TABLE OF CONTENTS
Overview
Kenai is a custom premium theme from Moodle US. Based on the Moodle Workplace theme, it includes all of that theme's functionality, but extends it with features that improve how learners engage with their content and learning progress. The theme provides two pages:
Catalog displays courses and programs as cards that include images and descriptions, with a variety of filters that make it easy for learners to explore and access content based on their goals and preferences; programs can be configured so learners self-allocate via the catalog. The catalog can also include the display of in-progress and completed curriculum to learners.
Home (front page) provides flexibility for adding a variety of components, so you can build a page that acts as a portal, dashboard, or both. This page can include a banner, a gallery of navigable images, a carousel of featured content, and sections for displaying programs and courses by access and progress status.
The Home page can be configured differently for each Workplace tenant, while the Catalog page will only display content and filters according to what a learner can access, based on course category permissions and tenant membership.
In addition to these pages, the Kenai theme also inserts custom fields into all courses and programs, to provide filter and information values. The Kenai theme includes an option to display a fixed, plain-text footer banner; and supports injection of CSS code as well as configuration of custom site navigation nodes.
Kenai Catalog
The Kenai Catalog page consists of two main elements: cards and filters.
Cards represent courses and programs. Each card can display the following:
Image—displays the image provided for a course or program; if no image has been loaded, a system-generated image will display. This image will display according to the aspect ratio set in Kenai general settings.
Star rating—learners can rate curriculum based on a five-star system.
Filter value—displays a value (if one exists) from the first of three custom filter fields that Kenai adds to courses and programs.
Title—displays course full name or program name.
Information fields—displays values (if they exist) from the two "information" fields that Kenai adds to courses and programs; you can also configure these values to display with icons via font-awesome.
Other card elements display depending on whether a learner has accessed the curriculum:
If the learner has not yet accessed, the card will display a "View more" button; clicking this button will launch a modal that displays the image and the description for the course or program, along with a "Start" button for access. Keep in mind that course self-enrollment and program self-allocation must be configured at the course/program level.
If the learner has already accessed, the card will display a "Launch" button for immediate navigation; depending on the learner's status, the card will also include either a "Completed" label or a progress bar with percentage to indicate progress based on the curriculum's configured completion requirements.
Filters provide tools to learners for exploring and finding curriculum in the catalog. The following dropdown menus can be displayed at the top of the page:
Course/program selector—displays automatically if the catalog is configured for both courses and programs.
Categories—displays all parent categories, based on each learner's access.
Custom filters—values for the next three menus correspond to what is populated in the custom Kenai fields that the theme adds to courses and programs.
Competencies—displays all competencies configured in the system, and lets learners filter for courses linked to a selected competency.
The catalog also includes a menu to sort alphabetically, as well as a Search field. In addition, the catalog can be configured to display:
A Modify View button that launches a modal for controlling which catalog menus display, as well as for excluding the learner's existing curriculum.
Tabs so that a learner’s already accessed curriculum (in-progress or completed) can be separated ("My Cards”) from curriculum not yet accessed ("Cards").
A viewing toggle so learners can switch between a grid (card) or list view of curriculum.
Kenai Home
The Kenai Home page can include the following elements:
Banner—this can be either a video, a single image, or a scrollable carousel of multiple images; a text overlay and a navigation path can be added to the video and each image.
Announcements—if configured, site-level announcements display as a scrollable carousel at the top of the banner; each announcement can also be configured with a navigation path for a "Read More" link.
Welcome—this section will display output from a rich text editor.
Recent courses—displays catalog cards (maximum of four) based on the learner's last access.
Mandatory training—displays either course or program cards (maximum of four), based on the learner's progress in curriculum flagged as mandatory via custom Kenai settings.
Top in-progress training—displays either course or program cards (maximum of four), based on due date.
Recently completed—displays either course or program cards (maximum of four) based on completion date.
Exploration images—configure multiple images in a grid (maximum of four images in a row); each image can include text and a navigation path.
Featured items—configure multiple cards, for courses, programs or custom items; after four images, the section will display as a carousel.
Note: these cards display differently than standard catalog cards; course/program cards will not include progress indicators and the layout for other information will differ, while cards for custom items will display one custom-field value directly beneath the image, and a second custom-field value as a banner at the bottom of the card.
Content block—this block is pre-configured with HTML, and has options for populating text, navigation, and image.
In addition, the Home page can be configured so that learners have the option to collapse or expand relevant sections.
Kenai Configuration
Once Kenai has been installed, it must be selected as the site theme. In Site Administration, navigate to "Appearance." In the "Themes" section, navigate to "Theme selector" and then click the "Use theme" button for the Kenai theme.
Note: To support user ratings for courses and programs, Kenai also requires that a Ratings (local_ratings) plugin be installed simultaneously; this plugin requires no configuration beyond it being enabled.
Kenai functionality can be configured in three ways:
Course and program settings
General settings applied at the site level
Home (front page) settings applied per tenant
Keep in mind that while Kenai front pages can be configured uniquely for each tenant, their configuration settings are not available to tenant administrators; a site admin must configure all Kenai settings.
In Site Administration, Kenai settings can be accessed from the "Themes" section. If you navigate to "Kenai," you'll land by default on the Kenai "General settings" tab; from the "Themes" section you can also navigate directly to this tab or to the "Tenant Front Page Settings" tab.
Course and Program Settings
When the Kenai theme is installed, it adds a set of custom fields to all new and existing courses and programs:
Kenai Filter 1
Kenai Filter 2
Kenai Filter 3
Kenai Info 1
Kenai Info 2
Values added to filter fields will correspond, left to right, with filter dropdown menus on the catalog page. So for example, a value added to "filter 2" will display in the middle menu. Keep in mind that a unique field value will be added immediately to the appropriate menu, so it's important to maintain consistent spelling of values across a site.
Values added to info fields will correspond to two lines on the catalog card.
In a course, these fields can be found in the "Kenai Fields" section on the "Settings" page. This section also includes a "Mandatory" setting. When this box is checked, any learner enrolled in the course will see a card for it in the "Mandatory Training" section of Home (if the page has been appropriately configured) until the course is completed.
In a program, these fields can be found in the "Kenai Fields" section on the "Details" tab. This section includes the same "Mandatory" checkbox found in course settings; it also includes an "Allow self allocation?" setting. When this box is checked, learners can self-allocate into a program via its catalog card.
Kenai field values will display to users in the "Information" page for both courses and programs. Field names can be changed, at the site level, via native Moodle functionality (in Site Administration, navigate to "Learning" and then to "Course custom fields" or "Programs custom fields").
General Settings
General settings for Kenai consist of the following:
Raw initial SCSS—in this field, you can provide initializing SCSS code that will be injected before any other code; it is mostly used to define variables.
Raw SCSS—use this field to provide SCSS or CSS code that will be injected at the end of the style sheet.
Forced Card Image Ratio—this setting ensures that all card images display with the same aspect ratio. The default selection is 3:2, but you may also select 4:3 or 5:4, or disable the setting entirely.
Note: Kenai will provide system-generated course and program images, if one has not been uploaded; however, the aspect ratios for these images can vary widely, so we recommend enabling this setting if you anticipate displaying system-generated images.
Enable catalog—checked by default, this setting enables the Kenai Catalog page; if disabled, the course index will use the standard Moodle front page instead.
Enabled Catalog Card Types—this setting determines what kind of curriculum is represented by catalog cards; you can select courses, programs, or both.
Note: if you select both, the Course/Program selector menu will automatically display on the Catalog.
Enable My Cards—checked by default, this setting determines if users will see a "My Cards" and "Cards" tab on the catalog, with "My Cards" collecting only curriculum they have joined or completed.
Enable Catalog Preferences—checked by default, this setting determines if the "Modify View" button/modal will display on the Catalog.
Note: keep in mind that disabling this user-preference mechanism will also wipe out all user preferences; in addition, if the catalog is configured to not display the category or competency filters, they will not be included in user preferences.
Show courses that allow a user to self enroll in the catalog—checked by default, this setting determines if catalog cards display for courses configured for self-enrollment.
Additional catalog enrollment methods—this setting lets you determine if catalog cards should display for courses with other enrollment methods, by selecting the appropriate methods. (Keep in mind that your configuration could result in learners being able to view catalog cards but not access the curriculum they represent.)
Enable competency filter—disabled by default, this setting determines if the competencies filter displays on the Catalog page.
Enable the category filter—disabled by default, this setting determines if the categories filter displays on the Catalog page.
Catalog view options—this setting lets you determine if the Catalog will display in a grid of cards, in a list view, or both; if you select both, a toggle will display to users on the Catalog.
Kenai Info 1 and Kenai Info 2 icons—in these two fields, you can indicate a font-awesome icon to display before the two "info" values on a catalog card.
Custom navigation—in this field, you can add custom links to site navigation; the default is Catalog|/course/|fa-book|myhome.
Disable custom fields recreation—disabled by default, this setting prevents the system from adding back Kenai custom fields after they have been removed.
Footer Banner—any value you enter in this plain-text field will display as a persistent banner at the bottom of each viewport (visible area of a page).
Home (Front Page) Settings
These settings let you configure the Home (Front Page) differently for each tenant. They consist of the following:
Tenant selector—select the tenant for which you want to apply settings. "Default Front Page" is the default; this selection lets you configure a template that each newly created tenant will inherit, and for each tenant, you can also click the "Reset Tenant Frontpage" button to return its settings to the default template.
Note: per-tenant configuration is not impacted by your selection in the native Workplace tenant selector; for settings to be applied to a tenant, it must be selected here in the Kenai settings UI.
Enable Kenai Front Page—this setting determines if the Kenai or native Moodle front page will display in the tenant.
Note: even if you have enabled the Kenai front page, be sure to review native front page settings, to ensure no elements from that page continue to display.
Video section
Enable the video display on the frontpage—this setting determines if a video will display in the banner area; if this setting is enabled, banner images will not display, even if uploaded.
Standardize video height—check this box if you want the video to use CSS styling to keep a consistent height on different viewport sizes.
Note: when this setting is enabled, text placed within a video may be cut off.Text overlay for video—in this rich text editor, you can enter content that will display as a text overlay on the video.
Video file—upload the video that will display in the banner.
Slider images section
Number of slider images—from the dropdown menu, select the number of slider images you want for the banner; once you do, the system will provide settings for each image, to configure the following:
Slider image text (plain text field; displays against a transparency on the image)
Slider image URL (provide either internal or external navigation)
Slider image (upload the image file)
Announcements section
Number of announcements—from the dropdown menu, select the number of announcements you want to display at the top of the banner; once you do, the system will display settings for each announcement, to configure the following:
Announcement text (plain text field)
Announcement URL (provide either internal or external navigation; an entry here will trigger the display of a "Read More" link)
Open in new window (check this box if you want users to be taken to a new tab/window upon clicking "Read More")
Welcome section—use the rich text editor in this section to display content directly below the banner.
Enable collapsible sections—this setting enables the display of "+" or "-" symbols for each course/program section, so learners can expand or collapse that section.
Recent Courses section—check the "Enable recent courses section" box to display catalog cards (maximum of four) representing the learner's most recently accessed courses; in the "View all URL" field, enter an internal navigation path to display a "View all" link for the section.
Mandatory section—from the "Mandatory Training" dropdown menu, select courses or programs to display catalog cards (maximum of four) representing curriculum that the learner has not yet completed and that is flagged as mandatory in Kenai settings; in the "View all URL" field, enter an internal navigation path to display a "View all" link for the section.
Top In Progress Training section—from the "Top in Progress Training" dropdown menu, select courses or programs to display catalog cards (maximum of four) representing curriculum that the learner has not yet completed, based on due date; in the "View all URL" field, enter an internal navigation path to display a "View all" link for the section.
Recently Completed section—from the "Recently Completed Training" dropdown menu, select courses or programs to display catalog cards (maximum of four) representing curriculum that the learner has recently completed, based on completion date; in the "View all URL" field, enter an internal navigation path to display a "View all" link for the section.
Explore by Industry section:
Number of industries—from the dropdown menu, select the number of images you want to display (maximum of four per row)
Header text—enter text into this plain-text field to display a header for the section
Once you select the number of images, the system will provide settings for each image, to configure the following:
Slider image text (plain text field; displays white against the image)
Slider image URL (provide either internal or external navigation)
Slider image (upload the image file)
Featured/Trending Items:
Number of featured items—from the dropdown menu, select the number of items you want to display (after four images, the images will present in a carousel)
Header text—enter text into this plain-text field to display a header for the section
Once you select the number of images, the system will provide settings for each item, to configure the following:
Type—if you select "Course" or "Program," you'll see a dropdown menu for selecting the appropriate curriculum; if you select "Custom item," the system provides the following to configure the item card:
Text field (displays card title, in bold, below the image)
Url field (provide either internal or external navigation)
Image selector
Custom field-1 (displays below card title)
Custom field-2 (displays in banner at bottom of card)
Get Certified section—in this section, you'll see the following to complete a content area with pre-configured HTML; it displays as a rectangle with rounded corners, a black background and white text, and it can include both a navigable button and an image:
Title
Text (plain text field)
Button text
Button URL
Image selector
To apply settings, click the "Save Changes" button at the bottom of the page. Be sure to confirm that the system displays a "Saved successfully" banner at the top of the page; if any required settings are not completed, the banner will not display and the settings will not be applied.