Cohort - Create/Edit - Step 4 - Community

When creating a cohort, the Community step enables the administrator to associate the cohort with a community template. Administrators can either select an existing template or create a new template.

A community template contains default content, including a banner, an HTML widget, topics, and postings. A community template is created in order to be used with a cohort learning object (LO), and when a cohort LO is created using a community template, a cohort community is created with all of the default content from the community template. This enables administrators to quickly create new cohort communities for each new cohort, allowing each cohort to have their own unique experience.

To create a cohort, go to Admin > Tools > Learning > Catalog Management > Programs and Cohorts. Then, click the View Cohorts icon in the Options column for the appropriate program. Then, click the Create New Cohort link.

PERMISSION NAME PERMISSION DESCRIPTION CATEGORY
Social Learning Cohorts - Edit Grants ability to access the Manage Cohorts page and to edit existing cohort learning objects. This permission cannot be constrained. This is an administrator permission. Learning - Administration
Social Learning Cohorts - Manage Grants ability to access the Manage Cohorts page and to view, create, and edit cohort learning objects. This permission cannot be constrained. This is an administrator permission. Learning - Administration

The cohort community template is pre-populated with the program community template, but can be edited if necessary.

Select Existing Community Template (Create Mode Only)

In the Community Template field, click the Select icon to select a community template. This opens the Select Community Template pop-up, in which the administrator can search for and select the appropriate community template.

Remove Selected Community Template (Create Mode Only)

If a community template has been selected, it can be removed by clicking the Remove icon . Then a different community can be selected.

Create New Community Template (Create Mode Only)

To create a new community template, click the Create New Community Template link. This opens the Create Community Template page in a new browser window. After creating the new community template, the administrator can close the new browser window and select the new community template. See Community Template - Create/Edit.

Edit Community (Edit Mode Only)

This link is only available when editing a cohort. Click the Edit Community link to edit the community that is associated with the cohort. This opens the Edit Cohort Community page in a new browser window. After editing the community, the administrator can close the new browser window and continue editing the cohort. See Cohort Community - Edit.

Automate Overwrite of Availability Changes for All Child Topics (Edit Mode Only)

This option is only available when editing a cohort and is selected by default. When this option is selected, all availability changes made to the community's cohort LO are automatically propagated to the topics within the community. This means that if the cohort's owner is changed, the cohort's instructor is changed, or if the cohort's roster is changed, the new cohort owner will be added as the moderator for all topics within the community, the new cohort instructor will be added as the expert for all topics within the community, and new roster users will be added as members for all topics within the community.

When this option is not selected, any changes that are made to the community's cohort LO are not propagated to the community topics' availability. This enables the organization to have more granular control when configuring the community's topics. However, this also results in additional work maintaining the availability for each individual topic.

Next, Back, or Cancel

Click Save to save any unsaved changes and return to the Manage Cohorts page. This button is only available when editing a cohort. See Manage Cohorts.