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Managing enrollment links

Last updated
Docebo module
  • Learn
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User level
  • Administrators

Introduction

Enrollment links are digital pathways that simplify the enrollment process for learners and enhance administrative efficiency. These links, typically embedded in websites, emails or directly in platform widgets, allow learners to automatically enroll in courses, sessions, or learning plans by simply clicking the provided link.

Link creation

Enrollment links are created at the level of the individual course, session, or learning plan by selecting the Enable the enrollment link for this course check box. When you do this, a link is generated that you can copy and provide to your users.
For more information, see the specific chapters on creating enrollment links in this article.  

Link format

The generated links follow this format:

https://[course_URL]generated_by=[user_ID]hash=[security_signature]

  • course_URL: Identifies the platform and the specific course.

  • generated_by: Indicates the Superadmin or Power User who generated the link.

  • hash: A unique security signature that validates the link and prevents tampering.

These parameters are automatically generated by the platform. All valid links for the same course will correctly redirect to the intended course, even if the parameter values differ based on the user who generated them.

Link validity

In Advanced settings > Advanced options >  Enrollment links you can set whether enrollment links work for all content, or only for content that would anyhow be visible to the user. 
→ If you do not select the option to Make enrollment links valid for all available content, then the user must have visibility of the content for the enrollment link to work. See the chapter Content visibility requirements.

Content visibility requirements

Important: These requirements apply only if the Advanced setting to make enrollment links valid for all available content is not set. 

The user must have visibility of the catalog as a learner (the user needs to be assigned to the catalog, or to belong to a group/branch assigned to the catalog). See the article Activating and managing catalogs > Assign users to the catalog.

In case of a course, in the Properties tab > Catalog options:

  • Course visibility in catalogs: The course must be set to be visible in catalogs: either Show the course in internal catalogs only or Show course in internal and external catalogs. The enrollment link will not work if you set Show the course only to enrolled learners.
  • Course self-enrollment: The course must also be set to allow self-enrollments: either Self-enrollments are available or Self-enrollments are available during a specific time period. The link will work only while self-enrollments are available.
  • Course enrollment policy: The course enrollment policy must be Self enrollment for the link to work immediately. You can also set Pending administrator approval and enable the waiting list: in this case the enrollment link will cause the user to go into the waiting list. (If you set Only administrators can enroll learners, the enrollment link will fail). 
    lf you set a maximum enrollment quota then you should also enable the waiting list. When the course is full, the link will cause the user to go into the waiting list. 

In case of a session: 

  • The ILT course must comply with the visibility requirements set out above for courses. If the session has a limit for maximum enrollments, when this is reached the user will be placed in the session waiting list.  When the user is enrolled in the session they are automatically enrolled in the course. For more details see the chapter on session enrollment links. 

In case of learning plan:

  • The Learning plan visibility in catalogs must be set to Show the learning plan in internal and external catalogs.
  • If the Learning plan contains some courses that do not allow self-enrollment, this restriction will be bypassed when the user enrolls in the LP: they will also be enrolled in all the courses.

For more information see the article Activating and managing catalogs > Visibility of content in internal catalogs. 

Other notes and limitations

The content should not be for-purchase. If it is, the user clicking the link will not be enrolled. Instead, they will have to purchase the content in the normal way. 

Enrollment links are not supported on the Go.Learn mobile app.

If you are using mandatory enrollment additional fields, upon clicking the enrollment link, learners will be automatically enrolled in the course without being prompted to fill out the mandatory fields.

Authentication flow

When a user clicks an enrollment link, if they do not already have an active session in the platform they will first of all be prompted to authenticate in the usual way. Once they have done this, they will be taken directly to the target content and–provided it meets all the visibility requirements–automatically enrolled in it. 

For users who authenticate via SSO, enrollment links will work in the same way: users who do not have an active session will need to sign-in with their identity provider. In the case of  SAML, OpenID Connect or Auth0, the ensuing flow is determined by the Automatic redirect to identity provider setting: 

  • If "automatic redirect” is disabled, the user needs to click the button for their SSO provider on the platform login page. If “automatic redirect” is enabled, the user is automatically taken to the page of their SSO provider.
  • In either case, the user then needs to authenticate with their SSO provider, after which they will be taken back to the target content on the platform, and automatically enrolled.

Creating a course enrollment link

To create an enrollment link for a course, log in to the platform as a Superadmin. Then, access the Admin Menu by scrolling your mouse over the gear icon in the top right corner of the platform. In the E-learning section, press the Course management subitem. On the main page of the course management, find the course in the list of courses.

Click on the course description to access the course area, and from the Properties tab, move to the Enrollment Options vertical tab.

In the Enrollment link section, select the option to Enable enrollment link for this course. Click Save changes to complete the action.

Now, as the Superadmin, you can share the link wherever you prefer.

If a course has an enrollment link, when learners click Share on the course page, the Share pop-up that opens shows the Link URL field allowing to copy and paste the enrollment link as desired. When learners click the Share button while viewing a specific lesson in a course, they can choose to share either the course link or the lesson link by selecting Course link or Current lesson link before copying the desired link.

Creating a session enrollment link

Session enrollment links simplify the process of enrolling in sessions for Instructor-Led Training (ILT) courses by allowing learners to enroll with a single click, making the experience easier and eliminating the risk of enrolling in wrong sessions.

To generate a session enrollment link, access the Admin menu by scrolling your mouse over the gear icon in the top right corner of the platform. In the E-learning section, press the Course management subitem.

On the main page of the course management, click on the description of the ILT course to access the course area, then move to the Sessions tab, click on the description of the session for which you wish to create an enrollment link, and finally move to the Details vertical tab.

Enable the option Enable enrollment link for this session. This action will automatically generate the enrollment link in the Link URL field. Click on Copy to clipboard to distribute it.

 

Click Save changes to complete the action.

Notes on session enrollment links

  • If a learner is not already enrolled in a course, using a session enrollment link will automatically enroll them in the course as well unless the session is unavailable. In that case, the learner will not be enrolled in the course.
  • Session enrollment links allow users to enroll only in the specific session they were generated for, preventing enrollment in other sessions or multiple sessions at once.
  • If the learner is already enrolled in another session of the same course and the option Allow users to change sessions (un-enrolling from a session and self-enrolling into another) in the course properties is:
    • disabled: upon clicking on the session enrollment link they will enroll automatically the session of the enrollment link and unenroll from the session they were enrolled in.
    • enabled: upon clicking on the session enrollment link they will have the possibility to select the session they prefer to enroll in.

Creating a learning plan enrollment link

To generate an enrollment link for a learning plan, access the Admin menu, then select the Learning plans option in the E-learning section. On the Learning plans page, identify the plan you want to generate the enrollment link, hover the mouse at the end of its row, click on the ellipsis menu and select Edit.

While in the Properties tab, move to the Enrollment options vertical tab and select the option Enable enrollment link for this learning plan. This action will automatically generate the enrollment link in the Link URL field. Click on Copy to clipboard to distribute it.

 

Click Save changes to complete the action.

If a learning plan has an enrollment link, when learners click Share on the plan page, the Share pop-up that opens shows the Link URL field allowing to copy and paste the enrollment link as desired.

Enrollment links validity

By default, enrollment links allow learners to enroll in the content included in the catalogs on which they have visibility. If used to enroll in content not included in one of those catalogs, learners will land on an Access denied page.

This behavior is regulated by the Make enrollment links valid for all available content option, located in the Enrollment links section of the platform’s advanced settings > Advanced options tab, which is deactivated by default.

When you activate the Make enrollment links valid for all available content option, enrollment links can be used by learners to enroll in any content, bypassing catalog membership and visibility settings.

When working with session enrollment links, remember that learners will also be automatically enrolled in the ILT course the session belongs to.

The courses included in learning plans inherit the plan catalog visibility rules. Therefore, if a learner has no visibility over a catalog including a course, but the same course is part of a learning plan included in a catalog they can see, the learner will be able to enroll in that course using its enrollment link.