Overview: how to sign up users

There's a number of ways users can signup and access a course on TrainTool. This page will provide an overview and will help you choose the option that's most suitable.

Options

1. Sign-up via a broker
2. Webshop
3. Send invitations from TrainTool
4. Self-enrolment link
5. Integrate via LTI
6. Integrate via SCORM
7. SURFconext

Decision tree

1. Sign-up via a broker

Our open courses can be booked on multiple broker platforms: Springest, Tiptrack, Opleiding.nl, Studytube, Bloomville, Conclusion. If your company has a contract with one of them, your employees can book directly.

Advantages

• Individual can easily book
• All invoicing and signup processes arranged

Disadvantages

• No registration of actual completion in your LMS.

What it looks like for the participants

For example, see the sign up flow in Springest (PDF).

2. Webshop

Students directly buy the program in our webshop and receive an invitation email within minutes.

Advantages

• Individual can easily book
• All invoicing and signup processes arranged
• Student immediately receives login credentials 

Disadvantages

• No registration of actual completion in your LMS.

What it looks like for the participants

1. A participant will buy the program in the webshop and receives the invitation email.
2. Thereafter, the flow is exactly the same as shown in 3. Send invitations from TrainTool.

3. Send invitations from TrainTool

An administrator on your TrainTool account enrols users directly from our system. Users receive an e-mail.

Advantages

• No setup needed
  Immediate access to TrainTool

Disadvantages

• No registration of actual completion in your LMS.

For more details, see Adding trainees and inviting them.

What it looks like for the participants

4. Self-enrolment link

As an administrator on your TrainTool account you can allow users to sign up directly from a public link. 

Advantages

• No setup needed
• Immediate access to TrainTool
• No need for manual enrolment 

Disadvantages

• No registration of actual completion in your LMS.

What it looks like for the participants

5. Integrate via LTI

LTI is a protocol for establishing a single sign on connection between learning tools and create a route for passing back results from TrainTool to your LMS.

Advantages

• Single sign on experience for the user
• No additional user administration required
• Stable reporting of progress and score, even when people use their mobile device (not so with SCORM)

Disadvantages

• None really, except for the fact that some of the bigger LMS providers still don’t support it.

For more details, see How to enable Single Sign On (SSO) with SCORM or BasicLTI.

What it looks like for the participants

Please note: you'll see a very basic version of Moodle in this demo. Your LMS might look (very) different. 

6. Integrate via SCORM

We can generate a SCORM package for all our programs with a single click. This package can than be uploaded into any LMS, again with a single click. A lot of our clients do this. However, SCORM comes with a couple of disadvantages. So many, that we need to use the right column for them (note: for participants it looks the same as LTI)

Advantages

• Every LMS supports SCORM. 
• It is setup within minutes

Disadvantages

• Iframe = buggy.  SCORM uses ‘iframes’. This is the same technology that is used by sneaky advertising companies to track you or other truly malicious use cases. As a result, browsers become increasingly strict when it comes to iframes. This comes with a host of ‘unexpected behavior’: on some networks/browser an iframe is not allowed to use the webcam (which is a must for TrainTool). On some mobile browsers, iframes are not allowed to store cookies which is needed to automatically sign in a user.

• Users have to fill in additional information
  We need a user’s e-mail address to properly work with her. SCORM does not provide this information, so the first time someone logs in via SCORM we need to ask the user for it. On mobile devices, we also have to ask people to generate a password because we cannot log them in automatically (see above)

• Reporting is limited
  We can only report progress with SCORM. Or - if the LMS permits it - use that field to communicate the Score instead. Not both.

• Reporting + mobile usage
  If you use TrainTool on your mobile, you use our native apps. This is needed for the recording functionality. This means that we transfer the user ‘out of’ the LMS and can no longer talk to the LMS. We can no longer communicate progress, which means that users might complete the entire course on their mobile phone, while the LMS still thinks that they have only started.

For more details, see How to enable Single Sign On (SSO) with SCORM or BasicLTI.

What it looks like for the participants

Please note: you'll see a very basic version of Moodle in this demo. Your LMS might look (very) different. 

7. Integrate via SURFconext

Instead of using our login procedures, we can use the SURFconext authentication to have students login to TrainTool. Although you still have to choose one of the options mentioned before to sign up users to specific courses, the educational institution’s login credentials can be used for login.

Advantages

• No additional accounts and passwords needed for the user.
• Compliance with your institution’s password policy by default

Disadvantages

• Sometimes you want to provide external people access to your client.traintool.com account. If they do not have a SURFconext account, they will not be able to login.