Program Settings - Program Onboarding

Welcome participants to your program by guiding them through a program onboarding.

Super Administrator

Written By Donna Hanson-Squires (Super Administrator)

Updated at March 3rd, 2025

Onboarding is a feature of Academy that allows you to welcome participants to their program. Onboarding introduces the program; allows participants to add sessions to their calendar; asks participants to specify any dietary requirements (e.g. for programs that include a face-to-face component with catering); asks participants to view and prioritise the program learning objectives; and several other functions (listed below).

Participants can complete the onboarding ahead of time, before getting access to the rest of the program materials.

 

Enabling Onboarding

Enable the Program Onboarding in the Program Settings:

This screenshot shows the program settings window within a course program overview. The 'configuration' tab has been selected, showing a series of settings. The 'set up' section of this window features a series of toggles, one of which is 'onboarding'. This toggle is highlighted to demonstrate how to turn on the program onboarding.

Then, customise the Program Onboarding by choosing Onboarding from the left menu.

Navigate through each onboarding section using the left-hand menu. All sections can be enabled or disabled using the toggles.

This screenshot shows the onboarding editing function within program admin edit view. The sections of the onboarding experience expand upon selecting the 'onboarding' subheading in edit view, allowing the admin user to toggle on each individual section and make edits as required to the content within each section. There is also the option for the admin user to determine what onboarding experience the coach has, and whether it's different to the learners.

 

Onboarding Sections:

Each section of the Onboarding is explained below.

Section

Description

Welcome and Welcome Video

Introduce your program and welcome participants.
You can also introduce your program via a video. You may also use this video to introduce the program facilitators and experts. Videos can be uploaded as an mp4, or streamed from Vimeo or Youtube.

Acknowledgement of Country

Add an Acknowledgement of Country in video or text format. 

Facilitators

Participants with the Facilitator role (in the Class List) will appear here. They must have their Directory Settings enabled in their profile, otherwise they will not display.

Coordinators

Participants with the Coordinator role (in the Class List) will appear here. They must have their Directory Settings enabled in their profile, otherwise they will not display.

Coaching guide

Share a guide for coaches to follow when assisting their learners with the program, this setting must first be enabled via the coaching tab to become visible within the onboarding.

Your coaches

If you have enabled coaching for your program, this section can be used to display and introduce the learners coach.

Badges

If you have enabled badges in your Academy platform and in the program, the badge image will display here. Use the text box to introduce your badge. You can read more about badges and micro-credentials here.

Learning Journey

Use this section to explain the learning journey to participants. If you have a visual representation of the learning journey, you can upload an image.

Learning Objectives

The conscious effort of setting program objectives is proven to increase learner buy-in and motivation to complete the program and reach their goals. Include your Learning Objectives in the program onboarding in this section. You can read more about setting up program learning objectives here.

Community

Prompt participants to update their profile details to be visible to the rest of the cohort. They can also upload a photo if they wish.

Learning Contract

Use this section to give the participant some guidance on what is expected of them when learning online and participating in the program. For example, you might consider including guidance on appropriate discussion and sharing, respectful behaviour, data and privacy, and a community code. The participant will need to acknowledge the contract to continue with onboarding.

Calendar

Any scheduled session (that is, a session with a start and finish time, either virtual or face to face) will appear on this screen. An Add to Calendar button enables participants to add scheduled session to their calendar in advance of the program beginning.
Location Details of the program location are made available, as well as instructions relating to location or arrival, e.g., parking, public transport, room details. 

Dietary Requirements

If your program includes face to face sessions that are catered, you can use this section to ask for any dietary preferences or restrictions. Dietary fields are managed via the User Profile in Portal Settings.

Social Media Group

If you’re using LinkedIn or WhatsApp to support social networking throughout your program, you can include the link and QR code in this section.

Support

Let participants know who they can contact for help and support through the program using this section.
Additional Information This is a free text field for any additional information that needs to be communicated to learners prior to program commencement.
Get Started / Program Lock

The final section of the onboarding is a ”ready to get started” message.

However, if you have locked access to the program materials via the Lock Classroom setting in the Program Settings, participants will see the ‘locked screen’ message with an indication of when the course materials will unlock.