Use Sana Live sessions in programs to run scheduled live learning as part of a structured learner journey. This guide explains how to set up sessions, manage learner enrollment, and ensure learners receive the right access and notifications.
Recommended workflow for scheduling live sessions in a program
Follow this sequence to schedule live sessions and assign learners:
If you select Auto-assign session for a live course in a program, learners are automatically assigned when you schedule a session in that course.
Learners who have already completed the live course are not assigned automatically. To assign them to the new session, assign them manually (see here).
If learners are already enrolled and you want to enroll everyone in a new live course, follow these steps:
Schedule the live session.
Add the live course to the program outline.
Choose an assignment method (see below for details).
Select Apply to all learners, even completed ones.
Click Confirm.
How live sessions in programs appear to learners
Program content appears in one unified block. Upcoming live sessions include calendar dates.
If the next program step is a session or calendar event, learners see a calendar pill in the block.
Learners also see a calendar pill when an unlocked step includes a session or calendar event within 24 hours, even if it is not the next step.
If the next program step is live content or an in-person event with self-enrollment enabled, learners see a Choose a date pill in their to-do list.
The three assignment methods
When you add a live course to a program, you can choose from three session-assignment methods.
To choose an assignment method:
Go to Manage > Programs.
Open the program you want to edit.
Scroll to Program outline.
Click Edit outline.
Select an assignment method from the dropdown for the relevant step.
1. Manual assignment
Manual assignment gives you full control over the session each learner joins.
Go to the course page and assign each learner to a session. If learners are already grouped by session, you can assign the group at once.
Manual assignment gives you the most control, but it can take time for large groups.
Note: Learners receive an email notification and calendar invite with a link to join the session.
Watch the video below to see what an admin might do to assign learners to a session of their choice.
2. Auto-assign session
With Auto-assign session, you can automatically enroll learners in a session when you assign them to the program. This option works well for large groups where manual assignment is impractical.
Auto-assignment only applies when learners are first assigned to the program. If a learner misses a session, assign them manually to the next available session.
If a session is canceled or deleted, learners are automatically reassigned to the next available session.
When more than one session is scheduled, learners are assigned to the earliest upcoming available session. If you want to split learners across sessions, set a session capacity for each session.
For example, if you have two sessions and 50 learners, set the capacity to 25 for each session. This automatically assigns 25 learners to each session.
To set a session capacity:
Open the session.
Click Edit session.
Select More options.
Set Session capacity.
Note: Learners receive an email notification and calendar invite with a link to join the session.
Watch the video below to see what auto-assign and manual-assign look like from a learner's perspective.
3. Allow self-enrollment
With Allow self-enrollment, learners choose the session that best fits their schedule.
Learners receive an email with a link to choose a session. The link takes them to the program overview page, where they can enroll in an available session.
This option gives learners more flexibility and can reduce administrative work.
For the best experience, schedule multiple sessions before you enroll learners in the program.
Note: After learners select Enroll, they receive an email notification and calendar invite with a link to join the session.
Watch the video below to see what this looks like from a learner's perspective.
FAQ
I don’t know the times or number of sessions yet
You can add the course with manual assignment as a temporary option. Alternatively, add the live course after you have set the session times.
Once you schedule the sessions, update the program outline with the correct assignment method. For more information about updating a program, see here for more details about manual assignment see here.