In this lesson, you will learn how to add courses through the Manage Course Guide page.

Mastering Your Course Guide: A Step-by-Step Tutorial

The Course Guide helps administrators organize required training, assign courses to the appropriate employees, and establish completion deadlines for the school year.

You can create your own course directories, apply a recommended course guide, adjust course visibility, and review directories from previous school years—all from one central location.

Accessing the Course Guide

1. Log in to your administrator account.
2. Locate Manage in the navigation menu on the left side of the screen.
3. Click Manage Course Guide.

The current school year is selected automatically when you open the page.

From the top of the Course Guide page, you can:

• Select a school year.
• View directories from previous school years.
• Add a new directory.
• Apply a recommended course guide.
• Reset the current directory.

Selecting a School Year

Use the Select School Year dropdown menu to choose the school year you want to manage.

Before adding or changing courses, confirm that the correct school year is selected. Any directories or courses you create will be added to the selected school year.

Viewing Past Directories

Past directories can help you review earlier training plans or use them as a reference when planning the new school year.

To view them:

1. Select the desired school year from the dropdown menu.
2. Click Show Past Directories.
3. Review the directories and courses created for that year.

Past directories are useful when you want to keep your annual training plan consistent or identify courses that should be assigned again.

Creating a New Course Directory

A directory is a folder used to organize related courses. You can create directories by month, topic, employee role, department, or training deadline.

Examples include:

• August Required Training
• Manager Training
• New Hire Orientation
• Food Safety and Sanitation
• CACFP Annual Training
• Warehouse and Delivery Driver Training

To create a directory:

1. Click Add Directory.
2. Enter a name in the New Directory Name field.
3. Select a date in the Completed By field.
4. If necessary, select a date in the Hidden Until field.
5. Choose who should see the directory under Set Directory Visibility.
6. Save the directory.

New Directory Name

Enter a clear, descriptive name that employees can easily recognize.

Instead of using a general name such as “Training,” use a more specific name such as “September Food Safety Training” or “Annual Manager Requirements.”

Completed By

Use the Completed By field to set the deadline for the directory.

This date tells employees when the courses in that directory should be completed. Select a realistic deadline that gives staff enough time to finish all assigned training.

Hidden Until

The Hidden Until field allows you to create a directory in advance without immediately displaying it to employees.

For example, you can prepare an October training directory in August and set it to remain hidden until October 1.

Leave this field blank if the directory should be available immediately.

Directory Visibility

The Set Directory Visibility setting controls which employees can see the entire directory.

Depending on your account setup, you can make the directory available to:

• All Employees – Every employee in the district can see the directory.
• Select Groups – Only employees included in the selected group or groups can see it.
• Schools – Only employees assigned to the selected school or schools can see it.
• Roles – Only employees with the selected job role or roles can see it.

Choose the visibility setting carefully. Employees who are not included in the selected audience will not see the directory or its courses.

Adding Courses to a Directory

After creating the directory, you can begin adding courses.

1. Open the directory you want to update.
2. Use the category filter to narrow the available course list, if needed.
3. Open the course selection dropdown.
4. Select the course you want to include.
5. Click Add.
6. Repeat these steps for each additional course.

Using the category filter can make it easier to find courses when your training library contains many options.

Before moving on, confirm that each selected course appears inside the correct directory.

Managing Courses Within a Directory

After a course has been added, you can adjust its settings or change its position in the directory.

The available icons may include:

• Eye icon – View or preview the course.
• Trash icon – Remove the course from the directory.
• Up arrow – Move the course higher in the directory.
• Down arrow – Move the course lower in the directory.

Changing the order can help present courses in the sequence employees should complete them.

Removing a course from the directory does not necessarily delete the course from your training library. It removes it from that specific Course Guide directory.

Setting Individual Course Visibility

Directory visibility controls access to the entire directory. Course visibility allows you to further control who can see a specific course inside that directory.

To update a course:

1. Locate the course inside the directory.
2. Open its settings.
3. Select an option under Set Course Visibility.
4. Add or update the course’s due date, if needed.
5. Click Save.

Course visibility options may include:

• All Employees
• Select Groups
• Schools
• Roles

For example, a directory may be visible to all employees, while a manager-specific course within that directory is visible only to employees assigned the Manager role.

This allows you to keep related training in one directory without requiring every employee to complete every course.

Setting a Due Date for an Individual Course

The Due Date field lets you create a separate deadline for an individual course.

This is helpful when courses in the same directory need to be completed at different times.

For example:

• The directory completion date may be September 30.
• An introductory course may be due September 10.
• A food safety course may be due September 20.
• A final assessment may be due September 30.

After selecting the due date, click Save to apply your changes.

Applying the Recommended Course Guide

If you do not want to build the Course Guide from scratch, you can begin with a recommended guide.

The recommended guide provides prearranged directories and courses that you can apply to the selected school year.

To use it:

1. Confirm that the correct school year is selected.
2. Click Apply Recommended Course Guide.
3. Review the available recommended directories.
4. Click Preview to review a directory before applying it, when available.
5. Click Select beside the directory you want to add.
6. Review the newly added directory and customize it as needed.

Available recommendations may include:

• Default
• Managers
• Supervisor/Administration
• New Hires
• Cooks
• Warehouse/Delivery Drivers
• CACFP Courses
• School-year-specific role-based directories

You may apply only the directories that are relevant to your district.

Customizing a Recommended Directory

Recommended directories are starting points. After applying one, you can customize it to match your district’s training plan.

You can:

• Rename the directory.
• Change its completion deadline.
• Add a hidden-until date.
• Change directory visibility.
• Add or remove courses.
• Rearrange the course order.
• Set different visibility rules for individual courses.
• Add or change individual course due dates.

Review every recommended directory before making it available to employees. This helps ensure that the courses, deadlines, and visibility settings match your district’s requirements.

Resetting the Course Guide

The Reset Directory button is used to reset directory information for the selected school year.

Because resetting may remove or replace existing Course Guide settings, review the selected school year and your existing directories carefully before continuing. If a confirmation message appears, read it before approving the reset.

Suggested Ways to Organize Your Course Guide

You can organize directories in several ways depending on your district’s training process.

By Month

• July Training
• August Training
• September Training

This option works well for districts that assign a consistent number of training courses each month.

By Employee Role

• Manager Training
• Cook Training
• Cashier Training
• Warehouse and Delivery Training

This option works well when employees have different training requirements based on their responsibilities.

By Training Topic

• Food Safety
• Civil Rights
• Workplace Safety
• Meal Pattern Requirements
• Customer Service

This option makes it easier for employees to understand the purpose of each directory.

By Employment Stage

• New Hire Training
• Annual Required Training
• Refresher Training
• Manager Development

This option is helpful when new employees must complete a separate onboarding plan.

Best Practices

• Confirm the selected school year before making changes.
• Use clear directory names that employees will immediately understand.
• Set achievable completion deadlines.
• Use the Hidden Until date when preparing future training.
• Check directory and course visibility before publishing assignments.
• Use groups, schools, or roles to prevent employees from seeing courses that do not apply to them.
• Preview recommended directories before selecting them.
• Review all recommended content before assigning it.
• Arrange courses in the order employees should complete them.
• Review the Course Guide throughout the year and update it when staffing or training requirements change.

Troubleshooting

An employee cannot see a directory

Check the directory’s visibility setting. Confirm that the employee is included in the selected group, school, or role. Also verify that the Hidden Until date has passed.

An employee can see the directory but not a course

Check the individual course visibility setting. A course can have a more limited audience than its directory.

A directory is not visible yet

Review the Hidden Until date. The directory may be scheduled to appear on a future date.

A course has the wrong deadline

Open the course settings, update the Due Date, and click Save. You may also need to review the directory’s Completed By date.

The wrong school year’s directories are displayed

Use the school-year dropdown menu to select the correct year. Click Show Past Directories only when you need to review a previous year.

Final Review Checklist

Before making your Course Guide available to employees, confirm that:

• The correct school year is selected.
• Every directory has a clear name.
• Completion deadlines are correct.
• Hidden-until dates are correct.
• Directory visibility is assigned to the appropriate audience.
• All required courses have been added.
• Individual course visibility is correct.
• Course due dates are accurate.
• Courses appear in the preferred order.
• Recommended directories have been customized for your district.

Once these items have been reviewed, your Course Guide is ready to help employees stay organized and complete their required training on time.