In This Article:
Overview
Some courses require approval before learners can enroll. When a course has approval enabled, learners submit enrollment requests that administrators must review and approve or deny before the learner can access the course.
Approval is a separate setting from Enrollment Forms. A Course can ask for a form without requiring approval, and can require approval without asking for a form. When both are turned on, the Learner completes the form and uploads any required documents, and the enrollment then waits for a decision.
How Enrollment Approval Works
The approval workflow follows these steps:
Learner submits an enrollment request for an approval-required course.
The system automatically sends the AUTO_REQUIRESAPPROVAL_LEARNER email to the learner confirming receipt of their request.
The system sends the AUTO_MANAGER_ASKING_FOR_APPROVAL email to the course manager or approver notifying them of the pending request.
The administrator reviews the request in the Course Requests report and approves or denies it.
The system sends a confirmation email (AUTO_COURSE_REGISTRATION if approved, AUTO_COURSE_REQUEST_DENIED if denied) to the learner.
The enrollment request remains in WAITING_REVIEW status until an administrator takes action.
Configuring Approval Requirements
Navigation: Courses → select course → Edit
To enable approval for a course:
Navigate to Courses and select the course you want to require approval for.
Click Edit to open the course settings.
Locate the "Requires Approval" field. This is a Yes/No dropdown that appears on all courses.
Set the value to "Yes" to enable approval.
Save your changes.
Note: When you set "Requires Approval" to Yes, it applies to all sections of the course. All new enrollment requests for any section will require approval.
Reviewing and Approving Enrollment Requests
Navigation: Reports → Enrollments → Course Requests
Enrollment requests are managed through the Course Requests report, not from the Enrollments page directly. This report shows all enrollment requests and provides the tools to approve or deny them.
Filtering Requests
The Course Requests report includes filters to help you find the requests you need to review. To see pending approval requests, filter by the enrollment status WAITING_REVIEW. You can also filter by course, section, date range, or affiliation to narrow the results.
The report displays the following information for each request directly on the screen:
Column | Description |
Learner | The name of the learner who submitted the request. |
Section | The section the learner is requesting to enroll in. |
Term | The academic term associated with the section. |
Status | The current status of the request (e.g., WAITING_REVIEW). |
StartDate | The start date of the section. |
Requested On | The date and time the learner submitted the request. |
Class Location | The location of the class, if applicable. |
Affiliation | The learner's affiliation. |
Approving or Denying Requests
To take action on enrollment requests:
Use the checkbox next to each request to select the learners you want to approve or deny. You can also use the "select all" checkbox to select all visible requests.
Scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "Approved Selected" or "Deny Selected" to process the selected requests.
A confirmation message will appear after the action is processed. The system automatically sends the appropriate email notification to each learner.
Note: There is no option to add notes or comments when approving or denying requests. If you need to communicate a reason for denial, customize the AUTO_COURSE_REQUEST_DENIED email template or contact the learner separately.
Reviewing Form Responses and Documents
Courses that use an Enrollment Form have a second review surface: the Enrollment Approval Review page, found under Enrollments. The Course Requests report described above continues to work, and the same requests appear in both places.
Enrollment Approval Review groups requests into four tabs: Needs Review, Waiting on Learner, Approved, and Denied. Each row shows Submitted, Learner, Affiliation, Course, Section, and Form.
Select Review on a row under Needs Review to open the submission, read the Learner's form responses, and download any documents they uploaded.
Requests move to Waiting on Learner when a new document has been requested. That tab also shows the date the request was Sent Back.
Approved and Denied hold requests that have been decided.
Documents can also be reviewed in the External Files Uploaded report. See Using Documentation as Prerequisites - Genius CE & Enterprise. Form responses are also visible on the Section's Enrollment Forms tab; see Enrollment Forms - Genius CE & Enterprise.
Note: Turning on an Enrollment Form doesn't add any new emails. Approval decisions continue to use the templates listed below.
Enrollment Requirements After Approval
After approving requests, the system may prompt you if there are additional enrollment requirements for the course (such as prerequisites or payment). When this happens, you will see two options:
"Validate Requirements" — The system checks that the learner meets all enrollment requirements before completing the enrollment. If the learner does not meet a requirement, they will not be enrolled.
"Force Enrollments" — The system bypasses requirement checks and enrolls the learner immediately, regardless of whether requirements are met.
Note: This step only appears when the course has additional enrollment requirements configured. If no additional requirements exist, the learner is enrolled automatically upon approval.
Related Auto-Email Templates
Navigation: Administration (legacy) → System Setup → Email Templates
The approval workflow uses the following automatic email templates. Customize them as needed:
Template Name | Trigger | Description |
AUTO_REQUIRESAPPROVAL_LEARNER | Learner submits enrollment request | Sent to the learner acknowledging receipt of their request and explaining next steps |
AUTO_MANAGER_ASKING_FOR_APPROVAL | Learner submits enrollment request | Sent to the course manager or approver notifying them of the pending request |
AUTO_COURSE_REQUEST_DENIED | Administrator denies request | Sent to the learner when their request is denied |
AUTO_COURSE_REGISTRATION | Administrator approves request | Sent to the learner confirming their enrollment is now active |
AUTO_EXTERNAL_FILE_SUBMITTED | Learner submits a file | Sent to the affiliation manager when a file was uploaded and requires approval |
AUTO_MISSING_EXTERNAL_FILES | Learner is missing a required document | Sent daily to all learners missing or denied required documents |
AUTO_EXTERNAL_FILE_APPROVED | Administrator approves a file | Sent to learners when external file is Approved |
AUTO_EXTERNAL_FILE_DENIED | Administrator declines a file | Sent to students when external file is Declined |
These last four templates cover the document side of a Course that requires approval and can be edited any time. See Auto-Email Options - Genius CE & Enterprise for more information.
Troubleshooting
Approval Emails Not Sending
If learners are not receiving approval notification emails:
Verify email templates are enabled: Navigate to Administration (legacy) → System Setup → Email Templates and confirm the approval-related templates listed above are enabled.
Check the learner's email address: Verify the email address in the learner's profile is correct.
Review email logs: Check Configuration → Logs Search for any email delivery errors.
Requests Not Appearing in Course Requests Report
If enrollment requests are not showing up in the report:
Verify the course requires approval: Open the course settings and confirm "Requires Approval" is set to Yes.
Check your filters: Make sure you are filtering by the correct status (WAITING_REVIEW) and that other filters are not excluding the requests.
Confirm the learner is not already enrolled: If the learner already has an active enrollment in the course, a new request may not be generated.
Check that the course is active: Archived or inactive courses may not accept new enrollment requests.
Learner Confused by Approval Message
If learners are unsure what to do after receiving an approval notification email:
Customize the email template: Edit the AUTO_REQUIRESAPPROVAL_LEARNER template with clearer instructions about what to expect.
Include a timeline: Add your expected approval turnaround time (e.g., "within 2 business days") to set expectations.
Provide contact information: Include a support email or phone number in the template for learners with questions.
Best Practices
Customize email templates: Personalize approval email templates with clear instructions and set expectations for response time.
Review requests regularly: Set aside time each day to review pending requests in the Course Requests report and approve them promptly.
Use the WAITING_REVIEW filter: Always filter by WAITING_REVIEW status when reviewing pending requests to avoid accidentally acting on requests that have already been processed.
Communicate your timeline: Let learners know your expected approval turnaround time (e.g., same day, 1–2 business days) either in the email template or on your organization's website.
Note: Approval requirements apply at the course level and affect all sections of that course.
⚠ Warning: Disabling approval on a course with pending requests will NOT automatically approve existing requests. Those requests will be canceled. Approve or deny all pending requests before changing the "Requires Approval" setting to No.