Overview

A course or class is a structured set of learning content, activities, and assessments used to instruct learners and students.

​CYPHER for business utilizes the term course, and CYPHER for academia utilizes the term class. The terms course and class are interchangeable in this article.

To see all the courses in your organization:

1. Click Catalog on the primary navigation menu. 
   

1. Click or hover over Courses on the main navigation menu.
   
1. Teaching tab: You are listed as instructor or co-instructor for courses in the teaching tab. You can configure and edit these courses, depending on your role in the course.
   
2. Enrolled tab: You are listed as a learner for courses in your enrolled tab. 
   
3. Completed tab: The Completed tab lists courses you have completed as a learner.
   
2. Click List to see more details.
   

1. Templates: Any courses templates you own are listed here.
   
2. Compliance: Compliance courses you own or co-instruct are listed here.
   
3. Archives: Courses you have archived are listed here.
   
4. Deleted: Courses you have deleted are listed here.
   

Courses widget

You can also access courses through the Courses widget. The Courses widget has multiple tabs, depending on your role:

1. Teaching tab: A preview of courses you are instructing or co-instructing.
   
2. Enrolled tab: A preview of courses you are enrolled in.
   
3. Compliance tab: A preview of compliance courses you are enrolled in.
4. Completed tab: A preview courses you have completed as a learner.
   

By default, the widget displays a carousel of courses in each tab.

1. You can navigate the carousel by clicking the arrows in the upper-right corner.
   

To see all of the courses in a tab:

1. Click the three dot menu in the upper-right corner of the widget.
   
2. Click Maximize.
   

1. Add: Add a new course.
   
2. Enroll: Directly enroll in a course with an access code.
   
3. Catalog: Access the entire course catalog.
   
4. Templates: Access course templates you own.
   
5. Archived: Access courses you have archived. 
   
6. List view: View more details about your courses, such as the number of learners, grades, and more. 
7. Minimize: Return to the carousel view.

Activity indicators

By default, activity indicators appear in the teaching and enrolled areas of the courses widget. The indicators appear in the upper-right of course tiles, and their size and pulse frequency indicate the amount of activity in the course.

1. The indicator grows in size and flashes faster when there is increased user activity in the course.
   
2. The indicator does not display if there is no course activity.  
   

The Activity widget is a feature that can be turned on and off for your course. Visit the Configure article to learn more.

Adding a course

To add a new course:

1. Click or hover over Courses on the main navigation menu.
   
2. Click Add.
   
3. Click Course to create a new course.
   
4. Click Existing to add to an existing course.
   

1. Enter a course name.
   
2. Select a course style (covered in greater detail later in this article).
   
3. Enter an optional course duration.
   
4. Click Save.
   

If you select Existing, the Add a copy of an existing course or course template pop-up displays.

1. Select the course you want to copy.
   
2. Click Submit.
   

Once you've added a new course, the default landing page displays.

Note that new courses are not published to the catalog by default. To publish a course to the catalog:

1. Click publish in the Admin panel on the course landing page.
   

If a course is not published in the catalog, its description page can still be accessed by a direct URL.

Note that if an item is not published in the catalog, its description will include metadata in the HTML that tells search engines not to index it. 

Tagging courses

Administrators and instructors can add tags to courses to help users locate the course.

1. Access the course landing page.
   
2. Click + in the Tags section of the Admin panel.
   

1. You can add as many tags as you like by typing a comma to separate them.
   
2. To remove tags, click the X on the tag.

If advanced tagging was enabled by the administrator and a tag group was associated with the course, the associated tag group is visible in the Admin panel. To learn more about advanced tagging, please visit the Tags topic.

Please note that when copying courses, tags are also copied.

Access codes

An access code is an automatically-generated unique code.

1. Click reset below the access code in the Admin panel.
   

1. Learners click or hover over Courses on the main navigation menu.
   
2. Learners click Enroll. 
   

1. Learners enter the access code.
   
2. Learners click Enroll.
   

External users can also enroll in courses if they have the access code. 

Configuring a course

To configure course settings:

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click Admin from the course/class navigation menu.
   
3. Click Configure from the fly-out menu.
   

Course Style

When creating a course, you can select from four styles.

Course styles:

1. Instructor: Instructor-led training is a traditional approach to learning where a live instructor guides participants through course content, either in-person or virtually.
2. Blended: Blended learning is a combination of instructor led and self paced learning. These courses may have scored assessments that only allow learners to proceed once they have achieved a certain score.
   
3. Self-paced: Self-paced learning allows learners to take the course anytime, anywhere. There is no course schedule, no dates for particular modules, no due date for assessments, and no grading periods. 
   
4. Micro course: A micro course is a lightweight course that provides the learner with access to modules and sections and no other tabs. Micro courses display content in a slide format, with an image above text on each page.

The system automatically adjusts according to which style you select. For example, if you create an instructor course and then change the style to self-paced, the system automatically ignores the course schedule, begin/end times from assessments, and grading periods. If you change the course back to instructor style, these settings become visible again.

Course completion

By default, courses are considered complete when all completion criteria are met:

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click Admin in the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click Completion from the fly-out menu.
   
4. Select Require modules to be completed in order and Require sections to be completed in order in the Sequencing section.
   

As learners move through a course, icons display next to modules and sections to indicate their current status. This helps learners track which modules and sections they have completed.

Archiving courses

If you no longer want a course to be active, but still need access to the the modules, assessments, and scores, you can archive it. To archive a course:

1. Access the course you want to archive.
   
2. Click Admin from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click Archive.
   

Note that you can only archive courses if you are the owner.

To access archived courses:

1. Click or hover over Courses in the main navigation menu.
   
2. Click List from the fly-out menu.
3. Click the Archive tab.
   

1. Select the course on the Archived page.
   
2. Click Unarchive.
   

Learners can see a list of their deactivated/archived courses.

1. Learners click or hover over Courses on the main navigation menu.
   
2. Learners click the Completed tab.
   

Note - You can configure a course to prevent learners from accessing it after deactivation. Visit the Configure courses article for more information. 

As an instructor, you can view how many deactivated courses other users have completed:

1. Click the Users tab from the main navigation menu.
   
2. Make a selection from the fly-out menu (such as Learners).
   
3. The Deactivated column displays how many courses the user has completed that have been deactivated.
   

Deleting a course

The platform allows you to delete a course if you are the course owner.

If you delete a course, all of its assessments and scores are also deleted.

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click Admin from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click Delete.
   
4. Click Confirm if you are sure you want to delete the course.
   

Deleted courses will be kept in your trash can for 30 days. You can restore the course from the trash can during the 30 day period.

Configuring dashboard widgets

Instructors and administrators can configure the widgets available to users on a course's dashboard.

To add widgets to the dashboard, you must first enable a course dashboard:

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click Admin from the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click Features from the fly-out menu.
   
4. Select Dashboard.
   

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click Dashboard on the course navigation menu.
   
3. Click the Edit widgets button on the upper-right side of the course landing page.
   

1. Click Instructor center panel or Learner center panel.
   

1. Drag and drop widgets from the right panel to the dashboard.
   
2. Use drag and drop to reorder widgets on the dashboard.
   
3. To remove a widget from the course dashboard, move it back to the Available widgets panel.
4. When you have finished configuring widgets, click Save.
   
5. If you want to discard the changes you made, click Cancel.
   

1. Click the icon on the widget tile.
   
2. Last: Select data from the last 7 days, 4 weeks, or 6 months to display.
   
3. Chart type: Select between spline, column, area, or pie chat. 
   

Configuring the welcome widget

The welcome widget is a large carousel at the top of the dashboard, which is useful for displaying instructions and announcements for users.

 To add a welcome widget:

1. Click the Edit widgets button.
   

1. Select Instructor center panel or Learner center panel from the pop-up.
   

The Available widgets panel displays.

1. Drag-and-drop the Welcome widget to the top of the dashboard.
   
2. After the banner is added, click Save.
   

Once the dashboard layout is saved, you can edit the widget. 

1. Click the edit icon on the Welcome widget to add slides with text, images, and call-to-action buttons.
   

The Settings pop-up displays.

1. Click Add slide.
   

1. Click Text+Picture to create a slide using the built in editor.
   
2. Click Custom HTML to create a custom slide with HTML. 
   

Selecting a Text+Picture slide allows you to edit the slide using the editor on the left panel.

1. Enter Heading and Description text that will display on the slide.
   
2. Select Text color and Background color for the slide.
   
3. If a default image displays, click Remove picture.
   
1. Click Change picture to add your own image.
4. Add Button text and a Button url if you would like to add a button and link to the slide.
   
1. The button text and url are optional. 
   

You can also add visibility filters if you would like to filter which users see the slide:

1. Click + Add filter in the Visibility section.
   
2. Select a field, operator, and value for the filter.
   
3. Click +.
4. Visit the Filters article to learn more about defining filters.
   

1. Click < Back.
   
2. The changes will be automatically saved.
   

1. Use the HTML editor to add text, images, media, and more.
   
2. When you finish creating the slide, click Save.
   

1. Reorder slides by clicking the icon and dragging and dropping slides to a new location.
   
2. To hide or delete a slide:
   
1. Hover over the slide.
   
2. Click the cog icon.
   
3. Click Hide or Delete.

There are two additional welcome widget settings:

1. Title: Enter a title for the widget.
   
2. Autoplay slide speed: Define how many seconds each slide displays before moving to the next slide. 
   
1. To disable the slide autoplay, select Don't autoplay.
   

On the dashboard, the welcome widget includes a number of options in the upper-right corner.

1. If the widget is configured to autoplay the slides, click the Pause button to pause on a slide.
   
1. Once paused, click the Play button to resume autoplay. 
2. If you customized the course dashboard banner widget, click the Reset button to quickly reset the widget to default content.
   
3. Click the Edit button to edit the widget.

Additional information regarding the welcome widget:

Configuring right bar widgets

Instructors and administrators can configure the widgets available to users on the right panel of a course.

Please note that if you customize the widgets for a specific course, it will not affect other courses. 

To configure right panel widgets for a course:

1. Access the course.
   
2. Click the Edit widgets button on the upper-right side of the course landing page. 
   

1. Click Instructor right panel or Learner right panel.

Available widgets display in the left panel.

1. Drag and drop widgets from the the Available widgets panel (on the left) to the right panel. 
   
2. Use drag and drop to reorder widgets on the right panel.
   
3. To remove a widget from the course dashboard, move it back to the Available widgets panel.
4. When you have finished configuring widgets, click Save.
   
5. If you want to discard the changes you made, click Cancel.
   
6. You can reset the right panel back to the initial defaults by clicking Reset.
   

Note: If you remove all widgets from the right panel, the panel will be automatically hidden.

Custom report widgets

You can add report widgets to the course dashboard and also to the right panel.

Please note that you can only attach widgets to scheduled reports that return a chart.

1. Access the course's dashboard.
   
2. Click the edit widgets button.
   
3. Select where you want to add the report widget:
   
1. On the center panel or on the right panel
   
2. For instructors or for learners.
   

1. Select the Report widget from the Available widgets panel and drag it to the dashboard (or right panel).
   

To associate the widget with a custom report:

1. click  on the Report widget tile.
   
2. Click Report.
   

A pop-up displays of your scheduled custom reports.

1. Select which scheduled custom report you would like to display in the widget.
   

1. Click the  icon on the Report widget.
   
2. Click Report to update which report is displayed in the widget.
   
3. Click Title to change the widget title.
   
4. Click Delete to delete the widget. 
   

You can add as many report widgets as you want to the central or right panel.

1. Click Save.
   
2. The selected report widgets will be added to the dashboard and the data will refresh every time the report runs based on the defined schedule.
   

HTML widgets

You can create custom HTML widgets and add them to the right and center panels. 

To configure a HTML widget:

1. Click the icon on the HTML widget tile.
   
2. Click Settings.
   

1. Enter a widget Title.
   
2. Determine if you want the widget to be minimizable,
   
3. Click Save.
   

1. Click the icon on the HTML widget tile.
   
2. Click Editor.
   
3. Use the HTML editor to build the content of the widget.
   
4. Click Save.
   

To delete an HTML widget:

1. Click the icon on the HTML widget tile.
   
2. Click Delete.