Choose your method for adding learners to the course

There are options available for adding learners to your course hosted in Reconciliation Education's LMS. Click here to learn more about them.

"Build it and they will come" - but how?  

Well, the choice is yours!

Getting learners into your course is the first step to getting learners to complete the course and achieve their certificates.

For organizations whose courses are hosted on Reconciliation Education's LMS (course portal), there are a few different paths you can take to register your learners.

• Enrollment Forms (Templates, Mandatory Registration)
• Sign Up Forms (Voluntary Registration)
• Direct to System (Client-Directed Administration)

We'll go through the pros & cons for each, and the reasons each type may be the best fit for you. But first, here are the overall best practices and things to know before making your decisions about registration.

Mandatory, voluntary, or assigned? Choosing whether you will assign the course to all employees (mandatory learning), allow learners to opt-in (voluntary learning), or identify key groups or teams to provide training to (assigned learning) is important to making a decision about how you will register learners. For example, if you are planning to make the course an opt-in learning, you may want to opt for a sign-up form.

Know your audience. In some environments, it makes sense to have one type of registration versus the other. Does your team work mostly remotely, solo, or on job sites? Then you may want to assign training by team or make it mandatory. Is your team tight-knit, tech-savvy, and all in one office? A sign-up form may work for you so your team members can work through the training in peer groups at a convenient time. Considering how and why a learner would sign up (or not), or how they might benefit from being assigned the training automatically is critical.

You don't need to use all your seats at once. For most clients, you have 1 contract year (from your contract date) to register the number of learners you purchased. You can register any number at any point during this year, in whatever breakup and schedule works best for your organization to use the seats. You can register a small group every month if that suits your pathway!

• If you have unused seats at the end of the contract year, those typically rollover into the next year if you have renewed the contract. If you exceed the number of seats you've purchased, we'll simply send a top-up invoice for the overage at the pre-approved per-seat cost listed in your contract & original invoice.

Enrollment Forms (Templates, Mandatory Registration)

What it is: You fill in a simple 3-column Excel template. The columns are first name, last name, and email address. There is a row for each learner. If you have a second language, a second form is required (1 form per language). If you have multiple groups, you are asked to submit 1 form per group.

How it works: You fill in your Excel template with your learner data, and send the form(s) to the Reconciliation Education team with an ideal date you would like your learners registered (your launch date). At the agreed upon time, our team will then process this list, which will automatically create accounts for the learners using the information you entered in the template form. The learners then receive a welcome email and access to the course.

Recommended use cases: This is the most common method for registration. We recommend this pathway if you want control of your learner data and how your learners are organized. You will be the point of contact for all registrations, and can ensure that you have everything set up as you need it (with no orphan or misplaced accounts), and that you have a full scope of registration and control of flow of seats.

Pros:

• Control of data - You know who is registered, when, and in what group. You control when people are registered and can break up learners into smaller groups for data purposes.
• Less room for learner error - Sign up forms are plagued by learners incorrectly entering information, which leads to accounts being unable to be created and occasionally an email discourse between the tech team and the learner to get them into the course properly. Excel forms typically save learner time and frustration.
• Optimized adminstrative work for you - Once you fill in the templates and set up your groups, the only administration you have to do is continuing registrations and getting reports (which you can automate). Everything else is handled by the Reconciliation Education team for account creation and registration. If you plan far ahead, you can minimize your admin by batching learners ahead of time.

Cons:

• Requires hands-on planning. You'll be in charge of deciding who receives the course and when. A solid 1-hour planning session is often enough to map your pathway with your team, and your HR may be able to assist with drawing lists of learner data for you to ease the administrative load.

Sign Up Forms (Voluntary Registration)

What it is: Learners come to the form to sign up, instead of lists being pre-made and delivered for registration. Using this option allows for a self-enrollment (voluntary) process where Reconciliation Education is in charge of the learner account enrollments and setup, so all the learner needs to do is wait for their link to log in.

How it works: With this option, Reconciliation Education creates a custom sign-up form for your organization on our internal system. We provide you the link to this form to share with your team. Your team can access the simple 3 question sign-up questionnaire, fill out their information, and they are added to the course within 96 hours! This form will request their first name, last name and email address (the same as our fillable template does) to create their unique learner profile. The learner types in their own info in the sign-up form.

Recommended use cases: This method of registration works best when you are offering this course in addition to other options on a buffet of learning (such as "pick and choose" PD Days). We recommend using the sign-up form method for enterprise-wide purchases where learners are accustomed to being self-directed in their learning pathways in your organization.

Pros:

• This option works well for organizations that don't require 4 Seasons of Reconciliation as mandatory training but rather offer it as an opt-in course (voluntary learning).
• A sign-up form link can easily be embedded or added to staff emails or newsletters and is a great way to offer the course to interested learners. This is a great way to ensure that the course is top-of-mind for your learners, and you can send an email blast reminder with the link at any time.
• Excellent for long-term use of the course (license terms of 3+ years), or providing a link to a new hire as part of their onboarding package - it can be a simple way to integrate the course into the organization.

Cons:

• This option requires less admin work to sign-up learners, but could also result in more admin work to keep track of learners who have and have not enrolled in the course.
• We strongly do not recommend this option for organizations that have purchased a set number of seats. Sign-up forms can quickly and easily exceed your number of purchased seats, which will either result in needing to purchase more seats (extra cost) or disappointing interested learners who signed up beyond the seat cap.

Direct to System (Client-Directed Administration)

What it is: Using our LMS's (Learning Management System, course portal) automation features, Reconciliation Education can provide you the ability to directly enroll and control the flow of your learners. This requires a meeting with a Reconciliation Education technician to set up and train you on the system, but the result is that you are able to enroll your own learners directly to the course and draw reports without ever contacting the Reconciliation Education team.

How it works: You'll work with a Reconciliation Education LMS technician to set up your custom enrollment automation. You will have a 15-30 minute virtual meeting with a technician who will demonstrate the process for enrolling your own learners. Essentially, you will continue completing the 3-column template, but instead of sending it to the Reconciliation Education team, you will interact with the LMS directly to register your learners.

Recommended use cases: This method works best for enterprise-wide purchases for large enterprises with dedicated Talent Development teams. We recommend this pathway if you're tech-savvy with an enterprise-wide license and more than 500 anticipated learners. We also recommend this pathway if your organization plans to enroll learners very frequently (every 2 weeks or more frequently), as processing the enrollments yourself will reduce your admin load and the need to work with us via email.

Pros:

• Full control over your registration timeline. By "removing the middle man" in your registration process, you have full control of when your learners are registered. You can make decisions based on internal priorities without contending with Reconciliation Education's schedule.
• Integrated admin. By processing your own registrations, you have a full picture of who is registered and can complete all your necessary administration and reporting tasks in the LMS as if it were your own.

Cons:

• Tech-savviness required. This pathway is more technically complex than the others, and requires a person with a technology-inclined brain to manage successfully. If you aren't comfortable working in an LMS or technically-complex system, this pathway is not for you.
• Setup time is an investment. This pathway takes longer to set up, as it requires a per-organization custom approach. This will require at least 1 meeting with a Reconciliation Education technician, plus personal time later to master and review the process. Be ready to invest some time in the success of your program.