option is on, the Meeting URL will be automatically generated when the session is saved.

If the Let LMS365 schedule the Teams meeting option is off, the Meeting URL must be manually entered.

You won't be able to save the session if the Meeting URL field is empty. In this case, you'll see the notification "The field is required".

 

Room

The Room field is optional and is used for sessions that require onsite presence of learners.

There are two ways to add a room to the meeting:

1. Type in the room in the Room field. The room added in such a way exists only for the current session, isn't created in LMS365 Exchange Online and doesn't have additional information, like the location URL.

2. Add the room from the Room List created in Microsoft 365 Connection Settings:

a. To select the room form the list, use the Select Room link under the field. The maximum number of rooms displayed on the Room list is 100. The article Creating and configuring rooms for Instructor-Led Training sessions contains detailed information.

b. The Select Room panel opens.

Here, the rooms will be displayed according to user's permissions to the Room List.

 

 

The date specified in the calendar above the list of the rooms is the session dates and time. You may filter the date rage by selecting the calendar icon and check rooms availability on other dates.

The Select Room panel consists of the columns:

• Title. Displays the title of the room (specified whilst its creation).
• Location. Displays the location of the room (specified whilst its creation).
• Is Free. If the room is vacant during the start and end period of the session, it's marked as Yes. If it's occupied during this period, it's marked as No and can't be selected.

c. Select the room and Save to add the room to the session.

If a room is changed whilst course or session editing, the previous room reservation will be cancelled. Learners will receive an updated appointment in their calendars.

When attendees are changed, only those added or removed from the instructor-led training event will receive email notifications.

 

Max. Attendees

This field is optional.

The Max. Attendees field is available only for instructor-led training of the Enroll user into a single-and multiple course sessions enrollment types.

Specify the number of maximum attendees of this session. The value in the field must be a positive integer.

 

Instructor(s)

This field is optional.

In the Instructor(s) field, specify the users who'll be responsible for this definite session. You can choose from internal users or guests who were invited to the catalog.

The instructors' names will be visible on the course home page.

Instructors have access to the course and to all the sessions they are assigned in. They can register attendance, download QR code for attendance, and print the attendance sign-in sheet. Once the instructors are assigned, they receive the corresponding email with the session information.

Instructors will be notified on assignment or unassignment as an instructor via an email message. If changes are introduced to a session's location, start or end date & time, time zone, the meeting URL, or the course title, instructor will receive the updated email notifications. Once the course or session is deleted, they'll receive the cancellation of appointment notification.

 

Internal Cost

This field is optional.

In the Internal Cost field, set the internal expenses per session. The currency symbol is specified on the right side.

 

 

To ensure consistency within all summaries and calculations across all the courses and catalogs, the internal cost of all sessions will be registered in the same currency.
The cost is calculated only for the learners with the registered attendance. For the learners whose attendance was marked as absent or absent (informed) the cost won't be calculated. The internal cost per learner depends on the total number of learners on the session. It's calculated as the division of the internal cost for the session by a number of learners with the registered attendance.

The default currency is the United States dollar (USD), but the LMS admin can manage it in the Global Settings area.

 

Session Information

This field is optional.

In the Session Information field, you can specify additional information on the session. Users can see this information on the course home page selecting the Additional Information link.

 

 

Allow learners to register their own Attendance via the LMS365 Mobile App

To Allow learners to register their own Attendance via the LMS365 Mobile App, toggle the option to the On position.

You can specify the time period learners can register their attendance in the fields:

• Allow Attendance registration from. Select the start date and time to set attendance.
• Allow Attendance registration until. Select the end date and time to set attendance.

By default, the time to register attendance is equal to the start and end time of the session.

The detailed information on self-registration by learners for attendance of the sessions can be found in this article.

 

 

QR Code is required

To enable learners to register their attendance via the LMS365 mobile app by scanning QR code, enable the option QR Code is required. 

The detailed information on the learners' attendance self-registration to the sessions via QR code can be found in this article.

 

Signature is required

To enable learners to register their attendance via the LMS365 mobile app via providing their signature, enable the option Signature is required.

The detailed information on the learners' attendance self-registration to the sessions by signature provision can be found in this article.

 

Sessions section overview

To manage course sessions, go to the LMS365 Admin Center > Training Management > Select the relevant instructor-led training > Course Management panel > Manage Course Sessions > Sessions section on the course configuration panel.

For courses with Enroll user into all course session enrollment type, the notification area above the sessions list may contain the following information:

• The number of remaining available seats out of total number of seats in the course.
• The enrollment deadline information, if it was set.

 

 

The All Instructors drop-down list allows sessions filtering according to the assigned instructor. By default, the filtering is All Instructors. In case no instructors are assigned, the filter will have the default All Instructors only.

 

 

The sessions information is specified in the columns, that can be filtered by selecting the column name.

 

• Name. Displays the name of the session.
  
  
• Start/End Date columns. Displays start and end date and time of the session.
  
  
• Time Zone. Displays session’s time zone.
  
  
• Location. Displays the title session URL, the room number.
  
  
• Max. attendees. Displays the maximum number of attendees set for the session on courses with the Enroll user into a single- and multiple- course sessions enrollment types only. The all-session enrollment type courses will have the maximum number of attendees specified in the notification area of the Sessions section.

   

  

• Instructor(s). Displays the instructors assigned to the session.

Print Attendance Sign-in Sheet

The Print Attendance Sign-in Sheet option allows catalog and course admins and instructors to print the attendance sign-in sheet.

 

 

 

When you select Print Attendance Sign-in Sheet, the following actions are available:

• For courses with Enroll user into all course session enrollment type, the Word.doc file with all sessions sign-in sheets will be automatically downloaded to your device. In the downloaded file, you'll find separate attendance sheets for each session of the course.
  
  
• For courses with the Enroll user into a single- and multiple- course session enrollment types, the Print Attendance Sign-In Sheet will open with the list of all course sessions. By default, no session is selected. At the page bottom, select Print All to download all sign-in sheets to your device. To print a separate sign-in sheet for the specific sessions, select the relevant sessions in the list.

   

  

The Attendance Sign-in Sheet contains the fields with the session information. 

• Course. Displays course name.
• Session. Displays the session name. This'll be empty if you haven't named the session.
• Start/End date. Displays start/end date and time of the session.
• Time zone. Displays session’s time zone.
• Location/meeting URL. Displays the room and its location or the meeting URL.
• Delivered by. Displays the name of the session instructor. If no instructor is assigned for a session, the name of that course or catalog admin who printed the sheet is displayed.
• Date. Displays the date of the Attendance Sign-in Sheet generation.
• Name. Displays names of users enrolled in the session for courses of the Enroll user into a single- and multiple- course session enrollment types. For courses of the Enroll user into all course session enrollment type, the Name field displays names of users enrolled in the course.
• Signature. Сontains the signatures provided by learner, if learners were enabled to register their attendance via the LMS365 mobile app and signature was required. Otherwise, the field is empty.

 

 

Session Actions panel

Depending on the course enrollment type and session settings, the management actions for a selected session can be the following: register attendance, edit, delete, copy course session, manage learners, email learners, download a QR Code for attendance tracking.

 

 

 

Register Attendance

Required role: catalog admin, course admin or instructor.

 

 

To register learners' attendance for a session, an admin or instructor can complete the following steps:

1. In the Sessions section of the course configuration panel, select a session. The Actions panel opens.

2. On the Actions panel, select Register Attendance. The Register Attendance panel opens.

3. On the Register Attendance panel, select the learners to activate the Register Attendance option.

4. Select the required value from the drop-down list: 100%, 75%, 50% or 25%, Absent (informed), or Absent. The selected value will be applied to the select learners immediately.

Once attendance is set, it'll be displayed on the Course Progress panel, as well as on the Learner’s Progress panel.

 

For courses of the Enroll user into all course sessions enrollment type

 

 

For courses of the Enroll user into a single- and multiple- course sessions enrollment type

 

 

The Register Attendance panel contains the following information:

• Name. Displays the learner’s name.
• Email. Displays the learner’s email address.
• Department. Displays the department where the learner works (this information is taken from the user list).
• Manager. Displays the user who is specified as a manager in Azure AD.
• Attendance. If it's registered, displays the learner’s attendance. If attendance isn't registered, this field remains empty.
• Modified by. Displays the user who last modified attendance.
• Last Modified. Displays the date and time when the attendance was last modified (according to the regional settings of the current site).
  
  

 

To download the attendance report, select Export.

 

 

A report will be downloaded to your device in Excel format. For more information, navigate to this article.

 

 

Edit Course Session

To edit a course session, select the relevant session on the Sessions section. On the opened Actions panel, select Edit Course Session.

On the Edit Course Session panel, introduce all necessary changes to the session. Save your updates and changes.

More information about the course session fields can be found in this article.

 

Copy Course Session

The Copy Course Session link allows to create a new session by coping the existing one.

To do this, select a session and select Copy Course Session from the Actions panel.

In the opened sidebar, you'll see a copy of the selected session with empty Start and End Dates fields. The other fields will be prepopulated with content from the original session. The Name will be appended with Copy but this can be changed.

Fill in the required the Start and End Dates fields, make changes to other fields if needed and Save to create a new session or Cancel to discard.

 

Manage Learners

The Manage Learners action link allows to enroll and unenroll users for sessions with the Enroll user into a single- and multiple- course session enrollment types.

The Manage Learners link isn't displayed on the actions panel for the Enroll user into all course sessions enrollment type.

 

To enroll users, select Enroll Learner(s).

A single user or multiple users as well as a single Azure Active Directory/Office 365 group or several groups (O365 group means Office 365 group, Mail-enabled security group, or Security group) can be added.

You can enter a maximum of 50 users or 1,500 characters at a time, as a comma or semicolon-separated list. If you reach the limit of addresses, the extra addresses are automatically removed from the list, and you get informed about it with the informational message.

 

Next to the Azure AD group, in brackets, the number of users in it is specified. Each user of the Azure AD group is counted regarding Max. Attendees set for the session and the number of available places is automatically updated after each enrollment and unenrollment.

 

 

If you try to enroll number of users exceeding the number of Max. Attendees set for a session, a validation message appears.

 

 

To unenroll users, select the learners and groups and select Cancel registrations on the Manage Learners panel.

You can select all learners and groups by checking the Name column.

The number of selected users and groups is specified in brackets on the Cancel registrations option, but it doesn't give the total number of the users whose registration for the session will be canceled.

 

 

Email Learners

The Email Learners action link opens the Email Learners panel where you can send email messages to learners of the selected session.

On the opened Email Learners sidebar, select the learners you want to send a message to. Users from enrolled groups are listed as individual users on the Email Learners panel.

After selecting any users, the Actions panel opens with the Send Email Message option.

The Send Email Message option is disabled if all selected learners don't have an email address registered with their account.

The Send Email Message option is enabled if some of the selected learners don't have an email address registered with their account, but you'll be warned that the email message will be received only by the users with specified email addresses.

 

 

Fill in the Subject and Message fields and select Send. By default, a link to the course page and session details are displayed at the bottom of the message. You can edit or delete all information in the Message field.

 

 

The email will be sent as one email to all selected learners. Sending the same email to a large number of recipients can increase the risk of your message being rejected, categorized as less important, or even junk email by email clients and spam filters.

 

The Email Learners option is also available on the Course Management panel and in the People section of the course edit panel. In this case, you can select to message all learners of the course.

 

 

Download QR Code for Attendance Tracking

The Download QR Code for Attendance Tracking action link allows catalog and course admins and instructors to download a QR code for this session. Thus, this QR code can be shared with learners to let them scan the QR code and set attendance.

The QR code is downloaded in the PDF format. You print it out, share via email, insert it into the presentation for the audience to scan during the session.

 

Delete Course Session

To delete a session, select the relevant one in the Sessions section, and select Delete Course Session on the actions panel.

To confirm the action, select Delete. Otherwise, select Cancel.