Third in the learning object hierarchy, offerings are specific instances of courses. You can enter various kinds of data at this level, but the primary purposes of offerings is to set the delivery mode and the language of delivery of each class under it and, for online offerings, to establish the link to the online content. In other words, offerings largely determine how a course is delivered.
OLM predefines delivery modes based on two concepts.
Learners take online classes using the OLM Player; the application considers other classes to be offline.
Synchronous classes are scheduled; learners can take asynchronous classes at any time within the window of opportunity you define.
Thus, the application offers four combination delivery modes (and typical applications):
Online synchronous (web conference with live instructor over the web)
Online asynchronous (online self-study or recorded web conference)
Offline synchronous (traditional instructor-led class)
Offline asynchronous (reading a book)
Attention: The online modes are available only if your enterprise has purchased the OLM Online Learning Option and enabled the Online Learning Option Licensed profile.
Each class you create takes on the delivery mode of its parent offering. Thus you can offer versions of any course in any or all of the four modes.
From the Setup tab, you can create more delivery modes, each based on one of the four options.
You can use the Resource Checklist to specify resource types or resources that are required or useful to run classes for a particular offering. You can then override any of these choices for individual classes.
If you end-date the offering, you must enter an end date for the associated resources. This end date must occur on or before the end date of the offering.
If learners have reviewed and rated classes in an offering, then you can click the Reviews link to view the review details and ratings. At the offering level, the Ratings icon displays the average of all ratings for all classes belonging to the offering.
When you click the Reviews link, a Reviews pop-up windows appears. Select the review and the associated ratings that you want to delete and click the Delete Reviews button.
Player preferences control the display and behavior of the player when a learner plays an online offering. You set the player preferences for online classes from the Offering creation and update pages. The available preferences are:
Show Toolbar displays the Player navigation toolbar.
New Window opens the Player in a separate, new window.
Next includes the Next icon in the Player toolbar. Checking this box enables the learner to navigate to the next content object.
Previous includes the Previous icon in the Player toolbar. Checking this box enables the learner to navigate to the previous content object.
Outline includes the Outline icon in the Player toolbar. Checking this box displays the outline of the offering.
Exit includes the Exit (Home) icon in the Player toolbar. When learners launch an offering from within OLM, Exit returns them to their Home page. If the Player has opened in a new window, Exit simply closes the window, which leaves the Home page or referring URL available to the learner in the previous window.
Always Show Outline: The Player displays the outline when the learner enters the player. The Hide Outline button is not visible to the learner in the player if this option is selected.
Always Show Outline Expanded: The Player always displays the outline in the expanded format, regardless of whether the learner expanded or collapsed the outline when exiting the player.
Select the Instructor Competencies link to specify the competencies required of an instructor of an offering and of the classes based upon it.
See Competencies
For each offering you can include several pieces of information that become defaults for any classes based on the offering, then override those defaults for each class. You can specify
Price Basis: Customer, Learner, or No Charge
Budgeted and Actual Cost
Maximum Attendees, Minimum Attendees, and Maximum Internal Attendees
As with categories and courses, you can also set (and add to) learner access at the offering level.
To provide additional information, you can add attachments to offerings that are visible to learners and instructors. You can attach a file, or provide the URL of the document, or provide a text description, and specify whether the attachment is for learners or instructors. You can add documents, such as, information about the training facilities, course timetables, or pre-course material. Learners and instructors can view the attachments before and after an enrollment. Instructors can view both learner and instructor attachments.