Introduction
The Accord LMS has always had a wide range of powerful features. Over the last year or more, Accord has been working to simplify these features in order to make them easier to understand and more accessible to existing and new LMS administrators and Learners. This release, 2022.04, is making some changes to terms and pages that have been historically part of the LMS in order to make the system more approachable for new admins. In addition, we've added a new report which many clients will find the quickest way to evaluate training status across learners.
Please note that some menu items will not be automatically changed through the upgrade and will need to be changed in DNN.
Contact support@accordlms.com if you have any questions.
Course Catalog
Catalog to be renamed Course Catalog
This is a minor change for existing administrators, but we've listened to new admins and have observed that our admin page names are not always clear. This should make it very clear where you can go to find courses in the admin interface
Folders are Streamlined for clarity. Two Folder Types renamed.
In the Accord LMS, Folders are a generic name for the container which holds learning content. Special types of folders include Folders, Learning Paths, Collections, Courses, and Chapters. We are renaming the Folder Type called Folder to Category to avoid confusion and better represent the way it is generally used. Collection will be renamed Course Collection. Admins will still have the ability to create custom folder types as necessary (buckets, sections or whatever you'd like), but Accord will streamline our default folder types and begin referring specifically to Categories, Learning Paths, Course Collections, Courses, and Chapters when discussing the available containers.
Learning Elements (aka LEs) renamed Lessons
Learning Elements, in the Accord LMS, are being renamed Lessons to better reflect their purpose. A Folder like a Course is the container for training content, Lessons are the content themselves. With this change, all new admin training can be discussed using industry standard language rather than the precise, but idiosyncratic, language familiar to long time Accord LMS admins. There will be no functional changes to Lessons with this release. A course can still contain any number of lessons in a range of formats (e.g. SCORM, Quiz, Streaming video, PDF, etc.).
Folders (e.g. Learning Paths and Courses) will no longer appear in the right column
The Accord LMS has been designed so that the main three administrative interfaces follow a very similar design. Course Catalog, Learning Roles, and Learners (formerly Teams) all use a two-column design which includes containers on the left and contents on the right. The Course Catalog page broke this model by including both folders AND Lessons in the right-hand column. This was confusing because the same object, let's say a course, was appearing in both the left and right column but had slightly different behavior. Now, all folders will exist and allow for navigation in the left hand column and ONLY Lessons will appear to the right.
Contents Tab added to Folder Details
Because a Course or other folder can still contain both child folders and Lessons. (e.g. a course can contain an introductory video followed by several chapters full of lessons and then a final exam), it is important to be able to reorganize the contents of the folder. The new Contents Tab will allow admins to present both child folders and Lessons in any order they prefer using the familiar drag and drop tool.
Rename some pop-up interfaces for clarity
Title Bars of Move Items and Copy Items have been renamed to more clearly instruct users on their use.
Learning Roles
No significant enhancements to Roles in this version.
Learners
The Teams Admin Interface has been renamed to Learners
The Teams interface has always been about Learners. When a new admin comes to the LMS, it is not automatically clear that Teams are actually just a way to organize Learners within the LMS. This change should make the focus of this interface immediately clear.
Reports
Deprecated Reports Removed from Interface
In August of 2021, Accord marked several reports as deprecated within the LMS itself. These reports either duplicated the functionality of other existing reports or were heavily underutilized. The release was accompanied by an email suggesting that anyone still using these reports should work with the Customer Support Team to replace them with alternative reports. The deprecated reports have now been removed from the Accord LMS reporting page. Please contact customer support if those reports were still an important part of your reporting needs. Removal of the deprecated reports will facilitate a more efficient development and testing cycle when releasing new versions of the Accord LMS.
Reports Renamed
Keeping consistent with our simplification theme, remaining reports have been renamed to more clearly suggest their purpose.
Learner Activity/Transcript with Folder Detail has been renamed Learning Path/Course Details
Learner Activity/Transcript with LE Detail has been renamed Lesson Details
Learner Activity/Score with Question Detail has been renamed Quiz/Survey Answers
Learner Activity Summary has been renamed Learner Activity
Learner Accounts with Profile detail has been renamed Learner Accounts
General Enhancements
Header Changes on Admin pages for consistency
The Headers on the Course Catalog, Learning Role, and Learners pages have all been slightly modified in order to provide a consistent admin user experience in each of these three main pages. The left column will always have containers (e.g. Courses or Role Groups, or Teams) used to organize contents (e.g. Lessons, Roles, or Learners) displayed in the Right column. The New button will always be consistently placed in the left column header and any special page controls will be presented towards the right of the right-handnd column header.
New Certificate Token
Tokens are variable values which can be placed on dynamic certificates. Accord has added a Role Start Date token to the long list of available certificate customizations. [RoleStartDate:Role Name] and
[DATEADD:1Y][RoleStartDate:Role01][/DATEADD] can be used to place the role start date or a date based on role start date to the certificate. Please contact support for assistance if necessary.
Continuous Quality Improvement
This release includes several minor interface improvements, improved tool tip language and bug fixes.
