The Accord LMS offers an extraordinary breadth of features and is called the Price/Performance leader for good reason. The user-friendly LMS system provides all the core functionality needed to provide and manage training for a small organization or multi-national extended enterprise. With so many features it can be sometimes be overwhelming. Accord is working to change this.
Over the next six months Accord Developers are working on several important client suggested changes for the administrative interface. We will also be retooling the Accord Academy in order to feature the new design as well as to better serve the training needs of new administrators.
To pique your interest, here are two new administrative interface features which will release on Monday August 12th, 2019.
Learner List - Easily Identify Who is Enrolled
The new Learner List feature will make it simple to identify who is enrolled in any specific folder or learning element. This user-friendly LMS feature will also show you how a Learner was enrolled into this content.
As a reminder; in the Accord LMS, a folder is any container that holds Learning Elements or other folders. For example, a Course is a folder which contains Learning Elements. A Learning Path is a folder that contains collections of Courses. Any Learning Element is the actual content to be reviewed by Learners. A Learning Element might be a given SCORM module, Quiz, PowerPoint presentation, Video or any number of other options.
Catalog > Folder > Learner List
- Click on the Folder or Learning Element that you would like to check for Enrollments.
- Click Learner List on the context menu.
Columns of the Learner List
Username – This column will include any users who are enrolled in this content
Enrollment Type – Will indicate how a Learner was enrolled. For example; was a Learner enrolled directly or were they enrolled through a Learning Role?
Folder Title – If they were enrolled through a given Folder, the name of this Folder will appear in this column.
Rolename – If a given Learner had been enrolled through a given Learning Role, this Learning Role will be specified here.
Team – A Learner can be enrolled through different Team levels. This feature is used primarily by extended enterprise customers. If a Learner is inadvertently enrolled from the wrong team, this feature can help identify the cause of unexpected behavior.
Other features of the Learner List
Grouping – Columns can be grouped by simply dragging a column header to the top row. This will help you quickly identify Learners enrolled through a specific Learning Role. Grouping by Learner allows admins to quickly identify cases of cross enrollment. Cross enrollment is defined as a user having been enrolled through multiple methods or Learning Roles. This can lead to unexpected, though not necessarily incorrect behavior.
Filtering – As of this writing, sorting and filtering has not yet been added but we will be providing the future option to filter on a specific field. This will allow for a specific user name to be quickly located from the list.
List Size – The default list is 20 rows but up to 100 rows may be displayed by selecting a chosen value at the bottom of the page.
The most important aspect of the Learner List feature is that it is exactly where you need it, when you need it. It’s not necessary to create and run a report to ask the simple question, “Who is enrolled?”
User Enrollments - Easily Identify Learner Enrollments
User enrollments is basically the same information which can be found through the Learner List. The Learner List allows you to look at an item in your catalog to decipher who is enrolled and how they were enrolled. User Enrollments will allow you to look at a given LMS learner from your Learner Management interface and determine what they are enrolled into as well as how they were enrolled into it.
Teams > Team > Learner Management
- Click on the Learners Icon in any team.
- Click on Learner Management from the context menu.
- Click on the clipboard icon to the left of the username.
The clipboard icon will launch the User Enrollments feature. Initially you will see a list which contains any folders the Learner is currently enrolled to.
Clicking on any specific enrollment will show you how the Learner was enrolled into that content.
For example, we can expand the tree to see that this learner is enrolled in a SCORM module called 'Initial Assessment Protocols'. When clicking on this item from the list, the User Enrollments will display the specific enrollment details. In this case we can see that Amarquez is enrolled to a Folder called First Aid Certification through a Learning Role also named First Aid Certification.
These new admin web interface features are easy to use and extremely useful during day to day operations; solving common administrative issues quickly and easily without needing to create custom reports.
A Peek at Accord’s Roadmap
Although Accord does not normally announce new features and functionalities before they’re ready to be released, in this particular case we’re so confident that these upcoming improvements will greatly increase the efficiency of the Accord LMS admin web interface that we wanted to let you know a little early.
Version 2019.05 is about to be released for Alpha testing. This next set of updates will focus on improving our import options. Though we don't want to say too much yet, imagine being able to design your catalog or teams on a spreadsheet and then simply import your design into the LMS. This will save crucial time for new clients as well as any clients who maintain dynamic environments.
Version 2019.06 will be entering development within the week. This version will feature a significant redesign of the Learning Role Management interface with some new tools to make Learning Roles even more efficient. Learning Roles are powerful tools which can largely place your LMS on auto-pilot. Please look forward to this major release in the fall.
In addition to these near-term changes, you can also expect upcoming changes to the Team and Learner management interfaces towards the end of the year. Keep an eye out for improvements to the Accord Academy which will better support quick refresher training and new feature announcements.
If you have any suggestions for improvements to the Accord LMS, please forward them to rick.bruce@accordlms.com. We can’t implement every suggestion but we will carefully consider all recommendations from our clients.
If you are interested in learning more about any available versions or would like to upgrade your Accord LMS, please contact your Sales Engineer, salesperson, or send a note to Sales@AccordLMS.com.