In some platforms, the opportunity to participate in informal learning by uploading your own content and asking questions to Experts within the platform is possible. You can also create your own playlists full of learning content, and view content across the platform using channels.

Channels are streams of topics that include all of the assets uploaded by experts and users. They can also include courses and learning plans created by the Saladmaster Home Office Team. Channels allow you to easily and quickly access content divided by categories. They may appear in your platform’s homepage.

Alternatively, reach the Main Menu, then select the All Channels item. Some channels are created by default, such as:

• Continue To Watch and Learn. This channel includes all of the items, either courses or content, you still need to complete.
• New Invitations and Subscriptions. This channel includes all of the content you have been invited to watch and the courses or learning plans in which you are enrolled.
• My Learning Activity History. This channel includes all of the items, either courses or content, you have already completed.
• All My Courses and Learning Plans. This channel includes all of the courses and learning plans in which you have been enrolled.

For public and user personal channels, you can filter content in the channel on the channel’s page using the Filters button. You can filter content by date of availability, status, type, deadline, duration or rating. You can also use the Sort By dropdown menu on the right side of the page to sort your content. Please note that as a learner, you can only view published content in channels that are visible to you when viewing another user’s personal channel.

For public channels, you can also see channel experts by pressing the Assigned Experts button at the top of the page. The slideout panel will then show you the assigned experts for the channel. Press the name of the expert to reach his or her personal channel.

Please note that the number of views of an asset shown in the asset card in the channel page refers to the number of different users who viewed that asset, so if the same user viewed that asset twice, the number of views is incremented only by one unit, not two.

As a learner, you can share content by selecting the Contribute item from the main menu. On the upload page, press the Browse button to search for the content on your device, drag and drop the file into the platform, or share a link from YouTube, Vimeo, or Wistia. Additionally, you can share an asset from Google Drive or Record Your Screen.

Once the content is uploaded, edit details or publish it directly as-is. Please note that you are required to give the content a title, description, and flag the asset visibility setting:

• Private. This asset will only be visible to myself and to whom I decide to invite.
• Public. Select a channel where you’d like to publish your asset.

For some channels, an expert must review the content using the peer-review process before the content will be published.

You can also add tags to your asset to improve its searchability and flag the option to allow users to download asset file. Some tags may be automatically generated based on the content of your asset, as understood by your platform using artificial intelligence (note that this only works for English content). You can edit or remove tags at any time.

Finally, you can upload a custom thumbnail. Press the plus button to add a thumbnail, then select an image from your device. In case you have an existing custom thumbnail, you can press the Replace button to choose another one. When the content is uploaded and you’ve added all of the details for the asset, press Finalize and Publish.

Any details that you add when creating an asset can be edited later when you edit the asset. Please remember that Admins can edit the details of any asset in the platform. Experts can edit the details of any assets in the channels that they manage. You as the asset owner can edit the details of any asset that you uploaded into the platform. However, only Admins can change asset visibility.

In the bottom half of the Contribute page, you can see all of the content that you’ve uploaded, divided by content that needs to be finalized, content that is submitted for peer review, and content that is already published.

Any learner is allowed to ask questions to experts. Access the main menu, then press the Questions & Answersitem. Press the Ask the Expert button on the top right part of the page. In the slideout panel, type your question into the text box. You can edit the text using the toolbar, as necessary, or insert a link or image.

Then, choose a channel to which you would like to assign to the question. This will notify the expert of the selected channel. Finally, add tags to your question to make it more searchable and improve the categorization. When you’re finished, press the Ask the Expert button at the bottom of the question box.

The question and its related answers will be visible to everyone on the main Questions & Answers page (access from the main menu) in order to ensure that anyone interested in the topic can follow the thread and receive notifications whenever a new answer is posted. Please note that as a learner, you can only see questions from channels to which you have visibility or from courses in which you are enrolled.

At the top of the page, you can manage the filters for which questions you see in the questions by pressing the Filter item. Then, in the filters menu that will appear, you can flag how you want to sort the questions, which questions you want to view. Then, press Apply.

To view all of the details related to a question, find the question on the page, then press the View All button to redirect to the question’s page. The page will display the question at the top. Press the ellipsis icon in the top right corner of the question to follow it.

Below the question, a list of all of the answers related to the question appears. You can sort the answers from newest to oldest (default order) or vice-versa using the Sort By dropdown menu.

Each answer will display the user’s name and photo, the response, and how long ago the answer was posted. All answers can be evaluated by users, who can select either a thumbs up or down icon at the bottom of the question’s section, depending on how beneficial they found the answer to be.

Once someone has answered your question, you as the question’s owner are able to mark one of the answers as the Best Answer by pressing the corresponding button on the question’s item. Only one answer can have the Best Answer classification, but as the question’s owner, you can switch which answer has this classification when desired.

Along with questions, you can also leave comments on informal learning assets. On the asset’s page below the asset player and description, press the Comment item to leave a comment on the asset. Type your comment into the corresponding text box, then press Post.

Once the comment is posted, you will see it in the list of questions, answers, and comments below. You can filter the items by choosing to see only questions and answers, only comments, or both. You can also choose whether you want to view newest to oldest, or vice-versa. All posted comments can be evaluated by other users and edited and deleted by you or the Administrator, just like questions.

When viewing a course’s page, either the Overview page or the Course player Page, you may see a Questions and Answers section.

When you want to ask a question in this area, you first need to select a learning object from the dropdown menu. Then, ask the question in the text box and press Ask the Expert.

Questions in this area will appear directly in the widget, unless the course’s Overview is visible to you. If so, it will appear in the Questions and Answers tab on the the Overview page.

The left side of the widget will have a list of learning objects. When you select a learning object from the list, the right side of the widget will then display the corresponding questions and answers.

All questions from this widget (in any course in which you can ask questions) will also appear in the main Questions and Answers page in your platform. Please note that questions and answers coming from courses in which you are not enrolled will not appear on the Questions and Answers page.

On the page, you are able to treat it as a normal question by providing evaluation for answers. Questions and answers from courses can be edited by the owner of the question/answer, and deleted by the owner of the question as well as Administrators. On the main Questions and Answers page, press the Filter button to show only questions that are related to an asset or course.

All users can create personal playlists in the platform that contain informal learning assets (not formal learning objects from courses) or courses. Playlists can be public or private, depending on the playlist owner’s preference.

To view your playlist, press the My Channel item in the main menu. Your playlist title will appear on your channel’s page in the My Contributions section. When viewing another user’s personal channel, you will see his or her public playlist in the user’s contribution section.

If you haven’t created a playlist, you can do so by accessing an asset or course that you want to add to your playlist. On the asset’s page or the course player page, press the Add to Playlist button. In the slideout panel, flag the Create New Playlist option, then fill out all of the required fields (title, description, playlist visibility, and channels).

You can also add tags to your playlist, which will help increase the playlist’s searchability when users search for various assets using the platform’s Global Search. Press Create Playlist when finished.

To edit your playlist, access your channel’s page, then press the title of the playlist in the playlist’s item. Now, you’re viewing the playlist as any other learner would view it. Using the playlist’s navigation bar at the bottom of the page, press the arrow button, then press the pen icon in the slide-up panel.

On the next page, you can scroll over your playlist’s title, description, tags, or visibility, then press the pen icon that appears to edit any of these fields. Press the Plus icon to search for assets to add to your playlist. Once you’ve entered your search term in the search bar, the results will appear below. Press the plus icon in the asset’s row to add it to your playlist.

Press the trash can icon in the top right corner of the page to delete your entire playlist. Please note that if you delete your personal playlist, the assets contained in the playlist will not be deleted from the platform. If you just want to delete a specific asset from your playlist, press the X icon that will appear in the asset’s row in the list of assets on the left side of your screen. You can also press the asset’s item in the list to drag and drop it within the list, changing the order of assets.

At the top of the edit page, flag whether you want to publish or unpublish the playlist. If you publish a public ready, it will be visible in the channels dashboard as well as the corresponding channel’s page. If you do not publish a public playlist, it will not appear in these areas of the platform. This is the default setting for a new playlist.

To view the playlist’s navigation panel, press the bar at the bottom of the playlist’s page. In this panel, you can view various information about the playlist, including who owns the playlist, the total number of views for the playlist, when the playlist was first published, the total number of items in the playlist, the description and the visibility.

You will also see a list of the assets or courses included in the playlist. If there’s an asset or course in the playlist that you’re not able to view due to Administrator settings, the item will still appear in the list, but you won’t be able to see any details about that asset or course. If you are the playlist owner, you can press the edit or delete icons at the top of the panel. You can also invite people to watch the asset or playlist by pressing the Invite to Watch button in the panel. Use the slideout panel to complete this action.

To add an asset into your personal playlist, access the asset’s page. You cannot upload an asset from your computer or device directly into a playlist, but the asset must already be published in the platform. On the asset’s page, press the Add to Playlist button. Please note that only the playlist owner can add assets to a playlist.

In the slideout panel, flag whether you want to add the asset to an existing playlist, or create a new playlist (see section above if you flag this option). Press the Add to Playlist button at the bottom of the panel. The asset has now been added to your playlist.

You can invite other users to watch your playlist by pressing the Invite Users icon in the top right corner of the playlist’s page. Then, type the usernames into the People textbox. When finished, press Invite at the bottom of the panel.

Please note that assets contained in personal playlists still have certain channel visibility settings. This means that if an asset in your playlist came from a channel of which another user does not have viewing permissions, he or she will not be able to view the asset in your playlist either. While your playlist is still visible, some assets may be hidden based on channel visibility settings.

Questions, answers, and ratings do not apply to playlists.

To add a course into your personal playlist, access the course player page. On this page, press the Add to Playlist button in the top right corner. In the slideout panel, flag whether you want to add the course to an existing playlist, or create a new playlist (see section above if you flag this option). Press the Add to Playlist button at the bottom of the panel. The course has now been added to your playlist.

Additionally, when you’re viewing a course’s tile in the Channel dashboard, in an individual channel, or a user’s personal channel, you can press the ellipsis icon in the course’s tile, then press the Add to Playlist option and follow the steps outlined in the previous paragraph.

Please note that courses added in personal playlists still have certain visibility settings. Remember, even if other learners can view your playlist, they will not be able to access the course from your playlist if they are not enrolled in that course.

Please note that the text editor embedded in the platform is Froala, refer to the Froala Knowledge Base for further information on its usage. Also remind that the rendering of the output of WYSIWYG editors may be slightly different from the input, depending on the CSS rules applied.