Creating Course Content for Specific Enrollment Tracks#

This section provides information about creating different content for learners who are enrolled in specific enrollment tracks in your course.

Overview#

If your course has more than one enrollment track, you can create different course experiences for learners in each enrollment track. You do this by designating specific components or units in your course as available only to learners in one or more of the enrollment tracks. Then, learners in each of the enrollment tracks see only the course content that you have designated for that track.

To create track-specific content in your course, follow these steps.

  1. Specify course content as available only to particular enrollment track groups

  2. View components or units that are available for each enrollment track group

  3. Preview track-specific course content

Enrollment Track Groups#

If your course offers more than one enrollment track (for example, a track that does not offer certificates, and a certificate track where learners who pass the course can earn a certificate), an enrollment track group is automatically created for each enrollment track. You see these groups in Studio, on the Group Configurations page.

Learners who enroll in your course in a particular enrollment track are automatically included in the appropriate enrollment track group.

When Learners Change Enrollment Tracks#

Learners select an enrollment track when they first enroll in a course, and in many cases they will change enrollment tracks during the course run. For example, learners might upgrade from the audit track to the verified track.

In a course where you offer differentiated content based on enrollment track, when learners change tracks during the course run, the content that they see changes. As soon as they change enrollment tracks, learners see only the content that you make available to all learners and to their current enrollment track.

As you design your course using differentiated content based on enrollment track, be aware of maintaining the continuity of learner grades and experience when learners change from one enrollment track to another.

Warning

If a learner changes enrollment tracks after having completed some course content in a different enrollment track, only grades from content that was available to all learners are kept and are reflected on the learner’s Progress page.

Specify Content as Available Only to Particular Enrollment Tracks#

In Studio, you can modify the settings of units or components to give access only to learners who are in particular enrollment tracks. You cannot specify entire subsections or sections for restricted access by enrollment track.

You do not need to edit the access settings of units or components that are intended for all learners. Units or components that you do not restrict access to are available to all learners enrolled in your course, regardless of the enrollment track that they are in.

Note

Components inherit any group access restrictions that are set for their parent unit. If you set additional group access restrictions for a component, make sure the component access settings do not contradict the unit access settings. For example, you cannot give Group A of learners access to a component if Group A does not have access to the unit that contains the component.

For details about how to modify unit access settings, see Set Access Restrictions For a Unit.

For details about how to modify component access settings, see Set Access Restrictions for a Component.

For details about previewing your course to ensure that learners in an enrollment track correctly see the content intended for them, see View Components or Units That Are Available Based on Enrollment Track and Viewing Track-Specific Course Content.

Note

In addition to the access settings for content groups, a learner’s ability to see a course component also depends on whether it is marked as visible to staff only, whether the unit is published, and the course’s release date. For more information about testing course content in general, see Testing Your Course Content.

View Components or Units That Are Available Based on Enrollment Track#

To view the components or units that are available to learners in each of the enrollment tracks in your course, follow these steps.

  1. In Studio, select Settings, and then select Group Configurations.

  2. On the Group Configurations page, locate the enrollment track group for which you want to view the usage. Enrollment track groups are shown on this page only if more than one enrollment track exists in the course. Each enrollment track group corresponds to an enrollment track.

    The enrollment track group’s box displays the number of locations (units or components) that are designated for learners in the track.

  3. Click the enrollment track name to view the names of units and components that are designated for learners in the track.

  4. Click a linked location name to go to that unit in the course outline, where you can change the group access settings for the unit or component.

For more information about previewing your course to ensure that learners in an enrollment track correctly see the content intended for them, see Viewing Track-Specific Course Content.

Viewing Track-Specific Course Content#

After you restrict access to components to learners in certain enrollment tracks, you can view your course content as a learner in each enrollment track to ensure that learners in each track correctly see the content that is intended for them.

Note

In addition to access settings for content groups, a learner’s ability to see a course component also depends on whether the component is marked as visible to staff only, whether the unit is published, and the course’s release date. For more information about viewing course content in various publishing states, see Viewing Published and Released Content and Previewing Draft Content.

Depending on whether you want to view published content or unpublished content, you choose either View Live or Preview from the course outline in Studio. You can then experience the course content as a learner in a particular group would, by selecting the View this course as option for a learner in the desired enrollment track, as described in Viewing Course Content Based on Roles.

For details see Testing Your Course Content and Viewing Course Content Based on Roles.