Course Planner: Overview :octicons-tag-20:{ title="from Release 20.0." }
What's the purpose of the Course Planner?
The Course Planner is a module for course management. The aim is to create and run courses automatically and efficiently from the quotation.
With the Course Planner, the planning work can be separated from the content creation (in the author area).
Of course, you can also create OpenOlat courses without Course Planner. However, the Course Planner provides you with a tool that consolidates the organizational tasks.
| without Course Planner | with Course Planner |
|---|---|
| only independent individual courses | Single or multiple courses with several sessions |
| everything is administered and managed individually in the courses | central administration |
| x | Functional separation between administration and content |
| x | Central planning of several courses |
| x | Central member administration of several courses |
| x | Central tendering of several courses |
| x | Central control and management of multiple courses |
The Course Planner can be used to manage
- single courses
- course bundles
- structured educational programs/products
Planning tasks
The planning tasks include:
- Create different offer types (e.g. chargeable / not chargeable)
- Plan several courses, each with its own time slot
- Place offers in the catalog
- Define space quotas in the courses
- Prepare automatic course creation from template
- Set up automated status changes in the course
Planning single courses
The Course Planner can be used to create several courses for a course and offer them in the catalog.
This administrative planning work can be done by a course planner even if the course has not yet been created or is not yet available in its final version.
Independently of these administrative tasks (carried out by a course planner), a course can be created by authors as a template and then integrated into all courses.
The courses can also be instantiated automatically on a definable date.
For example, members can be added directly to the individual tours by booking an offer themselves in the catalog.
Please note:
Course members in the template course are then only the course owners with the author role.
Planning for course bundles
Just as multiple instances can be created for an individual course, instances can also be created for an entire course bundle and offered in the catalog.
If desired, the combination of courses/learning resources can also be modified in the individual implementations and deviate from the standard implementation ("copy template").
Planning for structured educational programs
Structured products/educational programs have an additional tree structure compared to course bundles. They contain structural elements.
Even if participants are to complete an educational product consisting of several courses, they are made members of a specific implementation. (Not members of individual courses or members of the educational product template).
In addition, a billing system can also be set up for the implementation.
Who can use the Course Planner?
After activation of the Course Planner by a system administrator, it is available to all users with the role "Course Planner". (When using organisational units, the role course planner may also be restricted to certain organisational units.)
Administrators and principals also have access. (These roles may also be restricted to organisational units.)
Principals have exclusively read access to the entire Course Planner: actions such as Change status, Remove or Instantiate are not available to them. If a principal opens a course directly from the Course Planner, the same read-only restriction also applies to the course view.
Note on the restriction as principal
The read restriction is active whenever the principal only holds this role. There can be overlaps if a user has several roles in a product, for example. In that case, this user can become active wherever the role permits, for example in a to-do assigned to "them".
Limited to a specific product, product owners and element owners can access it within their area of responsibility.
Other OpenOlat roles
Authors and learning resource administrators do not have access to the Course Planner. Their role, rights and responsibilities focus on content creation rather than on the planning, scheduling and administration of courses and implementations.
Where can I find the Course Planner?
If you have the role and rights of a course planner, you will find the Course Planner as a menu item in the main navigation in the header.
Requirement
In order to use the Course Planner, it must be activated by a system administrator. If the option is not available in the header menu, please contact your system administrator or the support of your OpenOlat instance.
The overview
The overview shows
- upcoming events,
- the buttons for accessing the areas/functions described below,
- as well as the search.
By entering a term in the search field, you can search for performances, courses and dates.
As with other searches, filters can be used to narrow down the search results.
Below the buttons and the search, the overview page shows an area with widgets (tiles) in a responsive layout: depending on the screen width, the arrangement of the tiles adjusts automatically.
A separator area labelled "Overview" visually separates this widget area from the buttons/launchers above it.
Implementation widget
The Implementations widget shows you the implementations relevant to you at a glance.
In the header area, you select a preselection via the main key figure "Relevant" or one of the other key figures ("Preparation", "Provisional", "Confirmed", "Pending memberships"). The table lists the corresponding implementations with external reference, title, structure, status as well as start and end date, sorted by start date.
Using the new "Pending memberships" filter, you can quickly find implementations for which memberships still need to be confirmed.
Configure table widget
You can individually configure table widgets (e.g. the implementation widget) via the cogwheel icon in the widget:
- Main figure: Determines which key figure is displayed in the widget's title row.
- Key figures: A checkbox group lets you determine which other key figures are visible. The main key figure is always selected and cannot be deselected.
- Number of entries: Determines how many rows the table displays (5 to 15).
Use Save to apply the settings, use Cancel to discard them.
Member widget
The Participants widget shows the number of participants of the respective implementation.
If a maximum or minimum number of participants is defined, an additional note text supplements the key figure:
- If a maximum is set: "\<number> seats left"
- If a minimum is set: "\<number> to minimum"
- For fully booked or overbooked implementations, the corresponding message continues to appear.
The area below shows the persons responsible for the implementation with their role (e.g. coaches, master coaches, course owners, element owners).
Customize overview
Below the widgets, the "Customize overview" button is available, which lets you switch to edit mode.
Two areas are available in edit mode:
- Active widgets: Here you rearrange the widgets via drag & drop (move tile) or remove them.
- Available widgets: Here you find deactivated widgets, which you can reactivate via the "Add to dashboard" link. Newly added widgets are inserted at the end of the active widgets.
Note
For operation without a mouse (keyboard/screen reader), the actions "Move up" and "Move down" are additionally available.
Use Save to apply the changes and leave edit mode, use Cancel to discard them. Use "Reset dashboard" to restore the default setting.
As long as no personal configuration has been saved, the system default is used.
Note
Guests do not see the "Customize overview" button.
Note for system administrators
As a system administrator, you additionally have the actions "Save as system default" and "Reset system default" available in edit mode, to define the system default for all users without their own configuration.
Products
An educational product is an inwardly or outwardly directed learning offer with implementations. In most cases, these are multiple courses, i.e. learning opportunities of the same "type" (-> product). The Course Planner simplifies the work considerably through the shared central administration.
Curricula/products often consist of several courses and have a certain structure/sequence in which the included courses are combined.
See the details >
To the top of the page ^
Implementations
An (educational) product can be offered and implemented several times. For example, a single course can be repeated each semester, as can a structured educational program consisting of several courses.
See the details >
To the top of the page ^
Events
The dates specified here refer to one implementation or a part thereof.
See the details >
To the top of the page ^
Certification programs
Certificate programs are used when a certificate is only awarded after completing several courses.
See the details >
To the top of the page ^
Reports
Various reports can be generated using report templates.
See the details >
To the top of the page ^
Further information
How do I create my first OpenOlat course? >
How can I plan and carry out implementations with the Course Planner? >
How can I plan and run a course with the Course Planner? >
Activate Course Planner (Admin) >