Release date: March 9, 2021
We’re pleased to announce that the July 2021 release of LMS365 is now available to all customers.
Highlights of this release
- The LMS365 app for Microsoft Teams
- Notifications
- Session-based training
- Session-based notification templates
- UI improvements
- The LMS365 mobile app
The LMS365 app for Microsoft Teams
We are continuously working to fine-tune the experience of LMS365 in Teams to further enable learners and admins in LMS365 to leverage Teams for learning activities. With this update, we are excited to announce LMS365 notifications in Microsoft Teams and UI improvements.
You can now inform learners with notifications in MS Teams
Offer learners a single application experience for notifications and training. With the release of LMS365 notifications in Teams, people can be informed of course updates via the Teams bot and from the Activity feed of Teams.
From this release, learners can receive notifications in Teams when they have enrolled in or unenrolled from a training plan or course. For future releases, this scope is planned to be widened. We work towards including the most relevant additional notifications already with the April release.
- Notifications will be delivered via the LMS365 bot as well as in the Teams Activity feed and include title, image, training type, training ID, and description of the course or training plan in question.
- Per default, Teams notifications will be disabled. Learners can activate notifications in Teams both from the LMS365 web application and from the LMS365 app in Teams.
- General business rules for notifications flows has not changed. Catalog admin still control which notifications that will be sent for a catalog. However, the individual user can now decide whether to receive these notifications in Teams as well. Email notifications will not be affected by this update.
Add learning content to a Teams channel with intelligent suggestions and improved UI
We have looked at the flow of adding learning content to Teams channels to improve this process.
When adding specific training, a course catalog, or a dashboard to a channel in Teams, the tab name will now be prefilled with an intelligent suggestion. The suggestion is based on the name of the LMS365 training, catalog, or dashboard in question and can be changed manually by the user.
Also, the UI of the tab creation interface is changed to follow the natural flow of a user adding training to a channel.
Notifications
We aim to deliver a notification tool that makes the flow of information around courses run as smooth as possible. With this release, we are happy to announce changes that takes LMS365 further in this direction.
Adjustment of template names and text
We have changed the name and adjusted the text of the two templates: “Cancelled Notification” and “Training Plan Cancelled Notification”. These templates will be renamed to, respectively: “Course Enrollment Cancellation” and “Training Plan Enrollment Cancellation”. The text of the email notifications has also been slightly adjusted.
These changes are introduced to emphasize that the notifications concern the action of enrollment or unenrollment, and not the cancellation of a course.
Improved clarity on how customizations of templates work
To provide full transparency on how customizations of templates work, we have added guidance within the UI of notification templates. This will provide admins with instructional text in term of what will happen when content or recipients of a template is changed.
Easily reset email notification templates to default
When email notification templates are customized they are disconnected from the general updates and changes to the default version of the same template. To reestablish this connection the customizations need to be removed from the database which requires a technical maneuver in the backend of LMS365.
To enable editors to easily delete customizations from email notification templates, we have introduced a button that removes these with a simple move. In this way, editors can easily reset the template to default and restore the connection to template updates and changes. The update will be complemented by tooltips explaining implications of this action.
Session-based training
Session-based training types are an important offering of the LMS365 product and we want to ensure an exceptional user experience for virtual sessions as well as classroom training. As part of this effort, we are continuing our work to further improve the features of these training types.
With this release, we have made it easier and quicker for course admins to create several sessions in a course. Also, we have introduced improvements to the session based notifications as well as we have provided course admins with apparent information on available seats in sessions.
Create new sessions in seconds with cloning
For courses with multiple sessions, course admins often create more sessions with similar content. Therefore, we have now enabled course admins to make a copy of an existing session from the session management panel and create a new session based on this clone.
- The course admin will be prompted to enter a new start and end date. The rest of the fields will be preoccupied with content from the copied session, but can be modified.
Information for admins on session availability
Course admins now get apparent information on session availability in single session enrollment courses. We have previously introduced this improvement for all session enrollment courses and are happy to announce that this is now also available when admins assign learners to single sessions.
This information is especially useful when course admins are enrolling AD groups to sessions. Course admins will clearly see how many seats that are still available in a session and will be advised if they are about to enroll a number of members that will surpass available seats.
Further options to easily message course participants
Recently, we introduced the option to send email messages to learners enrolled in a session directly from the Session Management Panel. With this release, we will offer similar functionality on a course and training plan level. This means course and catalog admins will now be able to send information to course participants with only a few clicks from the Course Management Panel.
Session-based notification templates
With this release, we have introduced several improvements to the notifications related to session-based training. This will ensure clear messaging to learners and offer an intuitive experience for course admins managing notification templates.
Separate notification templates for Webinar and Classroom course enrollment and enrollment cancellation
Most notably, we have introduced separate notification templates for Webinar and Classroom course enrollment and enrollment cancellation. This change is introduced to make it possible to include information about sessions in the course enrollment and unenrollment notifications in addition to information about the course.
Learners that have enrolled into or cancelled their enrollment in a session-based training will now receive an email notification that includes information about relevant sessions.
This generates four new templates named “Webinar Enrollment Cancellation”, “Classroom Enrollment Cancellation”, “Webinar Enrollment Confirmation”, and “Classroom Enrollment Confirmation”.
Instructor role as recipient of notifications
For all session-based notification templates, the instructor role can now be selected as recipients of a notification in the notification template editor panel. In this way, course admins can ensure instructors receive relevant notifications about courses and sessions.
Improvements to “Webinar Scheduled” and “Classroom Scheduled” notification templates
The “Webinar Scheduled” and “Classroom Scheduled” notification templates behave differently than other templates because they are appointment invitations, not regular emails.
For these two templates, it does not have an effect to change the recipients in the editor. However, this has not been clear from the UI design of the templates and has, therefore, caused confusion.
From this release, we have improved the UI design to eliminate this confusion. The To and Cc field of these templates will be de-activated for input and changes, but still display the default recipients.
Also, as previously described, we have added instructional tips to all notification templates. For the “Webinar Scheduled” and “Classroom Scheduled” notification templates, we have added an explanation abound what characterizes these notifications as appointment invites.
UI improvements
As part of the general effort to modernize the LMS365 user interface and experience, this release will bring updates to the Learners’ Progress view and the Course Catalog.
Easily see and manage learners’ progress of learning modules
Details on learners’ progress in learning modules will now be listed in a panel where admins can sort learners by name, filter by status, and/or search to find and manage details on individual learners’ progress in individual learning modules.
Improved UI for Course Catalog callouts
In the Course Catalog, the callout with information on a course has been redesigned for improved usability.
The callout will now adapt to the available space on the Course Catalog page. Showing a preview with an overview of course content, users can click from the callout to the course page for the full course description.
The LMS365 mobile app
Following this release, more features and possibilities have been introduced to the LMS365 mobile app.
Overview section of My Training Dashboard in the LMS365 mobile app
With this update, you can engage mobile users further in the learning experience by enabling the Overview section of My Training Dashboard in the mobile app.
As an admin, you will need to activate this function in the training dashboard to add it to the mobile experience.
After this, learners are able to see their personal training status on the go and stay updated on achievements as well as completed, mandatory, and due training.
Line Managers can view the progress of individual team members and access statistics on the general training status of direct reports.
Learners can now retake courses on the go
In the general product, we recently introduced the option for learners to retake courses. This possibility has now, also, become available in the mobile app, allowing learners to initiate a retake of a course on-the-go without dependence upon the expiration of a certificate or competence.
- Users can initiate the retake from a clear overview over which courses that can be retaken.
- The settings and rules related to retake of training in the general product also applies to the LMS365 mobile app.
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