Batches Overview
A Batch is a group of learners who are enrolled into one or more courses together. Think of a batch as a cohort—for example, all 20 employees joining the Sales team in October.
Batches help administrators assign training at scale, track progress for a specific group of learners, and manage onboarding or certification programs more efficiently.
You can manage batches from:
Manage → Batches
Understanding Courses vs. Batches
Outdoo separates what people learn from who is learning it.
Courses
A Course contains the learning content. Courses are made up of one or more roleplay agents and are typically organized around a training objective, such as:
- New Hire Onboarding
- Discovery Calls
- Objection Handling
- Product Certification
Batches
A Batch contains the learners. It defines:
- Which users are assigned training
- Start and end dates
- Course completion windows
- Cohort membership
Courses are assigned to batches, and everyone in the batch receives the assigned courses.
This approach allows administrators to enroll multiple learners into multiple courses with a single action instead of managing assignments individually.
Example: Create an "October Sales Onboarding" batch, add all new sales hires, and assign the onboarding courses once. Every member of the batch automatically receives those courses.
You can begin from either workflow:
- Create courses first, then assign them to a batch.
- Create a batch first, then add courses later.
Both approaches achieve the same result.
Open vs. Closed Courses
When creating a course, you must decide whether it will be Open or Closed.
Open Courses
Open courses are automatically assigned to everyone in your organization, including users who join in the future.
Because assignment happens automatically, open courses do not require a batch.
Closed Courses
Closed courses are only assigned to users you explicitly select.
These courses are typically distributed through:
- Batches
- Teams
- Individual user assignments
Important
The Open/Closed setting cannot be changed after a course is created. Be sure to choose the appropriate option during course setup.
What Learners See
Batches are an administrative tool and are not visible to learners.
End users do not see:
- Batch names
- Batch membership
- Batch settings
Instead, learners simply see the courses assigned to them within their learning dashboard, including categories such as:
- Pending
- Completed
- Past Due
- Open Enrollment
Managing Batch Membership
Users can be added to a batch regardless of whether they have activated their Outdoo account.
Pending Users
Invited users who have not yet accepted their invitation can still be added to a batch. Once they activate their account, all assigned courses become available automatically.
Adding Members
You can add learners to a batch at any time by editing the batch and updating the participant list.
Removing Members
Members can also be removed from an existing batch whenever needed.
This flexibility allows administrators to create and populate batches while account setup and onboarding activities are still in progress.
Tracking Batch Performance
Batch-level performance reporting is available in:
Performance & Coaching
Administrators can filter analytics by:
- Batch
- Course
- Team
- User
This makes it easy to answer questions such as:
- How is the October onboarding cohort performing?
- Which learners have completed certification training?
- What is the average score for the Pricing course?
- Which batch has overdue assignments?
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I assign a course directly to a user?
Courses are typically assigned through batches, allowing multiple learners to receive training at the same time. Depending on course setup, courses may also be assigned to teams or individual users.
Can I add users before they activate their account?
Yes. Pending users can be added to batches and will automatically receive their assigned courses once they accept their invitation.
Can I modify batch membership after creation?
Yes. You can add or remove learners from a batch at any time.
Can I change a course from Open to Closed later?
No. The Open/Closed setting is permanent once the course is created.