Help
How to sign in, find a lesson, watch a video, save work offline, and reach a person.
Getting started and signing in
Use the college's own address for the student system, and the Learn address when you are studying a lesson. The footer links the two when this college has both. A sign-in from a different college is refused, and no record is shown.
Open Sign in. The page lists only the methods this college has switched on. On the student system those can include Continue with Google, Continue with Microsoft, Continue with Apple, Continue with Facebook, Sign in with a passkey, and Continue with email. Staff see Continue with Facebook only when the college has switched Facebook on for staff. On Learn the page can show Continue with Google, Continue with Microsoft when the college has switched it on, a link labelled Continue with your college account (the published short name replaces the word college when one is published), and email and password. The Learn email button is labelled Sign in.
Continue with Microsoft is shown only where the college has switched it on. If you do not see that button, the college has not switched it on: use another method on the page. Microsoft sign-in uses your name, email address and basic profile details. The site does not receive your Microsoft password. If the college only accepts its own email addresses for that button, use that address. If there is no college membership for the email, the sign-in page asks you to contact the registry office and try again.
Sign in with a passkey, where the student system offers it, stays on your device. The student system email flow uses Continue with email and then the password. On Learn, email sign-in uses the email and password fields and the Sign in button. An account is for one person. Do not share a password, a passkey, or a signed-in browser.
On the student system, the sign-in form says that staff accounts ask for a code from an authenticator app after that step, before they can see records. On Learn, teaching tools stay closed until the session has passed an authenticator. Students are not asked for an authenticator on Learn student pages. After you sign in on the student system, students open the student portal, applicants open the application, and staff open the staff desk. If you hold more than one role, use the role control on the page to switch.
Finding courses and lessons
On Learn, the navigation is Today, Courses, To-do, Alerts and Downloads. Open Courses, choose a course, then open a lesson. Today is the home page. To-do lists work that is waiting. Alerts is titled Alerts and says that live classes, due work and released marks will land there. Downloads lists lessons saved on this device.
On the student system, the public navigation is Programmes, Calendar, Learn, the admissions link the college is using, Student and Staff. Programmes lists the courses the college has published, with the summary and facts the college has recorded. Calendar lists the dates the college has published. The footer study links are Portal, Records, Applications, Programmes and Calendar. Staff open student records from Students, in the Records section of the staff desk. The footer calls that same page Records.
A lesson can contain reading, video, notes and files. Playback settings under the video holds speed, quality, captions and caption size. Reading settings holds text size and the reading tools. Those controls are described below.
Video quality
On a lesson video, open Playback settings under the video. Quality offers Auto, 720p, 360p and 240p. Auto follows the connection. An unknown connection, or a typical broadband connection, uses 720p. A 3g connection, or a downlink under 5, uses 360p. A 2g connection, a browser that is saving data, or a downlink under 1.5, uses 240p. If the lesson does not have the file you chose, playback uses another picture the lesson does have.
Your quality choice is remembered on this device. Choosing 720p, 360p or 240p keeps that choice when the file exists. Only Auto, 720p, 360p and 240p are kept. Anything else is read as Auto. Low bandwidth, in Playback settings, uses the smallest picture the lesson has, starting at 240p, even if you had chosen a higher one. Audio only, in the same menu, plays the sound track when the lesson has one. If it does not, the lesson stays on a picture. While Audio only is on for a video, the menu can offer Show video.
The line under the video is a small status chip. It shows only the quality playing: 720p, 360p, 240p or Audio. It stays hidden until that quality has settled. File size, resolution, duration and connection type are in the Details section of Playback settings. Resolution is the width by height when the player knows them, Audio when the sound track is playing, or the quality name otherwise. File size is shown when the size is known. Connection is shown for save-data, 2g, 3g or 4g. A slow 2g connection is shown as 2g.
Speed, quality, captions and caption size are all in Playback settings. Playback speed offers 0.75x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x and 2x. Only those speeds are remembered. Anything else is read as 1x. Show captions and Hide captions switch captions when the lesson has captions. Caption size can be small, medium or large. Picture in picture is offered when the browser supports it. The transcript tab lists the cues and can be searched. Some lessons have no transcript yet, and the page says No transcript yet.
Tab and Shift+Tab move through every control in Playback settings. Escape closes the menu and returns focus to the Playback settings button. Arrow keys, Home and End move within the quality, speed or caption size group. While the player itself has focus, the space bar or K plays or pauses, the arrow keys move by five seconds, and C switches captions. The greater-than and less-than keys, and the full stop and comma, step the speed. Those player keys do not apply while you are typing in a field, or while a button has focus. The player says that space, arrows and C work only while it has focus. Back 5 seconds and Forward 5 seconds are buttons as well.
Downloads and offline study
On Learn, open a lesson and save it before you travel. Downloads then lists what is saved on this device, with the size of each lesson. The total is the sum of those sizes. A saved lesson stays readable until you remove it or sign out.
Quiz files are not included in the saved copy. Low bandwidth, switched in Playback settings, keeps the smaller picture and writes the cookie the downloads page reads. When that cookie is low, the downloads page says motifs and drawings are hidden. The account menu has a separate Low bandwidth control, remembered as low or standard, which switches wider Learn pages to simpler type and hides decorative drawings. The classroom page has the same wider control, labelled Low bandwidth on or Low bandwidth off. If you are offline, the lesson can tell you that you are offline and whether notes are waiting to sync.
Signing out removes the saved copy for that sign-in on this device. Another person's sign-in does not keep your offline lessons.
Notes and highlights
On a lesson, open Notes, or the section Your notes and offline copy. Write in the note field, then choose Save note. Save highlight keeps a highlight. A highlight can include the quoted words as well as your own text.
Notes are stored with your account for that lesson, so they are there when you come back. If the lesson has changed since you wrote the note, it is marked as an earlier version. Nothing is stored until you choose Save note or Save highlight. If you have no notes yet, the page says so.
Text size and reading tools
On a lesson, open Reading settings. It includes Notes and download, Focus, Text size, Dark, Dyslexia font, and Read aloud when this browser can speak. Text size offers Small, Medium and Large. The choice is remembered for you at this college, on this device. It changes the lesson text. It does not resize every page on the site.
Focus widens the lesson by collapsing the side rail and the lesson list. The button then reads Exit focus. Notes and download opens the notes and the offline copy. Dark switches the lesson theme. Dyslexia font changes the lesson type. Read aloud speaks the lesson when this browser can speak.
Light and dark on Learn can also be changed from your account menu, where the control is labelled Dark mode. That choice is remembered on this device. If you have not chosen, Learn follows the light or dark setting on the device. On the student system, the Light and Dark control remembers the choice in a preference cookie.
The assistant
The assistant is used only where the college has switched it on. If you do not see it, it is off. You may need to be signed in. When it is on, it answers from the college's published information and, if you are signed in, from your own records. It shows the sources it used.
It can make mistakes. Check the sources, and check important facts with the college. It is read only. It never approves, decides or sends anything. It does not decide admissions, offers or grades. People at the college make those decisions.
If it does not know, it says so and points you to a person. You can talk to a person at any time. If you or someone else is in danger now, contact emergency services or someone you trust. The assistant says that a member of staff will be told. The privacy notice explains how messages are handled once the assistant is switched on.
The student portal
The student portal is on the student system, for a student signed in at this college. It shows the record the college holds for you, which can include your name, student number, status, mode of study, email, year of study, holds, and a student card when the college has issued one.
If this sign-in is for a different college, the portal says so and shows no record. Where the college has Learn, the portal links across so you can open it with the same account. Sign out when you finish, especially on a shared computer.
Applications
On the public Apply page you can send an enquiry. The form uses the fields on the page. Sign in as an applicant to open your application, the steps, and the documents that intake asks for.
You can upload a PDF, a JPEG or a PNG. Each file can be up to 10 MB. The college reviews what you send. An offer or a letter, when the college issues one, appears on the application. The college decides whether to make an offer. The assistant does not.
Records and documents
Students read their own record in the student portal. Staff who are allowed to see student records open Students, in the Records section of the staff desk. A hold, a card or a timeline is shown only where the college has recorded it and your role can see it.
Applicants see the documents on their application, including which required documents have been received. On the student system, Verify a document checks a code printed on a student card. A verified result shows the details that card carries. It does not change the record.
Troubleshooting
If a page does not load, refresh it once. Check that the address is this college's student system or Learn, not another college and not an old bookmark. Try the college website if one is published on Contact. If you are signed in on the wrong college, sign out and open the right address.
If a video does not play, wait for the file, then open Playback settings and try Auto. If it still fails, choose 360p or 240p, or turn on Low bandwidth or Audio only in Playback settings. Captions and the transcript are separate from the picture. A lesson with no transcript says No transcript yet. A saved offline copy is available only after you have saved that lesson on this device, and only until you sign out.
If you cannot sign in, read the message on the sign-in page. You may have cancelled, the email may still need confirming, the attempt may have expired, new accounts may not be accepted, or that method may be unavailable. Start again from Sign in. Do not share the password. Staff still need the authenticator code after the first step. Microsoft sign-in fails closed when the email is not a college address the college accepts, or when the college has no membership for it.
If the role or the college looks wrong, use the role control to switch among roles the college has given you. A student opens the student portal, an applicant opens the application, and staff open the staff desk. The message "This sign-in is not for this college" means this account is not a member here. No record is shown. Open the college's own address and sign in again.
How to reach a person
Use Talk to a person. Take your name, your student number if you have one, the page you were on, and what you saw, including any message on the screen. The college's published email addresses are on that page and on Contact.
The assistant can also point you to a person. It does not replace the college. For a fault in the software, tell the college what you were doing. The college can raise it with Collegene.