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FEMNET

Table of contents

Every how-to in the guide, grouped by who it is for.

  1. 1. FEMNET staff

    Run the platform day to day without technical knowledge: approve learners, organise departments and access, follow learning through MEL dashboards and reports, and manage certificates, badges, the shop and the alumni hall of fame.

    1. 1.1 Getting started

      1. How to use this guide · Background · Find the right instructions for your role, read steps beside their screenshots and look up unfamiliar words.
      2. Understand the learning portal · Background · What the learner app, facilitator hub and backend each do, and how a learner's journey flows through them.
      3. Sign in to the facilitator hub · Facilitator hub · Reach the hub, sign in with your email and password, and enter a sign-in code if asked.
      4. Who can do what · Background · The learner, facilitator, admin and super admin roles, and how departments limit what facilitators see.

    2. 1.2 People and access

      1. Approve new learners · Facilitator hub · Review learners waiting for activation and approve or reject them.
      2. Set up departments and assign facilitators · Facilitator hub · Create departments, assign facilitators to them and archive old ones.
      3. Plan the access matrix · Background · Decide which staff can see which departments, cohorts and courses before you set up accounts.
      4. Change platform settings · Facilitator hub · Switch automatic learner approval, email verification and two-factor sign-in on or off.
      5. Safeguarding, data protection and copyright · Learner app · The policies every learner accepts, how they are shown, and how to handle a concern.

    3. 1.3 Monitoring, evaluation and learning

      1. Read the MEL dashboard · Facilitator hub · Understand the headline numbers, pending work and cohorts on the hub's home page.
      2. Explore MEL analytics · Facilitator hub · Use the analytics page to see reach, equity, participation, outcomes and satisfaction.
      3. Track progress and grades · Facilitator hub · Follow each learner's course completion and review quiz attempts.
      4. Produce a MEL report · Facilitator hub · Generate a report, read its interpretation note and export it.

    4. 1.4 Recognition

      1. Design and issue certificates · Facilitator hub · Create certificate templates, add sponsors, and issue certificates to a course or cohort.
      2. Create and award badges · Facilitator hub · Design badges, set their criteria and award them to a course or cohort.
      3. Manage the alumni hall of fame · Django admin · Feature or hide alumni profiles that learners publish.

    5. 1.5 Shop and rewards

      1. Review scholarship applications · Facilitator hub · Approve or decline learners' requests for help with a course or merchandise.
      2. Add merchandise and digital freebies · Facilitator hub · List physical and digital items in the learner shop.
      3. Reward learners with free items · Facilitator hub · Give a product free to a department, a cohort, one learner or the first people to reach a milestone.
      4. Create promo codes · Facilitator hub · Make discount codes learners can use at checkout.
      5. Fulfil shop orders · Facilitator hub · Track orders and update their delivery status.

  2. 2. Facilitators

    Build and publish courses in Course Studio, run cohorts and pathways, message and check in with learners, grade assignments, and host cohort webinars.

    1. 2.1 Getting started

      1. Tour the facilitator hub · Facilitator hub · What each part of the hub menu is for and where your daily work lives.

    2. 2.2 Course Studio

      1. Create a course from scratch · Facilitator hub · Start a new course in Course Studio and work through its build steps.
      2. Turn a PowerPoint into a course · Facilitator hub · Upload a .pptx deck and get a ready-to-edit draft course.
      3. Write lessons with the lesson editor · Facilitator hub · Build a rich lesson from headings, text, pictures, video and reflection prompts.
      4. Add a quiz or practice check · Facilitator hub · Create a scored quiz with a pass mark and attempts limit.
      5. Introduce the teaching team · Facilitator hub · Add instructor and facilitator profiles learners see on the course page.
      6. Review and publish a course · Facilitator hub · Run readiness checks, submit for review, publish, and make later changes safely.
      7. Move a course between servers · Facilitator hub · Export a course with its pictures as a ZIP and import it elsewhere.

    3. 2.3 Cohorts and pathways

      1. Create and manage cohorts · Facilitator hub · Create a cohort, assign its courses and check its roster.
      2. Build a cohort pathway · Facilitator hub · Order courses into a journey with a starting line and finish line.
      3. Look up a learner · Facilitator hub · Find a learner, update their details, reset their password or change their access.
      4. Complete a cohort · Facilitator hub · Close a cohort and recognise everyone who finished: certificates, transcripts and alumni invitations.

    4. 2.4 Supporting learners

      1. Message and check in with learners · Facilitator hub · Hold private conversations and send progress check-ins.
      2. Grade assignments · Facilitator hub · Score submitted assignments and leave feedback.
      3. Schedule cohort webinars · Facilitator hub · Show a video at the start or end of a cohort's course.
      4. Read learner reflections · Facilitator hub · Find the ratings and comments learners leave after courses and modules.

  3. 3. IT team

    Understand how the portal fits together, deploy and update the servers, manage settings and secrets, back up and restore data, and troubleshoot problems.

    1. 3.1 How the system fits together

      1. System architecture · Server · The applications and services that make up the portal, and how data flows between them.
      2. Domains and email · Server · Which addresses point where, and how transactional email is sent.

    2. 3.2 Deploying and updating

      1. Deploy or update the backend · Server · Pull, rebuild, migrate and restart the API on the VPS.
      2. Deploy the learner app and hub · Server · Build and run the two Next.js applications.
      3. Publish this guide on Netlify · Server · Connect the guide repository to Netlify and publish it.

    3. 3.3 Running the platform

      1. Manage settings and secrets · Server · Where the backend's configuration lives and what each group of settings does.
      2. Back up and restore data · Server · Back up the database and media, and restore them.
      3. Use Django admin · Django admin · Sign in to Django admin for tasks the hub does not cover.
      4. Set up Paystack payments · Server · Connect the shop to Paystack.
      5. Course import and export commands · Server · Command-line tools for moving and converting courses.

    4. 3.4 Troubleshooting

      1. Fix common problems · Server · Diagnose the issues most often reported by staff and learners.

  4. 4. Supporting learners

    A walk through the learner app from sign-up to certificate, so staff and facilitators can answer learner questions with confidence.

    1. 4.1 Account and sign-in

      1. How learners sign up · Learner app · What a learner fills in, and what happens after they create an account.
      2. How learners sign in · Learner app · Signing in with a password and code, the welcome questions and the tour.

    2. 4.2 Studying

      1. Taking a course · Learner app · How learners move through modules, lessons and practice checks.
      2. Learning offline · Learner app · What works without internet and how progress reaches the server.
      3. Notes, widgets and focus mode · Learner app · Note-taking and the study tools around each lesson.
      4. Getting help from Funzo · Learner app · The Funzo helper, the help centre, and what to do when Funzo cannot answer.

    3. 4.3 Achievements and community

      1. Certificates and transcripts · Learner app · How learners get certificates and request a transcript.
      2. Joining the alumni network · Learner app · How eligible learners join the alumni hall of fame.
      3. Applying for a scholarship · Learner app · How learners ask FEMNET for help with a course or merchandise.
      4. Webinars, Knowledge Hub and peers · Learner app · Cohort webinars, FEMNET news and the cohort leaderboard.
      5. Using the shop · Learner app · Buying merchandise, claiming rewards and using promo codes.