Create an Assignment
Administrators create an Assignment from the Assignments card on a Learning Program Overview in Skyllful Studio by naming it, choosing one of four Assignment Types, setting the availability dates and devices, adding Lessons and the modes they offer, then adding Learners once the Assignment is saved.
Where do you create an Assignment?
Assignments belong to a Learning Program. Open the Learning Program in Skyllful Studio, find the Assignments card on the Learning Program Overview, and click the plus (+) icon in the card header.
A new Assignment opens titled Untitled Assignment. The Assignment Settings panel sits at the top, five tabs sit below it (Lessons, IQ Settings, Learners, Duration, Automations), and Close and Create sit in the bar across the bottom of the screen.
What do you set on the Assignment Settings panel?
Field |
What you set |
|---|---|
| Thumbnail | The image Learners see beside this Assignment in Simulator. Click Choose or upload image and choose a file of 5 MB or less. |
| Assignment Title | The name of the Assignment. Required. |
| Assignment Short Title | A short code for this Assignment, used where a full title will not fit. It is what the Assignments Dashboard puts at the top of this Assignment's column. Optional, but see the note below. |
| Assignment Types | One of four types: New Hire, Campaign, Reference, or JITT. Required, and Campaign is selected until you choose another. |
| Availability | Which devices this Assignment opens on: Web, iOS, and Android. All three start checked. Clear the ones the content is not built for. |
| Availability Start Date | The first day the Assignment is available. Required. |
| Availability End Date | The last day the Assignment is available. Required. |
Note: Give every Assignment a thumbnail. Learners meet their Assignments in Simulator as a list of tiles, and the thumbnail is what they read first to tell one from another. Skyllful will save an Assignment without one, but a list of look alike tiles is harder for a Learner to work through.
Note: Give the Assignment a Short Title even though nothing forces you to. The Assignments Dashboard shows every Assignment as a narrow column headed by that short title, and when there is none, Skyllful builds a code from the initials of the title instead: "Communications Hub" becomes CH. In a Learning Program running a dozen Assignments, a column of initials is hard to read and a short title you chose is not.
Note: Match Availability to the content. A Lesson built from a desktop application is captured at desktop proportions and does not hold up on a phone screen, so an Assignment carrying that content is better delivered on Web alone. Content captured from a mobile app belongs on iOS and Android for the same reason.
Which Assignment Type do you choose?
The type is not a label. It changes what you can set on the Assignment and what Skyllful IQ reports about it, so choose it deliberately.
Assignment Type |
Choose it when |
|---|---|
| New Hire | Each Learner works through the same content on their own schedule. This is the only type that turns on the Duration tab, where completion windows are set by job role, tag, or individual Learner. |
| Campaign | Everyone trains in the same window, between the availability start and end dates. |
| Reference | Learners look things up when they need to. Skyllful IQ reports views, unique Lessons viewed, and time spent rather than completion. |
| JITT | Training is tied to a moment of need. Skyllful IQ reports completed, completed late, and not completed, and shows no schedule status. |
Note: Skyllful IQ reads the type, not the name. An Assignment called "New Hire Onboarding" reports as a Campaign if Campaign is the type selected on it.
How do you create an Assignment?
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Open the Learning Program, then click the plus (+) icon in the Assignments card. |
| 2 | Enter the Assignment Title. |
| 3 | Click Choose or upload image and add the thumbnail Learners will see in Simulator. Use a file of 5 MB or less. |
| 4 | Choose the Assignment Type. |
| 5 | Set the Availability Start Date and the Availability End Date. |
| 6 | Under Availability, clear any device this Assignment's content is not built for. |
| 7 | On the Lessons tab, click the plus (+) icon at the right of the column headings and add the Lessons. |
| 8 | Click Create. |
| 9 | Open the Learners tab and add the Learners. |
Note: Close leaves a new Assignment unsaved, and Skyllful asks before it does. An Unsaved Changes! window offers Cancel, Don't Save, and Save.
How do you add Lessons to an Assignment?
The plus icon on the Lessons tab opens Select The Lessons You Want Included In This Assignment, which lists the Learning Program's content as a Course, Module, and Lesson tree.
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Find the Lessons you want. Expand a Course or a Module with the caret beside it, or type into Filter By Lesson Title. |
| 2 | Click the circle in the SELECT column for each Lesson you want. Clicking it on a Course or a Module selects everything under it, and a parent with only some of its Lessons selected shows a half filled circle. |
| 3 | Under the list, leave every mode checked, or clear the ones this Assignment should not offer: Video, Talkthrough, Walkthrough, Practice, Knowledge Check. |
| 4 | Click Add Selected. Cancel closes the window and adds nothing. |
Note: An unpublished Lesson can be added, and the Unpublished Lessons counter at the top of the screen keeps count. A Learner reaches a Lesson only when it is published and sits in an active Assignment, so that counter is your list of what still has to be published before this Assignment does its job.
The Lessons you added appear on the Lessons tab in the same Course and Module structure, with a column for each mode showing which ones this Assignment offers. A green dot in the PUBLISHED column marks a published Lesson.
What changes when you click Create?
Learners, Duration, and Automations are inactive while the Assignment is new. Only Lessons and IQ Settings open before it is saved. Clicking Create saves the Assignment, and three things change:
- The Learners and Automations tabs become active.
- A URLS section appears on the Assignment Settings panel, holding the Web Sim URL and the App URL.
- The button at the bottom right becomes Update, and View in IQ appears beside it.
Note: The Duration tab is the exception. It is active only while the Assignment Type is New Hire, on a saved Assignment as much as a new one.
How do you add Learners to an Assignment?
Open the Learners tab and click the plus (+) icon at the right of the column headings. It offers three ways to add people.
Choice |
Use it to |
|---|---|
| New User | Create a Skyllful account for someone who is not in the Learning Program yet. The Create User window opens, the same one used on the User Management screen. |
| Existing Learning Program Users | Add people who already belong to this Learning Program. The Select Learners to Add to Assignment window lists them filtered to Simulator access, with filters, Select All, and Add Selected. |
| Import User From Other Learning Program | Add someone who already trains in a different Learning Program. You can import only from the Learning Programs you have access to yourself, so anyone who trains outside your access will not appear. |
Every Learner needs Simulator access, and Simulator access needs a manager who has Skyllful IQ access, so build the top of the reporting chain before you start adding Learners. See Add a User.
When does a Learner's completion countdown start?
Two things have to be true: the Assignment's start date has passed, and the Learner has been added. Adding Learners ahead of the start date is fine, because their countdown waits for the date.
On a New Hire Assignment each Learner can have a window of their own. See Customize Assignment Duration in Studio.
FAQ
Why can't I open the Learners tab?
Because the Assignment has not been saved yet. Learners, Duration, and Automations stay inactive until you click Create.
Why is the Duration tab greyed out on an Assignment I already created?
Duration belongs to the New Hire type. Campaign, Reference, and JITT Assignments run on the single availability window set at the top of the screen, so the tab stays inactive on them.
Can I change the Assignment Type after the Assignment exists?
Yes. The Assignment Types setting stays editable, and Update saves the change. Change it deliberately rather than to relabel an Assignment, because the type is what Skyllful IQ reports against.
Can I add Lessons after the Assignment is created?
Yes. The Lessons tab works the same way on a saved Assignment: click the plus (+) icon at the right of the column headings and choose what to add.
Does every Assignment need a thumbnail?
Give it one. It is what a Learner sees in the Simulator list, and it is the fastest way for them to pick this Assignment out from the others. Skyllful will let you save without a thumbnail, but the Learner is the one who pays for that.
Why can't I find the person I want to import?
Because they train in a Learning Program you do not have access to. Importing reaches only the programs you can open yourself. Ask an Administrator who has access to that program to add the person there.
Can I add a Lesson that is not published yet?
Yes, and the Unpublished Lessons counter shows how many are waiting. Learners will not see it until it is published.
Do I have to add every mode?
No. The mode checkboxes under the lesson list decide which modes this Assignment offers, so an Assignment can carry a Lesson in Walkthrough and Practice while another carries the same Lesson in Video alone.
Skyllful Knowledge Base | Administrators