Add Widgets to Courses

Learning Guide

Version
R2024.1.1
Add Widgets to Courses

Course widgets can be used to enhance your courses. These widgets are displayed in the course player page or in the course overview page, depending on the course settings.

To add a widget to a course:

  1. Go to Learning Setup > Courses and Learning Plans.
  2. In the Courses tab, open the course that you want to add a widget to, and then click the Training Material tab.
  3. In the Course Page Content section (at the bottom of the tab), click Add Course Widgets.
  4. In the Select widget drop-down list, select the widget that you'd like to add. For information about the available widgets, see Course Widget Configuration.
  5. In the Width section, select an option for how much space the widget should occupy.
  6. Click Save Changes.

Course Widget Configuration

For courses in Learning Setup > Courses and Learning Plans, you can add several widgets to enhance the learner experience.

Widget description and configuration information
Widget Description
Course Information Shows each learner's progress information for the course. This includes the dates of enrollment, the last time they accessed the course, the status of the certificate, the time spent navigating the course, and the percentage of completion.

Course Description

Shows the course description to learners. This widget can also be used to show learners the additional fields configured in the Additional Fields tab of Learning Setup > Courses and Learning Plans > Courses.

To configure the widget to show additional fields:

  1. Click the settings icon ( ), and then select Settings in the drop-down list.
  2. (Optional) If you want to show only the additional fields (and not the course description), clear the Show course description checkbox.
  3. In the Show the following additional fields textbox, enter the additional fields that you want to include.
  4. Click Save Changes.
Comments Allows learners to post, comment, or ask questions on the course dashboard. This area can be used by the instructor to welcome course members, assign tasks, or give general feedback on the progress of course activities. It can also be used for showing the questions and answers posted in the forum widget.

File Repository Area

Allows learners and other users to add supplemental materials for the course.

To configure the widget:

  1. Click the settings icon ( ), and then select Settings in the drop-down list.
  2. Do the following:
    • Select the Allow normal users to upload files checkbox if you want to allow users without special permission for the course to create folders, upload files, and link URLs in the widget.
    • Select a File Visibility option to specify whether uploaded files are visible to everyone or only to specific groups. When you choose the Select enrollment levels option, the Learner, Tutor, and Instructor checkboxes are shown so you can select the specific groups with access. Enrollment levels that aren't assigned visibility to the files can still see the widget and its folders but can't see the files within the folders.
    • Enter a value in the File Limit field to set the maximum number of files that each user can upload to the widget. Set this value to zero for an unlimited number of uploads. The File Limit field is only enabled if you selected the Allow normal users to upload files checkbox. If the checkbox is cleared, only Super Administrators, Instructors, and Power Users can create folders, upload files, and link URLs in the widget.
  3. Click Save Changes.

After adding the widget, you can click the add icon () to add folders, files, or URLs. When you add a file or URL, you can specify whether it will be visible to all users or only to selected enrollment levels. For ILT courses, the upload dialog box includes a File Visibility tab where you can specify visibility for specific course sessions.

Note: This widget supports the following file types: zip, doc, xls, ppt, jpg, gif, png, txt,docx, pptx, xlsx, pdf, flv, ods, odt, odp, csv.

Forum

Allows you to create one or more threads of discussion where learners can interact with one another and contact the course instructors.

To adjust the forum settings:

  1. Click the settings icon ( ), and then select Settings in the drop-down list.
  2. Use the fields to set a word limit for posts and replies, enable ratings and specify a display mode, enable the ability to rate posts and comments as helpful, and specify whether files can be uploaded, as needed.
  3. Click Save Changes.

To add discussion threads:

  1. Click the add icon ( ), and then enter a title and description for the forum thread.
  2. Specify whether the discussion is locked. Locked discussions are only accessible to the course instructors and tutors.
  3. Click Save Changes.

You can view posts and replies for the discussions in the forum by clicking the title in the widget. Access to discussions in a forum widget depends on user level as follows:

  • Administrators and instructors have full permission to create, modify, and delete existing discussions, as well as entire forums.
  • Learners can only create new discussions or participate in existing ones.

To create a new discussion, select the Start a new discussion button at the top of the forum page. To block the answers in a discussion, click Lock forum. You can re-open the forum at any time by clicking Re-Open Forum.

Instructor(s) Shows the names of the course instructors along with an email icon for each of them. Learners can click the icon to send the instructors a direct email.

IFRAME

Shows content from an external URL.

To configure the widget:

  1. Click the settings icon ( ), and then select Settings in the drop-down list.
  2. Enter the URL of the website you want to show (this website can't be an internal platform page), set the widget height in pixels, and select an OAuth client.
  3. Click Save Changes.

Web Conferencing

Shows all of the upcoming video conference sessions, as well as past sessions for the course.

Note: This widget requires an active contract with a supported web conferencing tool.

Session Info This widget is only available for ILT courses and shows each learner's progress information for the course, which includes the dates of enrollment, the last time they accessed the course, the status of the certificate, the time spent navigating the course, and the percentage of completion.

Questions & Answers

Allows learners to ask questions about the training material. This widget is only available for organizations with the Coach and Share add-on, and only for e-learning courses (not for ILT courses).

Questions are shown directly in the widget unless the course’s overview page is active, in which case they are shown in the Questions and Answers tab on the overview page. The widget includes a list of training materials. Users can select a n item in the list to view the corresponding questions and answers.

All questions from this widget are also shown in the main Questions and Answers tab in Learning. Learners can only view questions for the courses in which they're enrolled. Questions and answers from this widget can only be deleted by the person who posted the question or by a Super Administrator.