Managing Private Courses and Member-Specific Access in Communities

Overview

Member-Specific Course Access is a feature within Communities that gives administrators precise control over which individual members can view and participate in specific courses. This includes the ability to create Private Courses, which are hidden from all members until an administrator manually grants access. This guide explains how to set up a private course and manage access for individual members.

Understanding Private Courses and Member-Specific Access

Member-Specific Course Access allows you to bypass the standard, automated course unlock rules. Typically, courses become available to members based on criteria like their membership level, a purchase, or a scheduled release date. With this feature, you can manually grant or revoke access for any member, regardless of these automated settings.

A Private Course is a special type of course that is exclusively controlled through manual access. It cannot be unlocked by any automatic rule, ensuring that only members you specifically approve can see the content.

Key Benefits

• Granular Control: Grant or remove course access for individual members on demand.
• Exclusive Content: Use Private Courses for sensitive, VIP, or internal training materials that should not be available to everyone.
• Immediate Action: Unlock a course for a member instantly without altering level or payment settings.
• Rule Preservation: Your existing automatic unlock criteria remain active and are not affected by manual overrides.

How to Create a Private Course

Before you can grant manual access, the course must be added to your Community's Learning tab with the Private visibility setting.

1. Navigate to Memberships in your CRM.
2. Select Communities and then choose Groups from the dropdown menu.
3. Open the specific group where you want to add the course.
4. Click on the Learning tab.
5. Click the Add Course button.
6. Select an existing course from your library.
7. In the Course Visibility options, choose Private – Access granted by admin only.
8. Click Add Course to complete the process.

Granting Course Access to a Member

You can grant access to any course (private or otherwise) for a specific member directly from the Members list.

1. Go to the Members tab within your group.
2. Locate the member and click the three-dot menu icon next to their name.
3. Select Manage Courses from the menu.
4. Click the Grant Courses button.
5. Select one or more courses from the list that appears.
6. Click Grant. The member will receive an email notification that they now have access.

Revoking Course Access for a Member

Important Note: You cannot revoke access if the member qualifies for the course through an automatic unlock rule (e.g., All Members, Level Unlock, Paid, or Time Unlock).

To revoke manually granted access:

1. Go to the Members tab within your group.
2. Locate the member and click the three-dot menu icon next to their name.
3. Select Manage Courses from the menu.
4. Find the course you wish to revoke and click the red X icon next to it.
5. Click Confirm to finalize the revocation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I grant access to a course that is not set to Private?

Yes. The manual access feature works for all course types, not just Private Courses.

Why is the option to revoke access unavailable for a member?

This happens when the member meets the course's automatic unlock criteria. Manual revocation is only possible for access that was granted manually.

Do members get notified when I grant them access?

Yes, the system sends an email notification to the member when you manually unlock a course for them.

Can a Private Course be unlocked automatically?

No. Private Courses are designed to require manual admin approval and ignore all automatic unlock rules.