[FEB 25 Update] Certification Prototype Videos: Key User Flows in Action

For accessibility purposes, is it possible to get close captioning on these three videos please :)

Much appreciated.

We want to see the option for a learner to independently renew their certification available at the course management level as many of our branches are not using Learning Plans. To take advantage of this new feature, we would need to change their training approach.

If we could set this ability at the course level, we would fully empower our users to re-train without a power user needing to archive and re-enroll the users first.

Will there still be the option to associate External Training with Certifications and retraining? We currently use the certifications and retraining feature to track compliance courses that must be renewed every 3 years. Some of these courses are external and it’s very helpful to be able to associate the certification to the external training course to remind employees that training is expiring and must be redone. In the demo videos above I don’t see where you can associate external training to a certification. I do see that it requires you to associate a course with a certification however and that will be a problem if we don’t have a course equivalent for external training. 

This development looks great!

Regarding the renewal with different course example video, will the learner be pre-credited for the course they completed during initial and only have to take the new course? Will they have to take both courses to renew? Can the system logic handle a scenario where initial enrollment requires the completion of Course A but the newal requires the completion of Course B, or even Course B and/or Course C?

Love to see the progress here. Several questions: 

1. Will there be the ability to add your LP additional fields to the main LP page column configuration? I didn’t see that in the video, but that would be very helpful for finding the right LP when you have many.
2. What will the learner experience be for easily viewing their various certification due dates without having to click into each plan? Will the new Transcript page be updated to easily see that info? 
3. What will the admin (power user) experience be to easily view all of the certifications for one person? Is that what’s intended in the new Insights feature?

LOVE THE SHARING AND INFORMATION. I really appreciate you keeping us all in the loop. 

We have a few things we would love to see with certifications. Will these be considered?

1. Certification expiration based on a fixed date instead of durational based on when it is earned. 

We want certifications to expire at the end of a calendar year regardless of when they were earned. Currently they don’t.

2. Certifications earned by completing one thing and renewed by completing a different thing. 

Earned certifications and renewal requirements are different for us. you kind of mentioned this in the videos above, but did not show the user experience of the workflow or how to set it up. Also looking at the UI you showed, I am not sure how either a learner or a creator would see the difference.

3. Renewal is based on learners making a choice from a series of courses instead of completing a specific course. 

In this example we offer a series of ILT sessions over the course of the year and the learners can choose what they want to attend. Attending 5 out of 24 counts as a renewal. Currently certifications are set as earned from a list of ANY of these things and not a group of things. And learning plans are based on completing everything in them not some of the things in them.

QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE CHANGES

• If you have a certification tied to a learning plan and the learner completes the courses individually, will they earn the certification or do they have to be enrolled in the learning plan?
• How will this work with archived enrollments?
• Are there plans to add some kind of different marking or indication within the users my courses and learning plans page to differentiate certifications from normal courses and learning plans?
• Will reporting work differently?
• There was a category for “optional classes”. How do these work and how do they affect certifications?

LAST THING

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not combine Learning Plans and Certifications into a single view. Especially since the system defaults to 20 items in th eview. We have a hard enough time sorting existing learning plans as it is. Adding certifications to that list is going to get super confusing quickly. 

I second the request for closed captioning for the walk-through videos.  They are difficult to understand and follow.

Thanks for the videos! Here are some questions that are crucial to our business. 

Questions that were not covered in the videos: 
1). If a course is tied to a certification and an admin completes the course from the course administration, will the certificate completion/expiration be updated? 

2). If a past certificate was issued that has a completion/expiration and then an admin completes the course again or updates the course completion date, will the certificate completion/expiration be automatically updated? 

3). If above is true, will the certificate template be regenerated with updated new dates. (In the past, the certificate template does not update as it retains previous dates). Please test: updating course completion as an admin and whether that would update the template for users. 

4). Certificates will be added in the same view as courses and learning plans. Will the ability to add Certificates to the page widgets be available (See image below)? 

Wow - so much feedback in one direction or another.

This does look like a wonderful stride in the right direction. Thank you.

Will deep dive at the video and try to see if anything rubs me wrong in particular.

Thanks for sharing this info--very helpful!  My questions are: 

1. Will there be a conversion tool to change an existing learning path into a certification?  Or will we need to rebuild the learning path as a certification?  
2. We are a global company and want learners to select the harassment prevention course that makes sense for their region (if I live in France I take the France-specific course, if I live in California I take the California-specific course, etc.).  How will these changes account for certs where the learner can “choose their own adventure”?  

Thanks for sharing. I think this looks great, just as long as this remains an addition to current functonality and doesn’t restrict anything in our already complex certification and recertification setup. Primarily, as already mentioned, learners need to still be awarded the certification when they complete any applicable course. We cannot require a process to enroll them in the certification plan for this to occur. That just won’t work for us.

Thank you for this update, it looks very promising. Now that the Certification will be treated as an object similar to Learning Plans, will it be possible to enroll users in certifications through enrollment rules?

​@TVDP good call, close captions added ;)

Thanks ​@angela.cascella much appreciated for the quick turnaround.

Thanks for the demos and progress for certifications. This is so exciting and vital to managing our training. 

1. I would like to echo those asking for clarity for achieving certification with one path and renewing with another. Our use case has a learning plan (multiple courses) to achieve a certification and a single course for renewal, how would that work in this new format.
2. I don’t see a way to assign a learning plan to a certification, only courses. Will we be able to do that?
3. If not, will we be able to edit the type from learning plan to certification? 
4. Will we have all the same options for certifications as we do with learning plans: course order, prerequisites, and optional courses?
5. Will we be able to assign a certification with enrollment rules? 
6. Will we be able to use certification completions as group eligibility criteria?
7. Will notifications be refined so we can customize them for specific certifications like we can do with learning plans? 
8. Is there a code for learning plans and certification that is just no one of the columns in the selected view? 

Good morning everyone,

Thank you for all your questions and requests for clarification. Your engagement confirms the importance of this initiative and reassures us that we are on the right track.

Below, you'll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQ). We are also preparing additional updates to provide more details on the learner experience and our approach to the dedicated renewal path.

Q. Will it be possible to manage certifications at the course level?

1. With the introduction of the new certification system, the functional model is shifting significantly. Certifications are becoming independent training entities, similar to Learning Plans.
   As a result, certifications will no longer be linked to individual courses. Instead, a certification will require the completion of one or more courses, as for Learning Plan.
   This shift is a core functional pillar and addresses key challenges in the current system, including:

• Data inconsistencies between courses and certifications
• Difficulties in retraining processes for learners
• Configuration limitations for certifications

Q. Will Power Users be able to manage certifications?

1. Yes. Initially, Power Users will be able to manage certifications through a permission inherited from Learning Plans. In a later phase, more granular and specific permissions will be introduced, allowing for advanced certification management.
   This evolution will also overcome current limitations faced by Power Users when managing certifications.

Q. Will the new certifications impact External Training?

1. No, External Training will continue to function as it does today. We recognize potential improvements in the relationship between External Training and certifications, but these will be addressed during the future revamp of the External Training system.

Q. Will it be possible to define a different training path for certification renewal?

1. One of the goals of the certification revamp is to allow a separate renewal path, different from the first-time certification award.
   This functionality will be closely linked to the "Smart Completion" concept, for which we will provide dedicated updates.

Q. What expiration date options will be available?

1. The new system will allow for multiple expiration date configurations:

1. Relative expiration date (e.g., X days after completion)
2. Absolute expiration date (e.g., a fixed date, such as December 31 of a specific year)
3. Relative expiration date within a defined time period (e.g., X days after completion, but within a specific timeframe, such as the end of the month or year)

Q. Does completing the required courses automatically grant the certification?

1. No, for a certification to be awarded, the learner must be actually enrolled in the certification.
   The behavior mirrors what is currently in place for Learning Plans:

• If a Learning Plan contains three courses and a learner completes them but is not enrolled in the Learning Plan, the Learning Plan is not completed.
• If the learner is later enrolled in the Learning Plan, the system will automatically recalculate completion based on previously completed courses.
• This applies only if the course enrollments are still active and not archived.

Q. Will there be a conversion tool to turn an existing Learning Plan into a certification?

1. Yes, it will be possible to convert an existing Learning Plan into a certification.

Q. Will Enrollment Rules be available for certifications?

1. Yes, Enrollment Rules will be extended to support certification enrollments as well, enhancing automation and flexibility.

Q. Will certifications have the same options as Learning Plans?

1. Yes, certifications will support the same configurations available for Learning Plans, including:

• Course order
• Prerequisites
• Optional courses

​@Nicolo Malinverno Thank you for this additional information. 
I have a follow-up question:

For this bullet, will the certification be awarded on the transaction date or the date of the last courses completed, like we see with learning plans today? 

Q. Does completing the required courses automatically grant the certification?

• If the learner is later enrolled in the Learning Plan, the system will automatically recalculate completion based on previously completed courses.

I’m not familiar with the "Smart Completion" concept, but I’m hoping we will be able to easily configure both:
Course(s) to earn certification - courses shown to users for initial certification
Course(s) to renew certification - courses shown to user during recertification window

The lists could be the same or different. Also, would be awesome if admins could select a same button to auto populate if it is the same.

Thank you for the demo! This looks great, and together with the “Smart Completion” I think this will cover our needs for certifications and recertifications.
But I have a question: Now that the certifications are part of the Learning Plan UI, I was wondering if it will be possible to see “Enrollment status” for learning plans now (like for courses)?
Another great enhancement would be if users could filter on certifications in “My courses and Learning Plans”.

thank you for all these great updates...so much to unpack. Anxious to see the first updates.

If this is to be a staggered roll out, won’t this affect the ability for us to use the many new options and functions shown in the videos? Can you share what will come first and an anticipated ETA for the full rollout? Also, if this is a staggered roll out, will we have the opportunity to provide feedback on what will be rolled out so that any gaps or misses can be addressed in the subsequent updates? I ask since what is shown in the previews is not always what we end up getting and since some of what was shown is critical, I’m curious as to what will eventually make into the product.