For all users
Catalogue improvements
The look and feel of the course catalogue has been improved to make it easier for users to browse, filter or search for courses, programs and certifications. Site administrators can also configure the new Grid catalogue to suit your organisation's preferences.
Navigation block re-design
The places in which the navigation block will appear and the content it will display has changed.
When viewing a site, category, or user page the navigation block is hidden by default, although it can be restored by a site admin. The reason the block is hidden at these levels is because all items in the navigation block can also be accessed from the top menu bar, the user menu, or other blocks.
When viewing a course, there is a navigation block dedicated to the current course. It includes items such as participants, badges, grades and quick navigation top topics within the course.
Progress bar calculation improvement
The calculation of a user's progress towards completion of a program or certification has been improved to take progress of all involved courses into consideration. This progress is now displayed as a true percentage in a progress bar.
Featured Link block updates
It is now possible to have a custom image associated with each course, program, and certification in Totara Learn. A user can set a specific image in the course/program/certification settings and they can also set a default image for all courses/programs/certifications. When you set up a Featured Link block with a course/program/certification tile it will use the set image for that course/program/certification, if there is not one specifically set it will use the default image.
Additionally, the way the gallery tile works for the Featured links block has slightly changed, so that each image is configured as a sub tile within the gallery tile. There is also a number of new options when using the gallery tile type, including the ability to add transitions, control the order, and set the gallery to auto-play.
Redesign of top navigation
The top navigation area (previously the Main Menu) has been redesigned to improve the user journey and look and feel of Totara Learn. The new top navigation changes include:
- The ability to add third-level navigation
- Site logo now sits within the navigation bar
- Messages and alerts have been moved to navigation bar
- Language selector located within navigation bar
- User menu sits within navigation bar
Improved Footer
The size and amount of default content of the footer has been significantly reduced.
Improved approval request messages for Learning Plans
Managers receive different Alert and Tasks messages depending on the Manager view and approve workflow settings in the corresponding Learning Plan template.
Front page display improvements
The Front page now offers a centre block region where a range of new, streamlined blocks can display a range of content and navigation items.
For trainers, course editors and site managers
New 'add block' workflow
New blocks can be added to page by selecting an Add icon within any available block area/region. Users can use the dynamic search to find the required block or scroll down through the available options.
Additional block regions
Blocks can now be added to a full width header and footer region and a central block region is available within the front page.
New block appearance options
Blocks can now set to display without a header and/or a border. Blocks can also be renamed from their default title.
Restrict access: Time since
It is possible to restrict access to an activity based on the time since completing (or not completing) another activity. This might be useful if you wish to stagger a learner's journey through the course.
Content marketplace
Site administrators and course creators can now create new courses or supplement existing courses with content imported from a Content marketplace.
Improvements to certificate time spent requirement
The certificate activity has an option which requires a certain amount of time to be spent on a course to receive a certificate. This time is calculated on user actions recorded in the standard log. When the standard log is disabled, the legacy log will be used instead. If both logs are disabled, the option to require time spent will also be disabled.
Please note, if the logs are disabled, and then re-enabled, user actions in the time the logs were disabled will not be recorded. Consequently, actions in this period will not be counted towards time spent on the course.
Multi-language filter for seminar notifications
Seminar notifications now support the use of the multi-lang filter, allowing messages to be delivered in a user's preferred language.
Multiple signup based on attendance status
The ability to sign up for multiple seminar events can now be controlled by the learner's previous attendance status. This means learners who were unable to attend or fully attend an event, will now be able to re-book.
Course completion reports
Course completion reports can now include a column for the note recorded against a Recognition of Prior Learning.
For site administrators
Admin menu improvements
The Administration block on the left has been replaces by the new admin menu, which can be accessed from the top menu bar. This improved navigation will allow administrators to customise the menu with those areas they regularly access, in language they understand.
Performance related data
In order to protect users' personal data, site managers can no longer access report columns relating to a user's performance by default. It is still possible to grant them permissions by enabling the totara/appraisal:viewallappraisals and totara/hierarchy:viewallgoals capabilities on the site manager role.
User consent report
A user consent report exists for the new site policy tool, however it was never linked to from the current navigation. This user consent report is now linked to from the Settings block, you can find it by navigating to Security > Site policies > User consent report.
Seminar direct enrolment improvements
Previously the amount of enrolments on the course page was controlled by the Events displayed on course page course setting. Now there are two new settings, one is under Site administration > Plugins > Enrolments > Seminar direct enrolment plugin where the admin can set a default value for all courses with the Seminar direct enrolment method. The other is under the Course seminar direct enrolment method where the admin can set a different value.
Full text search
It is now possible to add full text search indexes into database schema, and to execute full text searches against them. This has been documented in the developer documentation, so clicking the read more link below will take you away from this help space.
Course type option for uploading courses
When uploading multiple courses via CSV file to Totara Learn it is now possible to set the course type as either E-learning, Blended, or Face to face. By default, the value for coursetype is E-learning. This is only for the scenario where the coursetype field is missing from the CSV file or the field is empty.
Default settings for HR Import
The general settings for HR Import have been updated to default settings, allowing for each HR Import Element (Organisation, Position, User, Job Assignment and Competency) to have it's own settings and scheduling.
Caching improvements
There are a few improvements for caching including the ability to use the igbinary serialiser and Redis cache store in your Totara Learn instance.
Logging improvements
It is possible to allow NGINX and other webservers to log username in access logs. When you allow logging by a webserver in the access logs they can send the username as a custom header which can be logged and stripped out if needed.
Seminar refactoring
The Seminar module has seen a comprehensive code refactoring, paving the way for further developments and improvements.
Competencies import and export
A HR Import Source/Element has been added for Competencies and the export Competencies area has been extended and improved.
Report column deprecation
Please note that some column options have been deprecated in this version and will be removed from the next major release of Totara Learn. It is advised that you use alternative column options as this will not only improve performance of your reports it will also prevent any problems with your reports when upgrading Totara Learn.
HTML editor for site policies
An HTML editor is now used when adding and editing Site policy statements and translations. A preview function has also been added. This enables the policy creator to view how the policy will be rendered to users.
Anyone upgrading from an earlier version of Totara 11 who has previously added site policies and wants to use html formatting will need make sure they properly transfer these. You can read instructions of how to do this on the Site policies help page.
Recovering seminar notifications
When upgrading to Totara Learn 9+ from a Totara Learn 2.x version you might experience some deprecation of notifications, with some failing to send. It is now possible to restore all missing notifications as a site administrator.
User data items for audiences
Items for exporting and purging a user's audience membership have been added. This is split into set and dynamic audience membership.
Authentication method audience rules
A new dynamic audience rule has been added based on a user's authentication method. This has a range of applications including limiting certain learning items from the view of self-registered users versus users who are authenticating via an internal system.
Report content restriction by audience
In addition to organisation, position and job assignment content restrictions, report content can now also be restricted by audience.
Certification based audience rules
Dynamic audience rules now include a user's certification status and certification date.
