04. Target the right learners: cohorts and people filters

Target the right learners: cohorts and people filters

This is for admins who want to put a course in front of the right people, not everyone. By the end you will know when to enrol a whole group in one move and when to narrow a list down person by person, so each enrolment lands where it should.

Before you start

• Read article 6, Enrol people into a course, so you know your way around the enrolment wizard.
• Have your people in the platform, with their teams and managers set, and any cohorts you want to enrol by already created.
• Know who this course is actually for. Targeting works best when you can describe the group before you open the wizard.

🎬 Watch this as a short narrated video

Steps shown in this video

1. When you enrol, you rarely want everyone - you want the right people
2. Open Enrol People and choose who the course is for
3. Enrol whole teams, managers and their reports, or a saved cohort in one move
4. Or pick People to work from the full list
5. Add filters to narrow by enrolment status and more, so you target precisely
6. Search, tick, and you have enrolled exactly who you meant to

The steps

1. Open Content & Courses in the admin sidebar, then open the course you want to enrol people into.
2. Click Enrol People at the top right of the course. The wizard opens on Enrol people to your course.
3. Choose an audience from the chips: All, People, or Cohorts. Above the chips is a Filters bar that narrows who appears under All and People. Admins with a limited scope don't see the Cohorts chip.
4. To enrol a saved group in one move, pick Cohorts and select the cohort. Everyone in it is carried through to the next step.
5. Use the Filters bar to narrow the list. The Enrollment filter is already set to Not Enrolled, so people already on the course are hidden. Use the Add Filter dropdown to layer on more: Team, Cohort, Region, Job Role, Is Manager, and any custom fields. Filtering by Team includes that team's sub-teams.
6. To enrol everyone the filters leave, stay on All and tick the All [your organisation] people box - the number in brackets shows how many that is. For example, filter by Team, then tick All to enrol a whole team at once.
7. To build a precise list instead, pick People. You get the filtered list of individual learners and a Search for people box.
8. Tick the people you want from the narrowed list, or use Search for people to find a specific name. Your selection is carried into the next step.
9. Move through the left rail: Enrol people, then Set a date (including whether the course repeats), then Name a sponsor (optional). Click Review & Launch next to the wizard title to enrol the people you targeted.

What you should see now

The wizard has enrolled exactly the group you described, whether that was a whole cohort or a filtered set of individuals, rather than a blanket enrolment across everyone. The learners you targeted are in the course and notified.

Common questions

When should I use a cohort instead of filtering people?

Reach for Cohorts when you have already saved the group, because you select it once and everyone in it comes along. When the group is defined by something on people's profiles, such as their team, region, job role or whether they are a manager, use the Filters bar instead, then tick All for everyone it leaves or pick individuals under People.

Where are the Teams and Managers options?

In the admin enrolment wizard, teams and managers are filters rather than chips. Add the Team filter to target a team (sub-teams are included) or the Is Manager filter to target managers, then tick All or pick people individually.

Why does the filter say "Enrollment" and not "Enrolment"?

The on-screen label uses the US spelling, "Enrollment". That is the control to look for in the Filters bar. Everywhere else we write "enrolment", so do not be thrown when the interface spells it differently.

Can I combine more than one filter?

Yes. Start from the Enrollment filter and use the Add Filter dropdown to layer on more conditions, then tick from whatever list is left.

Why can't I see someone in the People list?

The Enrollment filter starts on Not Enrolled, so anyone already enrolled in the course is hidden. Change it to Enrolled or remove it to see everyone.

Next up

Article, Manage enrolments in bulk - now that the right people are enrolled, learn how to act on rows of them at once from the course Enrolments tab.