How do I plan and run courses with the Course Planner?
Purpose and content of this guide
This guide shows you how to use Course Planner to automatically and efficiently plan and create courses based on the offering.
Target group
[x] Authors [ ] Coaches [ ] Participants
[ ] Beginners [x] Advanced users [x] Experts
Expected previous knowledge
What can the Course Planner do?
With the Course Planner, planning work can be separated from content creation (in the authoring area).
Course planners can carry out all organizational planning even before the content (courses) has been completed by authors:
- Planning multiple implementations of the same course at different times
- Planning of products with multiple courses (and multiple implementations of each)
- Creation of offers in the catalog
- Reports on booking orders already received
- Planning events related to the various implementations (e.g., for in-person events or exams)
- Scheduling automatic instantiation of the courses
Of course, you can also create OpenOlat courses without Course Planner. However, Course Planner provides you with a tool that brings together all the organizational tasks.
Where can I find the Course Planner?
If you have the role of Course planner, you will find the Course Planner as a site in the main navigation.
Requirement
In order to use the Course Planner, a system administrator must have activated it. If the site is not available in the main navigation, please contact your system administration.
Step 1: Create product
We distinguish between a product (e.g., a course that can be offered multiple times) and an implementation.
Example:
- A language course entitled "Spanish for Beginners" is created and planned as a product.
- Implementations will then take place as "Spanish for Beginners, Spring 2025," "Spanish for Beginners, Fall 2025," etc.
Open the Course Planner and select the "Products" button. There you can select an existing product from the list or create a new one. This product will then be offered multiple times in different implementations.
You can find out more about this in the user manual under:
Products >
Note
In the following instructions, we will initially limit ourselves to a single course. It is also possible to integrate several courses into a single implementation.
Step 2: Determine product owners
In the newly created product, you will find various tabs where you can now configure the product. First, select the "Owners" tab. There you add product owners with the "Add product owner" button.
As the creator of the product, you already have editing rights. If you do not want to do the planning and administration of the product yourself and alone, you should designate a responsible person as the product owner here.
Why can I only enter owners here? Why not participants as well?
The idea is that a product consisting of several courses is not only attended once by a group of participants. Rather, there should be several implementations of a product with the same or very similar content, but with different participants and coaches.
Owners have the right to edit the product (the "original version," the "copy template"). It does not make sense to also make participants members of the "copy template". They would then be participants in all implementations of a product.
Important
In Course Planner, you have full access to all products in the role of Course planner.
Owners of a product, on the other hand, only have access to their respective product.
Step 3: Planning/creating an implementation
Now select the "Implementations" tab and create a new implementation.
Under the "Create" button, you will find a selection of element types that have been defined in the system administration.
All planned implementations of this product can then be found in the list under this tab. You can select any implementation and customize it according to your requirements.
Instead of creating new implementations using the button above the list, you can also create a copy of an implementation that has already been planned and modified. The action "Copy element" can be found in the menu of the three dots at the end of a line. Depending on your rights, the same menu also offers "Open in a new Tab", "Edit", "Members management" (see step 8), "Export" and "Delete".
Step 4: Events
When planning events, a distinction must be made between:
Step 4a: Implementation period
Once a new implementation has been created and set up (the process/program for the implementation has been defined), the implementation still needs to be scheduled.
You define the execution period, that is when an implementation takes place, when configuring the implementation:
Course Planner > Implementations > "Title of the implementation" > Tab "Settings" > Sub-tab "Execution"
Under "Execution period", choose "Anytime", "Begin and end date" or "One-day". With "Begin and end date", enter the begin and the end in the "Dates" field; with "One-day", enter the day in the "Date" field. With "Anytime", the implementation has no fixed period. The execution period has no effect on visibility and access for the members. Time-controlled automation rules, however, depend on its begin or end (see step 10).
Step 4b: Events within an implementation
Once a new implementation has been created and set up, and its execution period has been defined, events that take place within an implementation can now be planned and created:
Course Planner > Implementations > "Title of the implementation" > Tab "Events"
Use the "Add event" button to the right above the table to add further events.
Technical background
As long as no courses have been added yet, the events are linked to an implementation. As soon as a course has been added to the implementation (step 7, step 10), the events are assigned to the courses.
Step 4c: Overview of events from all implementations
If several implementations have been created and set up, there will be events for each implementation. To get an overview, select the "Events" tab in the product. There you can also edit the individual events and create new ones with the "Add event" button.
The event can refer to the entire implementation of a product or only to part of the implementation of the product. In the first step of the dialog, select the desired element from the structure tree displayed. If the element has courses, they are listed below it in the "Carried out in" section: select the course in which the event takes place. The first course is preselected.
Once the element of the implementation to be scheduled has been selected, configure the event in the "Settings" step, i.e., make the appropriate settings.
Title
This title is used to display the event in various locations.
Reference
The additional identifier serves to uniquely identify an event in case there are events with the same title.
Date
Date and time (start and end).
Unit
If, for example, a morning session from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. has been scheduled, it can be divided into four units of 50 minutes each (with breaks in between).
Location
Where the event takes place, if physical attendance is planned.
Rooms
If the "Rooms" module is enabled, you assign one or more rooms to the event. The selection only becomes active once the date and time are entered, and then shows which rooms are available in this period. More on this under Course Planner: Events >
Online meeting
The Course Planner allows you to manage and maintain events for online meetings directly in the planning phase, on the product or on the implementation, even without any course content having been stored yet. Online meetings can be set up with BigBlueButton and Teams. (This depends on what is set up in OpenOlat for you.)
The stored events are later applied to the course when linking the implementation to a course and are then also available in the course.
Subjects
Assign the event to one or more subjects. With the "Adopt" button, you adopt the subjects of the implementation and of the selected course. The field only appears if subjects are set up in your OpenOlat instance.
Teacher
In order to select teachers, coaches must first be added as members.
Description
The text entered here is intended to supplement the title with a more detailed description.
Preparation/Follow up
The text entered here can be used to describe tasks for preparing for and following up on the event.
Compulsory
If attendance is determined to be mandatory, the absence management can be used later to manage whether a person was present or absent with or without excuse.
You can find more information about the events in the user manual:
Course Planner: Events >
Step 5: Offer of the implementation
You can offer a course in the catalog as early as the planning phase and, for example, allow interested parties to book it themselves.
- In the Course Planner, select the implementation you would like to offer in the catalog.
- Select the "Catalog" tab.
- Select the "Offers" section.
- Create a new offer with the "Add offer" button.
In the same tab, under "Settings", you use "Booking" to determine whether you can also add participants without an offer ("Allowed without booking order") or whether every addition goes through an offer ("Requires booking order"). Settings in the Catalog tab >
Step 6: Specify the usage in the courses
The usage of a course defines whether the course keeps members of its own or whether the Course Planner manages them. You can find it in every course under:
Course > Administration > Settings > Tab "Share" > Section "Usage"
The "Change" button opens the "Change usage" dialog. A course knows three usages:
- Standalone: The course manages its members itself. It does not appear in the "Add course" dialog of an implementation.
- Use in Course Planner: for courses that you add directly to an implementation. The members come from the implementation; in the course itself you only manage the owners.
- Template: for course templates from which the Course Planner instantiates a course of its own for every implementation (see step 10). A template has no participants.
The dialog offers the fourth usage "Embedding" only for learning resources other than courses. The dialog shows the present value under "Current usage" at the top and, below it under "Change usage to", the other usages to choose from.
What does the usage «Use in Course Planner» do?
With the usage "Use in Course Planner", participants are managed by the Course Planner and no longer in the course's member management. If members were added directly in the course, this would result in duplication (member directly in the course and member in the product). For this reason, with this usage the member management in the course itself is restricted to the course owners who can edit the course.
Substep 1, Variant A
In the Course Planner, all courses used in an implementation can be viewed and added in the "Content" tab of an implementation. (See step 7)
You can select a course directly there and make the settings described above for the usage.
Substep 1, Variant B
Go to the authoring area and select the courses that you want to include in your product one by one.
Substep 2
In the course, under Course > Administration > Settings > Tab "Share", select Use in Course Planner as the usage.
The method described for specifying the usage also serves for verification. If a course with the usage "Standalone" is already part of an implementation, its "Share" tab shows a warning message: this usage is not recommended for courses in the Course Planner.
The "Add course" dialog of the implementation, however, shows no message. A course without the usage "Use in Course Planner" does not appear there at all. If a course is missing from the list, check its usage first (see step 7).
You can find more about the Usage section in the user manual under:
Course settings - Tab Share >
Tip
If the Course Planner is used extensively, it is advisable to set the usage for new courses in the system administration to "Use in Course Planner".
Please contact your system administration for assistance.
The default setting "Usage for new courses" can be found under: Administration > Modules > Course Planner > Tab "Settings"
If the usage cannot be changed
If you want to use a course in the Course Planner that has already been in use, the option "Use in Course Planner" in the "Change usage" dialog is often not selectable. The dialog shows the reason above the selection. Three reasons block the change from "Standalone" to "Use in Course Planner":
- The course has members other than the owners, that is coaches or participants.
- A group of the course is also embedded in another course.
- The "Access for participants" in the "Share" tab is not set to "Private".
If the course has members, copy it with Course > Administration > Copy and change the usage of the copy. The copy is created without coaches, participants and group members.
You can find more about copying in the user manual under:
Copy (a course) >
Step 7: Add content
As mentioned at the beginning, the Course Planner serves to separate the planning work from the content creation (in the authoring area). Content can also be added to the implementations only once the implementations have already been planned.
To add content (courses) to an implementation, select the "Content" tab in an implementation and click the "Add course" button.
Note
Step 10 describes how a course can be automatically created from a course template on a specific date.
Which courses the "Add course" dialog shows
If you are looking for a course in the "Add course" dialog that is not in the list, OpenOlat gives no reason. Three conditions decide which courses the dialog offers:
- Usage: The dialog only shows courses with the usage "Use in Course Planner" (see step 6). Courses with the usage "Standalone" or "Template" never appear here. You add a template with the "Add course template" button (see step 10).
- Organisation: In addition to your own courses, the dialog shows courses whose administrative access contains the organisation of the product or one of its sub-organisations. Added to these are courses that you manage through a role in the course's organisation, for example as learning resource manager. The access only works downwards: if a course is only shared with a parent organisation of the product, it does not appear. In that case, add the organisation of the product in the course under
Course > Administration > Settings > Tab "Share" > Administrative access. The field accepts several organisations. - Tab: The dialog opens on the "My courses" tab, and this tab only shows courses you own. You find courses of other owners in the "Search form" tab. This tab opens without results: enter a search term, or click "Search" directly. The "Favourites" tab shows the courses you have marked as favourites.
Course not in the list?
- Is the usage of the course set to "Use in Course Planner"?
- Are you an owner of the course, or does its administrative access contain the organisation of the product or one of its sub-organisations?
- Have you switched to the "Search form" tab for courses of other owners?
Step 8: Participants
Participants are added as members to one of the implementations of the product. Why they become members of an implementation and not members of a product has already been explained in Step 2.
You can therefore find the member management in the "Implementations" tab of the product in the menu of the three dots at the end of a line (= implementation), entry "Members management". In the opened implementation, the "Members" tab leads there as well.
Step 9: Get an overview of the booking orders
Creating report files
Select the "Reports" button in the Course Planner overview.
There you can choose from various templates that you can use to create Excel files with the current data on the booking orders received.
To create a report, click one of the arrows in the "Run" column.
The Excel files created in this way are listed below in the "Generated reports" section. They can be copied, deleted and downloaded. A report is kept for 10 days, after which OpenOlat deletes it. Its row shows how long it remains, for example "10 more days".
Booking orders received via the catalog
You download an Excel file containing all booking orders received via the catalog with the "Export booking orders" button:
Course Planner > Implementations > "Title of the implementation" > Tab "Catalog" > Booking orders
Step 10: Automated course creation
If the course is actually going to take place (e.g., after enough booking orders have been received), only then can a corresponding OpenOlat course be created from a course template. (See step 7)
A course template is a course with the usage Template:
Course > Administration > Settings > Tab "Share" > Section "Usage"
In the "Content" tab of the implementation, you add it with the "Add course template" button. The button is only available if the element type of the implementation is set to "1 template/course" under "Max. course references".
You can find the preparation of the automated instantiation (course creation from the course template) here:
Course Planner > Implementations > "Title of the implementation" > Tab "Settings" > Sub-tab "Automation"
The sub-tab is only available if the element type of the implementation is set to "Implementation" under "For use as".
Under "Configuration", you choose whether the implementation adopts the rules of its element type or whether you define them yourself with "Override". The rules in the "Content" context determine when the course is instantiated from the course template and when its course status changes automatically. The rules in the "Implementation" context change the status of the implementation itself, for example to "Confirmed" before the begin or to "Finished" at the end of the execution period.
You can find more about the automation in the user manual under:
Course Planner: Implementations >
Further information
Mentioned on this page
How do I create my first OpenOlat course? >
Basic concepts >
Course Planner: Products >
Course Planner: Implementations >
Module Course Planner >
Course Planner: Events >
Catalog 2.0 - Offers >
Course settings - Tab Share >
Copy (a course) >
Further reading
Course Planner: Overview >
Course Planner: Reports >