About the Training module
The Training module turns the intranet into a course catalogue. Each course has its own page with a standard set of details: who the course is for, what staff need before they start, what they will learn, how long the course takes, how to register and a course code. Staff find courses through a Training page where they can search, browse by course type or tag, or use an A to Z index.
Use a course page for anything staff can sign up to or complete: classroom courses, online learning, workshops, inductions and mandatory training. Because every course page has the same layout, staff can compare courses quickly.
The intranet describes courses. It does not take bookings. The How to register your interest option is where you tell staff how to get a place, for example with a link to your learning system or a form.
Set up the Training module
An administrator does this once.
- Go to Options, then Modules, and switch on Training. A Training menu appears in the left-hand menu.
- Add a new page, call it Training, and set its template to Training courses. Any text you put in the page appears at the top of the Training page.
- Go back to Options, then Modules. Open the Training tab and choose that page as the Training page. Until you do this, course pages do not show links to their course types and tags.
- Go to Training, then Course types, and add the types you need, such as Health and safety, Leadership, or IT skills. Course types can have sub-types.
- Add the Training page to a menu.
- Optional: go to Appearance, then Widgets, and add widgets to the Training Sidebar. They appear on every course page.
Who can add and edit courses
- Contributors can write courses and choose course types, but cannot publish.
- Authors can publish and edit their own courses.
- Editors and administrators can publish, edit and delete any course, and can add, rename and delete course types.
Your intranet may have changed these roles.
Add a course
- In the left-hand menu, select Training, then Add course.
- Type the name of the course as the title.
- Describe the course in the main editor.
- Fill in the Course details box. Every option is optional, and anything you leave empty is left off the course page.
- Tick one or more Course types.
- Write an Excerpt and set a Featured image. Both appear on the Training page.
- Select Publish.
To edit a course, select Training, then All courses, and select the course title.
What staff see on a course page
From top to bottom: the title, the featured image, a Course details panel, a Learning objectives section, your main content, a How to register your interest section, and the documents. Comments, if allowed, are at the bottom.
The Course details panel lists, in this order: Duration, Resumption period, Target audience, Prerequisites and Course code. The panel is left out completely if all five are empty.
The sidebar shows your sidebar content, related content, any widgets in the Training Sidebar, and the course’s course types and tags. Selecting a course type or tag takes staff to the Training page, showing the other courses of that type or with that tag.
Options on the course edit screen
The boxes below are in the order they usually appear. If you cannot see a box, select Screen Options at the top right of the screen and tick its name.
Title
The name of the course. It is the main heading of the course page and of its card on the Training page. The Training page lists courses in alphabetical order of title, so put the distinguishing word first: “Fire warden training”, not “Training for fire wardens”.
Main content editor
The full description of the course: what it covers, how it is delivered, dates and venues if they are fixed, and who to contact. On the course page it appears after the Learning objectives section and before the How to register your interest section. See Use the editor toolbar.
Course details: Target audience
Who the course is for, in a few words, such as “All staff”, “New line managers” or “Staff who drive for work”. Target audience appears in the Course details panel on the course page. It also appears on the course’s card on the Training page, so keep it short.
Course details: Prerequisites
What staff must have done before they take the course, such as an earlier course, a qualification or their manager’s approval. This box has a small toolbar, so you can add a short list or link to the earlier course. Prerequisites appears in the Course details panel. Staff can find the course by searching for words used here.
Course details: Learning objectives
What staff will know or be able to do after the course. A bulleted list of three to six points works well, each starting with a verb, such as “Carry out a workstation assessment”. Learning objectives appears as its own section, under a Learning objectives heading, above your main content. Staff can find the course by searching for words used here.
Course details: Duration
How long the course takes, written as you want staff to read it, such as “2 hours”, “1 day” or “6 weeks, 2 hours a week”. Duration appears first in the Course details panel, and beside the course in course type listings.
Course details: Resumption period
How often the course has to be repeated or refreshed, such as “Every 3 years” or “Annually”. Leave Resumption period empty for a course that staff take once. It appears in the Course details panel.
Course details: How to register your interest
Tell staff how to get a place: a link to your learning system or booking form, an email address, or an instruction such as “Ask your line manager to nominate you”. This box has a small toolbar for links and lists.
On the course page this text appears near the bottom, under the same heading, How to register your interest. If you leave the box empty, the whole section is left out, so say in the main content how to get a place instead.
Course details: Course code
The reference for the course in your learning or HR system, such as “HS104”. Course code appears last in the Course details panel and beside the course in course type listings. Staff can search for a course by its code.
Sidebar content
Optional content for the right-hand sidebar of the course page. Use it for short extras, such as the contact details of the learning and development team. Keep it brief: on a phone the sidebar appears underneath the main content.
Document attachments
Files for staff to download, such as a course outline, joining instructions or pre-course reading. Select Add document, choose a File and, if you wish, type a Display title. If you leave Display title empty, the file name is used. The files appear under a Documents heading at the bottom of the course page, each with its file type and size.
Related content
Pick pages, tasks, news stories, blog posts, events, projects, vacancies or other courses that are connected to the course. They appear as links under a Related heading in the sidebar of the course page. The link works both ways: an item you pick here also shows a link back to the course, unless your administrator has switched that off. This is a good way to point staff from a policy or a task to the course that supports it.
On course pages only your own picks and those links back are shown. The intranet does not add related items automatically.
Keywords
Other words that staff might search for to find the course, such as an old course name, an abbreviation or the name of the provider. You do not need to repeat words that are already in the title or the content. It is fine to leave Keywords empty. Keywords are not shown on the course page.
Excerpt
A one or two sentence summary of the course. The first 20 words appear on the course’s card on the Training page, and the first 30 words if the course is the featured course. The excerpt is also used in search results. If you leave Excerpt empty, the intranet uses the opening words of the main content, which rarely reads as well.
Discussion
Tick Allow comments to let staff comment at the bottom of the course page, for example to say how they found the course. Untick it to switch comments off for this course.
Revisions
Lists earlier saved versions of the course page, once there are any. Select a revision to compare it with the current version and to restore it.
Author
The person recorded as the author of the course page. Change the author when someone else takes over the course, so that they can edit the page.
Publish
Save a draft, preview, publish now, schedule for later, or change who can see the course. See Save, preview, schedule and publish content. To withdraw a course that no longer runs, change its status back to Draft.
Course types
Tick the type or types the course belongs to. Course types power the Browse courses panel on the Training page, where the drop-down is labelled Training category. They also appear as links in the sidebar of the course page. A course with no course type can still be found by search, by tag and in the full list, but not by browsing.
Editors and administrators can add a new type from this box, or manage all types under Training, then Course types. Each course type also has its own page, which lists its courses from A to Z with their duration, target audience and course code.
Tags
Tags cut across course types. Use them for things like the delivery method (“online”, “classroom”), a site, or a staff group. Tags appear in the Tags drop-down of the Browse courses panel and as links in the sidebar of the course page. Administrators can add new tags here. Other editors choose from a list of existing tags. See Learn how tags work.
A to Z letters
This box appears if the A to Z module is switched on. Tick a letter to list the course under that letter in the A to Z index panel of the Training page. You can tick more than one letter, for example F and W for “Fire warden training”. A course with no letter ticked does not appear in the A to Z index. See Add an item to the A to Z index.
Featured image
The image that represents the course. It appears at the top of the course page, on the course’s card on the Training page and in search results. Use a landscape image with the important part in the centre, because cards trim images to a fixed shape. See Set a featured image.
The Training page
When staff first open the Training page they see, from top to bottom: the text of the page, the featured course if there is one, three panels, and then every course as a card, in alphabetical order, 24 to a page.
- Search courses searches courses only.
- Browse courses has a Training category drop-down, which lists your course types, and a Tags drop-down. Staff can use either or both.
- A to Z index shows the alphabet. Staff can select any letter that has been set up in the intranet’s A to Z index. Selecting a letter lists the courses you have ticked that letter for, which may be none.
Each card shows the featured image, the title, the start of the excerpt and the target audience.
After a search or a filter, the page shows only the panel that was used, a count of the courses found, and a link back to the full Training page. Each filter in use is shown as a label that staff can remove, and Reset all clears them together.
Feature a course on the Training page
You can promote one course at the top of the Training page, for example a new course or mandatory training with a deadline. These options are on the edit screen of the Training page itself, not on the course.
- Go to Pages and edit the Training page.
- Find the Featured course box in the right-hand column. It only appears on pages that use the Training courses template.
- Under Featured course, choose the course. You can choose one course, and it must be published.
- Optional: choose a Background colour and a Text colour for the heading strip of the featured course. If you leave them empty, the intranet’s main colours are used.
- Select Update.
The featured course appears as a wide card with a Featured label, its image, title, excerpt and target audience. It shows when staff first open the Training page and is hidden once they search or filter.
If you choose your own colours, check that the text is easy to read against the background. Pale text on a pale background fails accessibility rules. To stop featuring a course, remove it from the Featured course box and select Update.
How staff find courses
- The Training page, by searching, browsing by course type or tag, or using the A to Z index.
- Intranet search, where staff can narrow results to Training. Search looks at the title, the main content, the prerequisites, the learning objectives, the course code and the keywords. It does not look at the target audience, duration, resumption period or the How to register your interest text.
- Related links, in both directions, if you have picked items under Related content.