Classroom Reference Guide

The following reference information provides a basic overview of Classroom features which may answer a few Frequently Asked Questions. Don’t hesitate to contact us for additional assistance.

Navigation

The logo at the top-left will return you to the homepage. Make a change as an admin and want to see the result, select the Classroom logo. To access editing options for admins, login as an admin, then select Admin Dashboard in the navbar.

Courses

Create lessons and assessments in courses. Learners can’t see the content until it is Published and contained in a Package. Admins can try them out early in the Course Preview.

Store

Create packages in the store. Packages may contain one or more courses to make available to Learners. For Learners to see these courses, they must be marked Active.

Pricing information displays after setting up a payment gateway in Settings, found in the gear icon. Coupons adds to the Store dropdown and options such as discounts and Group pricing appear.

For Learners, free content still requires login, but doesn’t require the use of the shopping cart. Free content starts immediately.

Groups

Groups may affect Visibility and Pricing for users. Once setup, users and packages may be assigned within Groups, or within Users and the Store.

Examples:

Group: Employees
Users assigned to Employees are the only people who can see Packages assigned to Employees. The packages display after Employees login.

Group: Members
Users assigned to Members see lower prices on Packages assigned to Members Users assigned to multiple Groups see the lowest price according to their Group memberships.

People

Add or edit accounts in the People tab. Keep in mind that emails are generated for each new account. To update the fields required for new users, go to Registration Fields found in Settings.

Distributors purchase vouchers and send them to potential Learners. This action occurs from the Homepage. Select the My Account dropdown, then My Vouchers to purchase/send vouchers. Follow the progress of those who accept the invitations in Learners found in the same dropdown.

Branding

Although some branding may be edited directly from the front of the website, many more options are available within Settings. Select the gear icon and scroll down to see links to these pages.

Tip 1: When making edits, open an incognito window on the homepage to refresh after each change is made.

Tip 2: Worried that someone will see your Classroom site before it is ready, put your site Under Construction. Select this in Settings.

Browse the rest of the Help documents for more detailed information about Classroom. Return to the main help menu by selecting Classroom Help at the top of this page, or by selecting the question mark, then Help.

For additional information, contact support directly through the contact form or email.

To use the contact form, select the question mark, then Feedback. This generates an email to Classroom support. Or email us directly at lms@memberclicks.com. Feel free to email questions, concerns or suggestions for new or updated features.

Assessments

Assessments are collections of questions. Outside of Classroom, you may call them tests, quizzes, exams - or pre-tests, knowledge checks or surveys. Classroom divides assessments into two types, graded and ungraded. This means that a learner either may pass/fail an assessment with a required number of points/percentage, or will take the assessment with no summary information. Finishing an ungraded or passing a graded assessment may qualify an individual to receive a certificate.

Content

Prior to taking an assessment, the learner may need to read some information, or watch a video which is assessment specific. You may also have handouts which are important for the learner to access.

The Introduction media file will display first to the learner if you choose to upload one. Simply choose your file, and don’t forget to upload. Only mp4, ogv, webm, flac, m4a, mp3, ogg and wav under 1 GB are permitted through this upload point. You may have one Introduction media file.
FIll out the Assessment description to convey text, picture, links, embeds or small video information to the learner. This information will display on top if there is no Introduction media file.
Assessment materials may be uploaded as files or through url addresses. These files will not be embedded and are only available to download prior to the start of the assessment. Each file should be less than 20 MB.The learner will identify the files based upon the file names.

The most important parts of any assessment are the questions. Go to the specific help page on this topic for information on question entry.

Settings

Assessment Flow

Edit in which chapter your assessment should be located, or assign a prerequisite with drop-downs. Only valid fields are available.

General assessment settings

All assessments may have time or attempt limits. Entering ‘0’ in either field removes limits. A time limit displays as a countdown during the assessment. Time continues when the learner closes the browser or exits the assessment.

Answer settings

If you are entering questions manually, it saves time to make the default answer count the lower limit for your multiple-choice questions. Each question will begin with this number of empty responses.

For an assessment with many multiple-choice questions, put the answers in random order with the ‘Shuffle answers’ checkbox. This helps you avoid decisions about where the correct answer(s) should appear. If you use questions which rely on ordered solutions or True/False, ‘Shuffle answers’ may be disabled on an individual question with a similar checkbox. Shuffle answers does not affect current questions; it functions while creating new questions.

Graded assessments

Graded assignments display options for selecting passing criteria and, within the question editor, answer points. By default, graded assignments are passed at 60%, but this value may be changed. You may also choose a specific number of points to pass an assessment, but the questions must be entered prior to making this selection accurately.

Results

Results are the questions and answers from a specific assessment. Select when to share and what to share in the Assessment editor.

After a graded assessment is complete and submitted, the learner will see a progress bar indicating the percentage correct and pass/fail status. An ungraded assessment does not have the progress bar, but instead displays, ‘Congratulations!’ Directly below the progress indicator or message is where the ‘VIEW RESULTS’ button will be placed if enabled.

The first option is to choose when to share results.

‘Always’ is the default option.
‘Upon passing’ will display the results of all attempts once the learner has achieved a passing score. This option is not available for an ungraded assessment since it will never display.
‘Never’ hides the button for any number of attempts or pass/fail status.

The second option is to decide what to share. If no checkboxes are chosen, then the learner will see all questions and answers with checkmarks indicating their responses. This is the default.

For ungraded assessments, you must first start with a graded assessment type, select incorrect and correct values, then switch to an ungraded assessment type.

Classroom determines a correct answer as having 1 or more points and incorrect answer having 0 or less points.

The three what options are:

‘Missed questions’ indicates which learner responses are correct or incorrect with green checks and red ‘X’ marks. This selection also turns on a key to let the learner know what each mark means.
‘Correct answers’ are indicated by a black check and grey shading. These are answers that were not chosen by the learner, but are correct.
‘Point values’ gives the value of correct responses over the total value of responses from a question. For instance, in a multiple response (checkbox) question a learner might receive 3 out of a total of 5 correct responses displayed as ‘(3/5 points)’. Ungraded assessments do not have point values.

Branding

Pages

Site pages are web pages which may be edited and linked throughout a single Classroom site. Several pages come with any Classroom site, and many more may be added. Default pages may not be editable. Add any page from this section to links in the Menu builder after completion to use them effectively.

Below are details for filling out the fields in the Page editor.

Title

The title is only available to Admins while viewing the pages on the site.

Web address

Paste any external url like: http://page.com or an internal path like: page. If you choose an internal path, the website for the page will be https://companyname.mclms.com/en/page.(The en depends on the language.) Add forward slashes to indicate hierarchy in a page title, such as page/one or page/two.

Language

The language for the page. The available options depend upon the setup of the website.

Translates

If multiple languages are used, this links pages which are translations of each other.

Deletable

Most pages are deletable; however it is best not to delete default pages. If default pages are not desired, it is better to remove the links in the Menu builder. Delete pages from the full page list, not in the editor.

Body

Any text, images, tables, video, or embed code should be placed in this entry. For pages to external links, leave this section blank.

Global

This checkbox is not for local admins. It creates global pages like Release notes.

Application

Choose Frontend for any page to be accessible by all visitors to the website. Frontend pages may be linked through the Menu builder. Backend may be chosen but will only be available to admins through direct link, https://companyname.mclms.com/en/admin/page.

Site parts

Site parts are sections on Classroom webpages which may not be deleted. The sections may be left blank, but may not be removed. Much of this list is populated after editing a section for the first time through the edit pencils on the site. Some sections may not be accessible until activated, such as Under Construction content. Also, multiple languages will enable additional Site parts. Below is a full list of keys. Site parts may not be added by local admins using the Add part button.

Key	Description
app.admin.title	The first part of text in the browser tab while viewing the Admin dashboard
app.contact	The third center editable content in the editable footer at the bottom of each non Admin dashboard application page
app.contact.company	The second editable content in the editable footer at the bottom of each non Admin dashboard application page
app.frontend.title	The first part of text in the browser tab when not viewing the Admin dashboard
app.homepage.about_us.left_content	Bottom-left content in the About us section on the homepage
app.homepage.about_us.right_content	Right content in the About us section on the homepage
app.homepage.about_us.subtitle	Top-left content in the About us section on the homepage
app.homepage.banner.lead	The bottom of the two entries above the homepage banner image
app.homepage.banner.title	The top of the two entries above the homepage banner image
app.homepage.latest_courses	The title just below the homepage banner image, and above the most recent courses added to the site
app.homepage.latest_courses.text	The text text below the Latest courses title, and above the most recent courses added to the site
app.site.map	The fifth editable content in the editable footer at the bottom of each non Admin dashboard application page. Only the site map title is editable.
app.support	The fourth editable content in the editable footer at the bottom of each non Admin dashboard application page
app.under_construction.body	Second entry below the homepage banner
app.under_construction.title	First entry below the homepage banner
email.message_footer	The content placed at the bottom of all application emails

Required images

Required images are high-profile images for the website. These images may only be replaced, not deleted. All but the favicon may be accessed through the edit pencils on the front of the website. The following describes the location and suggested resolution of each image. A variety of resolutions may be used for any image.

Key	Resolution	Location
homepage.banner	1920x480	Main image at the top of the homepage
homepage.about-us	1920x716	Image behind About Us section on the homepage
homepage.logo-portal	81x67	Bottom left logo in contact footer
homepage.navbar-brand	80x67	Top left logo (Home button)
app.favicon	32x32	Favicon on the front of the website - Non admin dashboard
site.banner	1920x220	Main image at the top of any non-homepage

Partners

Partners are pictures or text displayed between the About us and Contact footer sections on the Homepage. There are 3 options for display.

Display logos, images, etc.

Add images with hyperlinks and alternate text with the Add partner button and edit fields. Each image will be a hyperlink to the supplied url. The images are displayed in the order entered. For best results, use images of the same resolution.

Display text

Choose this option to use the TinyMCE entry for the Partner section. Any content suitable for for the entry will display including text, pictures, video, iframe embed, and hyperlinks.

Disabled

The Partners section will be absent from the homepage.

Colors

Most colors are available to customize through the Colors editor. Simply click on a color, and the browser color editor will open. Change the color, choose ok, and the website has been updated.

Note that each browser has a different color editor, so admins may need to set colors based upon browser specifications. The following is a table of 3 browsers and color options:

Chrome: RGB, HSL
Firefox: RGB, HSL
Edge: HSL

Several colors offer opacity editors where 100% is solid and 0% is transparent.

The various colors are divided into sections, but several colors are linked. For example, several of the package colors are used for buttons across the platform.

Menu builder

The Menu builder allows admins to configure the top navbar links on the homepage of the website. This includes adding, editing and deleting the left-aligned menu items in this navbar. The display in the editor is arranged in the same horizontal and vertical order as the homepage of the website.

To save any changes, don’t forget to select the Save button.

Edit any title inline by selecting the area near the title. Arrange main menu items horizontally and drop-down items vertically with the arrows.

Menu builder items must be linked to a Classroom page. So, it is best practice to create the pages first, then add the menu items. Items in the Menu builder which are not linked will prevent the saving of changes. Since the items are only links, deleting a Menu builder item, does not remove the page, only the link to it. To truly delete a page, it must be deleted from the Page editor.

If using multiple languages, edit the title of the links by switching the language at the top. Links are automatically associated with the correct language.

Certificates

Certificates make great indicators of progress on a Classroom site. Learners receive the certificate as a pdf email attachment, but may download additional copies from the Classroom site at any time. Add new or edit existing certificates in the Learning Center.

Certificates may be earned by completing sessions - Lessons or Assessments, and/or by completing CEUs. Lessons are completed upon arrival to the page, or upon completing a chosen percentage of media, depending on the lesson type - Media or Non-media. Assessments award certificates upon passing or completion, depending on the assessment type - Graded or Ungraded. CEUs are earned by completing entire courses. Certificates may have multiple completion conditions.

Certificate file

Classroom admins may choose to use a predefined template or upload a custom pdf file. The template includes the learner name, issue date, and expiration date (when used). In addition, templates have rich-text entry for issuer details and certificate conditions/details.

For admins choosing a fully customized look, upload a pdf with form fields for name, issue date and expiration date. You will need to use 3rd party software to add the form fields such as LibreOffice Writer or Adobe Acrobat. View how the certificate will look with these fields by selecting the green download icon on the Certificate List page.

Expiration

Expiration is an optional field for certificates. Expiration may occur on a specific date, or a period of time after the issue date. Choose how expiration should behave on your certificate. Next, choose if and when the learner should be notified through email of the expiration when it occurs.

Email message

The information in this section refers to the email sent upon receiving the certificate. Enter any information you wish into this required field including images you believe your users’ email carriers will accept. The certificate will be attached to the email.

Conditions

Two types of conditions may be used to earn a certificate. Either choose a session, or set up CEU criteria - or both. Certificates may have multiple completion conditions.

To choose a session, select one from the dropdown list. It is best practice to create your session prior to the certificate, since a certificate will not save without conditions selected. Lessons are completed upon arrival to the page, or upon completing a chosen percentage of media, depending on the lesson type - Media or Non-media. Assessments award certificates upon passing or completion, depending on the assessment type - Graded or Ungraded.

To add CEU units, select the Add CEU button, choose a type, then enter the number of units. Types are created in the Course editor. So to create a new type, edit a course, and create your new CEU type. The number of units is the total a Learner should accumulate to earn a certificate. For example, you may want a Learner to complete 4 courses worth 5 units each to earn a certificate. If so, enter 20 for the units in the Certificate editor. There may be multiple CEU conditions.

If using CEUs without session conditions, make sure to select the trashcan icon to remove the default session condition.

Content Library

The Content Library has four functions:

File management
Import questions
Copy questions
Copy sessions

Files

The Files section of the Content Library contains many of the files uploaded by Admins to their Classroom portal. This library allows admins to manage files within the application. Files located in the Content Library may be selected from any of the following points:

Images or Media inserted into any Text entry (TinyMCE)
Lesson / Assessment materials
Lesson Media File

To aid with selection and organization, rows may be sorted and thumbnails of images displayed.

To add a file to the library, use one of 3 methods:

Drag a file from your computer onto the Files page or the select file page
Select the Upload file from computer button on the Files page or on the select file page
Select the Upload file from hyperlink button on the Files page or on the select file page

There are two methods for selecting files.

To select a file for use in a Text entry (TinyMCE)

Select Insert from the navbar
Select Image or Media
Select the search folder icon on the right of the Source field
Use the Select button beside the file on the list. Rows without Select indicate files which may not be used. For example, when selecting an image file, text files do not have the Select button available.

To select a file outside of a Text entry (TinyMCE)

Use the Select button beside the entry point. Rows without Select indicate files which may not be used. For example, when selecting a Media file, text files do not have the Select button available.

To delete a file, select the trash icon on the row of the file to be deleted. A confirmation box will contain a table of any locations where the file is linked. These locations are hyperlinks so admins may select them to confirm the file is no longer needed. Select Delete in the confirmation box to confirm. The file will no longer appear in any location on the website. There is no undelete.

Import questions

Append or fill an empty assessment with questions. All question types are available; however, image questions will need the images added after question creation. When creating multiple answers for a question, only the first row needs to contain all question data. Additional answer rows require only: question_id, answer_points, answer_text. The total lines required for a question with 3 answers is 3 since the question and 1st answer are on the 1st row. All questions (including open) require 2 answers. Download the sample file to see several questions created properly.

Copy questions

Copy questions from one or more assessments into an existing assessment with this tool. Choose the assessment where the questions should go, add the questions after viewing them with the Details icon, then select Copy. Copied questions are appended to any existing questions in the assessment.

Copy sessions

Copy lessons / assessments from one course into an existing course with this tool. Choose the course and chapter where the sessions should go, add the sessions after viewing them with the Details icon, then select Copy. Copied sessions are appended to any existing sessions in the chosen chapter of a course.

Coupons

Coupons are codes which reduce the cost of packages for users. Coupons are entered by learners at the time of purchase. They remove a percentage or specific amount from a specific course or an entire purchase. Admins may create restrictions for the number of uses, amount of discount or applicable courses

Coupon List

Add Coupon

Select this button to create a new coupon.

Code

This is what the learner will enter to use a coupon. Codes are not case sensitive.

Expires

The date and time a coupon will no longer be valid.

Max usages/User

A number indicates the max number of uses. No value indicates unlimited uses per user.

Discount %

When a percent is displayed, this is the percentage removed from the individual course or entire purchase. No value means that the discount is fixed.

Discount Fixed

When a dollar amount is displayed, this is the amount removed from the individual course or entire purchase. No value means that the discount is a percentage.

Active

Active coupons are recognized in the shopping cart.

For package

A check indicates that this coupon is intended for all packages. A ‘X’ indicates that it is intended for specific packages.

Usages

The number indicates the total number of uses of the coupon.

Actions

Edit

Select edit to view the details or edit a coupon.

Delete

Remove the coupon from the website.

Coupon Editor

Code

The coupon code is what the learner must use to use the code. It is not case sensitive and may contain letters, numbers, special characters and spaces.

Usages/User

Leaving this value blank gives the coupon infinite uses. Change this to a specific number to limit the number of uses per user.

Percentage discount

Enter an integer from 1 to 100. Coupons must have a percentage or fixed discount value.

Fixed discount

Enter dollar amount above $0.00. Discounts which exceed the total value of the purchase will change the purchase price to $0.00. Coupons can’t make the website owe the learner.

Valid until

Blank values give a coupon no expiration date. Choose a specific date in the future to limit the time a coupon may be used. When the time passes, the coupon will become inactive.

Active

Coupons must be ‘Active’ to function for learners. ‘Valid until’ or the ‘Active’ checkbox may toggle a coupon to inactive.

Is for packages

In the unchecked state coupons affect all packages. To choose specific packages, the ‘Is for packages’ checkbox must be checked.

Packages

If the ‘Is for packages’ checkbox is checked, ‘Packages’ checkmarks indicate which packages the current coupon affects. Packages is the list of all current packages.

Save

All changes made to a coupon must be saved by selecting the Save button. Save returns you to the Coupon List screen.

Courses

If you want to create learning content, you will need to begin with a Course. Courses are containers for learning and assessment material. They must be put into a package for a Learner to have access to them. This means that a new course is only visible to admins until attached to a package in the store.

Course Editor

View and edit the major outline of course content here. Chapters, lessons, assessments and question sorting and editors are available through the Course editor. Reach the Course editor by choosing the hyperlinked name of a course from the Course list.

Chapters

Courses contain one or more chapters. Each chapter may contain sessions (lessons / assessments). By default, a new course contains a single chapter titled, “Title,” and no sessions.

Delete chapter

A chapter may be deleted when it contains no content. Delete all sessions within a chapter, then use the Delete chapter button to delete a chapter.

Session Type

Sessions are the content of chapters. There are two types.

Lessons

Lessons may contain rich-text content, videos and files for the Learner to download. Learners are also given the opportunity to take and save notes throughout a course. For tips on rich-text entry, go to our help section on this topic.

Assessments

Assessments may contain rich-text content, videos and files for the Learner to download. Assessments also include questions and feedback for learners.

Prerequisite

Prerequisites identify the order sessions must be completed in order to access new content. To the learner, a lock icon is displayed for content which has not been earned. For instance, a lesson may have to be viewed prior to taking an assessment, or an assessment may have to be passed prior to viewing a new lesson.

Prerequisites are selected within the individual lesson and assessment editors. Prerequisites are removed from an entire course if contents are rearranged with the Action arrows. Since they are taken into account while previewing a course, and may be removed upon changing the order of content, you may want to add them last.

Actions

Arrows

The action arrows rearrange content. Note that chapters which are moved bring all of the sessions with them. Session content may not be moved out of a chapter with the Action arrows. Choose a new chapter within the session editors to achieve this. Rearranging the content with arrows removes all Prerequisites from a course.

Edit

The edit icon opens the session editor. There may be restrictions to editing content which has been added to a package and used by a learner, or which is in Preview by an admin.

Delete

The delete icon removes the selected session. There may be restrictions to deleting content which has been added to a package and used by a learner, or which is in Preview by an admin

Questions

The question button opens the question editor. There may be restrictions to editing questions which have been added to a package and used by a learner, or which are in Preview by an admin.

Course List

To get to the Courses page, select the Learning Center and then Courses. The Courses page contains a listing of all available courses with options to preview, edit or create new content.

Courses

The full list of courses is displayed on this page in the order created. Select the hyperlinked name of a course to add content such as lessons and assessments. Read the Course editor help for additional information about adding content to a course. To edit course settings, select the blue edit icon. Read the Course settings help for additional information.

Search

The search bar has filters for many learning categories to help find specific content. Content matching the search may be edited by clicking on any hyperlink, such as a lesson title, or question text.

Add course

The Add course button opens an editor for a new course. Upon filling out the required parts of the course, the Course Creator is opened for adding sessions (lessons / assessments), and the new course will be added to the course list.

Preview

Admins may test their courses out through the Preview. This is an actual test of the material, so Prerequisites and full tests are previewed. Your view will be identical to the Learner view. You may want to add prerequisites after completing course creation in order to shorten your time in preview.

Actions

Edit

Edit existing course settings with this icon. If the icon does not function, try canceling a preview.

Delete

Deletes the specific course. There is no un-delete. Learners do not see courses which are not in packages, so delete with care. Courses may only be deleted if they contain no content.

Details

Use the details arrow to view course sessions quickly. Click on a hyperlink to move directly to the editor for that content.

Course settings

Adjust overall settings for your course by selecting the edit pencil in the actions section. Course settings are also opened when creating a new course. Saving the Course Settings brings admins to the Course editor.

There are two special cases for display/workflow enabled through specific course setting choices.

Skip the Course details screen

When the learner selects the package label, they move directly to the course content when the following conditions are met:

The Long description field is blank
The course has only 1 lesson
The package is free

Full screen lesson content

The Course details panel is removed to allow full screen lesson content when the following conditions are met:

The Long description field is blank
There is no FAQ
There are no instructors
There are no files attached
The course has only 1 lesson

Descriptions

Course descriptions describe the content of a course to learners. The Course short description appears on Package Labels for non-bundled packages (Packages with only 1 course). Short descriptions are text-only (must be less than 256 characters).

When a learner chooses to see Course details, they see the Long description. The Long description is a rich-text entry, so images, video, and embed are supported. If no Long description exists, but a Short description does, the Short description will appear in place of the Long description.

FAQ

If your course requires a Frequently Asked Questions page, fill out this optional information. If no information is entered, learners will not see any indication of the FAQ.

Published

Choose whether or not the course is published. A published course has visible contents to those who own it. A non-published course does not have visible content. For example, you may want to allow users to purchase a course before the content is actually available. When a user selects the course content, the links to sessions are disabled while the course is unpublished. The Description, Table of Contents and FAQ are still available for unpublished courses.

Levels

Classroom comes with several preset levels – Beginner, Standard, Advanced and Expert. These are not indications of prerequisites, but simply labels for the courses within the store.

If you would like a unique level description, make up your own. You may also want to use this label for a different reason entirely. For example, you may choose to use this label to identify sessions from a specific conference.

Prerequisites

Choose the required completion order for courses by assigning a prerequisite course from the drop-down menu. Prerequisites are enforced in the admin Preview.

CEUs

CEUs (Continuing Education Units) may be added to any course. First select the Add CEU button. If, at any time, you would like to remove CEUs from a course, select the Removebutton to the right of any CEU row.

Either create a new CEU type, or choose an existing type from the drop-down list. Many groups use abbreviations for CEU types, but admins are not limited to abbreviations. You may use words, symbols and spaces.

Next enter the number of units your course is worth. Courses may be worth fractional units. For example, if your course is 1 hour and 30 minutes long, you might choose 1.5.

Courses may have multiple CEU types.

Disqus Configuration

Disqus is a third party commenting platform which allows commenting on lessons in Classroom. Admins must have a Disqus account to activate this feature, created at https://disqus.com/profile/signup/. Free and paid accounts will work; however free accounts may show ads. Ads may be disabled by purchasing a Pro account.

To allow comments on all lessons, enter a Disqus Shortname and select the Active checkbox.

Below are a few tips for integrating with Disqus. Visit the Disqus knowledgebase for additional information at https://help.disqus.com/.

Shortname

Every Disqus site has a shortname, so to find the shortname to enter into the Classroom site, a Disqus site must be created first. There are several ways to navigate to a correct place to accomplish this.

After creating an account, the next step is to go to the admin dashboard of Disqus at https://disqus.com/admin/. Choose the second option, ‘I want to install Disqus on my site’.

Create a new site

The Website name will be displayed on all of your comment threads in Classroom. Create one which represents your organization and a Category. You may easily change this name later.

Choose the plan

Choose the plan which is best for your organization. The free plan may show ads from third parties.

Install Disqus

Don’t worry about this step. Disqus is already on Classroom.

Configure Disqus

Select Complete Setup, then Dismiss Setup.

Now you should be viewing the Admin Dashboard as in the picture below.

Select Settings on the navbar. Note that Shortname is the second item on the page. Users will never see the Shortname, so don’t worry if it is not simple. Users see the Website Namewhich may be changed. Copy the Shortname to the corresponding field on the Classroom website.

Recommended settings and Tips

Discovery

On the General tab, make sure that Discovery is not checked. Recommendations will cause errors in Classroom.

Guest commenting

Guest commenting may be found after selecting the Community tab. The option is disabled by default. It may be enabled, but Pre-moderation is required for all Guest commenting. In addition, Disqus makes the option of adding a guest comment difficult to find. Note in the picture that the checkbox is small and after the other login information. The checkbox is not displayed until the user clicks in the Name field.

Pre-moderation

Pre-moderation may be found after selecting the Community tab. Note that when set to None, guest comments will still be moderated.

Moderators

Additional moderators may be added to the site. Select Community in the top navbar, then Moderators in the left navbar. Moderators must have Disqus accounts of their own.

Groups

Classroom organizes people and store content with groups. Groups help to filter packages and give member-based pricing. Some common examples are: Employees, Members, Non-members, and Conference attendees.

Groups may affect two properties - Visibility and Pricing. If a group affects visibility, then a package in that group is only visible to members of that group. If a group affects pricing, then members may see a lower price than non-members. Pricing requires a payment gateway to be active. Below are a few examples to help explain how groups might be used.

Example 1: An organization decides that some content will be for internal use only, such as onboarding courses and required employee safety training. Other content is made available to the general public. So, a group is made for ‘Employees.’ All content in the ‘Employees’ group is only visible to the employees, not the public.

Example 2: The same organization is membership based. So, they want to give members of the organization better pricing than non-members. They create a new group titled, ‘Members’ where pricing is affected. This way ‘Members’ see some items at a reduced rate and any other person see content at a higher price.

Example 3: The organization holds an annual conference. They want to make the material free to conference attendees, free to employees, a reduced rate for members, and a higher rate for the general public. They create a group titled, ‘Conference.’ Now they have all of the groups necessary to create their desired pricing structure. Any individual who logs in to their Classroom portal will see the lowest price available according to his/her group memberships.

Groups are easy to add and manage.

Group Management

Create, edit and delete groups in Group Management. Choose if groups affect visibility, pricing, or both. These settings may be changed at any time.

People Management

There are a number of ways to assign / edit people to groups. There are two methods on the People Management page and two on the People page.

You may assign them individually on the People Management page by choosing a group and then selecting / deselecting members. Groups may also be assigned / edited individually on the profile editor on the People page.

Groups may be assigned while uploading new users to Classroom through csv. Separate each group name by a ‘|’ and multiple groups may be assigned at once.

Another way is through direct csv import of group members through the People Management page. Importing group members through a file can save time and increase accuracy of groups within Classroom. There are three steps to completing this action.

Create your file: Use the template if you wish, but this is an easy one to create. The file must meet the following criteria:

Be in csv format.
Contain email addresses of registered Classroom users
Contain no blank lines
Contain no duplicate addresses
Contain valid email addresses

Choose how to add the members

Append – Add the users to an existing group. If an email address happens to already be in the selected group, it will still import properly.
Overwrite – Make the imported users the ONLY members of the selected group. Users who are not on the list will be removed from the group. Users on the list are added to the group.

Choose which group

Only existing groups may be selected. If you need a new group, make it prior to the upload.

CSV import only affects 1 group at a time. For example, if an ‘employee’ group and ‘overwrite’ type are chosen, other group memberships of individual accounts will remain unchanged.

Package Management

Packages may be added / removed from groups from two points - Package Group Management and the Store.

On the Package Group Management page, select the group you wish to assign, and select / deselect packages which should be in the group. This will make groups with visibility enabled hide the package from non-members. Pricing updates may only occur in the store.

Within the store, the individual package editors have options to add a group. Each group added to a package can have a unique price. Make sure pricing is enabled for the group in order to have it take effect. One package may belong to a number of groups with different pricing for each. When an individual logs in to the site, he/she will see the lowest value according to his/her membership.

Instructors

Instructors are people associated with particular courses who may be contacted for information. Instructors do not have to have an Classroom account.

When a course is added to an instructor, the Instructor link becomes available to Learners when perusing Course details. Learners may read about Instructors and contact them through a form. The email address of the Instructor is not shared with the Learner.

Select the Add instructor button to create a new instructor. Enter the required information including name, email, image and biography. The email address is not shared with the Learner.

Select the course or courses to be associated with the Instructor. Make sure Active is selected when you want Learners to see the Instructor. A single course may have several Instructors.

Learning Center

Need to create or edit content? Go to the Learning Center. Within this robust builder, you may create courses, lessons, assessments, certificates within the privacy of your organization account. Content is not visible on your website until you add it to a package in the Store.

To continue learning about content available through the Learning Center select a topic below, or return to the main Admin Help menu.

Lessons

Lessons contain the content that a Learner will consume. It is one of two sessions types, the other being Assessments. To edit a lesson, click on the edit icon next to the lesson title in the Course Creator, or search for your lesson and click on its title.

Classroom divides lessons into two types, Text and Media. A text lesson uses the rich-text entry titled “Text content.” A media lesson has a single video or audio file uploaded into the “Media file” section in addition to possible information in the rich-text entry. Learners may also receive information from files uploaded to the “Lesson materials” section. The order for display is Text content, Lesson materials (pdf) and then Media file.

Text content

Enter any content you wish the learner to see in the rich-text entry. Content may include text, pictures, movies smaller than 25mb, embed code, links or inline html. Text content always displays above pdf Lesson Material and Media files. For tips on rich-text entry, go to our help section on this topic.

Media file

Adding a media file converts your lesson into a media lesson, requiring the use of a video or audio file. Only mp4, ogv, webm, flac, m4a, mp3, ogg and wav under 1 GB are permitted through this upload point. Media content is always displayed after Text content and pdf Lesson Materials. A media lesson may only have one media file.

Press the green button with the plus sign to add a media file. Any file available through your computer may be selected. Keep in mind that only mp3, wav, and mp4 file types will function even if another type is uploaded. After choosing a file, a preview version of the file is presented on the screen. Your file has not been uploaded at this time.

Press either of the two blue upload icons to upload your video. A progress bar will appear. When your preview is replaced by the filename and delete icon, your file upload is complete. Use the delete icon to delete and replace your file.

By default, media lessons require the learner to complete 85% percent of the video content to proceed. Admins may remove this requirement entirely or change the percent required for each lesson.

Lesson materials

Upload files for the learner to download or read throughout the session. Pdf’s are embedded and available for download, while other file types are only available for download. Make sure your content titles are descriptive since the learner will identify the files by their titles. You may upload any number of files, but each should be less than 20 MB.

The first option is to upload a file through the web. Choose a valid web address which is a file, and then choose upload to add the file to the list of available lesson materials. To upload a file from your device, choose the plus sign icon. Any file available to your computer may be selected. Pdf’s will be embedded. Do not forget to upload the file after adding. Files are displayed in the order uploaded.

Estimated duration

Enter the amount of time you estimate the learner will spend consuming the lesson content. If the amount equals zero, then no indication of time will be displayed.

Chapter

All sessions must be contained in a chapter. Although content may be created within any chapter, the assigned chapter may only be edited within the session editors. The chapter dropdown displays all available chapters. Choose one to reassign your session.

Prerequisite

Choose a prerequisite to require the learner to complete the sessions in a specific order. Prerequisites may only be sessions within the same course. They require the admin to view the contents in Course Preview in a specific order. Prerequisites are removed from an entire course if contents are rearranged with the Action arrows on the Course Creator. Since they are followed while previewing a course, and may be removed upon changing the order of content, you may want to add them last.

Comments

Enable commenting on lessons through the Settings page of the Admin Dashboard. Once active, all lessons will allow commenting. A Disqus account is required for the admin and any additional moderators

Certificates

Certificates make great indicators of progress on an Classroom site. Learners receive the certificate as a pdf email attachment, but may download additional copies from the Classroom site at any time. Add new or edit existing certificates in the Learning Center.

Certificate file

Expiration

Email message

Conditions

Two types of conditions may be used to earn a certificate. Either choose a session, or set up CEU criteria - or both. Certificates may have multiple completion conditions.

If using CEUs without session conditions, make sure to select the trashcan icon to remove the default session condition.

People

The People tab is divided into two parts, Users and Roles. User accounts have full profiles and a variety of permissions across the website. Roles define the permissions available to the Users.

The three default roles are Learners, Distributors and Admins. Summaries are below. For additional information about Distribution, visit the help page.

Learner

May create own account
May purchase individual packages
May consume learning content
May earn certificates

Distributor

Capable of all Learner functions
May purchase multiple copies of packages – Vouchers
May distribute vouchers to others
May track the progress of those who accept vouchers

Admin

Capable of all Learner and Distributor functions
May access the admin dashboard
May edit Packages, Courses and Site settings
May create and edit Learner, Distributor, and Admin accounts

Instructors

Instructors are people associated with particular courses who may be contacted for information. Instructors do not have to have a Classroom account.

Select the Add instructor button to create a new instructor. Enter the required information including name, email, image and biography. The email address is not shared with the Learner.

Select the course or courses to be associated with the Instructor. Make sure Active is selected when you want Learners to see the Instructor. A single course may have several Instructors.

Distributor

Distributor accounts are learner accounts with some additional features. Distributors may give courses to others through email invitations. Those that accept the invitations give the distributor some tracking / reporting privileges for that content.

Learner accounts may be changed to Distributor accounts, but Distributor accounts may not be changed to a Learner account. This is to prevent users from losing access to content which has been purchased. Admins may control whether Learners have the authority to change their account type in the Registration Field editor.

Invitations

To send invitations to potential learners, a distributor needs to own copies of the content. This is simple for free content. A distributor may send free content at any time. To send invitations for content which is not free, you must first purchase vouchers. Purchasing multiple copies of a package in the form of vouchers may qualify the distributor for bulk purchase discounts.

Vouchers

Vouchers are links sent to others or assigned to the distributor which are redeemed for packages. Only distributors may send vouchers. Accepting a voucher gives the distributor access to a learner’s progress of the shared content. There are two methods of purchasing vouchers.

While browsing through the list of available courses on the homepage, attempt to purchase one. In the shopping cart, change the quantity to your desired amount. Distributors always purchase vouchers through the store. These may be assigned to yourself from a different page.
Select My Account and then My Vouchers. This is a list of all available courses and course bundles. Non-free packages have a Purchase button beside them. Selecting this button will bring you to the store where you may change the quantity and complete the purchase.

Distribute

Distributing a package sends an invitation email to the recipient with a link to claim the voucher. If a learner loses, or claims to have not received an email, distributors may use the Resend button to send an additional copy of the url. Vouchers may only be claimed by potential learners through the email message.

The first step is to choose the Distribute button for the course to be shared. The button is only available if distribution is possible. Prior to adding email addresses and other distribution information, distributors should begin by reviewing the message which will be sent.

View the invitation email message by selecting the Invite button and edit the message. The Send test email can help verify the correct formatting of the content. Choose Save to confirm the message. In addition to the custom message, the users will receive a link to accept the distributor invitation.

Once you are satisfied with the email message, move to the Distribute panel. Enter the email addresses manually, or fill the table by uploading a csv file. Up to 100 invitations may be sent at a time. The only required field is email address. Recipients of the email who do not have Classroom accounts will be prompted to create one upon selecting the link in their invitation. Account holders will need to login.

Reminder is an optional field which generates an additional email letting the person know the content has not been completed. The email is sent to those who have not accepted a course, and those who accepted, but have not completed the content. Remind emails may also be sent manually to all individuals who meet the remind conditions by selecting the Remind button.

Expiration is an optional hard date which removes access to a course from a learner at a specific date / time. Once an expiration date has passed, the action may not be reversed. It is similar to Unpublish for Admins without the option of Publishing afterwards.

Select the Send invites button to share your vouchers.

Resend, Remind, Revoke

Now that vouchers have been sent, follow-up with learners. There are three emails which may be sent.

Resend gives the user an additional copy of the Invite email link, and may be sent to any user who has not accepted the original invitation.
Remind is sent to those who have not accepted a course, and those who accepted, but have not completed the content.
Revoke disables the voucher for the recipient and returns a voucher to the distributor.

Start on the Email messages panel at the top of the distribution page. Edit your Resend, Remind or Revoke message, and send yourself a test email if you wish.

Next, move down to the History panel at the bottom of the page. Icons beside each row of the table will send the appropriate email to an individual. Below the table, the buttons send emails to all users who meet the conditions. All of these email buttons require you to Confirm the action. If you do not see the option beside an individual, it means they don’t meet the conditions. For example, once an invite is accepted, then Resend and Cancel are no longer available.

Learners

Once individuals have accepted invitations, they appear in the Learners list accessible in My Account. Only shared learner course data is available. For example, if a distributor shares Course A with a learner, and a learner purchases Course B on their own, the distributor will only see Course A course data.

Upon arriving to the page, all Learners are displayed without specific course progress data. To add course progress data, filter the Learners by course. Learners who accepted specific course invitations are filtered, and percentages for the assessment average and course progress are added to the table. At any time, download a csv of the visible data by selecting the button.

Reports

A variety of reports and report features are available through the Reports tab. To get started, select a report from the provided list or from the top Reports navbar, and interact with the selected report through the second navbar.

Features

Each report has corresponding options for interacting with the data in a meaningful way. Not all reports have the same options. Below are report features.

Download as csv or pdf

Downloads a copy of the report in the selected format - pdf or csv.

View/Print (pdf)

Opens the report in a new tab allowing for quick viewing, print and additional options

Filters

Filter data by date range or period. Date range is a specific range of dates such as 3/1/18-4/2/18. Date period is an amount of time prior to today’s date such as last month or the last 2 weeks. Combine date period with scheduled emails to receive automated updates from the website.

Email

Send email

Send the current report preserving filtering/sorting options to any email address.

Add or remove one or more valid email addresses
Select pdf or csv attachment
Enter a message for the recipient which may include text, pictures, links, etc.

Schedule email

Send the current reports preserving filtering/sorting options to any email address on a regular schedule

Follow the instructions for Send Email, plus optionally include the recipient name(s).
Choose Start/End dates. A blank end date will continue indefinitely.
Choose how often the report should send, by entering a number and selecting Days, Weeks, Months or Years.

Scheduled emails

View scheduled reports to email, sorting and filtering options, recipients, repeat schedule, and schedule dates. Select the trashcan icon to cancel a scheduled email.

Columns

Add/remove default columns on a report with drag and drop. Save changes to view the data as arranged. Reports which contain lists of users may add/remove any registration field, such as Address, Company, or any custom field.

Reports

Recent

Recent reports show the last 5 reports viewed. By selecting a recent report, the report is shown with the same filtering/sorting options that were selected the last time viewed.

eCommerce

Site sales summary

View summary sales information arranged by months, weeks or days.

The top row is always the total sales figure for the range of data selected.
Weeks are always Monday-Sunday.

Package sales summaries

Find out how much money was earned from all packages. Note that the Base price multiplied times the Quantity may not equal the Income for a variety of reasons including:

Change of base price
Coupon use
Group pricing
Bulk discounts

Orders

View all order numbers, individuals, and amounts spent. Larger order numbers are more recent. Missing order numbers indicate cancelled, or abandoned orders. The coupon value is always indicated in dollars, even when percentages were applied. Select the blue details arrow to view the details of an individual order.

Order details

Access this report from the Orders report blue details arrow. Included are the specific packages sold and the information from the row of the Orders report.

Subscriptions

This is a log of package sales, where every entry is a course within a package. For instance, if a package had 4 courses and was sold as Order # 234, then four rows of data will appear - one for each Course within the package.

Courses

The following reports involve course data. Below are a few general tips for these reports.

Admin use of Preview affects data. Cancel Preview for best results.
Adding sessions to a course after users have completed it does not update the Complete status for users, however the session data updates.

Course progress summaries

View a list of courses with average progress information. The list contains every course currently in the Learning Center.

Column label	Details
Course	Course title of all current courses
Total owned	Quantity of packages/vouchers sold containing the course
Total complete	Quantity of users completing/passing every session in the course
Percent complete	Percentage of owners to complete all sessions. Total complete divided by the Total owned.
Total assessments	Total number of assessments in the course
Graded assessment average	Average percents of all attempts, including multiple attempts of individual users
Ungraded assessment average	Average of complete versus incomplete assessments. In progress assessments are 0% until completed.
Total lessons	Total number of lessons in the course
Lesson progress average	Average of complete versus incomplete lessons. In progress media lessons are 0% until completed.
Course progress average	Quantity of complete (passed) sessions divided by total sessions.

Course progress summaries by session

View a list of courses with summary progress data of lessons and assessments. The course title, total copies of the course sold, and report displays.

Column label	Details
Session titles	Lesson/assessment titles of current sessions in the course
Session type	Lesson or Assessment
Total complete	Quantity of users to complete/pass all session
Lesson progress average	Total complete divided by Total owned.
Passing score	For graded assessments, either the percentage or number of points required displays. Percentage scores use the % symbol.
Assessment average	Average percents of all attempts, including multiple attempts of individual users
Max attempts	If set, the maximum number of attempts allowed for an assessment.
Average attempts	Average number of attempts per user who has made at least 1 attempt.
Assessment avg. duration	Average time from start to submit for an assessment, with or without a time restriction.

Course progress by user

Select a course to see general progress information for all owners of the course.

Column label	Details
Purchase	Date the package/voucher containing the course was purchased
Start	Date of the first session completion
Recent	Date of the most recent lesson completion or assessment progress
Complete	Date of completion for all sessions
Assessment average	Average of all test attempts of all assessments
Course progress	Quantity of sessions completed divided by the total sessions

Course progress for user

Enter the first and/or last name of a user, then select the intended user. Next choose the user’s course. Course progress data for the selected user and course are displayed.

Assessment activity

Select an assessment to display assessment summary information for every attempt made by every user.

Column label	Details
Answered questions	Quantity of questions completed
Total questions	Quantity of questions on the assessment
Points received	Points received from given responses
Passing score	Quantity of points required to pass the assessment
Percentage correct	Percentage correct from given responses
Passing percentage	Percentage required to pass
Status	Passed, In progress, or Failed
Time spent	Time from assessment start to submit, with or without a time restriction.

Assessment responses

Select an assessment to see all questions and the responses from each user for every assessment attempt.

Question results

This report gives the average percentage and score for the assessment and each question. Filter the information by choosing a date range.

Certification/CEUs

Earned certificates by users

Select a certificate and receive a list of users who have earned it. Each result gives the issue and expiration date, if applicable.

CEUs by user

Review totals of every CEU type for all users.

Other

Registration fields

All users are listed with available registration field information, including custom, required and optional fields.

User list

View all user accounts with creation date, active status and account type.

Usage report - Rolling 12

Summary usage information for the past 12 months is displayed, including income, active users, certificates earned and assessments passed.

Packages

Packages are the connection point between the learning content and the learner. Courses are shared with learners putting them into packages. Packages may have one, or multiple courses within them. Editing packages in the store means making decisions about cost, visibility, registration, discounts, and groups.

Find the packages section by choosing Store from the Admin Dashboard and then Packages. A list of all packages will be displayed. Packages which may be seen by users are active. Inactive packages may not be seen by users. The price is the base price entered for a course.

To enter the package editor, add a new package, select the title of an existing package, or select the blue edit pencil button.

Name, Subscription description, Price, and Duration

Once in the package editor, there are two required fields for entry.

Package name
Price: This is the base price for the package. Enter 0.00 for free content.

Duration is also required, but 00:00:00 is entered by default. When the value is zero, no duration will be displayed. The value in the grey box is the sum of all course duration values to help in estimating a total duration. Select Copy duration to make the Package value equal the summed Course value.

Enter a subscription description if you wish to give purchase information to users. If the content is free, this text will not display.

Active and Registration

The Active and Registration section is where decisions about when the package will be available. The Active toggle and date selectors control when the package is visible to users. Use any combination of the controls. The Registration toggle and date selectors choose when the package may be purchased, probably within the active period. If the toggle is not selected, no information about registration appears to the user. The registration information presented to the user will update to indicate the open date, registration period, or close date.

Visible only upon distribution

Visible only upon distribution limits package availability to the discretion of Distributors. Distributors may purchase and distribute content to themselves and others. Group filters for visibility to the distributor still apply. Add the check to enable this function.

Courses

Choose any number of courses to to include within the package. If more than one course is selected, then entry for Bundle short description and Bundle long description appear. These are meant for overview information for a package which contains several courses. The short description appears on the package label, and long description appears while viewing package details. If the long description is left blank, the short description will appear in this space.

Course levels are text decorations for package labels. Choose a default label, or create a custom label.

Discounts

Discounts allow Distributors to receive bulk purchase pricing. This pricing chart is available to the Distributor below the Subscription Description, and above the Add to Cart button. To add discounts, select the button, enter a quantity where the pricing should change, then enter the new price. For example, if the base price of the package is $10 and you want to reduce the price $1 for every 10 packages, down to $7 - Add 3 discounts with quantities of 10, 20, and 30, and pricing of $9, $8 and $7. Distributors will see Starting at $7 on the package label. Discounts are required while active, so delete blank lines to save the package properly.

Groups

Groups can help control visibility and pricing of packages. First, make sure the group is created and edited in the Groups section of the Classroom application. To add a group, select the button, and select the desired group from the drop-down.

If no price is entered, then the group may only affect visibility. For instance, there may be a group titled Employees which can affect visibility and pricing, and users have been added to this group. If a package is added to the group, Employees, then only members of that group can see it. Non-employees will not see the package. If a base price of $10.00 was entered, and a group price of $0.00 for Employees, then upon login, employees will see the price change from $10 to Free. Groups are required while active, so delete blank lines to save the package properly.

Guest login

For packages which are free and only contain 1 course, Guest login may be enabled. This allows non-account holders to view lessons. Guest accounts will not have access to Assessments, sessions bound by prerequisites, CEUs or Certificates. Guest login does not prevent account holders from accessing packages.

Guest login requires the user enter a name, email and an optional company name. The email address is not authenticated. Admins may use the Guest login report for information about these accounts.

Coupons

Coupon List

Add Coupon

Select this button to create a new coupon.

Code

This is what the learner will enter to use a coupon. Codes are not case sensitive.

Expires

The date and time a coupon will no longer be valid.

Max usages/User

A number indicates the max number of uses. No value indicates unlimited uses per user.

Discount %

When a percent is displayed, this is the percentage removed from the individual course or entire purchase. No value means that the discount is fixed.

Discount Fixed

When a dollar amount is displayed, this is the amount removed from the individual course or entire purchase. No value means that the discount is a percentage.

Active

Active coupons are recognized in the shopping cart.

For package

A check indicates that this coupon is intended for all packages. A ‘X’ indicates that it is intended for specific packages.

Usages

The number indicates the total number of uses of the coupon.

Actions

Edit

Select edit to view the details or edit a coupon.

Delete

Remove the coupon from the website.

Coupon Editor

Code

The coupon code is what the learner must use to use the code. It is not case sensitive and may contain letters, numbers, special characters and spaces.

Usages/User

Leaving this value blank gives the coupon infinite uses. Change this to a specific number to limit the number of uses per user.

Percentage discount

Enter an integer from 1 to 100. Coupons must have a percentage or fixed discount value.

Fixed discount

Enter dollar amount above $0.00. Discounts which exceed the total value of the purchase will change the purchase price to $0.00. Coupons can’t make the website owe the learner.

Valid until

Blank values give a coupon no expiration date. Choose a specific date in the future to limit the time a coupon may be used. When the time passes, the coupon will become inactive.

Active

Coupons must be ‘Active’ to function for learners. ‘Valid until’ or the ‘Active’ checkbox may toggle a coupon to inactive.

Is for packages

In the unchecked state coupons affect all packages. To choose specific packages, the ‘Is for packages’ checkbox must be checked.

Packages

If the ‘Is for packages’ checkbox is checked, ‘Packages’ check marks indicate which packages the current coupon affects. Packages is the list of all current packages.

Save

All changes made to a coupon must be saved by selecting the Save button. Save returns you to the Coupon List screen.

Settings

Adjust site level settings across four sections by selecting the gear icon at the top-right of the display.

Payment gateways

Edit your organization payment gateway information if products will be sold through the site. Sites without active payment gateways will not see some parts of the website on the Admin Dashboard, such as Coupons and other pricing information.

Disqus configuration

Sign up for a free or paid Disqus account to enable commenting on all lessons. Read the Classroom help on this topic for a few recommended settings.

Site configuration

Site configuration edits global access settings and display options on the Classroom site.

Registration fields

Registration fields are the information requested/required of users to access the site. Adjust requirements and add/subtract fields for your custom needs.

Branding

Adjust the look and feel of the entire site.

Text editor (TinyMCE)

Classroom provides admins many opportunities to use rich text entry across the website. Although most entry is intuitive, this description of content may help unlock your creative potential. Completing a text box has never required less text. This text box allows admins to add pictures, videos, embed codes, or source code, making your Classroom pages look and feel more customized, creative and feature rich to the end user.

Type

Type text directly into the editor as you would a typical document. Enter special characters by using the Insert | Special character option.

Adjust the text style with familiar controls such as Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Superscript and Subscript in the Formats | Inline dropdown.

Adjust the font size, or use default sizes of Headers, paragraph and blockquote text.

PRO TIP: Adjusting the format first may help your website as it responds to different devices and screen resolutions. If your text is a header, make sure to call it that first, then adjust the size. Making paragraph text behave like a Header by increasing its size may hurt the look of your website on a particular device.

To make this even easier, copy and paste content directly from Word. Type styles and formatting are saved when you paste.

Paragraphs

Adjust alignment by highlighting the text and pressing the alignment icons – Left, center, right or justify. Bullet or numbered lists also are similar to typical text entry applications. Select the drop-down on the list icons to change the shape of the bullet, or style of the number.

Indent is not accomplished with the tab key. Instead, press the indent icons to move the indent placement to the left or right.

Although not a text feature, the horizontal line icon creates nice divisions of sections of text / media on a webpage.

Color

Change your text color with the Text color swatches, or choose a Custom color.

Advanced

This text editor allows the entry of text which should display properly across a range of devices and screen resolutions. To accomplish this, everything typed is being converted to html for screen display. Some of these conventions can complicate text entry, so being able to edit parts of this code can help simplify your editing.

If you are having trouble isolating your text for style changes, try looking at the code. In this example, I typed a Title, changed the format to Header 1, hit enter and then added paragraph text. When I noticed that the paragraph text was header sized, I highlighted the text and changed the format to paragraph. Unfortunately, all of the text, including the title, changed to paragraph. Why is this?

Sometimes, the beginning and end of sections doesn’t automatically occur where we want them. It is best in these circumstances to manually edit the text. Choose Tools | Source code.

The code has: <p>TEST TITLE<br />Test paragraph</p>

The code had: <h1>TEST TITLE<br />Test paragraph</h1>

Paragraph text must be enclosed in <p> and </p>, where header text must be enclosed in <h1> and </h1>. The <br/> is where I hit the enter key. Let’s move these tags where we want them!

Now it reads: <h1>TEST TITLE</h1><br /><p>Test paragraph</p>

This is better, but now they are spaced too far apart. Headers and paragraph text can’t appear on the same line, so the additional line space <br /> is redundant. Let’s remove it.

<h1>TEST TITLE</h1>

<p>Test paragraph</p>

Now that we have what we wanted, it is time to copy and paste into different sections of your text box. You’re halfway to being a software developer.

Don’t worry if you make errors. Ctrl Z or the Undo icon will reverse any changes you make. Plus, html errors only affect the text and text styling in this single box. Errors in the code will not affect any other part of the website.

Image

Image doesn’t begin to describe the wide variety of features contained in this single location. Images may be edited in a variety of ways with many WYSIWYG tools.

Insert image

Choose the Image icon from the toolbar, Insert | Image, or right-click in the edit area and select Image.

The Insert/edit image dialog box should appear.

This dialog box has several options for Sources. What may not be the most obvious choice is pasting a url. Do a search in your browser for an appropriate image, make sure you have permission to use the image, and copy the url into the Source field.

If you would like to upload your own image, select the folder icon. This will open the Webpage media selector. All images appearing on any webpage are stored here. In order to add an image to your webpage, you must select it. Be careful removing photos, since they will not be available on any webpage on your Classroom site.

If you don’t see any images to select, add one by choosing a file. A variety of image types will work including gif, jpeg and png. Once your image is selected, choose upload. The image will be added to your list of images. Select your desired image to add it to your rich text box.

The remaining fields of Image Description and Dimensions are optional and editable at any time.

Quick Edit

Once an image has been added to a rich text box, it is immediately editable. Drag the handles to resize or use the icons for rotating and flipping the image. Resizing may also be completed in the Insert/edit image dialog box. This dialog box has a third entry point titled Image options, the right most icon under the image.

If you can’t see your whole image, it is probably very large and needs to be resized. If you can’t see the quick edit icons, select your image to make them appear.

Adjust the placement of an image with the alignment and indent controls on the toolbar.

Cut and paste is allowed for images within a rich text box, or between text boxes. An image must be a part of the Webpage media library for cut and paste to work properly.

Advanced Edit

Select the Edit image icon in the Quick edit image menu to open the Advanced edit options. A new dialog box should appear with an image preview and new menu icons.

Each icon opens appropriate options for editing the feature. From left to right, they are: Crop, Resize, Orientation, Brightness, Sharpen, Contrast, Color levels, Gamma, and Invert (colors). Once save is selected, the undo option will still revert back to the previous version. The advanced editor only edits this instance of the image, not the original image in the library.

Video

Adding videos to your rich text boxes is a great way to give your pages a modern feel. There are several methods which give some different results. You may upload your own videos as long as they are smaller than 25mb, or use content which is online. Use embed codes or direct urls to add online videos.

Insert Video

To add videos, go to Insert | Media. This will bring you to the Insert/edit media dialog box.

URL

This dialog box has several options for Sources. What may not be the most obvious choice is pasting a url. Do a search in your browser for an appropriate video, make sure you have permission to use the video, and copy the url into the Source field. This works for several video sites including YouTube and Vimeo.

Upload

If you would like to upload your own video, select the folder icon. This will open the Webpage media selector. All videos appearing on any webpage are stored here. In order to add a video to your webpage, you must select it. Be careful removing videos, since they will not be available on any webpage on your Classroom site.

If you don’t see any videos to select, add one by choosing a file. A variety of video types will work including mp4 and webm. Once your video is selected, choose upload. The image will be added to your list of images with several options per video – Preview, Full screen, Mute and Download. Select your desired video to add it to the rich text box.

The remaining fields of Image Description and Dimensions are optional and editable at any time.

Embed

To add iframe code of a video, go to Insert | Media, and choose the Embed tab. Embed code from any video site should add the requested video to your rich text box. YouTube, Office 365 and iPlayerHD are several examples, although YouTube is simpler to enter as a url. Embedded content

Edit video

The size of all videos may be changed. For all images, select the video so you see the blue border, go to Insert | Images, and type in a new value. For images which were uploaded, not shared through url or embed, you may edit the size directly in the editor. For these videos, click on the image, then drag the corners until the desired size is reached. Proportions may be locked for either method.

Uploaded images may be moved about the rich text area by cutting/pasting and the alignment / tab icons. Online videos are always aligned left.

For additional ideas about structuring a page, go to the tables section.

Video types

For best practice, use the video type which is best suited to your use. Each uses a slightly different player, so the functionality of each varies. Below are a few examples.

Uploaded File

An uploaded file may be downloaded and has a busy set of controls which display at all times. If you wish to restrict download, don’t use this option. Uploaded files are also limited to 25mb. Uploaded videos do offer the easiest options for arrangement on the page.

Vimeo

A Vimeo file may be added by copying a url. Vimeo offers a range of options to restrict the privacy of the video including a download restriction. For more precise control of the player, this may be a good choice, although this is not a free option.

YouTube

YouTube is simple to add and maintain as a url or embed. If you wish to share your videos or keep them private, this is a good choice.

Office 365

If your organization uses Office365, and all users are internal, Office Video could be a good choice. Videos must be added by embed, and are only available if the user is logged in and has permission.

iPlayerHD

If you have an account at iPlayer, the account restrictions are great for learning content. They can’t leave your Classroom site to view the content.

Embed code

By selecting Insert | Media | Embed, you can insert iframe embed code from a variety of sites. A little creativity will allow your Classroom site to come alive. Sites which use blockquote instead of iframe do not display – Twitter, Instagram. A few ideas for embed code are:

Calendars

Google Calendar

Conferencing

TelSpanWeb
CrowdCast

Documents

Excel Online
PowerPoint Online
Sway
Word Online

Maps

Bing Maps
Google Maps

Photos

Flickr

Social Media

Facebook

Videos

iPlayerHD
Office Video
Vimeo
YouTube

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks may be attached to text or objects. Objects are pictures, videos, embedded content, or anchors.

Website Links

Select an object or highlight the text which needs a hyperlink attached or edited. If you have not entered the text which requires a hyperlink, then you may open the Insert link without highlighting text or selecting an object. Then select the Insert/edit link icon on the toolbar, in the menu at Insert | Link, or right-click in the edit area and select Link.

Copy and paste the url you would like activated in the url field. The website may be an Classroom site, or an external site.

If the link is from text, accept the text you see in the “Text to Display” field, or add text. Text which is hyperlinked may still receive visual edits such as color and size. If the link is to an object, then this field will not display.

The title field is what will display on Mouse Hover.

Target decides if the hyperlink should open in the current window or a different one. Most websites open in the same window for internal sites and in a new window for external sites. For example, the help section of this website is written on many pages with hyperlinked buttons connecting them. Each link opens in the same window. When we list our partners on our homepage, we open them in a new window.

Anchors

Anchors are hyperlinks within a single webpage. Much of the help section of this website, as well as the Release archives use many anchor tags. This rich text box uses outlines hyperlinked to anchors for quick access to the content.

To add an anchor tag, select Insert | Anchor. The Anchor dialog box will appear. Create a name for your anchor. It must start with a letter and contain no spaces. No one will see the name except in the url. It will identify the placement within the webpage.

Your new anchor is displayed as an anchor icon. It can be copy / pasted, moved and edited. Editing occurs by selecting the anchor and selecting Insert | Anchor.

To use the anchor, add or edit a hyperlink. An anchor dropdown has added to the dialog box. Within the dropdown are all of the custom anchor tags available on the webpage. Select one instead of a url, and your internal link is complete.

Even entered manually, anchors do not work to move to a specific point of a different webpage.

If you want to move to the top or bottom of a webpage, these tags are created for you. Click on url, and notice the dropdown has these items ready to select.

Tables

Tables serve two purposes in rich text boxes. They can display text in a traditional report-type format, or they can organize content. Individual table cells may contain text or an object, which mean that tables may contain images, embed, videos, code, hyperlinks, etc. Tables are not as responsive as other text and objects, so keep in mind that they may not display perfectly on every resolution, such as on mobile devices.

Insert table

Insert a new table by selecting Insert | Table or by right-clicking, hovering over table – and then choosing the size of your table. Rows and columns may be added, or deleted at any time, so don’t be concerned about choosing the perfect number of cells.

Your initial table will probably need to be made larger in order to work with it. Either drag the corners to a more appropriate size, or edit the values for Width and Height in the Table Properties dialog box. Size values may be pixels or percentages. The Table Properties box may be found by selecting the table and then Table | Table properties, or the first Quick edit icon.

Quick Edit

Selecting the table adds several quick edit options. These are: Table properties, Delete table, Insert row before, Insert row after, Delete row, Insert column before, Insert column after and Delete column. Don’t worry about making a mistake. The Undo icon (Ctrl Z) works for each of these changes.

Table Properties

The Table Properties box may be found by selecting the table and then Table | Table properties, or the first Quick edit icon.

The width and height are minimum values for the table. For example, if the width is 5, and a picture inserted into a cell is 10, then the width of the entire table display will be increased to fit the image. Width and height may be pixels or percentages.

Cell spacing is the space between the cells. Cell padding is the space around the contents of cells. Border is the width of the outside border.

Alignment is for the entire table placement.

The advanced tab includes color pickers and a summary of Style changes written in CSS. Changes to the table may be made directly in the Style entry.

PRO TIP: Make the width 100% and choose a background color. Since the rich text editor doesn’t allow the editing of an overall background color. You can cheat by putting all content in a table. Keep in mind that 100% is only within the bounds of the rich text container.

Cells

Select a cell or group of cells, and then right-click or select Table | Cell to view cell options. Merging cells can be particular useful to disguise table use as a page organizer. Various options for size, alignment of cell content (vertical / horizontal), and color options exist in the Cell properties area. Some of these change will affect more than the cell(s) selected.

Rows

Select a cell or group of cells, and then right-click or select Table | Row to view row options. Insert and delete are also available in the Quick edit bar. Cut, copy and paste are only available here. Alignment, height and colors are available in Row properties.

Columns

There is not a column properties editor. The methods used to view additional options for rows and cells simply display the same options available in the Quick edit menu in the Columns section.

Source code

The source code editor is located in Tools | <> Source code. All rich text content is contained in this location as html or inline css. Sometimes copying and pasting content within a page is easier within the code than the editor itself. For example, tables can’t be copied easily in the editor, but find the code and they may be copied easily.

Some objects may be created directly with code. The buttons used for navigating the help section are created this way. Feel free to copy and edit the example button below.

<a style="display: block;

width: 125px;

height: 45px;

background: #219ed8;

padding: 10px;

text-align: center;

border-radius: 5px;

border-color: white;

color: white;

font-weight: bold;

box-shadow: 3px 3px 1px #888888"

href="https://admin.mclms.com/en/admin/help">

ADMIN HELP</a>

View

There are several options for changing the editing display. Preview is helpful for a sneak peek at the page; however, preview is the mobile aspect ratio.

Print

The print option gives a version of the editor content. Print is located at File | Print. It is not print of the finished product. Some content, such as video, may not be displayed on print. Also, helper characters and blocks will print even though they will not be visible to the end user.

Find and replace

Find and replace works as it does in most programs. It is found at Edit | Find and replace.

Questions

Selecting the ‘Questions’ button beside any assessment will display the question list. From here questions may be created and edited. Questions may also be created through csv import via the Resource Library.

Basic Question navigation

Add a question by selecting the question type.
Edit a question by selecting the blue edit pencil.
Change the order of questions with the Action arrows.
Delete a question with the red trashcan button.
Duplicate a question with the yellow copy button. Duplicate many questions in the Resource Library.
Import questions from a csv file with the Import button.

Question types

Single response – text

Multiple choice questions with radio buttons for selection. Answers must be text only. Single response questions are required.

Single response – image

Multiple choice questions with radio buttons for selection. Answers must be image only. Single response questions are required.

Multiple response – text

Multiple choice questions with checkboxes for selection. Answers must be text only. Multiple response questions are not required.

Multiple response – image

Multiple choice questions with checkboxes for selection. Answers must be text only. Multiple response questions are not required.

Open response

Questions with text boxes for entry. Open response questions may have multiple correct answers.

Add/Edit questions

Individual editing

Upon adding/editing a question, each type has similar fields to address. Type / Image questions each have different options for answers. Ungraded assessments don’t have points available.

The Question field is the main text for the question. If additional information is required beyond the question itself, add this in the Additional text field. PIctures, text formatting, etc. will display if entered in Additional text.

After saving the question the first time, Media file becomes available. Add a video/audio file to any question. Each question may only have one Media file in any of the following formats: mp4, ogv, webm, flac, m4a, mp3, ogg, wav, and less than 1GB. Media file becomes available after saving the question for the first time. Be sure to choose and upload media files.

Import

Copy questions

To copy questions from existing assessments, go to Copy Questions under the Resource Library tab. Choose the assessment where the questions should go, add the questions after viewing them with the Details icon, then select Copy. Copied questions are appended to any existing questions in the assessment.

Points

Graded assessments require a number of points to be allocated.

Minimum points to pass question

On a single or open response question, the Minimum points to pass should most likely be equal to the amount of the lowest valued correct response. On a multiple response question, the value should be equal to the smallest acceptable value. For example, if there are 10 choices with 5 correct answers. You may count the question correct if the learner selects 3 or more of the 5 correct answers.

Maximum points awarded

On a single or open response question, the Maximum points awarded should be equal to the amount of the highest point value response. On multiple response values, the value should be the highest value that the question should award, even if the combined values of the answers exceeds this value. For example, if there are 10 choices with 5 correct answers worth 1 point each. The Maximum points awarded may be 1 if every question on an assessment is equal to 1.

Points

A graded assessment requires a point value for every answer. Positive or negative integers are acceptable.

Shuffle answers

Toggle the arrangement of the answers to the user with this checkbox. This toggle overrides the assessment settings.

Answers

At least two answers are required for single / multiple response questions. At least one answer is required for a graded open response, and zero required for an ungraded open response.

Answers display in the order on the screen unless Shuffle answers is selected. Enter text or an image depending on the question type.

Registration Fields

Registration fields are the items required and requested for a user to create a learner account. Select Registration Fields on the settings page.

There are 5 default fields:

First Name
Last Name
Email
Password
Terms

These fields are required for all accounts; however the order of these fields may be changed.

There are a number of optional provided fields, such as Phone number, whose status may be updated for your needs. For instance, if you may wish to require Address while leaving Address 2 optional. The names of these fields may be updated, as well as the order. The advantage to using provided fields is several have validation, or drop-downs, such as State and Zip code.

For organizations requiring additional fields, add one with the Add field button and create a name. Like provided fields, custom fields may have custom names and be sorted. In addition, they may be deleted.

Users

Create a new account

Admins may create new accounts for users. All required profile information must be entered at the time of account creation except for passwords. Profile information may be edited by users and admins at any time after account creation.

Contact new users

Creating a new account by any means generates an email with a custom message and link to password creation and confirmation. Links are good for 7 days. Users who do not have access to the original email may request password resets from the Classroom site.

If you plan to send emails immediately upon creating the accounts, it is best to check your New account email message prior to account creation, so you don’t accidentally send a blank or incorrect message. You will find this button on the Learners page.

The simplest way to understand what will be sent to new users is to send yourself a test email. The email contains the following:

From name selected during onboarding, i.e. yourCompany Training
From email selected during onboarding, i.e. yourCompany@mclms.net
Subject line: TEST EMAIL firstName, welcome to your new yourCompany account
“Account created” with username (email) and password link
Footer: Setup in settings / site parts

Above the “Account created” line is where your custom message will be displayed. Feel free to use any combination of images or text that your users’ email providers will display.

Admins are given a choice when to send these emails as a part of the account creation process. Emails may be sent upon account creation or at a specific date / time in the future. When sending a message in the future, make sure the email message is correct on the time of the email creation, not the account creation.

Create one account

Select the Add user button on the Learner page and fill in the required fields. Email is restricted to unique addresses since this field is used to identify each account. New Distributor and Admin accounts must be made individually. Groups and roles may be assigned at the time of account creation. Choose when the email message should be sent and select save.

Create many accounts

New Learner accounts may be created by csv upload. Specific field requirements are dynamically displayed and created in the sample file. For example, if you require ‘Address’ then directions for this field will be displayed on screen and example entries will appear in the sample file.

The process has 3 steps. Choose your file, choose when to send your email welcome message, and select the ‘Import’ button.

The sample file provides three rows of information.

Headers
Required fields with properly formatted data - minus groups
All fields with properly formatted data - minus groups

Groups are always an optional field. To add multiple groups to an individual, separate each group by a pipe symbol, ‘|’. The groups field ignores casing and spaces.

Roles may be assigned while uploading users, but they are not required. Users without a role are created as a Learner.

If your csv file contains common errors, these will be displayed to you within the file to aid with corrections.

Edit an account

Select the pencil icon on the row of any account on the Learner screen to edit profile details. Account types may be switched edited, all registration fields may be updated, and groups may be assigned.

To prevent a user from logging in, make the user Inactive by removing the check next to Active.

Passwords may not be seen, but a new password may be created. Changing a user’s password does not contact them. The Admin who takes this action will need to contact the user to let them know the new password.

Impersonate an account

Choose ‘Login as’ for an account to see things from that person’s point of view. Any action taken while impersonating an account affects the account such as taking a test, or purchasing a course.

To return to an admin account, select the sentence between the banner image and body on any Classroom page which reads, ‘You are logged in as another user. Click here to switch to your account.’

Roles

Roles define sets of permissions for Classroom account holders. For example, an admin may want to create a user who does not have permission to edit the Payment Gateway information, but does have permission to edit Courses. The role could be titled Instructional Designer and used for any person who needs these privileges. If the decision is made for all Instructional Designers to have access to the Reports as well, then editing the permissions of this role will update all assigned Instructional Designers on the site.

The three default accounts, Admin, Distributor and Learner, may not be deleted, but may be renamed. All other roles may be deleted if there are no users assigned to the role. Distributor and Learner permissions may be edited, while Admin permissions may not.

Guests and Instructors are additional user types not covered by roles. For information about Guest login, go to Package help in the Store, and for Instructors, go to Instructor help in the Learning Center.

Role management is located within the People tab on the Admin Dashboard.

Add a Role

Navigate to the Role page, then select the Add role button.

Edit a Role

Change the name of a role by editing the text directly. Save changes by selecting an area outside of the Name field.

Select the row of a Role to expand the options available for it. Selecting Custom adds more specific permissions for the Admin dashboard. These permissions are tied to the Admin dashboard navbar components. Changes are saved automatically.

Assign a Role

Roles are assigned during the creation of new accounts, or while editing specific accounts.

Site configuration

Site configuration edits global access settings on an Classroom site.

Show About Us section on homepage

Toggle the display of an entire section on the homepage. The About Us section is a two column layout on top of a background image. It appears after the courses and before the footers.

Show sitemap in footer

Toggle the display of the sitemap in the contact footer. The contact footer displays on all non-Admin dashboard pages of the site.

Use Login page a homepage

Upon visiting your site, users will have to login prior to viewing any content. Users may not create an account, but must have one upon arriving to this page.

Use Under construction page as homepage

Create a simple webpage for users to see prior to the launch of your site - or during rebranding. Login exists for admins. The Under construction page may be accessed for editing/preview directly below the toggle.

Add allowed domain

Restrict access to the site to admin selected domains. For example, type companyname.com and companyname.org to limit users to those addresses.