Explained: Independent Learning Activities (ILAs) [Deprecated]

Note: Independent Learning Activities (sometimes referred to as External Learning Activities) are deprecated, and are not implemented for new customers. This article remains available for customers who use this legacy feature.

An Independent Learning Activity (ILA), is a learning item which a learner has completed externally to the lms, i.e. a learning activity that has been not been pushed out to the learner by an lms administrator.  For example, a learner may have read a book that relates to their role, then subsequently adds this activity as an ILA.

Civica Learning enables learners to add ILAs, so that they can build up a complete picture of their learning in a single repository - the lms. Storing ILAs on the lms also enables admins to report on these activities.

NOTE: The types of ELAs that a learner can register are configured during system implementation, so that they relate directly to your requirements.

Where a learner has an approver defined, any ILA that they add, needs to be approved by their approver, via a standard approval work flow. The learners and approvers can also communicate regarding the ILA, using comments added to each ILA item.

Adding ILAs

Learners add, update and view ILAs in the Web learner portal on the Independent Learning page, which is accessed via their User menu. And example of an ILA that has already been registered is shown below:

Clicking the ILA item allows the details to be viewed and updated, prior to it being approved or completed.

New activities can be registered using the Add activity option, which displays a page similar to that shown below:

When a learner registers an ILA, after saving a draft version, they can optionally attach supporting documents. For example, a certificate, to show that they attended a first aid course and gained a first aid qualification.

Administering ILAs

In the Administration portal, the User | External Learning page, displays a list of all registered external learning activities, with columns for title, status and date occurred on, as shown below:

As an administrator, you can add ILA(s) for a learner, using the Register learning option, or edit/delete an existing ILA that a learner has registered, including view or deleting any comments or attachments.

Global administrators and admins with a Reporter role can report on the  ILAs that learners have registered using the standard User activity report.