Understanding Supplemental Learning
Learners might complete learning opportunities beyond the cataloged classes and programs, for which you need to keep a record. For example, they might attend a seminar or conference, take an academic course, have equivalent external work experience, or acquire some form of on-the-job training. The supplemental learning feature enables learners to receive credit within your learning system for completing these other forms of learning. Your organization defines the types of supplemental learning available, and learners, managers, and administrators can then add supplemental learning achievements to a learner's record based on these types.
Mapping Options
When defining a supplemental learning type, you can enable mapping of the supplemental learning to an equivalent course or program that already exists in the catalog, or to an existing objective. The user selects the relevant course, program, or objective when reporting the supplemental learning.
If you enable mapping to equivalent programs, users can select only those programs that are set up to allow waivers. To enable complete program waivers, select the corresponding check box on the Maintain Programs - Details page.
Approvals
You can require approval of supplemental learning. When approval is required, and the user selects a Submit for Approval status on the Supplemental Learning submission page, the system sets the status of the supplemental learning to Pending Approval. During this time, the user can edit the supplemental learning submission or drop it. If approved, the system updates the status to Completed. When approval is not required and the user selects Submit for Approval, the system automatically approves the request and sets the status to Completed.
The following rules also apply:
When a learner who has no manager submits a request that requires manager approval, the system sets the status to Completed when the learner selects Submit for Approval.
When a manager who is required to approve a learner's supplemental learning submits a request for the learner, the learning is considered approved when the manager selects the Submit for Approval status.
If the user has mapped the supplemental learning to an equivalent course or program, upon completing the supplemental learning, the system sets the status of each course or program to waived. When a course or program is waived, the system automatically assigns learning objectives that are associated with the course or program to the learner in met status, provided the objectives were previously assigned to the learner with a status of needed.