Introduction

Configuring the time options for courses allows you to have full control over when learners can start a course and how much time they have to complete it.

In order to set the time options for your courses, access the Admin Menu from the gear icon in the top right corner of your platform. Then, find the Course Management item in the E-Learning section.

On the main Course Management page, find the course in the list of courses, click on its description to access the edit mode. Click on the Properties tab and move to the Time Options vertical tab

Configuring Time Options for E-Learning Courses

From the Time Options tab of e-learning courses, you can configure the following options:

Validity Period

Use the options available in this section to set a date from when or up to when learners will be able to access the course and its training material, setting the validity of their enrollments. As an option, you can set a period for users to access the course. When configuring these options, you configure them for all of the learners enrolled in the course. You can then configure personalized validity periods at the learner level by editing single enrollments. 

• Start Date. Set the first available date for learners to start playing the course. The start date is expressed in UTC time, meaning that the course will be accessible at 00:00:00 UTC of the selected date. If, for example, your timezone is UTC +04:00, the course will be accessible at 04:00:00 of the selected date.
• End Date. Set the last available date for learners to access and play the course. After this date, the course and its training material will no longer be accessible. The end date is expressed in UTC time, meaning that the course will be locked at 23:59:59 UTC of the selected date. If, for example, your timezone is UTC +04:00, the course will be locked at 03:59:59 of the following day.
• Period. Select this option and define the period when learners are allowed to access the course using the Start Date and End Date options.

Days of Validity

Use this option to set the number of days allowed to learners to access the course, either from the day they first enroll in the course (including the days spent in the course waiting list) or from the day they access the course for the first time. 

If you change these settings after some learners have already enrolled or accessed the course, by default the new calculation will not apply to them. Your update will affect only the users enrolling or accessing the course after your change. Still, you can force the new settings to be applied to all users by enabling the Apply settings to all users, including those already enrolled option. 

When this option is enabled, users will see the number of remaining days to access the course in the Enrollment section of the course.

Soft Deadline

When a soft deadline is enabled, the course and its training material can be accessed by learners even after the end date of the validity period has passed.

The soft deadline is calculated on the End Date value set in the Validity Period section of this tab (either standalone or in the Period option). If the soft deadline is enabled, the enrollment expiration date is not calculated.

The configuration of this option at course level overrides the value selected in the Soft Deadline section of the E-Learning tab in the platform Advanced Settings.

Configuring Time Options for ILT and VILT Courses

From the Time Options tab of ILT and VILT courses, you can configure the following option:

Days of Validity

This option allows you to set the number of days for which learners can access the course area in the platform after the end of the last session in which they are enrolled. The start and end validity dates shown in the table of the Enrollments tab of the course become soft deadlines and will have no effect other than to indicate that the enrollment has expired on the course card on the My Courses and Learning Plans page.