Course Ratings
Learners can rate a course from 1 to 5 stars and add an optional short comment. The average and the number of ratings appear on the course tiles in the catalog, on the course page, and on the public storefront when the course is public. You read every rating — with its comment — in the course editor, and the averages appear in the Course Engagement report and its CSV export.
Ratings are on by default for every course, existing and new. You can turn them off for any single course.
Prerequisites
- Role: Admin or Owner, or an Instructor on the courses they are assigned to — anyone with the
course:updatepermission. - To see ratings in the report you need the
report:readpermission (for example Admin and Owner). A reader whose reports are scoped to certain learners — such as a Group Admin — sees those learners’ ratings only.
Who can rate, and when
- A learner can rate a course once they are enrolled (the enrollment is active or completed). One rating per enrollment: rating again edits the same rating instead of adding a second one.
- When a learner finishes a course and has not rated it yet, the course page opens with a “How was this course?” prompt, and the completion screen shows a Rate this course link. The prompt never blocks anything — the learner can ignore it.
- A learner can change or remove their own rating at any time while ratings are on.
Who sees what
| Viewer | Sees |
|---|---|
| Learners (catalog, course page) | The average and the number of ratings, plus their own rating and comment. Never another learner’s comment. |
| Public storefront (not signed in) | The average and the number of ratings only — for public courses. Comments are never public. |
Course team (course:update) | Every rating with its comment, the learner’s name and the date — in the course editor. |
Report readers (report:read) | Average rating and rating count per course in Reports → Course Engagement, and in its CSV export. |
Comments are shown as plain text — formatting and links are not rendered.
Read the ratings for a course
- In the left sidebar, go to Courses and open the course.
- Open the Settings tab and find the Ratings card.
- The card shows the average and count, then the ratings, newest first: stars, the learner’s name, the date and the comment.
- If there are more than 25, click Show more to load the next ones.
Ratings are a course-level setting — not part of a course version — so the card is available on a published course without starting a new version.
Remove an abusive or off-topic rating
- In the Ratings card, find the rating.
- Click Remove, then Confirm remove.
The rating disappears from the list and from the average right away. It is soft-deleted (kept in the database, hidden everywhere) and the removal is written to the audit log. If the learner rates the course again later, their new rating counts.
Turn ratings on or off for a course
- Go to Courses and open the course.
- Open the Settings tab.
- In the Ratings card, switch Allow learners to rate this course off.
- The change saves immediately and is recorded in the audit log.
Switch it back on the same way.
What happens while ratings are off
- Learners no longer see the rating panel, the prompt, or the average — on the catalog, the course page and the storefront.
- Nobody can add, change or remove a rating. The server refuses the request, so hiding the button is not what stops it.
- Existing ratings are kept exactly as they are. You can still read them and remove abusive ones in the Ratings card, and they still count in the Course Engagement report.
- Turning ratings back on restores the average and every learner’s rating as they were.
Configuration reference
| Field | Where | Default | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Allow learners to rate this course | Course editor → Settings → Ratings | On | Off hides the average and the rating panel from learners and the storefront and refuses new or changed ratings. Existing ratings are preserved. |
| Rating | Learner course page | — | 1 to 5 stars. Required. |
| Comment | Learner course page | Empty | Optional, up to 1,000 characters, plain text. Shown to the course team only. |
| Avg rating / Ratings | Reports → Course Engagement (+ CSV) | — | Average of the live ratings (one decimal) and how many there are. A reader scoped to certain learners (for example a Group Admin) sees those learners’ ratings only. |
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A course tile shows no stars | Nobody has rated the course yet, or ratings are off for it | Expected. Stars appear after the first rating while ratings are on. |
| A learner says they cannot rate | They are not enrolled, their enrollment was dropped or is waiting for approval, or ratings are off | Enroll the learner, or turn ratings on in Settings → Ratings. |
| The report shows ratings for a course with ratings off | Turning ratings off keeps existing ratings | Expected — the report reads every live rating. Remove individual ratings in the Ratings card if needed. |
| The Ratings card is missing | You do not have course:update, or you are an Instructor who is not assigned to this course | Ask an Admin to assign you to the course. |
A comment shows odd characters such as <b> | Comments are plain text; formatting is not rendered | Expected and intentional. |
Learner-facing instructions: see the KB article Rate a Course.
Need help? Contact your EmbayLMS onboarding team or open a support ticket.