In this release we are saying goodbye to our old versioning scheme and hello to a brand new one! Our last version was v1.9 but there won't be any v1.10 or v2.0, instead we welcome 👋 version 10 (with v11 as the next release, then v12 and so on).
The v10 release brings loads of early Christmas goodies for administrators with Page and Reactions analytics as the main new features. But make sure to stay to the end of these release notes even if it might feel eye-watering boring somewhere in the middle (sorry about that but hey, there are limits to how fun cats can make things 😸 ). There are a lot of new features and improvements that you don't want to miss!
Page Analytics
It's now possible to view Page level analytics. For Library Pages, when viewing the analytics from within a course view, the statistics will automatically be "filtered" to only include learners enrolled on that specific course. When viewing from within the Library, statistics for all users that have access to the page will be displayed.
It's also possible to export user statistics to CSV or Excel using the more menu.
Page Reactions
In the previous release, we added the possibility for learners to give feedback on course content. We call this feature Reactions. With Page level analytics, you can now review all reactions you get from your users.
User retention policy
This is a feature that has been available in Learnster for a long time, but it has not been possible to manage these settings in Studio until now. Please note that these settings will affect automation deletion of your users, so make sure that you understand these settings before you make any changes to the default settings.
Automatically delete inactive users
This retention policy rule will automatically delete users that have been inactive for the set number of days. By "inactive" we simply mean that they have not logged into Learnster. Before users are deleted, Learnster will send warning messages to the user 21 days, 7 days and 1 day before the user account is deleted. Just as when you delete a user account manually in Studio, this function will preform a "soft" delete. This means that the user data is preserved in the database and can be recreated but is labeled as deleted. Soft deleted user accounts are permanently deleted using the "After being soft deleted, permanently delete user after (days)" retention policy.
Automatically delete users that never log in
This retention policy rule will automatically delete user accounts that are created but never used. With "never used" we mean that the user never logged in. This rule "soft" deletes the account. This means that the user data is preserved in the database and can be recreated, but is labeled as deleted. Soft deleted user accounts are permanently deleted using the "After being soft deleted, permanently delete user after (days)" retention policy.
After being soft deleted, permanently delete user after (days)
Normally, when user accounts are deleted in Learnster, they are not permanently deleted but rather "soft" deleted. This means that the user data is preserved in the database and can be recreated but is labeled as deleted which means that the user does not show up in Studio and does not have any user statistics etc. Soft deletion is very useful if you would, for instance, delete a user by accident or if a user leaves your organization for a while and then comes back. By applying soft delete by default, user accounts can be recreated with all their data and history intact. Therefore, soft delete is the "safe" way to delete users. However, for data privacy reasons and in order to comply with regulations like GDPR, we should not keep user data for an unnecessary long time. This policy permanently deletes all user data automatically after the configured number of days after a user has been soft deleted.
If you would make changes to the default setting, please make sure that it complies with GDPR and other applicable user privacy regulations. User retention policy settings are found under Settings > General.
Allowed authentication methods
It is now possible to choose which authentication methods you want to use if you have SSO based authentication configured. These settings allow you to control if you want to allow your users to be able to log in using their Learnster user name and password and via your SSO or only using the SSO. Allowed authentication methods are found under Settings > General.
Enrollment requests email deep links
It's now easier than ever for administrators and team managers to approve course enrollment requests from employees. We have made it possible to accept and decline enrollments directly from enrollment request emails. We have also added a deep link that takes you directly to the enrollments page in Studio (the "Enrollments in Learnster Studio" link above).
Time zone support for scheduled blocks and events
We have added time zone settings for scheduled blocks and events. By setting the time zone for a scheduled block/event, you can be sure that your users will get the correct time information, both in Learnster U and in calendar invitations (if you are using calendar invitations).
When you create new scheduled blocks and events, we will by default use your system time zone (the time zone your computer is configured with) and set the scheduled block or event to this time zone. If you would like to change the default time zone you can do that on your user profile.
New Tag Rules conditions
We have added the following Tag Rules conditions:
Condition is always true - the condition is always true. This is a useful condition if you would like to create a rule that always triggers. For instance, if you would like to add a set of onboarding courses for all employees.
User was created before this date - the condition is true for users that were added to Learnster before set date.
User was created after this date - the condition is true for users that were added to Learnster after set date.
User is enrolled on the course - the condition is true if a user is enrolled on a set course.
User is enrolled on a course in the category - the condition is true if a user is enrolled on a course that is part of chosen category.
Smaller updates
We have added support for Azure AD SCIM based user provisioning. 👆
SCIM is a technology for a simple to use yet powerful integration with Azure AD for automated user provisioning (automated creation and synchronizations of user accounts). This is very much aimed at the IT nerd audience out there so if you think this sounds exciting 🤓 but you don't hang around on IRC with these guys👇 you better call your IT department.
We have made small changes and improvements to the Page preview interface in Studio.
We have added the date a user was enrolled for the course to the <course>/Learners CSV/Excel report.
New courses are now by default created in Unpublished mode so you can control what courses you want published in the course catalog or to users.
That's all for this time. We hope you will enjoy this release! 💜