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Creating Learner Notifications

  1. Jump to
  2. Use Case Information
  3. Creating a Notification
  4. Adding Emails to a Notification
  5. Substitutions
  6. Schedule Time Frame

 

Learner Notifications allow an admin to associate a series of time-based emails with a particular content type.

Use Case Information

Emails can be set to trigger on specific dates or on a specified number of days after a learner performs an action such as starting a piece of content, or passing an assessment within a course. Email notifications will have clean look with custom (client-branded) headers and footers, CTA buttons, and text.

Notifications are separated into 3 different types: Content/Learning Path(s), vILT/Webinars, and In Person Events. The types are differentiated by content as well as email features. vILT/Webinars and In Person Events have added email features including default emails and content specific substitutions.

When configured you can:

  • Confirm enrollment
  • Remind users about an event
  • Thank users for attending
  • Promote content
  • Encourage users to fill out surveys

Learner Notifications are a premium feature and behind a feature flag.

Navigate to Control Panel in your instance to request to have this feature enabled on your site.

Creating a Learner Notification

The first step is to create a learner notification based on the content type you want to target.

  1. From your homepage, select Communications.
  2. From the left menu, select Learner Notifications and then Create Learner Notification.
  3. From the drop-down, select the learner notification type.
  4. In the Title field, enter a title for your notification.
  5. Select Content (Individual Session), Content Grouping (Group of Sessions), Learning Path(s).
  6. Enter the name of the content in the Content search field.
  7. Or click “All Content” if Content Grouping is not selected.
  8. Click Save.

LearnerNotifications_AddNotification_AdminView_GIF.gif

Note

Learner Notifications are only sent to enrolled learners. In the case of Panorama learners, notifications will not be sent to learners who have not clicked into the content to enroll in it.

Next, you will add emails to the notification that will get sent out based on action triggers. See the next section for how to add emails to notifications.

Adding Emails to Learner Notifications

Once the notification is created, emails can then be added to the notification. Emails are sent to enrolled learners based on triggers and can exclude learners that have already performed certain actions or met specific criteria.

  1. Click Add Email.
  2. Select the trigger (action required to send this email) from the drop-down. For example, you can choose to send immediately after enrollment or to send on a specific date.
    • Depending on the trigger chosen, complete the relevant fields that appear below. Be sure to fill in the Subject and Body as you would like for them to appear in the email.
  3. You may optionally select a condition from the Exclude Conditions drop-down to skip sending emails to learners that have already performed an action or meet the selected criteria (e.g. already completed the content).
  4. To preview this email in your inbox, click Send Test Email to send a test to your currently signed-in email address.

    Note

    We recommend logging in with a learner account and performing the action to trigger the notification.

  5. Add Button and Button URL are for adding a call-to-action to the bottom of your email, so that you can send traffic to a specific site.
  6. Click Save.
LearnerNotifications_AddEmail_AdminView_GIF.gif

Note

For Client courses (using the Panorama feature), courses provisioned via subscription, or courses included in Learning Paths, enrollment occurs when the learner has logged-in and clicked to view the content at least once. For all other content, enrollment occurs right when the learner gets access to that content.

Tip

When a VILT or ILT notification type is created, Thought Industries will automatically generate 3 customizable email templates. If a VILT or ILT has multiple meeting times, an email can be configured to send for each meeting time. The Applies to all meeting times of the event? toggle is only available when one of the four content start/end date triggers is selected.

LN_Admin_Adding_Emails1.png

How to Incorporate Substitutions Within Emails

Substitutions in the form of tags can be added to the subject and body of the notification email. When used, the substitutions, or tags will be replaced with values from the user or content before sending. Substitutions can be modified like other text using the WYSIWYG modification icons.

Substitutions For All Notification Types:

  • Content Title {{contentTitle}}: The title of the content the learner is being notified about.
  • Start Date {{contentStart}}: The date the learner started the content. (Note, this is not when the content starts.)
  • Start Time {{time}}: The time the learner started the content. (Note, this is not when the content starts.)
  • Content Description {{contentDescription}}: The description of the content.
  • Learner’s Name {{firstName}}: The learner’s first name only.
  • Learner References 1-10 {{ref1-10}}: The value of the reference in the Learner’s profile.

Substitutions For VILT Notifications Only:

  • Session Title {{sessionTitle}}: The course title of an individual session.
  • Content Dates & Times {{contentDatesAndTimes}}: A formatted list of meeting dates and times.
  • Attendee Dial In Number {{audioInfo}}: The value from the “Attendee Dial In” field in the vILT’s settings.
  • Calendar Link {{addToCalendarLink}}: A link to add the event to iCal, Google, Outlook, or download a standard ICS file. Clicking this link will prompt the learner’s calendar application to open.
  • Link to Join Webinar {{joinLink}}: A link from the webinar provider to join the webinar. This is specific to the learner and meeting, so each email will contain a different link.
  • Session ID {{sessionID}}: The session ID of an individual session.

Substitutions For ILT Notifications Only:

  • Attendee Info {{attendeeInfo}}: The value from the “Attendee Info” field found in ILT settings.
  • Event Link {{eventLink}}: Link to the Thought Industries event page.
  • Event Location {{location}}: Formatted location address, room number, etc. from the ILT settings.
  • Calendar Link {{addToCalendarLink}}: A link to add the event to iCal, Google, Outlook, or download a standard ICS file. Clicking this link will prompt the learner’s calendar application to open.
  • Session ID {{sessionID}}: The session ID of an individual session.

Schedule Time Frame

The time frame for certain triggers may vary:

  • Learner Performs an Action: The job to send emails based on learner actions will run a number of days after action +~3 hrs of the time (in your platform's timezone) the action was performed.
  • Number of days before/after the content start/end date: The job to send emails based on content start/end date will run within ~3hrs of 12am (in your platform's timezone) on that specific date.
  • On a specific date: The job to send emails on a specific date will run ~3hrs of 12am (in your platform's timezone) on that specific date.
  • Immediately after enrollment: Immediately

Tip

Learners will receive notifications upon re-enrollment as long as it has been at least 30 days since their previous enrollment. Our notification system includes logic that prevents the same emails from being re-sent to the same learner for the same course within 30 days.

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