The Approval Dashboard in the Learning module provides a centralized location where admins, managers, and designated approvers can review and approve responses to open questions within learning paths. When creating learning paths with open questions, you can require approval before participants progress, ensuring quality control and proper oversight of learning outcomes. This feature enables structured learning with checkpoints, allowing you to verify understanding and provide feedback before learners advance.
When to use the Approval Dashboard
Use the Approval Dashboard when you need to:
- Review and approve responses to open-ended questions in learning paths
- Ensure participants demonstrate understanding before progressing to advanced topics
- Provide feedback on submitted work through resubmission requests
- Track pending, approved, and rejected responses across all learning paths
- Maintain quality standards for learning outcomes within your organization
Setting up approvals for open questions
When creating an open question learning element, you can configure approval settings:
- Navigate to 'Learning' > 'Manage content' > 'Elements administration'
- Click '+ New element' and select 'Open question'
- Fill in the required fields (name, description, tags)
- In the 'Approval' section, choose whether approval is required
- If approval is required, select the approver(s):
- Direct manager of the learning path participant
- A specific person in your organization
- Both direct manager and a specific person, etc.
- Optionally, add reference instructions for approvers to help them evaluate responses
- Choose whether participants can continue to the next step immediately or must wait for approval
Please note: Learning admins and super admins can always approve all responses, regardless of the configured approvers.
Accessing the Approval Dashboard
You will find the Approval Dashboard by navigating to 'Learning' > 'Approvals'.
Who can access the Approval Dashboard:
- Super admins and learning admins (can see and approve all responses)
- Managers (can see and approve responses from their direct reports when designated as approvers)
- Learning path owners (can see and approve responses only for the learning paths they own)
- Specific individuals designated as approvers during learning element creation
Please note: If you are a learning path owner but not an admin, you will only see approval tasks for learning paths you own. You will not see approval tasks from other learning paths.
Using the Approval Dashboard
Viewing pending approvals
Once you open the Approval Dashboard, you will see all tasks pending your approval. The dashboard organizes tasks by the name of the learning element.
To filter the view:
- Use the status filter to see 'Pending approval', 'Approved', 'Resubmission required', or 'Approval not required' tasks
- Tasks are grouped by the question name for easy organization
Reviewing responses
When reviewing a response, you will see:
- The participant's submitted answer
- Any files uploaded by the participant
- Reference instructions (if provided by the learning path creator)
Taking action on responses
To approve or request resubmission:
- Select one or multiple responses by clicking the checkboxes
- At the bottom of the page, you will see action buttons:
- 'Approve' - approves the selected response(s)
- 'Request re-submission' - sends the response back to the participant for revision, you can add a hint or reason as well
- 'Unselect' - clears your selection
When you request resubmission, participants can revise and resubmit their responses. The updated submission will return to your Approval Dashboard for review.
Please note: Participants can resubmit responses multiple times until approval is granted.
Approval types: blocking vs. non-blocking
The learning path creator determines whether approval is blocking or non-blocking:
- Blocking approval: Participants must wait for approval before continuing to the next step in the learning path. This ensures quality checkpoints throughout the learning journey.
- Non-blocking approval: Participants can continue to the next step immediately after submitting their response, while their answer is still reviewed. This allows for continuous learning while maintaining oversight.
Both types of approvals appear in the Approval Dashboard and can be approved, but the difference is whether the participant's progress is paused.