Overview
Enrollment Forms collect information from a Learner at the moment they enroll in a Section, rather than when they create their account. Build the form in Admin, assign it to a Course or Section, and the Learner completes it during enrollment. Responses are stored with the enrollment and are visible on the Section.
Use an Enrollment Form when the information needed is specific to a course rather than to the person: an emergency contact for a hands-on class, a waiver, or a confirmation that a prerequisite has been met.
Note: Building and assigning happen in two different places. Build the form in Admin, then assign it to a Course or Section in Genius Enterprise. A form that is never assigned never appears during enrollment.
Where Enrollment Forms Live
Navigation: Admin → Configuration → Custom Forms → Enrollment tab
The Custom Forms page holds three types of form, each on its own tab:
Tab | Used for |
Account Creation | The form completed when someone registers for an account. See Custom Account Registration Forms - Genius CE & Enterprise. |
Enrollment | The form a Learner completes when enrolling in a Section. This guide. |
Organization Creation | The form used when an organization record is created. |
The Enrollment tab lists forms with these columns: ID, Name, Custom Form Type, Affiliation Names, Actions, and Default.
How a Form Reaches a Learner
Three things have to be true before a Learner sees an Enrollment Form. The steps in this guide cover each one.
The form is built on the Enrollment tab of the Custom Forms page
The form's status is Active
The form is assigned to the Course or the Section the Learner is enrolling in
A Course carries one Enrollment Form and a Section carries one. Several forms can't be stacked onto the same record. To ask for more, add questions to the existing form.
Before You Start
Decide what to collect, and whether it belongs on every Section of a Course or on one Section only.
Put everything in one form, since a single form can hold as many questions as needed.
Check whether the information is already collected on the account registration form.
Documents are configured separately as Course Requisites, not as form questions. See Using Documentation as Prerequisites - Genius CE & Enterprise.
Make sure you have access to Genius Enterprise, where the assignment step happens.
Step 1: Build the Form
Go to Admin → Configuration → Custom Forms.
Select the Enrollment tab. Creating from another tab produces the wrong type of form.
Select New Custom Form.
Under How do you want to create a form?, choose a starting point.
Build or refine the questions in the form builder.
Select Preview Form to see the form as a Learner will.
Select Create Custom Form to save.
Choosing a Starting Point
Option | What it does | Best for |
Describe Your Form | Use your own words to describe the form you want to create. Enhance Description With AI expands a short description before the form is generated. | Starting fast when the questions are known but the layout isn't. |
Create Manually | Build a form from scratch using the builder. | Full control, or a short form. |
All three options land in the same builder, and everything can be edited before saving. The AI and PDF options are starting points, not finished output. Review every question before saving.
Step 2: Set the Status
The Status step controls whether this form can be used during enrollment. Every Enrollment Form is in one of three statuses.
Status | Meaning |
Draft | Tagged Not Available. Save and keep editing without making the form usable. While a form is in Draft it doesn't appear during enrollment and can't be assigned to a Section or Course until it's set to Active. |
Active | Tagged Available to use. The form can be assigned when editing a Section or a Course (to cover all of its Sections). Once assigned, the form appears during enrollment for Learners registering in those Sections. |
Archived | Retired. The form is kept for its existing responses but is no longer used. Archive and restore from the Actions menu using Archive Form and Unarchive Form. |
Note: Draft is a gate, not a label. A form left in Draft can't be assigned at all. Set the status to Active before looking for it in Genius Enterprise.
Step 3: Assign the Form to a Course or Section
Assignment happens in Genius Enterprise. There is no assignment control on the Custom Forms page; the builder's own hint directs you to assign the form to Sections or Courses in Genius Enterprise.
Assign at | Effect |
Course | The form applies to every Section in the Course. Use when the information needed is the same across all offerings. |
Section | The form applies to that Section only. Use when one offering has different requirements, such as a different site or funder. |
Assigning in bulk with a CSV import
For many Courses or Sections at once, the Enrollment Form can be set through the CSV import. Define the form on the Section or Course record by Name or by GUID. See the CSV Imports Guide for file format and import steps.
Checking where Forms are assigned
Navigation: Run Reports → Enrollment Forms on Courses & Sections
This report lists every Enrollment Form and where it's assigned, by Course and by Section. It runs as is, with no search parameters to set, and results can be exported. Run it after a bulk import, or any time it isn't clear which form a Section is using.
What the Learner Sees
A Learner enrolling in a Course that has a form sees an Enrollment Forms step during enrollment, after signing in and before payment. If the Course also has document requisites, a Required Documents step follows the form.
The form appears once per checkout. A Learner enrolling in several Sections that use the same form in one purchase completes it once. On a later purchase using the same form, saved answers are pre-filled for review before submitting.
For the full Learner path, see Enrolling in Courses - Genius CE & Enterprise and Learner Dashboard Updates - Genius CE & Enterprise.
Reviewing Responses
Navigation: Sections → select a Section → Enrollment Forms tab
Responses are stored on the Section the Learner enrolled in. The Enrollment Forms tab shows what Learners submitted when enrolling in this Section.
Submitted - the date the Learner submitted the form, or Not submitted.
Learner - who the response belongs to.
Enrollment Status - the Learner's status in the Section.
Actions - View Details for a submitted response, or Fill out form for one that is missing.
When no one has submitted, the tab reads: No enrollment forms submitted for this section.
Courses that require approval have a second review surface. See Enrollment Approval Workflows - Genius CE & Enterprise.
Viewing and Editing a Response
Open the Section and select the Enrollment Forms tab.
Find the Learner and select View Details. A drawer opens showing the form name and the date it was Submitted.
Move through a multi-page form using Previous and Next. The drawer shows Step 1 of 3, or however many pages the form has.
To change an answer, select Edit, update the response, and select Save. Select Cancel to discard the change.
Select Close when finished.
A confirmation reading Response saved appears when the change is stored. Learners can't edit their own responses after submitting, so this is the only way a submitted answer is corrected.
Filling out a Form on a Learner's Behalf
If a Learner's row shows Not submitted, select Fill out form to complete it for them. Use this when:
The Learner enrolled before the form was assigned to the Course or Section.
An Administrator created the enrollment, which doesn't include the form step.
The information was collected another way, by phone, by email, or on paper.
Editing and Archiving a Form
Use the Actions menu on the Custom Forms page.
Edit Form - open the form in the builder and change questions, logic, or status.
Archive Form - retire a form no longer in use. A confirmation reads Form Archived Successfully.
Unarchive Form - bring an archived form back.
Note: An assigned form can't be set to Draft or archived. Remove it from all Courses and Sections first. Attempting it returns an error explaining that an active enrollment form assigned to a section or course can't be archived or set to draft.
Reporting
Report | Answers |
Enrollment Forms on Courses & Sections | Which form is assigned where. Lists Course, Section, and Enrollment Form, with an Export option. |
External Files Uploaded | Documents Learners have uploaded, with the option to download, approve, or deny. See Using Documentation as Prerequisites - Genius CE & Enterprise. |
Roster | Standard roster reporting for a Section. Found under Run Reports. |
Form responses are stored as their own data type, separate from Custom Fields. They can be included in a Custom Report alongside other data, and an Enrollment Form neither reads from nor writes to Custom Field data. See Custom Fields/Lists - Genius CE & Enterprise.
Responses and uploaded files are retained after a Section ends and stay in their approved or denied state.
Emails
Assigning an Enrollment Form doesn't add any new emails. Enrollment Forms use the existing enrollment flow, and the document and approval steps use templates that already exist. See Auto-Email Options - Genius CE & Enterprise to edit any of these.
Where the Form Step Does Not Appear
The form step is part of standard enrollment by a signed-in Learner enrolling themselves. It doesn't appear for:
Waitlist enrollments
Purchase order and agreement checkout flows
Enrollments created by an Administrator
Guardian accounts do not currently use the Enrollment Forms feature
In each case, use Fill out form on the Section's Enrollment Forms tab to capture the responses afterward.
Key Concepts
Term | Definition |
Enrollment Form | A form completed by a Learner during enrollment in a Section. Built on the Enrollment tab of the Custom Forms page. |
Assignment | Connecting an Active form to a Course or a Section so it appears during enrollment. Done in Genius Enterprise. |
Course Requisites | Documents a Learner must upload for a Course. Configured separately from the form. |
Custom Form Type | Which of the three tabs a form belongs to: Account Creation, Enrollment, or Organization Creation. |
Frequently Asked Questions
A form was built but Learners aren't seeing it. Why?
Check three things in order: the status is Active, the form is assigned to the Course or Section in Genius Enterprise, and the Learner is enrolling through standard checkout rather than one of the flows listed above. An unassigned form never appears, whatever its status.
The form was saved but isn't available to assign in Genius Enterprise. What's wrong?
It's most likely still in Draft. Open it in Admin, set the Status to Active, and save.
Can more than one Enrollment Form go on a Course or Section?
Courses and sections can be assigned with a single form. A single form can hold as many questions as needed, so add questions rather than a second form.
Can a form's questions be changed after it's assigned?
Yes, a form’s questions can be changed at any time and it will update everywhere it is used.
How are certificates or IDs collected?
As Course Requisites on the Course, not as form questions. The Learner uploads them at the end of enrollment. Once a document is approved it counts for any other Course requiring that same document type.
Can instructors see what a Learner submitted?
It depends on their permissions for that Section. Responses follow the same access rules as the rest of the Section's data.
Does an Enrollment Form use Custom Fields?
No, form responses are their own data type and don't read from or write to Custom Field data.
Can a Learner change their answers after submitting?
Not themselves. An Administrator can update a submitted response from the Section's Enrollment Forms tab.