Applies to Employee Training Management
Using Curriculums in the Employee Training Management App
Curriculums help you organize and assign training in a simple and structured way. Instead of enrolling users in multiple courses one by one, you can group related courses into a single curriculum and assign them all at once.
This article explains what curriculums are, who typically uses them, how they are assigned, and which limitations and workarounds you should be aware of.
What is a curriculum?
A curriculum is a bundle of courses that belong together, for example:
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Onboarding training for new employees
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Role‑based training for specific job roles
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Compliance or certification programs
When a curriculum is assigned to a learner, all courses included in the curriculum are assigned automatically.
This makes curriculums an efficient way to manage larger training programs and ensure consistency.
Who typically uses curriculums?
Curriculums are mainly used by Training Organizers.
Training Organizers can:
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Create and maintain curriculums
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Assign curriculums to learners or groups
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Track training progress and achievements across the curriculum
Visibility for learners
By default, learners:
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Can see available curriculums
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Can enroll in curriculums themselves (if enabled)
This behavior can be configured. For example, you can set up the app so that learners:
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Only see the courses assigned to them, or
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Can enroll only in individual courses, not in curriculums
This allows you to control how much freedom learners have when selecting training.
Why use curriculums?
Using curriculums provides several advantages:
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One assignment instead of many individual course enrollments
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Consistent training for all learners
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Easier maintenance of recurring training programs
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Less manual effort for Training Organizers
Curriculums are especially useful when the same set of courses is assigned repeatedly.
How curriculums are assigned
Curriculums can be assigned in several ways:
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To individual users
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To Microsoft 365 groups
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Directly to one or multiple learners that are already available in the learner list on SharePoint
Once assigned, all courses contained in the curriculum are enrolled for the selected learners.
What happens when a curriculum is assigned?
When a curriculum is assigned:
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All courses in the curriculum are assigned to the learner.
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By default, the learner receives one email notification per course.
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Each email includes a link to the corresponding course page.
On the course page, learners can:
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Access the content for self‑paced or e‑learning courses
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View available dates for instructor‑led courses
Email notification behavior
By default, curriculums do not send a single summary notification.
Instead, learners receive one notification email for each course in the curriculum.
Workaround to reduce notifications
If you want to avoid sending multiple emails, you can use a supported workaround.
See the related article for details:
https://www.sharepointsapiens.com/help/documentation/curriculum-notification-behavior-and-available-workarounds/
Learning paths and prerequisites in curriculums
Curriculums in the Employee Training Management app do not support enforced learning paths or prerequisite rules. All courses are assigned at the same time.
Recommended workaround: Introduction or “Getting started” course
A common and effective workaround is to include a Getting started or Introduction course in the curriculum.
This course can:
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Explain the purpose of the curriculum
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Describe the recommended learning order
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Link directly to the other course pages
Example structure on the course page:
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Step 1: Complete Course A
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Step 2: Complete Course B
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Step 3: Complete Course C
This helps learners follow the intended path even though the system does not enforce it technically.
What happens when a curriculum changes?
It is important to understand how changes affect existing assignments.
Adding a course to a curriculum
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Newly added courses are not assigned automatically to learners who are already enrolled.
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Training Organizers must assign the curriculum again.
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Courses that learners are already enrolled in are skipped.
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Only new or missing courses are assigned.
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Removing a course from a curriculum
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Removing a course from a curriculum does not remove it from learners.
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Learners remain enrolled in the removed course.
For this reason, it is recommended to finalize the curriculum structure before assigning it to a large audience.
Best practices
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Use curriculums for training that is always assigned together
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Add an introduction course for larger or more complex curriculums
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Review notification behavior before assigning curriculums broadly
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Plan curriculum changes carefully after assignment