Effortless Instructor-Led Training: Managing Enrollments, Attendance, and Grades

Instructor-led training (ILT) courses—whether in-person classes, workshops, or virtual webinars—are a core part of many learning programs. Each session, which is a single occurrence of that course on a specific date and time, requires effective management to be successful. This process includes preparation before the session begins, tracking during the session, and the essential wrap-up after it ends.

As a SmarterU administrator, you are the backbone of this process. Even when you're not leading the session, you play a vital role in supporting your instructors and ensuring that every detail is handled correctly. These details include enrolling learners, accurately tracking attendance and completion, and recording grades.

SmarterU's ILT Attendance Dashboard serves as your central hub for efficiently managing these tasks and supporting your instructors every step of the way. Let’s take a look at some of the ways it can help you manage ILT sessions. 

Enroll Last-Minute Learners

While SmarterU offers flexible enrollment options—where learners can self-enroll or be automatically enrolled in courses in their home group—we know that life is full of last-minute changes. For example, suppose a new hire must take the course, or a manager requests that their team member attend. The fastest way to enroll learners is directly from the ILT Attendance Dashboard, as it allows you to enroll them directly into a session.

To add learners to a session:

1. Navigate to the ILT Attendance Dashboard.
2. View the session’s details.

3. If you want the learner to receive a confirmation email, select the Send Instructor-Led Training Confirmation Email checkbox.

4. Above the table of enrolled learners, find the search box.

5. Enter at least three characters of the learner's name, email, or employee ID.
6. Select the correct learner from the list that appears.

Download the Class Roster

Having a physical roster can be beneficial for various reasons. It helps instructors learn students' names, track participation, and form groups for discussions or activities. Here’s how you can download the session’s roster: 

1. Navigate to the ILT Attendance Dashboard.
2. View the session’s details.
3. Below the table of enrolled learners, click Download PDF.

From here, you can save the roster to your computer.

Email the Session’s Learners

Do you need to tell the session’s learners about a room change, remind them of materials they’ll need, or share resources for the course? You can click Email All Learners to send an email to everyone enrolled in the session.

Check out Need to Send a Quick Update? How to Email Everyone Enrolled in a Course to learn more.

Track Attendance, Completion Status, and Grades

The ILT Attendance Dashboard is your one-stop resource for tracking who attended a session, whether they completed the session, and their grade. 

Here’s how:

1. Navigate to the ILT Attendance Dashboard.
2. View the session’s details. 
3. View the table of enrolled learners. At the far right of the table are the Attended, Completed, and Grade columns. 

4. Select the Attended checkbox for everyone who was present. If all enrolled learners are present, you can click the checkbox below the table. 

5. Select the Completed checkbox for everyone who finished the session. If all enrolled learners completed the session, you can click the checkbox below the table. 

6. If applicable, enter a Grade in the Grade column. If all enrolled learners earned the same grade, you can specify the grade below the table and click the checkmark. 

Finalize the Session

Learners who complete the course will not have a Completed enrollment status in reports and dashboards until the session is finalized. Finalizing the session updates the enrollment status and sends the course completion email. You should only finalize a session after you’ve confirmed that all attendance, completion, and grade information is accurate. Once finalized, this information cannot be edited.

Finalizing the session also helps you manage learners who couldn’t get into this specific session because it was full. You’ll have the option to move learners who were waiting for a spot in this specific session (i.e., the session’s waitlist) to the course’s waitlist. This is a fantastic time-saver because the next time you schedule a new session of the course, you can automatically notify these learners. 

Finally, you’ll have the option to send a follow-up email to any learners who were enrolled in the session but did not attend. This is a great way to remind them of the missed training and provide instructions on how to register for a future session. 

If you want to generate course completion certificates for all learners, regardless of their attendance or completion status, specify the email address where you want the certificates to be sent, then click Generate. SmarterU sends a ZIP file with a PDF of each learner’s certificate.

You can also download a learner’s certificate by viewing their user profile or running an Enrollment Report. Check out How can I send certificates to my learners? to learn more.

To finalize an instructor-led session, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the ILT Attendance Dashboard.
2. View the session’s details.
3. Click Finalize.

4. If there are any learners on the session’s waiting list, you can move them to the course waiting list by selecting the Move the n Learner(s) in This Session's Waiting List to the Course Waiting List checkbox.
5. To send the missed attendance email to enrolled learners who didn’t attend the session, select the Send Email to Learners that Did Not Attend checkbox. 
6. Click Finalize.

Empower Your Instructors

Want to empower your instructors to be self-sufficient and do everything discussed above? With the right permission, an instructor can view the sessions they’re teaching, download their own class roster, record learners’ attendance and grades, generate course completion certificates, and finalize their sessions. 

To do this:

1. Navigate to the Users Dashboard.
2. Edit the instructor’s user profile.
3. Grant them the Instructor-Led Training Instructor (ILTI) group permission. 

4. Click Save.

Effectively managing your ILT sessions, from start to finish, ensures a seamless experience for both learners and instructors. Learners will be able to sign up for relevant instructor-led training, while instructors will have the tools they need to keep accurate training records and manage the sessions they teach.

Questions? Contact our Success Desk.