Understanding Learning Environments
Learning environments provide a way to create separate domains within the learning catalog. An administrator's learning environment controls which parts of the catalog she or he can view and update, as well as the default values and options that are associated with the objects (such as categories, courses, classes and programs) the administrator creates. For example, if Azmi Daud were an administrator in the Asia Pacific learning environment, Azmi would only be able to access, update, and add categories, items, and classes that are associated with the Asia Pacific learning environment. The rest of the catalog will be hidden when Azmi uses the catalog maintenance components listed under the Enterprise Learning, Catalog navigation path.
Learning environments also enable administrators to access the instructors and resources that are available for assignment.
A learner's or manager's learning environment determines the catalog hierarchy—the sequence of categories—the user sees when browsing the catalog. So, if John is associated with the Sales learning environment, and Sue is associated with the Research department, John's view of the catalog may look different from Sue's view. Learning environments do not control access to classes and programs—access is controlled by learner groups.
Learning environments control some of the self-service options that are available to learners, such as the display of objectives and certification status on the user's home page.
Note: Learning environment values are assigned to both internal learners and administrators on the Job Data page.
See HR/Job Data Page.
When you create a learning environment, the system automatically creates a learner group with the same name for your convenience. This learner group automatically includes all learners that are in that learning environment. When you add new learners to the learning environment, the system automatically updates this learner group.
Every learner that is created in the system is automatically associated with one and only one learning environment. For internal learners, the system assigns each individual to the learning environment that is associated with their department. For external learners, the system defaults to the learning environment of the administrator who is creating the learner. You can change an internal or external learner's learning environment if needed. Categories, courses, classes, programs, resources, instructors, and learner groups are also associated with one or more learning environments.
Administrators with Multiple Learning Environments
You can assign multiple learning administrators to a single learning environment and multiple learning environments to each learning administrator. When you assign an administrator to multiple learning environments, the administrator, in conjunction with the role security settings, can perform administrative functions such as managing the catalog, learners, and enrollments for all assigned learning environments. Assign learning administrators to a learning environment on the Learning Environments - Basic Data page.
Learning administrators must have a default learning environment or they cannot administer any learning environments. The system uses the default learning environment settings to populate default values throughout the system when the learning administrator creates new delivery methods, courses, and programs. When a learning administrator runs reports, only classes, programs, resources, or learners in the learning administrator's default learning environment are captured in the report. The system selects the first learning environment that you assign to a learning administrator as the default learning environment. Learning administrators can use the Set Learning Environment page to specify a new default learning environment.
When a learning administrator is assigned to two learning environments and you remove the administrator from the default learning environment, the system selects the remaining learning environment as the new default learning environment. When a learning administrator is assigned to more than two learning environments and you remove the administrator from the default learning environment, the learning administrator must select a new default learning environment on the Set Learning Environment page.
Learner groups controls what the learner can see when searching the learning catalog. Although you can assign an administrator to multiple learning environments, the administrator sees only courses and programs in the learning catalog for the learner group to which the administrator belongs.