Get started with CertPREP Courseware

A guide for admins and instructors

Thanks for choosing Pearson CertPREP courseware!

This guide will help you understand the different roles and actions you need to take to set up and deliver your course successfully. CertPREP courseware includes text, video, knowledge checks, case studies, practice labs, and a complete practice exam — all accessible through a single platform with no additional keys or registrations necessary.

Now that you’ve purchased the courses, let’s get you set up.

How licensing works

When you purchase courseware licenses for your students, you will get access to that courseware title’s Primary Course. From there, you can use the Primary Course to create multiple individual classes (called CCX Courses) for the student courseware licenses you have purchased. This allows you to customize your course, track progress, and keep enrollment separate for each class.

For example, if you have purchased 35 AWS Fundamentals licenses, you could create an “AWS Fundamentals – Monday evenings, Spring 2021” class with 15 students and an “AWS Fundamentals – March 1-5 BootCamp” with 20 students.

Admin roles and access

CertPREP Courseware has two levels of access for organizations: CCX Coach and Staff.

  1. CCX Coach - Think of a CCX Coach as the course administrator who can create/modify individual classes, enroll/unenroll students and staff, view progress, and more.

  2. Staff – Use this role for anyone who needs the ability to enroll/unenroll students and track student progress —basically, everything but create or modify classes. This role is ideal for freelance instructors.

Step 1 – Create a Pearson CertPREP account
To access the Primary Course, you first need to create a Pearson CertPREP account.
(If you already have an account, skip to Step 2.)

  1. Go to CertPREPCourseware.Pearson.com/register.

  2. Create an account using a valid email address.

  3. Verify your email address to activate your account. Look for an email from donotreply@pearsonadvance.com and follow the instructions.

You now have an active account!


Step 2 – Become a CCX Coach
We need to assign you to the Primary Course as a CCX Coach before you can create classes.

  1. Complete this form with the email address you are using for your Pearson CertPREP account (from Step 1).

  2. Within 48 business hours, you will receive an enrollment email with a link to access the Primary Course. The Primary Course will also show up on your dashboard when you log in to the CertPREP Courseware platform.
Step 3 – Create your classes
Once you have access to the Primary Course, you can set up your CCX Course(s) (individual classes) and enroll students.

  1. Log in to CertPREPCourseware.Pearson.com/register.

  2. From the dashboard, click on View Course for the newly added course.



  3. Click on the CCX Coach tab and enter a unique CCX Course name in the following format: [coursename] + [company email domain name] + [start date].

    Example: CCNA ABC Company Spring 2021

    Note: This is the name that will be seen by students.

     Click Create a New Custom Course. You will be taken automatically to your new CCX Course.



  4. Your dashboard will now include the course with the unique name you chose earlier.



    You will also receive an email stating you have been enrolled in the new course. You can click Access the Course Materials Now within the email to go directly to the course.

To create additional CCX Courses, repeat these steps.


Step 4 – Add additional staff/instructors to the CCX Course
At this time, additional staff/instructors will need to be given staff-level access to each CCX Course by Pearson VUE. Follow these steps:

  1. Enroll the new staff member to the course as you would a regular student:

    1. In the CCX Course, click on Instructor tab to get to your Instructor Dashboard, then Membership.

    2. Add the email address of the staff/instructor in the Batch Enrollment section.

    3. Click Enroll.



  2. The staff/instructor will receive an email that they have been enrolled in your CCX Course with a link to access the course. If the staff/instructor does not already have a CertPREP account, the email will include directions for creating one (or they can complete Step 1).

  3. Once the staff/instructor has created and verified their CertPREP Courseware account, complete this form with their email address and the full URL of the CCX Course.





  4. Within 48 business hours, the staff/instructor should have access to the instructor tools.


The new staff member can now access some admin capabilities under the Instructor tab inside the course.

Step 5 – Enroll students in the course
Important: Be sure you are ready to invite students before completing these steps. Students will receive an enrollment email and access to the courseware as soon as you add them to the course.

  1. Click on Instructor tab to get to your Instructor Dashboard, then Membership.

  2. Add the email address(es) of the students in the Batch Enrollment section.

  3. Click Enroll.



  4. Each student will receive an email that they have been enrolled in your CCX Course with a link to access the course. Unless the student already has a CertPREP Courseware account, the email will include directions to create one.

    Please note: The email address students use to create a CertPREP Courseware account must match the email address you used to add them to the class.

Familiarize yourself with the Pearson CertPREP Courseware platform. The tabs and features that you will see within the platform depend both on what type of course you are in (CCX Course vs. Primary Course) and your role for that course (CCX Coach, Staff, or Learner).

Within a CCX Course

Course tab

This tab will appear for everyone.

The Course tab displays the table of contents for your course. When clicking on one of the section types below, you will be able to access content or link to material hosted on other platforms but included in the course.

Course introduction: Begin here with a course description and welcome, an overview of the benefits to becoming certified, and navigation tips for the platform. Lessons: Expand each lesson to display and link directly to the subsections. Lab Library: Access the hands-on labs associated with each course in this section. Practice Exam: Launch the MeasureUp practice exam for the course from this page. Get Certified!: Learn how to schedule and take the official certification exam associated with this course. Course Video Library: Access a library of all the video assets used in the course. Instructor Resources: Download resources such as the instructor slide decks and the course syllabus/outline. Glossary (some courses): Defines key terms used throughout the course. (not pictured)


Progress tab

This tab will appear for everyone.

The Progress tab provides the user with information about their progress in the course. Links are embedded in the results so the user can jump to where that topic is covered in the course.



CCX Coach tab (admin tools)

This tab is only available to the CCX Coach.

Enrollment: Enroll additional students in this CCX Course. By typing in their email address and clicking “enroll”, an email will be generated inviting the student to the course.

Note: Make sure you’ve purchased a license to the course material for each student you enroll. Purchase additional licenses in the mindhub Pro store.

Schedule: As described above, this is where you add all units to the course. You do have the ability to edit the units that appear to your students, but we do not recommend it.

Student Admin: View or download the gradebook for students enrolled in your course.

Grading Policy (Advanced): Do not edit this section unless you with grading policy formulas in the past.



Instructor tab (Instructor Tools)

This tab will appear only to CCX Coaches and Staff/Instructors.

Course Info:

  • Course Name: The CCX Course title that is visible to students. This cannot be changed.

  • Course Run: Specified when you create the course. Becomes part of the course URL and cannot be changed.

  • Course Number: Specified when you create the course. Becomes part of the course URL and cannot be changed.

  • Organization: Specified when you create the course. Becomes part of the course URL and cannot be changed.

  • Course Start Date: The date and time that the course is scheduled to start.

  • Course End Date: The date and time that the course is scheduled to end.

  • Has the course started?: Derived from the Course Start Date value and the current date.

  • Has the course ended?: Derived from the Course End Date value and the current date.

  • Number of sections: The total number of sections created for the course. Includes all course sections, regardless of publication status, release date, or other settings that affect whether learners have access to the sections.

  • Grade Cutoffs: Specified when you define the cutoff for a failing grade. Learners who earn exactly the cutoff value pass the course.



Membership:

The Membership section on your dashboard allows you to enroll additional learners to your course as well as enroll course staff that may be assisting in the delivery of the course.

Using Batch Enrollment

  1. Within a CCX Course, select Instructor and then select Membership.

  2. In the Batch Enrollment section of the page, enter the username or email address of the learner, or enter multiple names or addresses separated by commas or new lines.

    You can copy and paste data from a CSV file of email addresses. Please note: This feature is better suited to courses with smaller enrollments than courses with massive enrollments.

  3. For Role of the users being enrolled:

    • If the learner is a member of the course staff, select Partner.

    • If the learner is not a member of the course staff, select Learner.

    Note: All the users that you enroll at one time must have the same role. If you have some users who are Partners and others who are Learners, you must complete two batch enrollments.

  4. To streamline the course enrollment process, leave Auto Enroll checked.

  5. To automatically send learners an email message, leave Notify students by email checked.

  6. Click Enroll.

Cohorts: This feature is disabled.

Student Admin: View gradebook for enrolled learners: See the number of times a student has attempted each graded activity in the course.

View a specific learner’s enrollment status: Verify a student’s enrollment status by email or username.

View a specific learner’s grades and progress: Verify a student’s grades and progress by email or username.

Adjust a learner’s grade for a specific problem: Manually adjust a student’s score on a specific graded item.

To adjust a grade:
  1. Enter a student’s email or username.

  2. Provide the location of the problem using the example above the text box.

  3. Choose one or more of the following remedies:

    • Attempts: Reset the number of attempts on the graded item to zero.

    • Rescore: Rescore the submission or rescore only if score improves.

    • Score Override: Assign a new score for the problem.

    • Problem History: Delete the learner’s answers and scores from the database.

    • Task Status: Show the status of any rescoring action you’ve previously taken.



Within a Primary Course

The Primary Course navigation tabs look similar to the CCX Course navigation, but the functionality is limited to creating new CCX Courses.

Course tab: Same functionality as CCX Course.

Progress tab: Same functionality as CCX Course.

CCX Coach tab: CCX Coach Dashboard: Create and name new/additional CCX Courses (classes).