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Using the course catalogue (Teacher)

Modified on: Fri, 6 Mar, 2026 at 12:51 PM

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1 Overview

The course catalogue allows you to make your courses discoverable to users who want to enrol beyond your regular course participants. You can add courses to either the internal catalogue (for users within your organization) or the external catalogue (for users outside your organization who can create accounts). Depending on your permissions, you may only see one of the options (External or Internal course catalogue).  There is no payment module available for this feature, so payment for external courses must go trough third parties. 


Note that if you want to use the course catalouge yourself, please go to the article about using the course catalouge for students and external users. 






1.1 Suggestions on when to Use Course Catalogue

 Internal Course Catalogue:

  • Professional development courses for colleagues
  • Optional courses for students across different classes
  • Specialized subject courses with limited enrolment
  • Cross-organizational course sharing within your site

  External Course Catalogue:

  • Community education programs
  • Adult learning courses
  • Professional training open to external participants
  • Collaborative courses with partner organizations

2 Prerequisites

2.1 Required Permissions

Before you can add courses to the catalogue, you need appropriate permissions configured by your system administrator.

Permissions needed:

  • Permission to add courses to internal course catalogue (if using internal catalogue)
  • Permission to add courses to external course catalogue (if using external catalogue)
  • A profile with the correct permisions set up (typically teacher and/or admin roles will have these permissions).

How to verify: The course catalogue section will appear in your course Settings page if you have the necessary permissions.

If course catalogue options are not available: Contact your system administrator to verify that your profile has the required permissions enabled.

2.2 Course Preparation Recommendations

Ensure your course is ready for catalogue visibility:

  • Course title clearly describes the content
  • Course image uploaded (recommended for better visibility)
  • Clear understanding of intended enrolment numbers

3 Entering your course in the course catalogue

  1. Open your course
  2. Navigate to Settings from the course menu (located in the navigation menu)

        3. On the Settings page, locate the Course catalogue tile in the "Manage course settings" section


    4. Click the Course catalogue tile with the description "Make your course available in the course catalogue"

        Note: If the course catalogue tile is not visible, either the functionality is not enabled for your site or you lack the     

        necessary permissions.

4 Course Catalogue Configuration

4.1 Selecting Catalogue Type

Choose where your course should be available by checking the appropriate boxes:

External course catalogue: Publish the course in the external catalogue and let anonymous users enrol Internal course catalogue: Share your course with others from your organization and let them enrol in the course through the internal course catalogue

You can select both options to maximize course visibility.

4.2 Availability Scope for Internal Catalogue

When you select the internal course catalogue, an additional section appears to control the scope:

Availability in internal course catalogue: Choose which organization level can see your course

  • Site wide option: Course visible to all users on the itslearning site (Demo Customer Success) 
  • Organisation/School-wide option: Course visible only to users from your specific organization/School (GDP - Article work)  

Note: The availability scope options depend on your course's organizational setup and your permissions. If your course is connected to the site (under course properties and features) you will not see the option to share to a school.


4.3 Target Role Configuration

Define which user roles can enrol in your course:

Staff and students: Course allowed for both teachers/administrators and students 

Staff: Course allowed only for teachers and administrators (note that "staff" points to role in hiearchy)
Students: Course allowed only for students

Important: Teachers can see courses targeted to students but cannot enrol in them. 

5 Registration Method Setup

Choose how users enrol in your course. The registration method section appears when you select the internal course catalogue. Available options depend on what your system administrator has enabled.

5.1 Approval

Description: Students must apply to access the course 

Your responsibilities:

  • Review applications on the Participants page > Applicants tab
  • Approve or reject each application individually
  • Receive daily notifications about pending applications

User experience: Users submit enrolment requests and wait for your approval

5.2 Registration Key

Description: A registration key is required to enrol in this course 

Your responsibilities:

  • Create and share the registration key with intended users
  • Distribute the key through appropriate channels (email, announcements, etc.)
  • Receive daily notifications about successful enrllments

User experience: Users must enter the correct registration key to enrol immediately

5.3 Open

Description: Students can enrol in the course without any pre-approval

Your responsibilities:

  • Monitor enrolment numbers
  • Receive daily notifications about new enrolments

User experience: Users can enrol immediately without restrictions

5.4 Optional - Seat limit

A seat limit allows you to add a maximum number of users that can enrol to the course via the course catalogue. 

Note that students added manually as course participants on the Participants page are not counted towards this maximum.

6 Course Information for Catalogue

You can provide information about your course, to make it clear what the course is about. Not all fields are mandatory. However, not filling in all fields might make your course harder to find. 

6.1 Information fields

Subject 

Purpose: Enables filtering and categorization in the catalogue 

Options:

  • Select from existing subjects by typing in the search field
  • Create new subject by typing the subject name - a "+ Create new subject" option will appear
  • Selected subjects appear as tags that can be removed with X

Subject Creation Process:

  1. Type your desired subject name in the Subject field
  2. Click "+ Create new subject" when it appears
  3. The subject becomes available immediately and appears as a tag
  4. System administrators can later manage subjects you create

Course Description

Purpose: Explains course content and objectives to potential enrolees 

Requirements:

  • Clearly describe course content and expectations
  • Should include any special requirements or prerequisites

Contact Information

Purpose: Provides contact person for course-related inquiries 

Default: All course teachers and administrators automatically included 

Customization: Remove or add specific course staff as contacts

Educational Level 

Note: This filter is activated on a national level by country, so it might not be available.

Purpose: Helps users find appropriate difficulty level 

Availability: Only shown if educational levels are configured for your country 

Note: This field is managed at national level by itslearning

Additional Information Sources

Course catalogue also displays information from your course properties:

  • Course title: Main identifier in catalogue listings
  • Course image: Visual representation in course cards
  • Course code: Displayed in front of description if enabled

6.2 What will the course look like in the course catalogue:


Card with all information: 

Card with minimum information:

7 External Course Settings

The settings of the external course catalogue are the same as in the internal course catalogue, but there are less options in the setup. You will not be able to define availability like in the internal course catalogue, and you cannot set up a registration method, as these are predefined on a site wide lever by a system administrator. The external courses are by their very nature findable for anyone outside of the organisation as long as the external course catalogue is turned on and has a link.  

You will have to manually accept all external participants to your course.


7.1 External Catalogue Considerations

When adding courses to the external catalogue, be aware of visibility implications:

Privacy Notice: Course participants will see notification that external users may join the course 

Content Visibility: Course materials and discussions may be visible to users outside your organization 

Interaction: External users will interact with your regular course participants

Once your course is published in a catalogue, you can share it through the Share this course button:



Option 1: Copy Link

  • Function: Copies direct URL to course detail page
  • Use case: Share via email, messaging, or embed in websites
  • Recipient experience: Direct access to course information and enrolment

Option 2: Download QR Code

  • Function: Generates downloadable QR code image
  • File format: High-resolution image suitable for printing
  • Use case: Physical promotional materials

Tips for QR Code Practical Applications:

Professional Development:

  • Print and post in staff rooms or faculty lounges
  • Include in printed training calendars
  • Add to conference materials or handouts

Student Course Promotion:

  • Post on bulletin boards or notice areas
  • Include in printed course catalogs
  • Add to classroom posters or announcements

8 Managing Course Applications

8.1 Daily Notification System

Users listed as course contact receive aggregated daily bell notifications about: 

  • New enrolment applications requiring approval (Approval method)
  • New successful enrolments (Registration key and Open methods)

Timing: Notifications sent once daily at time configured by system administrator 

Content: Summary of all enrolment activity since last notification

Direct access: Clicking the bell notification takes you directly to the Applicants tab on the Participants page.

8.2 Reviewing Applications and for external applicants

For courses using the Approval method or for external students:

  1. Navigate to course Participants page from the left navigation menu
  2. Select Applicants tab (shows number of pending applications, e.g., "Applicants (1)")

  1. Review each application showing:
    • Applicant name
    • Role (e.g., Parent, Student)
    • Email address
    • Membership type (e.g., External)
    • Status (e.g., "Waiting for an answer")
  2. Use the action buttons for each applicant:
    • Approve (green checkmark): Grant course access
    • Reject (red X): Deny course access

Additional Features:

  • Status filter dropdown: Filter applications by "All", "Approved", "Waiting for an answer", or "Rejected"

8.2.1 Approving Applications

  1. Click Approve (green tick icon) next to the applicant's name.
  2. Confirm the action in the confirmation dialog.

Result: The applicant immediately receives course access and a bell notification confirming their application has been approved.

8.2.2 Rejecting Applications

You have two options when rejecting an application:

Option 1: Temporary Rejection

  1. Click Reject (red X icon) next to the applicant's name.
  2. Select "Reject this application" in the confirmation dialog.

Result: The applicant can register for the course again at any time. They receive a bell notification that their application has been rejected.


Option 2: Permanent Rejection

  1. Click Reject (red X icon) next to the applicant's name.
  2. Select "Reject permanently" in the confirmation dialog.

Result: The applicant is blocked from registering for this course again. They receive a bell notification that their application has been rejected.

8.2.3 Enrolment Cancellation

Users can cancel their enrolment applications before you make a decision:

  • Available only for courses using the Approval method
  • Users can withdraw their application at any time before you approve or reject it
  • You do not receive notifications about cancellations

9 Allowing user withdrawal from courses

If you want your users to be able to withdraw from your course, you will have to set that up for each course manually. 

  1. Go into the course you want to make the change in. 
  2. Go to the three dotted line (...) in the upper right corner and select "Settings"


    3. Choose "Course properties and features"


    4. Scroll all the way to the bottom and check the "Allow withdrawal" under the Permissions headline. 

    5. Remember to press "save"

10 Troubleshooting

Course Catalogue Options Not Available

Symptoms: Cannot find course catalogue settings in course Settings page 

Possible Causes:

  • Course catalogue functionality not enabled by system administrator
  • Missing permissions for adding courses to catalogue
  • User role lacks necessary rights

Solution:

  1. Verify course catalogue is enabled site-wide
  2. Check with system administrator about permissions
  3. Ensure you have teacher or administrator role in the course

Cannot Select Specific Registration Method

Symptoms: Desired registration method not available in options

 Cause: System administrator has restricted available registration methods 

Solution: Contact system administrator to enable additional registration methods

Subject Not Available in List

Symptoms: Cannot find appropriate subject for course classification 

Solutions:

  1. Create new subject by typing in subject field
  2. Contact system administrator to add subject to master list
  3. Select closest existing subject as temporary solution

Course Not Appearing in Catalogue

Symptoms: Course added to catalogue but not visible to users 

Possible Causes:

  • Course availability settings too restrictive
  • Target role configuration excludes intended users
  • Seat limit already reached

Solution:

  1. Review course availability scope settings
  2. Verify target role configuration
  3. Check seat limit status
  4. Confirm course has been saved with catalogue settings

Users Cannot Enrol Despite Course Being Visible

Symptoms: Users see course but cannot complete enrolment 

Possible Causes:

  • Seat limit reached
  • Missing registration key (for Registration key method)
  • Course targeted to different user role

Solution:

  1. Check seat limit configuration
  2. Verify registration key is correct and distributed
  3. Review target role settings


Contact Support: For additional support, contact your itslearning administrator or visit the itslearning support page

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The features shown are part of the project within the framework of the German Development Project (GDP), a cooperation between four German states and itslearning with the aim of improving digital education in Germany through tailor-made product developments.

Click here to learn more about the GDP roadmap and what other features you can expect.

For German readers: Click here for more information about the project within the framework of the German Development Project.



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