KnowBe4's Learner Experience (LX) offers customization ability and engaging and fun gamification to your security awareness training plan.
Your users can compete against their peers on leaderboards and earn badges while learning how to keep themselves and your organization safe from cyber attacks. An informative, optional tour is also provided to show your users around and make them feel comfortable with their new learning environment.
Read below to learn more about these features.
Set Up Your Learner Experience
The below steps will explain how to set up your LX. Click here to view a short video explaining these steps.
- Log in to your KnowBe4 console.
- Click your email address in the top right corner and select Account Settings.
- To customize the look and feel of the Learner Experience, navigate to the Branding section.
- Here you can add a Company Logo and set a Brand Color.
- Navigate to the Learner Experience section.
- Under Learner Assistance, enable the custom help button option, if desired. For more information, see the Learner Assistance section of this article.
- Enable the Learner Dashboard if desired. This can show users additional information, such as their Phish-prone Percentage, Personal Risk Score, Training History, and more. Learn more in the Learner and Team Dashboards section.
- Click the checkbox next to Enable Badges if you’d like to try out our Badges feature.
- Click the Leaderboard Type drop-down menu and select Group Leaderboard to try out the Leaderboard feature.
- Select a Leaderboard Time Period. You can select from the following: Past 30 Days, Past 90 Days, Current Quarter, Current Year, or All Time. Any enrollment that was active during that time period will be included in the leaderboard rankings.
- Select groups that you'd like to include in your leaderboard in the Groups to Include in Leaderboard drop-down menu. You can select between 3 and 25 groups.
- Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page to save your changes.
Customization
You can set a brand color for your LX and upload your company logo from within your Account Settings. We recommend that you match the brand color in your Account Settings to your organization’s logo to provide a familiar feeling for your end-users.
Below are some examples of how you can brand your LX:
Learner Experience
We offer the ability to customize your users' learning experience from gamification to localization. Create a unique learner experience that fits your organization's culture. We include a tour to help familiarize your users with the interface. Their first training assignment will be on the top of the list of assignments and after a course is completed, it will move down to the bottom.
To help your users get started, you can send them our Learner Support: Quickstart Guide or send them the link to this video.
Tour
Upon their first login, your users will be invited to take a quick tour to show them around their LX. They can skip the tour if they’d prefer.
The first step of the tour will vary slightly depending on if you selected to use leaderboards or badges along with the LX. See below:
If Leaderboards and Badges are enabled: | If Leaderboards or Badges are not enabled: |
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The tour can be re-launched at any time. To do so, your users will click their name (or email) in the top-right and select Launch Tour in the drop-down menu.
Users who log in after three months of inactivity will be prompted to take the tour again, to refresh their memory of how to use the interface and introduce any new features that may have come out since they last logged in.
A short, optional User Profile tour is also available when the user navigates to their Profile from the top-right drop-down menu. This tour does not launch automatically--from their User Profile, your users can launch the tour by clicking the Show me around button. Click here to view a short video explaining the user profile area.
Localization
Users can set their Training Language by clicking their name in the top-right corner and then clicking the language at the bottom of the drop-down menu. The LX interface will be localized for the selected language. For more information on your users' Training Language, see our Localization Guide.
If a training course is available in the selected language, this setting will update the default language of that course. If a training course has already been started in a different language, there will be no change to that course.
Learner and Team Dashboards
The Learner and Team Dashboards are customizable dashboards that provide information such as training progress, optional learning, phishing results, and risk scores.
The Learner Dashboard is specific to the individual user who is logged in to the LX. For information about the Learner Dashboard, view our Learner Dashboard Overview article.
The Team Dashboard is designed for managers to view statistics for the users on their team and the team as a whole. For more information about the Team Dashboard, see our Team Dashboard Overview for Admins article.
Learner Library
If you have enabled Optional Learning in your Account Settings, the Library tab of the LX will be visible to all users. On the Library tab, your users can view and complete the optional content of their choice. Users can also download a completion certificate for each piece of optional content completed.
Depending on your settings, your users will have access to either a Preselected Library or a Full Library. Users will see the Preselected Library if you only enable the Optional Training Campaign feature, which is available to all paid accounts.
Users will see recommended training content if you enable the AIDA Recommended Optional Learning feature, which is available to Diamond level accounts.
For more information about the optional learning features, see our Optional Learning Guide.
Messages
The Messages tab is hidden by default. This tab can be enabled by using the User Messaging feature. Once a message has been created, users will be able to see the Messages tab. They will also see a tile on their Dashboard notifying them about any unread messages.
Once a user has read a message, they can click Mark as Read to move the message to the Read Messages section at the bottom of the page. Users can review any message in the Read Messages section by clicking on the message subject.
For more information about messages, see our User Messaging Guide.
Learner Assistance
To support users during training, the LX includes a Need Help? button in the bottom-right corner of the page. By default, this button leads to our Knowledge Base. You have the option to change the destination of this button to a URL or contact email that you would like users to use when they need assistance with their training.
Follow the steps below to customize the learner assistance links.
- From your KnowBe4 console, click your email address in the top-right corner of the page and select Account Settings.
- Navigate to the Learner Experience section of your Account Settings.
- Under Learner Assistance, select the check box labeled Enable Customized Need Help Button.
- Once you've enabled this setting, enter the URL or email link that you would like to direct users to. See the list below for requirements and options.
- To direct users to a webpage, you must enter a full URL. Shortened versions of the URL may result in an error. For example, https://support.knowbe4.com is a full URL.
- To allow users to send an email using their default mail client, enter the mailto: HTML tag, followed by the email address of your choice. For example, mailto:AdminName@YourDomain.com
- To have users send an email using Outlook Online, copy the URL below. Then, replace [[Email Address]] with the email address of your choice.
https://outlook.office.com/owa/?path=/mail/action/compose&to=[[Email Address]]
- To prefill the subject line, add the text below to the end of the URL. Then, replace [[Subject"]] with the subject of your choice.
&subject=[[Subject]]
- To have users send an email using Google Workspace (formerly G Suite), copy the URL below. Then, replace [[Email Address]] with the email address of your choice.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&to=[[Email Address]]
- To prefill the subject line, add the text below to the end of the URL. Then, replace [[Subject]] with the subject of your choice.
&su=[[Subject]]
Gamification
KnowBe4’s LX offers optional gamification, in the form of leaderboards and badges, so your users will be incentivized and motivated to take their assigned training.
Gamification is the addition of gaming features or principles to something that typically does not have a gaming element--in our case, security awareness training and e-learning content. Gaming features can include badges, points, rankings, rewards, and more.
Gamification has been shown to improve user engagement by increasing people’s inherent ambition to compete, achieve, or master. When people are motivated to complete a task, they learn better and retain more information.
KnowBe4’s addition of gamification includes leaderboards and badges. Leaderboards allow users to see how they rank up against their peers, promoting friendly competition. Badges will provide users with unexpected rewards after their training to remind them that they’ve accomplished something important. Continue to read below for more details about leaderboards and badges.
Click here to watch a short, animated video explaining gamification in the KnowBe4 console. Want to learn more about gamification in general? See Wikipedia: Gamification.
Leaderboards
The Leaderboard tab encourages users to compete with their colleagues and show off their security awareness skills. You can enable a group leaderboard based on training completion or an individual leaderboard based on the usage of the Phish Alert Button (PAB). To learn more about these leaderboards, continue reading this article. To learn how to enable leaderboards, see our KnowBe4 Console Account Settings: Training article.
If you would like to educate your users on how the leaderboards work, we recommend sharing the resources listed below.
Individual Leaderboard
On the individual leaderboard, users compete with their colleagues on how well they use the Phish Alert Button (PAB). Users earn points based on the percentage of simulated phishing emails they report and how quickly they’re reported. For more information about this point system, see the Detailed Point Calculation section of our Learner Support: Leaderboards Guide.
Group Leaderboard
On the group leaderboard, users work in groups to complete all of their assigned training on time. Groups are ranked according to the percentage of training completed. This percentage is calculated by dividing the number of completed training assignments for each group member by their total number of training assignments.
Before enabling the group leaderboard, be sure to create the user groups you would like to use. You can create groups based on any criteria you would like. Some common groupings are by manager, department, office, or region. If you’re a Platinum or Diamond customer, we suggest using Smart Groups to create your leaderboard groups.
Users who are not in the selected groups will not have the leaderboard tab in their LX. If a user is in multiple groups, the group with the highest score will display on their leaderboard.
Badges
Badges add engagement to your security awareness training plan by providing an incentive for your users to meet specific achievements while taking their training.
Each badge has requirements associated with it. Once a user meets these requirements, they’ll receive a pop-up indicating they earned a badge. They can click the Badges tab to see what badges they’ve received and what badges are still available.
You must enable badges in your Account Settings to turn them on in the LX. By default, all badges will be available to earn. You can select or deselect badges in your Account Settings to enable or disable them in the LX.
To learn about the available badges and how users can earn them, see our Learner Support: Badges Guide article. You can also share that article with your users to encourage them to earn badges.
Surveys
You have the option to enable surveys for your user to take after they complete training content. The feedback provided can be used to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your training campaigns. For more information on surveys and the best way to utilize them, please see our article on How to Use Surveys.
Sample Templates for Stakeholders and Users
If you used the previous version of KnowBe4's training environment, you will want to consider:
- Informing stakeholders in your security awareness plan of this new learning environment, and,
- Notifying users, especially those that have taken training through the KnowBe4 console in the past, that the Learner Experience has changed.
Template for Stakeholders
Ensure you read through the template before sending, as some of the proposed text may not apply for your organization. Make any changes as appropriate for your organization.
As you may be aware, [[company_name]] partners with KnowBe4, a leader in the cybersecurity industry, to deploy security awareness training. KnowBe4 has optional gamification, in the form of badges and leaderboards, as part of its learner experience.
Gamification has been shown to improve engagement by supporting a user’s natural ambition to compete, achieve, or master. When people are intrinsically motivated to complete a task, they learn better and retain more information. Click here to watch a short, animated video explaining KnowBe4's addition of gamification.
[[company_name]] will be using the gamification option and will have badges and leaderboards turned on for our account. We are excited to see how this gamification will motivate our users and support our defense-in-depth plan.
Please reach out if you have any questions.
[[Your Name]]
Template for Users
Ensure you read through the template before sending, as some of the proposed text may not apply to your organization. Make any changes as appropriate for your organization.
Hi all,
Next time you log in for assigned training, you’ll notice some fun changes to your online learning environment. KnowBe4, the organization we partner with for training, has added gamification features that you’ll want to check out.
- Leaderboards - The leaderboard will show you how you rank up against your peers. Completely finish all of your training assignments to boost your group’s spot on the leaderboard.
- Badges - You can now collect badges as part of your training assignments. Build up your Cyber Hero trophy case by meeting the requirements of each badge.
We will notify you when you’re enrolled in training. Have fun, and be sure to let us know what you think.
Thank you,
[[Your Name]]
Training Notifications
Training notifications are available to support your Cyber Hero LX. These can be found by navigating to Training > Notification Templates > System Templates and searching for Cyber Hero in the training notification search bar.
If you're not using badges and leaderboards as part of your user training, we recommend using our standard notifications--i.e., those not labeled with (Cyber Hero).
We also recommend including a link to one or more of the following videos, which will explain how your users can access and complete their training;
- Getting Started with KnowBe4 Security Awareness Training (Use if gamification is disabled)
- Getting Started with Cyber Hero Training (Use if gamification is enabled)
- Cyber Hero Training: Badges (Use if Badges are enabled)
- Cyber Hero Training: Leaderboards (Use if Leaderboards are enabled)
FAQ
Why is gamification useful?
Gamification has been shown to improve user engagement by increasing people’s inherent ambition to compete, achieve, or master. When people are intrinsically motivated to complete a task, they learn better and retain more information. Click here to watch a short, animated video explaining gamification.
Can I see what badges my user has received, or where they rank on the leaderboards?
No, user badges and leaderboards are only visible to users and will not be viewable by admins or available in reports.
How can I access my training from the admin console? Click your email address in the top-right corner of the page and click My Training.
How can I return to my admin console while in the user learning experience?
Click your name or email address in the top-right and click Return to Console.
How are leaderboard ranking determined?
Each group's ranking is determined by the percentage of assigned training completed by the group members. All groups that have a 100% completion rate will be ranked depending on how fast all users within that group completed the training.
How is the language for individual courses determined?
If a course is not available in the language you selected for the interface, our system takes other factors into consideration when it comes to setting the default language for each course. These factors include the default language your administrator set, the language set in your browser, as well as what other languages you have selected for courses you have taken previously. However, the language you set for your LX, using the language drop-down menu on the top left of the LX, will override all other factors as long as you have not previously set it. Courses you have already started will remain defaulted to the language you originally started the course in.
How long are completed modules available in the user's ‘Training’ tab in the Learner Experience?
Modules are only listed in the user’s Training tab in the Learner Experience while a campaign is active.