Run a cohort

A cohort is one run of a programme (one class of your course) with its own dates, places, price, staff and sessions. If you run an academy, you create a cohort for each intake. Owners and administrators create and edit cohorts.

Creating a cohort pins the programme's live edition, the version published today, for the cohort's whole life; a newer edition never changes it.

Create a cohort

1. Open Cohorts and choose New cohort. New cohort on a programme's own page opens the form with that programme already chosen.
2. Under Programme, choose the programme: "Published programmes that run on set dates." Self-paced programmes are not listed, because their learners start when they enrol.
3. Under When it runs, set Starts. The form fills in what follows from it, as described below.
4. Check Ends, Enrolment opens and Enrolment closes, and choose When lessons open: As soon as a learner joins or When the cohort starts.
5. Under Name, check the Title and the Cohort code, which learners and employers see.
6. Under Places and price, set Places, or leave it empty for no limit, and choose the Price per learner.
7. Optionally, open More settings for the Timezone, the Web address, a Description and a Group link.
8. Choose Create cohort.

On a wide screen, What applicants will see beside the form shows the dates, places and price as you fill them in. The confirmation reads "Cohort created", and the cohort's page opens. A new cohort is a Draft: it is not on your website and takes no applications until you publish it. See Publish, start, complete or cancel a cohort. To reuse an earlier cohort's staff, sessions and deadlines, see Start a cohort from an earlier one.

What the start date fills in

On a new cohort, setting Starts fills in:

• Ends, from the programme's length, with the note "Set from the programme's length";
• an enrolment window from today until the day before the cohort starts, when the start is far enough ahead;
• a Title naming the month and year, such as "June 2027";
• a Cohort code made of the programme's initials, the year and the next free letter, such as "DSF-27C".

Each suggestion follows later changes to the start until you change that field yourself. On a saved cohort, a new start fills only an empty end or enrolment window.

What the dates and settings do

• Enrolment opens and Enrolment closes frame when people can apply or enrol themselves. Afterwards you can still accept waiting applications and enrol people by hand.
• Ends is the last day; completion is judged after it. The dates run in order: enrolment opens, enrolment closes, the cohort starts, the cohort ends.
• When the cohort starts shows learners the outline, the schedule and the group straight away, and the lessons on the start date.
• Price per learner offers the programme's price, Free, or Another price with an Amount per learner. An edition published free with no refund window offers no price: "Free. This edition has no refund window, so its cohorts cannot charge."
• Web address is the last part of the cohort's address; left empty, it comes from the title.

Change a cohort later

To change a cohort's details, open it and choose Edit details, then Save changes. The programme and the edition never change. What else can change depends on where the cohort stands:

• Draft — everything.
• Published — everything except the cohort code and the web address, which read "Fixed once the cohort is published." Its dates can be moved but not cleared.
• Running — only its title, end, places, description and group link. The rest read "Fixed while the cohort is running."
• Completed or cancelled — nothing.

Saving tells nobody. When you move the dates of a cohort that is published or running, the confirmation says "Nobody has been told about the new dates." and offers Announce the change, which opens a new announcement addressed to that cohort. A new price applies to places offered from then on. If someone else saved the cohort while you were editing, your save reads it again and adds only your own changes.

How many cohorts your plan allows

Your plan limits how many cohorts can be open at once, counting drafts, published and running cohorts: 3 on Starter, 12 on Growth and 50 on Scale, with Enterprise set by agreement. Past the limit, saving is refused with "Your plan's limit on open cohorts is reached." Creating a cohort is also refused while your academy's plan is unpaid.

When it does not work

A problem with what you entered is shown under its field, such as "Enter a time for “Starts”.", and saving moves to the first one. A date out of order names the two dates that clash. Other refusals appear above Create cohort or Save changes:

• "The cohort code or slug is already in use" Each code and web address is used once in your academy. Choose another.
• Fewer places than are taken. "Capacity cannot be lower than the number seats already held". Enter at least the number of places already taken.
• "Every non-cancelled session must remain within the cohort dates" Move or cancel the sessions outside the new dates first.
• "A published cohort keeps its end date. Change it rather than clearing it." Enter a new date instead.
• "Permission denied." Only owners and administrators create and edit cohorts.

A new intake of a programme usually runs like the last one: the same people teach it, its sessions meet on the same days of the course, and its deadlines fall at the same points. If you run an academy, you can start a new cohort (a new class of your course) from an earlier cohort of the same programme instead of setting it up from nothing. Owners and administrators create cohorts.

Start from an earlier cohort

1. Open Cohorts and choose New cohort, then choose the Programme.
2. Under Start from an earlier cohort, choose the cohort to copy. The list shows the programme's other cohorts, apart from cancelled ones, and starts on Nothing — start blank.
3. Set Starts for the new cohort, and check the end and enrolment dates it fills in.
4. Tick what else should come along, as described below.
5. Check the Title and Cohort code, then choose Create cohort.

Choosing a cohort fills in its Places, its Price per learner, its Timezone and When lessons open, unless you have already set them yourself. Everything stays editable before you create the cohort.

The confirmation reads, for example, "Started from FSSE-03. Its checklist names anything that did not carry over." The new cohort is a draft, as any new cohort is.

What can come along

Three boxes appear under the list once an earlier cohort is chosen:

• Its staff brings the people on its staff, with the same responsibilities. Anyone who no longer holds the academy role a responsibility needs is left out.
• Its sessions, moved to the new dates brings every session that was not cancelled. Each keeps its day in the course and its time of day: a session held on the third day of the earlier cohort falls on the third day of the new one. A session that would fall after the new cohort ends is left out.
• Its assignment deadlines, moved to the new dates brings each deadline window the earlier cohort gave an assignment, moved the same way. A window that would open or close outside the new dates is left out.

Sessions keep their linked lessons only when both cohorts teach the same edition. Deadline windows come only from a cohort of the same edition.

When a box cannot be ticked

A box that cannot be ticked says why:

• "Set the start date first: each session keeps its day in the course and its time." Sessions and deadlines move by the days between the two starts, so they wait for Starts.
• "Copy its staff too: they run the sessions." Every session needs a facilitator from the staff.
• "Only from a cohort of this edition: it taught edition number." Deadlines belong to one edition's assignments.
• "It has no start date to move them from." The earlier cohort was never given a start date.
• Its staff (nobody is assigned) The earlier cohort has no staff to bring.

If the earlier cohort cannot be read, the form says "That cohort could not be read. Choose it again, or start blank."

After the cohort is created

Open the new cohort and read its checklist. It names whatever still needs doing, such as a deadline that now falls after the cohort ends because its window was left out, or a lesson that announces a live session with no session planned. See Publish, start, complete or cancel a cohort.

The earlier cohort is never changed by being copied.

Every cohort (a class of your programme) moves through the same stages: Draft, Published, Running and Completed, or Cancelled at any point before it completes. Nothing moves a cohort on by itself: an owner or administrator takes each step from the cohort's page. Each step changes what people can do, so the page says what it needs and does before you confirm.

Where the steps are

Open Cohorts and open the cohort. The next step is the button beside the cohort's heading: Publish cohort, Start cohort or Complete cohort. Only owners and administrators see it. The way to end a cohort early sits alone at the foot of the page: Delete draft… on a draft, see Delete a draft cohort, and Cancel cohort… once it is published.

In the cohorts list, each stage has its own badge: Draft amber, Published blue, Running green, Completed a grey outline and Cancelled red.

The checklist

A strip at the top of the page lists what stands between the cohort and its next step. It shows on a draft, on a published cohort once its start date has passed, and on a running cohort once its end date has passed. It reads, for example, "1 step left before you can publish", or "Ready to publish" when nothing is in the way. Lines under Worth a look do not stop the step.

Each line opens the place where it is fixed: the edit form at the dates it means, the staff dialog, a new session for a lesson that announces a live session, the deadline of one assignment, the applications still waiting, or the work still to assess. Hide the list folds it away.

Publish a cohort

Publishing takes a draft public: the cohort appears on the programme's page on your website, and people can apply or enrol while its enrolment window is open. Before you publish, Preview its page shows the cohort's page as applicants will see it; the preview names any dates the draft has not set yet.

A cohort can be published only when its start, end and enrolment dates are set, an instructor is on its staff (see Assign cohort staff), and no assignment would fall due after it ends (see Assignment deadlines for a cohort).

Choose Publish cohort. The dialog says "Everything needed is in place." or lists the steps left, each linked to its fix. Under What people will see it shows who can find the cohort, when applications open and close, the price per learner and the places. Confirm with Publish cohort, or choose Not yet. The confirmation reads "Cohort published".

A published cohort's page says where applications stand, such as "Applications open 7 October, 9:00 am.", with Open its page and Copy link to share it.

Start a cohort

Starting marks the cohort as Running. The dialog says "Starting closes applications and enrolment. After that only its title, end, places, description and group link can change." Before the start date it warns "Starting it now closes applications early", and it names applications still waiting for a decision. Lessons held for the start open, and a cohort's own deadline windows can then only give more time. The confirmation reads "Cohort started".

Complete a cohort

Completing ends delivery. Every session must first be completed or cancelled; the dialog lists each one that is not. Applications still open close, and places not yet paid for are withdrawn. A learner completes the programme only once the cohort is completed and they have met its requirements, and then becomes eligible for its credential, which an owner or administrator issues, as the Credentials guide describes. Afterwards nothing on the cohort can change except attendance corrections. The confirmation reads "Cohort completed".

When a start or end date passes

When a published cohort's start date, or a running cohort's end date, passes without the step, the cohort stays as it is. Owners and administrators are told once, in Notifications and by email, and Needs you on the Overview lists it, such as "FSSE-04 has not been started". Choose it to open the cohort and take the step, or move the date. Lessons held for the start still open on the start date.

Cancel a cohort

Choose Cancel cohort… at the foot of the page, read the dialog, and choose Cancel cohort, or Keep the cohort. Every scheduled session is cancelled, applications still waiting close without a decision, waiting offers and unpaid places are withdrawn, and learners lose access to the cohort's learning. Its learners and staff are told. Every record is kept, and nobody is refunded: refunds are made under Payments & earnings. The confirmation reads "Cohort cancelled".

When a step is refused

• Steps are left. The dialog says how many steps are left before you can take this one, and lists them. Choose each line and put it right.
• "This cohort changed while you were looking at it." Someone else changed it. The page reads it again; check it and try again.
• "Your plan's limit on open cohorts is reached." Complete or cancel a cohort, or move up a plan in Settings, under Billing.
• "Cohorts cannot be published until your academy's billing is up to date." Settle the plan under Billing.

A draft cohort that will not run, such as an intake created by mistake or one that was never needed, does not have to stay in your list. If you run an academy, you can delete a cohort (a class of your course) as long as it was never published: nobody outside your staff has seen it. Owners and administrators delete drafts.

Delete a draft

1. Open Cohorts and open the draft. Its badge reads Draft.
2. At the foot of the page, choose Delete draft….
3. Read the dialog, "Delete this draft?". It says that the cohort was never published, so nobody has seen it, and that its sessions, staff and assignment deadlines go with it.
4. Choose Delete draft, or Keep the draft to leave it as it is.

The confirmation reads "Draft deleted", and the cohorts list opens without the draft. Its address then shows "This cohort is not here", and it no longer appears in search.

What goes with it

Deleting removes the draft and everything it was set up with:

• its sessions, including any already completed or cancelled;
• the staff placed on it, who stay members of your academy;
• the deadline windows it gave the programme's assignments.

The programme, its edition and its assignments are not touched, and other cohorts keep their own sessions, staff and deadlines.

A published cohort is cancelled instead

Once a cohort has been published, people may have seen it, applied or taken a place, so it stays on record. Its page offers Cancel cohort… at the foot instead, which ends it for everyone but keeps every record. See Publish, start, complete or cancel a cohort.

When it does not work

The dialog explains each refusal:

• "People have applied to this cohort or hold a place on it. Cancel it instead." Someone is already linked to the cohort. Cancel it rather than delete it.
• A discount covers this cohort alone. "The discount “name” applies only to this cohort. End the discount first, so it is not left running with nothing to cover." End it under Discounts, then delete the draft.
• "It has been published meanwhile, so it can no longer be deleted. Cancel it instead." Someone published it while the dialog was open.
• "This cohort changed while you were looking at it. Check it and try again." Someone else changed it. The page reads it again; choose Delete draft… once more.
• Delete draft… is missing. The cohort has been published, or you are not an owner or administrator.

Each cohort has its own staff: the people who teach, support and assess it. If you are an owner or an administrator, you put people on a cohort's staff from the cohort's page. A cohort needs at least one instructor before it can be published, and every session's facilitator must be on its staff.

This lesson covers the steps. What each responsibility allows, such as approving work or being told when a learner needs attention, is explained in the lesson Staff assigned to a cohort in the Team, roles and permissions guide.

Who can be given which responsibility

A responsibility on a cohort must match a role the person already holds in your academy:

One person can hold several responsibilities on the same cohort, as long as their roles allow each one. In a small academy, an owner who also holds the Instructor and Assessor roles can be the cohort's administrator, instructor and assessor at once. Only active members are offered. To give someone a role, change it on the Team page under Academy settings first.

Add staff to a cohort

1. Open Cohorts and open the cohort.
2. Find the Staff section. Choose Add staff if nobody is assigned yet, or Manage staff if the cohort already has staff.
3. In the Cohort staff dialog, open Add a person. Each person is listed with the responsibilities their roles allow, such as "Ozavize Adama · Instructor".
4. Choose the person. They join the list in the dialog, with their academy roles shown and the first responsibility their roles allow already ticked.
5. Tick any other responsibility they should hold on this cohort. Repeat for anyone else.
6. Choose Save staff.

The confirmation reads "Staff saved". The Staff section then lists each person once, with every responsibility they hold on the cohort.

Change or remove staff

1. In the Staff section, choose Manage staff.
2. To change what someone does on this cohort, tick or untick the responsibilities on their row. Only the responsibilities their roles allow are offered.
3. To take someone off the cohort, choose Remove on their row.
4. Choose Save staff.

Saving replaces the whole list with the one in the dialog. Everyone on the list needs at least one responsibility ticked: a row with none says "Choose at least one responsibility, or remove them.", and Save staff waits until you do. Nothing is saved until you choose Save staff; Cancel leaves the staff as they were.

On a draft, the dialog says "Publishing needs an instructor." until someone holds that responsibility.

Changes made elsewhere

A cohort's staff also changes when someone's place in the academy changes. If you take away the role a person's responsibility needs, or suspend or remove them on the Team page, they leave the staff of every cohort where they held it. Reactivating them later does not put them back: add them to the cohort again.

A session keeps the facilitator it was planned with. If that person has left the cohort's staff, choose another facilitator the next time you edit the session.

When it does not work

• "Nobody in the academy holds a staff role yet." Give people roles on the Team page, then return and add them.
• "Everyone with a staff role is on this cohort." There is nobody left to add.
• Saving is refused for someone on the list. They are no longer active, or no longer hold the role a responsibility ticked for them needs. Remove them, or untick that responsibility, and save again.
• "This cohort changed while the staff were open. Close this and open it again." Someone else changed the cohort. Open Manage staff again and repeat the change.
• No Add staff or Manage staff. The cohort has been completed or cancelled, and its staff list is closed, or you are not an owner or administrator. The record of who taught and assessed a cohort stays with it.

Many cohorts keep a chat group for questions between sessions. If you run an academy, you can give each cohort a Group link: the invitation link to its WhatsApp or Telegram group. Alethris shows the link to the cohort's staff and to its enrolled learners, and never on your public pages. Owners and administrators set it, as part of the cohort's details.

Add or change the group link

1. Open Cohorts, open the cohort, and choose Edit details. For a new cohort, use the same field on the New cohort page.
2. Open More settings and paste the invitation into Group link.
3. Choose Save changes, or Create cohort for a new one.

The group link can be added or changed while the cohort is a draft, published or running. Once the cohort is completed or cancelled, it can no longer change.

To remove the link, clear the Group link field and save.

Which links are accepted

Only a WhatsApp or Telegram invitation is accepted, and it must start with one of these addresses:

• https://chat.whatsapp.com/
• https://wa.me/
• https://t.me/
• https://telegram.me/

Any other address is refused, so learners are never sent to an unexpected site from their workspace. Copy the link from the group's own invitation setting in WhatsApp or Telegram.

Who sees it, and where

• Staff see it on the page of a published or running cohort, as Group link in the line of details under the programme's name.
• Enrolled learners see a Cohort group card on the Home page of their learning workspace. It reads, for example, "Questions between sessions go to the WhatsApp group" for the cohort, with Open in WhatsApp or Open in Telegram.
• Visitors and applicants never see it. It is not on the programme or cohort pages, nor in an application or an offer.

A learner sees the card while their place gives them access to the workspace. Someone still applying, holding an offer or waiting to pay does not see the link yet.

Changing the link tells nobody

Saving a new group link sends no notice. Learners find the new link the next time they open Home. If you move the group, tell the cohort in an announcement as well, and close or empty the old group in WhatsApp or Telegram, which Alethris cannot do for you.

Alethris does not manage the group itself: who joins it, who can post and what is kept there are set in WhatsApp or Telegram.

When it does not work

• "The group link must be a WhatsApp or Telegram invitation starting with https://chat.whatsapp.com/, https://wa.me/, https://t.me/ or https://telegram.me/." The address is from another service, or does not begin with https://. The form shows this under the field. Paste the invitation link exactly as WhatsApp or Telegram gives it.
• The field cannot be edited. The cohort has been completed or cancelled, so nothing on it can change.
• Learners say they cannot see the group. Check that the link is saved on the cohort, and that their place is active. The card does not appear until the place is.

A session is one meeting of a cohort: a class, a workshop or a call. Each has a time, a place or a meeting link, and a facilitator from the cohort's staff. Learners see it on their schedule and are reminded before it starts, and its register opens when it starts. Owners, administrators and instructors plan sessions. Self-paced programmes have no sessions.

A cohort takes sessions once it has a start and an end date, whether it is still a draft, published or running. Every session falls between those dates.

Add a session from the cohort

1. Open Cohorts and open the cohort.
2. In the Schedule section, choose Add the first session, or New session if the cohort already has sessions.
3. Enter a Title: what the session covers, as learners will see it on their schedule.
4. Set the Date, then the Starts and Ends times, in the cohort's timezone. The help under Date gives the days you can choose, such as "Between 14 June 2027 and 6 September 2027, in the cohort's timezone."; a new session cannot start in the past.
5. Choose the Facilitator, who runs it. The list holds each person on the cohort's staff once, with their responsibilities, such as "Ozavize Adama · Instructor".
6. Optionally, choose a Linked lesson from the edition the cohort teaches.
7. Enter a Location for a session in person, a Meeting link for one held online, or both. At least one is required.
8. Optionally, add a Description, such as anything to prepare or bring, and Notes · staff only, which learners never see.
9. Choose Create session.

You return to the cohort's Schedule, which lists the new session, so you can carry on setting the cohort up. Open session in the message that appears opens its own page, showing when its register opens.

Repeat a session every week

For a class that meets on the same day each week, tick Repeat weekly until the cohort ends before you create it. The session is then added every week from the date you chose up to the cohort's last day, at the same time of day in the cohort's timezone, even across a change of clocks.

The help under the box counts them, such as "5 sessions, on Mondays from 14 June to 12 July.", and the button names the number, such as Create 5 sessions. Only the first session links the lesson you chose: "Only the first links the lesson." The confirmation reads, for example, "5 sessions added", and the cohort's page opens. Each session can then be changed on its own.

If any of the sessions cannot be added, none is: the form says how many need a change and lists each one with its date, such as "Session 3 on 28 June 2027 names a facilitator who is not on the cohort's staff."

Add a session from Sessions & attendance

You can also start from Sessions & attendance. Choose New session, choose the Cohort, and choose Continue. Only published or running cohorts are listed there. The same fields then open in a dialog; choose Create session to save it.

What learners see

Learners on the cohort see the session on their schedule, with its title, time, place and meeting link. The description is shown to them; the staff notes are not. The cohort's learners and its staff are reminded a day before and an hour before the session starts.

Linked lesson connects the session to a lesson of the cohort's edition. A live-session block in that lesson then announces this session to learners inside the lesson. When a lesson announces a live session and none is planned for it, the cohort's checklist says so; choosing that line opens a new session already named after the lesson and linked to it.

The facilitator and the register

The facilitator must be on the cohort's staff, in any responsibility. If the person you want is not listed, add them to the cohort first; see Assign cohort staff. A session's register opens when the session starts, and not before; see Take the register.

When it does not work

• "Set the cohort's start and end first: every session falls between them." The cohort has no dates yet. Set them with Edit details.
• A day outside the cohort. "Choose a day on or before date, when the cohort ends." or "Choose a day from date, within the cohort's dates." Choose a day the help under Date allows.
• "The start time has already passed. Sessions are created ahead of time; the register opens when one starts." Choose a time that is still ahead.
• "The session has to end after it starts." Set an end time later than the start time.
• "Give learners a location or a meeting link — at least one." Enter one or both.
• "The meeting link must be a full web address, such as https://meet.google.com/abc-defg-hij." Paste the whole address the meeting app gives, beginning with https://.
• The facilitator list is empty. Nobody is on the cohort's staff yet. Assign staff first.
• The linked lesson list is empty. The cohort is pinned to an older edition than the one now published, so its lessons cannot be listed here. The session can still be created without one.
• No New session on the cohort's page. The cohort has been completed or cancelled, or you are a mentor or assessor, who do not plan sessions.

Plans change. If you are an owner, an administrator or an instructor, you can move a session, complete it, or cancel it from the session's own page. Learners and the cohort's staff are told when a session is changed or cancelled. Only a completed session counts towards learners' attendance.

Find the session

Open Sessions & attendance and choose the session, or open the cohort under Cohorts and choose the session in its Schedule section. The session's page is headed with its number in the cohort and its title. A strip at the top says where it stands, such as Scheduled, Register not taken or Completed, and Details lists when and where it meets, the facilitator, the cohort, the linked lesson, what it covers and the notes for staff.

While a session is scheduled, its page ends with Edit session, Complete session once it has started, and Cancel session….

Change a session

1. Choose Edit session.
2. Change what you need: the title, the date and times, the facilitator, the linked lesson, the location or meeting link, the description, or the staff notes.
3. Choose Save session.

A session cannot move to another cohort. Saving any change tells the cohort's learners and staff that the session has been updated, with its time, and the reminders move with it. Make several changes in one go rather than saving each one separately.

The new time must still fall within the cohort's dates. While the cohort is running, a session cannot be moved to a time that has already passed. A session that has started can still have its location, meeting link, description and notes corrected, as long as its time stays as it is.

Complete a session

Completing a session closes it, and only a completed session counts towards attendance. Sending the register completes a session for you; see Take the register. To complete one yourself:

1. Choose Complete session. It appears once the session has started.
2. Read the dialog, "Complete this session?", and choose Complete session.

Anyone left without a mark stays Not marked. A missing mark is not an absence, but a learner's attendance requirement cannot be met while one of their completed sessions has no mark. The page then shows Completed with marks missing, with Finish the register to record what happened. Every mark can still be corrected later.

Cancel a session

Cancel a session that will not take place.

1. Choose Cancel session….
2. Read the dialog, "Cancel this session?", and choose Cancel session.

The session leaves every learner's schedule, its reminders stop, and the cohort's learners and staff are told it has been cancelled. A cancelled session takes no register and does not count towards anyone's attendance. To keep a meeting that has only moved, change its time instead.

After a session is completed or cancelled

A completed or cancelled session can no longer be edited, and Edit session no longer appears. A completed session can still be given a recap for learners who missed it; see Recap a session.

A cohort cannot be completed while any of its sessions is still scheduled, so complete or cancel each one first. Cancelling the whole cohort cancels every session still scheduled on it. See Publish, start, complete or cancel a cohort.

When it does not work

• "The session must be contained by the cohort dates" The new date falls outside the cohort. Choose a date within it, or change the cohort's dates first.
• "The session cannot perform that operation in its current state" The cohort is running and the new start time has already passed. Choose a time that is still ahead, or leave the time as it was.
• "The session changed; reload and retry" Someone else changed or ended the session while you were working. Reload the page.
• "Choose an active staff assignment as facilitator" The facilitator has left the cohort's staff. Choose a facilitator who is still on it.
• "The meeting link must be a full web address, such as https://meet.google.com/abc-defg-hij." Nothing is saved until Meeting link holds a web address. Paste the whole address the meeting app gives, beginning with https://.
• Edit session is missing. The session has already been completed or cancelled.
• "Permission denied." Only owners, administrators and instructors change, complete or cancel sessions, although these buttons also appear for mentors and assessors.

A session's register records who attended. It opens when the session starts. Everyone starts present, so you mark only those who were late, absent or excused, review the marks, and send them. Sending records every mark and completes the session. Owners and administrators can take any cohort's register; instructors take the registers of cohorts where they are the instructor. Mentors and assessors on a cohort can see its registers but not take them.

Open the register

Open Sessions & attendance and choose Take the register on the session under Needs a register. You can also choose Take the register on the session's own page, or on the session's row in the cohort's Schedule.

Before the session starts, the page says "The register is not open yet" and when it opens.

Take the register

1. Check the list. Every learner starts as Present.
2. For each learner who was not simply present, choose Late, Absent or Excused.
3. For each excused learner, write a note in the box beneath their name saying why. A note is required for every excused mark.
4. Choose Review and send.
5. On Review the register, check the counts and the list of learners marked late, absent or excused. Choose Keep editing to go back.
6. Choose Send, which names the number of marks, such as Send 18 marks.

The session's page opens again, with the register recorded and the session completed. Mark all present on the register sets everyone back to present before you send.

How the marks count

Present and Late count as attended. Absent counts against the learner's attendance rate. Excused is left out of the rate altogether. A learner's attendance is the sessions attended out of those attended and missed, across the cohort's completed sessions.

Each learner sees their own mark on their attendance page. The excusal note stays with staff.

The register lists the cohort's learners whose place was active in time for the session. Someone enrolled part-way through is counted from the sessions after they joined.

Finish a register that was left incomplete

If some learners were marked and others were not, the register reopens as Finish the register, listing only the learners with no mark. Mark them and send as before. A missing mark is not an absence, but a learner's attendance requirement cannot be met while a completed session has no mark for them.

For a cohort with more learners than one register holds, the page offers Record one at a time: find each learner by name in the attendance list and record their mark there.

Correct a mark

1. On the session's page, choose View attendance.
2. Beside the learner, choose Correct, or Record if they have no mark.
3. Under Change the mark to, choose the right mark.
4. Write a Reason. It is required, kept with the correction, and never shown to the learner.
5. For an excused mark, write the Excusal note.
6. Choose Save correction.

Nothing is overwritten. The dialog's History keeps each earlier mark with who recorded it and when. A learner's attendance figure can take a moment to catch up after a correction.

When it does not work

• "Every excused mark needs a note before the register can be sent." Write a note for each learner marked excused.
• "A mark on this register was recorded or corrected somewhere else while you were here." Nothing you entered was sent. Choose Reload, check the marks, and send again.
• "The marks were saved. The session itself changed while you were here" Someone moved or ended the session, so it was not completed. Reload to see where it stands.
• "This cohort's register is kept by the staff seated on it, so its learners are not shown to you." Instructors see registers only on cohorts where they are the instructor, and mentors and assessors only on cohorts whose staff they are on; ask an owner or administrator to add you to the cohort's staff. The session's page says "This register is not part of your role" for the same reason.
• "The roster could not be read, so this register cannot say who is enrolled." The register did not load. Reload in a moment.
• "Permission denied." when you send. Mentors and assessors can open the registers of their cohorts and mark learners, but only owners, administrators and the cohort's instructors can send them.
• No register to take. A cancelled session takes no register.

A session recap is what a session leaves its learners: a summary of what it covered, a link to its recording, and the slides, handouts or sheets it used. Learners who missed the session, or want it again, find the recap on their schedule and, when the session is linked to a lesson, on that lesson. A recap belongs to the cohort's session rather than to the programme, so it can be written for a lesson that never planned a live session.

If you are an owner, an administrator or an instructor, you can write, change and remove recaps. Mentors and assessors can read them on the session's page.

Write a recap

A session's page has a Recap section once the session has started, unless it was cancelled.

1. Open the session's page from Sessions & attendance, or from the cohort's Schedule.
2. Under Recap, choose Write a recap.
3. Write the summary: what the session covered, and anything learners should do before the next one.
4. In Recording, paste the recording's address. A YouTube link plays on the page; any other link, such as a recording kept on Google Drive or Zoom, opens in a new tab.
5. Choose Add files to attach the session's files. Each file's row reads Uploading, then Checking, then Ready once it has passed its safety check.
6. Leave Tell the cohort ticked to let learners know, or untick it to post the recap quietly.
7. Choose Post recap.

A recap needs a summary, a recording or a file. It holds up to 10 files, each up to 50 MB: PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, CSV or a picture. A recording shared only with your own account will not play for learners.

Who is told about a recap

The cohort is told once, when the recap is first posted with Tell the cohort ticked. Every learner on the cohort gets a Session recap notice in their Alethris inbox. Learners who did not attend, because they were absent, excused or not marked, also get an email, "A recap of" the session "is ready", so the people who missed it hear about it outside Alethris too. Changing the recap later tells nobody again.

Change or remove a recap

To change a recap, choose Edit recap, change the summary, the recording or the files, and choose Save recap. The recap is saved as it now stands, and nobody is told.

To remove a recap, choose Remove recap…, read the dialog, "Remove this recap?", and choose Remove recap. Learners stop seeing it, and its files are deleted. Nobody is told.

Put a session already held on record

A session held before anyone planned it in Alethris, such as a class called at short notice, can be put on record to give it a recap:

1. Open the cohort under Cohorts and, in its Schedule, choose Record a past session. It is offered while the cohort is running.
2. Give the session a title, the day and the times it was held, and the facilitator who ran it. Link the lesson it was for, if there is one. A session already held needs no place or meeting link.
3. Choose Put on record.

The session is recorded as completed and its page opens, ready for Write a recap. Its day can be any day from the cohort's start up to today, and the session must already have ended.

A session put on record afterwards counts towards attendance only once its register is taken, so adding one holds nobody's attendance back. Its page says Put on record after it was held until then. If you kept a register for it, choose Take the register; see Take the register.

What learners see

On Schedule & sessions, learners find Recaps, a list of past sessions that have a recap, newest first. Each opens to show the summary, the recording and the files to download. When the session is linked to a lesson, the recap also appears with the session on that lesson: inside the lesson's Live session block, or in a Live session panel after the lesson's content when the lesson has no such block.

When it does not work

• "Give the recap a summary, a recording or a file." A recap cannot be empty. Add at least one.
• "Enter the recording's full address, such as https://youtu.be/abc123." The recording must be a web address that begins with https://. Copy the address the video service gives for sharing.
• "Choose a PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, plain text, CSV or a picture." The file is of a kind a recap does not take. Save it as one of these first.
• "This file is over 50 MB. Choose a smaller one." Share a large file as a link instead.
• "Wait for the files to finish their checks." A file is still uploading or being checked. Post the recap once every file reads Ready.
• "This session has not ended yet. Put it on record once it is over." Choose the times it was actually held, or plan it as a new session instead.
• "The recap changed; reload and retry" Someone else changed it meanwhile. Reload the page.
• Write a recap is missing. The session has not started, or was cancelled, or you are a mentor or an assessor.
• Record a past session is missing. The cohort is not running yet, or has finished.

Sessions & attendance brings every cohort's sessions into one page, so nobody has to open each cohort to find a register waiting to be taken. It lists the sessions that have started but are not yet completed, the sessions coming up, and the sessions completed most recently. Owners, administrators, instructors, mentors and assessors have it in the menu, under Delivery.

What the page lists

The page has up to three lists, each session shown in its own cohort's timezone.

• Needs a register lists every session that has started but has not been completed, the oldest first. Each row gives the session's title, the cohort's code, when and where it met, and how many learners are marked so far. Choose Take the register, or Finish the register where some are already marked. When there are more than 25, the page shows the oldest 25 and says how many there are in all.
• Coming up lists scheduled sessions ahead, within the period chosen under Coming up. When more sessions lie further out, choose Show every upcoming session.
• Recent lists the six most recently completed sessions, each with a line such as "14 of 16 attended, 1 excused". A session with learners still unmarked offers Finish the register.

Choose a session to open its page, where you can change, complete or cancel it; a session whose register is still to take or finish opens the register instead. When every started session has its register, Needs a register says "Every session that has started has its register."

Filter the page

Two filters sit at the top.

• Cohort narrows every list to one cohort, chosen by its code. Published, running and completed cohorts are offered. Your cohorts narrows it to the published and running cohorts whose staff you are on; it appears only if you are on any.
• Coming up sets how far ahead the Coming up list looks: Next 7 days, Next 30 days or Any date. It starts on Next 30 days.

The Full schedule link on a cohort's page opens this page already narrowed to that cohort.

Add a session from here

Choose New session at the top of the page. Choose the Cohort, then Continue, and fill in the session in the dialog. Only published or running cohorts are listed here; a draft's sessions are added from its own page. See Plan a session.

Registers on the Overview

The academy workspace's Overview counts the same registers under Needs you, as a line such as "2 registers to finish", with Open sessions to come here. The count matches Needs a register.

What each role can do here

Everyone who has the page sees every cohort's sessions, but what they can do with a register depends on their role:

• Owners and administrators take and correct registers on any cohort, and plan, change, complete and cancel sessions.
• Instructors plan, change, complete and cancel sessions, and take and correct the registers of cohorts where they are the instructor.
• Mentors and assessors read the registers of the cohorts whose staff they are on. They do not take registers or plan sessions, so New session, Take the register and the session's Edit session, Complete session and Cancel session… do not appear for them.

When the page is empty or does not load

• "No sessions yet." No cohort has a session. A cohort takes sessions once it has a start and an end date, and self-paced programmes have none.
• "Nothing is scheduled ahead." No scheduled session lies ahead in any cohort shown.
• "The sessions could not be read." Nothing is lost. Choose Try again.
• "No cohort is published or running yet. Publish one first." New session has no cohort to offer. Publish a cohort first, or add the session from the draft's own page; see Publish, start, complete or cancel a cohort.

A programme sets a deadline for each of its assignments, such as "due 14 days after the cohort starts". If you run a cohort, you can give any assignment a window of the cohort's own instead: a date and time it opens, and a deadline, for this cohort only. Other cohorts of the same programme keep the programme's deadline. Owners, administrators and instructors set a cohort's deadlines.

Open a cohort's deadlines

1. Open Cohorts and open the cohort.
2. In the Assignments section, choose Assignment deadlines.

The page lists every assignment of the edition the cohort teaches. Each one says either "The programme's deadline", with what the programme asks, such as opening from the cohort's start and falling due a number of days later, or "This cohort's window", with its opening time and deadline. All times are in the cohort's timezone.

If the cohort has no start and end dates yet, the page asks you to set them first: a window must fall within them, and a programme deadline is counted from the start.

Give an assignment its own window

1. On the assignment's row, choose Set a window, or Change the window if it has one.
2. Under Opens, set when this cohort's learners can start it. A new window already opens at the cohort's start, the earliest it can; change it only if the work should open later.
3. Under Due, set this cohort's deadline, in place of the programme's.
4. Choose Save window.

A window needs both an opening time and a deadline, inside the cohort's start and end dates, with the opening first. To go back to the programme's deadline, choose Use the programme's deadline.

Deadlines that fall after the cohort ends

A deadline counted from the cohort's start can land after its last day, for example in a short cohort. Such an assignment is flagged as due after the cohort ends, and its window opens on its row, with Opens already at the cohort's start, for you to set the deadline under Due. The cohort cannot be published until each one has a deadline of its own on or before the cohort's last day, or until you end the cohort later. The cohort's checklist lists each such assignment, and choosing the line opens this page at that assignment's row.

While the cohort is running

Once a cohort has started, a window it already has can open work earlier or give more time, but never less: its deadline cannot be brought forward, its opening time cannot be pushed back, and Use the programme's deadline is refused. Plan any window that shortens the time before you start the cohort.

Even before the cohort starts, a window's deadline cannot be moved earlier once any learner on the cohort has saved or handed in work for that assignment.

When a cohort is completed or cancelled, its deadlines can no longer change.

What learners are told

When you change the deadline of work that is already open, the cohort's learners are told the deadline has changed. Moving only the opening time of work that has not opened yet tells nobody, because the learners cannot see that work yet. When a window opens required work, the cohort's learners are told it is open.

When it does not work

• "A window needs both an opening time and a deadline." Fill in both Opens and Due.
• "The opening time must precede the due time" Set the opening before the deadline.
• "The schedule must remain within the Cohort dates" Move both times inside the cohort's start and end dates, or change the cohort's dates first.
• "The assignment resource is immutable" The change cannot be made: the cohort is running and the change would shorten the time or return to the programme's deadline, learners have already saved or handed in work and the deadline was brought forward, or the cohort has finished.
• Assignment deadlines is missing. The cohort's Assignments section reads "Edition number has no assignments.", so there is nothing to set. Assignments are added in the programme's draft, and a cohort has only the assignments of the edition it is pinned to.
• "Permission denied." Only owners, administrators and instructors set a cohort's deadlines, although Set a window also appears for mentors and assessors.

When a programme has group work, learners on each cohort do it in groups, and the cohort forms those groups for itself. If you are an owner, an administrator or the cohort's instructor, you form and change them on the cohort's Groups page. The cohort's mentors and assessors can see who is in each group but cannot change them. A learner with no group cannot start the group's work, so form the groups before the work opens.

Group work is set up in the programme: an assignment done by a group belongs to a named set of groups with a smallest and a largest size, and every assignment in the same set is done by the same groups.

Open a cohort's groups

1. Open Cohorts and open the cohort.
2. In the Groups section, choose Manage groups, or Form the groups if there are none yet.

The Groups section appears only when the edition the cohort teaches has group work. The Groups page shows each set with its size range, the assignments its groups work on, and four figures: Groups, Learners in a group, Not in a group and On their own for an assignment. A Needs attention box lists learners with no group once the work is open or about to open, members who joined a group after it finished an assignment, and groups below the smallest size.

Generate the groups

1. Choose Generate groups.
2. Under About how many in each, choose a size within the set's range. The dialog shows how many groups that makes, such as "16 learners in 4 groups of 4, chosen at random."
3. Choose Generate groups.

Every active learner on the cohort is put in a group at random, and each learner is told which group they are in. Groups are named Group 1, Group 2 and so on; rename them as you like.

Until a group has started its work, Generate again replaces every group in the set with new ones, and each learner is told their new group. After that, change groups one learner at a time.

Add, rename or delete a group

• Add a group adds an empty group to the set.
• Rename on a group changes its name, up to 80 characters. Learners see this name beside their teammates, and no two groups in a set can share one.
• Delete removes a group that is empty and has not started its work.

Place and move learners

Learners who are in no group are listed under Not in a group. Choose Add to… beside a learner and pick a group with room left; a full group is not offered.

To change a learner's group, choose Change… beside their name, then:

• under Move to another group, choose the group and confirm the move. They are told their new group at once, and what they handed in with their old group stays with that work. An attempt the old group has waiting for a decision stays in the review queue for the members who remain;
• or choose Take them out of the group. They are then in no group of the set until you place them again.

A learner who leaves the cohort still holds their place in a group, marked as having left. Taking them out frees the place.

Let a learner work on their own

Sometimes a learner should do one assignment alone: someone who joined after their group finished it, a group that has broken down, or a part assessed separately.

1. Choose Change… beside the learner, then Set their own work….
2. Under Assignment, choose the assignment.
3. Write a Reason. The learner is told they now work on their own, but not why.
4. Choose Switch to their own work.

They keep what they handed in with their group, and those attempts count. Their draft carries on from the group's work, and anything waiting for a decision is reviewed as theirs alone.

When it does not work

A refused change is explained in the dialog you are using or, for a change made straight from the page, in a notice headed "Not changed".

• A group in the set "has started its work, so the groups can no longer be generated again". Move learners one at a time instead.
• A group "is full". Each group takes at most the set's largest size. Choose another group, or add a group.
• Delete is missing on a group. Only an empty group that has not started its work can be deleted. Move or take out its learners first.
• "Only a learner active in this Cohort can join a group" The learner's place is not active.
• A learner "already has a final result" on the assignment, so they cannot be switched to their own work for it.
• "This cohort has finished, so its groups are kept as they ended." A completed or cancelled cohort keeps its groups, and nothing on the Groups page can change.
• No Groups section on the cohort's page. None of the edition's assignments is done in groups. Group work is set up in the programme's draft and reaches cohorts created on a later edition.
• "These groups are for this cohort's own staff" Owners and administrators see every cohort's groups; other staff see only the cohorts they are assigned to.