Myhotcourses FAQs

• About Hotcourses

  Hotcourses is the world's largest course search website. It is accessed by millions of students every year and has helped many to find the right course and improve their life options in the UK and across the world. Our portfolio of websites is growing every day.

  If you would like help generating more enquiries please speak to us at sales@hotcourses.com.

  Click here for more information about Hotcourses websites.

• What is myhotcourses.com?

  myhotcourses.com is a content management application designed to help learning providers maintain their course information on the Hotcourses database. The site enables you to add, update and delete courses and opportunities on the Hotcourses database quickly, easily and at a time that suits you. If you have booked advertising options you can use this application to maintain your advertising profile.

• Is it free to list my courses on Hotcourses?

  Inputting your courses via myhotcourses is free. However, if you wish to optimise your search potential on our websites you may want to discuss our advertising options with our sales team.

• Can you upload course information on my behalf?

  If you've booked advertising with us, we can upload information on your behalf once a year free of charge. If you've never paid for advertising with us, we can load your information but there will be a charge for it. Please contact our sales team for a quote.

• Who can use myhotcourses.com?

  All learning providers who wish to have their courses listed on Hotcourses-branded websites.

• Why should I use myhotcourses.com?

  myhotcourses.com is the quickest and most efficient way of updating your information. You will have full control of the data entered and you can update as frequently as you wish. Quality audits show that information maintained by providers is more likely to be of a better quality and be more up-to-date.

• What are the benefits of myhotcourses.com?

  Free marketing, speed and efficiency. By keeping your information up-to-date you will provide learners with fresh and accurate data. Our websites are accessed by millions of national and international visitors. We also supply course information to specific industries (for example the BBC used our course search on their website). Your courses will be seen by more people if you use myhotcourses.

• Do I need to register first to use myhotcourses.com?

  If your organisation has not already registered, you will need to register with us.

• Who is the administrator?

  The first person to register an organisation on myhotcourses.com becomes the administrator for that provider. There can be only one administrator per provider.

• Can we have more than one user?

  Yes. Each user will need to register and the administrator will need to approve their registration. You can register as many editors as you wish.

• How do I know if my organisation is already registered?

  When you start filling in the registration form you will be asked to input the name of your institution. Once you start typing it in, a list of registered providers will appear. If you see your organisation details in the list, it means that someone has already registered your institution. Please select the name from the list. When registration has been completed you will either receive an email informing you if you have been added as an editor for an existing provider or if you have registered a brand new provider.

• How do I register?

  On myhotcourses.com page click on 'First time user? Register' button. On the next page, please fill in all mandatory fields. Once you submit your details, you will go through a process of verification. If you are the first person to register your institution on myhotcourses.com your details will need to be verified by our team and you will become the administrator. If you have registered as an additional user (editor) for an organisation that is already present on our database, your details will need to be verified by the organisation's administrator.

• Why do my details need verification?

  One of the reasons we have introduced the verification process is to help us prevent organisations registering twice. The other reason is to prevent a non-authorised user updating your data.

• I've registered, but have not been verified. Why not?

  Once you've registered your details as a new provider, the verification team will receive an email and process your request. We aim to approve your details in one working day, however occasionally it may take longer than a day.

  If you have registered as an editor, then your institution's administrator will receive an email to approve your request. If you do not hear from them in three working days please email us, by replying to your registration email.

• What are my login details?

  If you have registered using myhotcourses.com you have supplied us with your login details. If you are not sure or you cannot remember your password please click on the 'Forgotten your password?' link on the login page and follow the instructions.

• Can I change my login details?

  Yes. Please click on your name on the top right of the page. This will open your details and you'll be able to update the information.

• What is a mandatory field?

  Compulsory information you need to supply in order to save your work. All of our website searches are based on these fields. All mandatory fields have an asterisk next to the field name.

• Can I save information without filling in all mandatory fields?

  No, if you do not enter all mandatory information your changes will not be saved and your data will be lost.

• Do you support bulk upload?

  The ability to bulk upload courses via spreadsheet / .csv will is piloting now. If you are interested in taking part then please email us at bulkupload@hotcourses.com.

  The full service will be live May 2011.

• Do I need to click on the save button after I have filled in each field?

  No, but remember to save your work regularly so you don't lose any data.

• What is the character limit of each field?

  Each field is different. Please refer to the Hotcourses Data Entry Standards for specific lengths.

• How do I access my courses?

  Once you've logged on to myhotcourses.com you will see three sections, one of them being 'my courses'. If you click on the underlined number of courses you currently have, you will be redirected to your courses section. You can also access this section from the navigation bar by clicking on the 'my courses' tab.

• How do I add a course?

  In 'my courses' section under the navigation bar there is an 'add a course' link - click on that. Alternatively, to add new courses you can click on the link under the number of courses.

• How do I input my course titles?

  You can enter any course title you want, however there are a couple of things we strongly recommend - please include the subject taught or a keyword relevant to that course. Remember that learners search by keywords. Try avoiding ambiguous words and aim for clarity.

• What is the difference between courses and deliveries?

  The course represents the topic taught, and may or may not lead to a qualification or certificate at the end. It is independent of when, where or how it will be taught. The delivery methods represent when, where and how a course will be taught. One course can have many delivery methods.

• How do I know what type of course I should select when entering a new course?

  This depends on the level of your course and what qualification (if any) is awarded at the end of it.

• When do I need to select undergraduate (UG) course?

  Select this if the course is at undergraduate level, for example in UK this is typically QCF levels 5 and 6. This will include qualifications like bachelor’s degrees, HNCs, HNDs etc.

• When do I need to select postgraduate (PG) course?

  Select this if the course is at postgraduate level, typically QCF levels 7 and 8. This will include qualifications like master's degrees, postgraduate qualifications, PhDs etc

• When do I need to select adult/vocational course?

  Select this if the course is below undergraduate level, typically QCF levels 4 and below. This will include qualifications like National Diplomas, GCE A-levels and GCSEs, as well as vocational courses and those with no qualification awarded at the end of it.

• I need help when entering information

  Click on the question mark icon next to the field, as we've included some helpful entry instructions.

• I cannot save my course details

  Please check you have filled in all mandatory fields.

• I get an error message when I try to save

  Please read the information given and take the appropriate action. It's usually due to missing information in mandatory fields.

• Why do I get a warning message?

  We have embedded lots of validation rules in the application to help us collect high-quality, accurate information. If you get a warning message it means there's a potential discrepancy. Please read the message and take the appropriate action.

• How do I enter my part-time and my full-time courses?

  You can record this information in the delivery methods of a course. You will need to create two deliveries; one part-time and the other full-time.

• Do I need to retype all information if my delivery method is different in only one field?

  No, if most of your delivery methods are same you can duplicate an existing delivery and change the information you need.

• I submitted a course, but it isn't showing on hotcourses.com

  New course changes are updated overnight on our system. Your information will go live on our websites the next day.

• I don't have the exact dates for my course; can I still add the course to the database?

  Yes please. You can set the start date description to 'to be confirmed' and update the start date at a later stage.

• How often do I need to update my information?

  You can update as often as you like. It's important to keep your information current and up-to-date.

• Is there a restriction on the number of courses we can have?

  No, you can enter as many courses as your institution runs. Please remember you don't need to split the course if you offer different study modes (for example full-time and part-time options); you can enter it as one course with multiple deliveries and this course will appear in the relevant searches.

• Is there a restriction on the number of deliveries per course we can have?

  No, you can have as many deliveries attached to courses as necessary. You should enter different delivery methods for courses run at different venues or regions, durations, study modes, attendance modes and attendance patterns. Please remember that you can enter multiple start dates in one delivery.

• Is there a restriction on the number of venues we can have?

  No, there isn't a restriction on the number of venues you can have. Please remember only to enter fixed address venues. If you offer corporate training or deliver learning at multiple locations you don't need to create a venue - just select an appropriate attendance pattern and specify the region you cover.

• Is there an alternative to adding a venue without address; if I deliver learning at client sites for example?

  You do not need to add these as venues, as you can record that information in the attendance pattern and then attach regions to these opportunities.

• Do you support XCRi or other XML formats?

  XCRi was originally designed as a UK HE standard and we need to support all types of institutions in the UK and abroad so it has not been part of our core plans. However, we do plan to support XCRi by allowing our data to be exported in XCRi from myhotcourses. So if you are thinking of working in XCRi and also with the bulk upload template, we advise you to implement our bulk upload, and your courses can automatically be exposed in XCRi format and be available to other aggregators or purposes who use this XCRi.

  For more information on this development, please email bulkupload@hotcourses.com.

• I have an idea about how you can improve myhotcourses - who do I tell?

  We're always interested to hear how we could improve - please email data@myhotcourses.com.

• What is the difference between venue and department?

  The venue should be used to record the place where any physical learning will take place; this could be a college, centre, hotel, community centre etc.

  The department should be used to record the name of the department which runs the course, for example for a biology course this may be the Department of Science.

• Do my courses disappear from your websites while I am updating?

  No. While you are updating your information via myhotcourses.com your live courses aren't affected.

• How do I update a course?

  You can make individual changes by clicking on the field that needs amending. Soon you will be able to perform global changes too.

• I have updated my courses - why aren't they live on the website yet?

  Once you're happy that you have finished updating, you'll need to send your update live. Click 'send my changes live' - this will start the process. Once your changes are processed, your information will go live.

• Why do my courses need processing?

  All information supplied through myhotcourses.com is processed against our Data Entry Standards. This ensures consistency and good quality, and ensures courses appear in the correct searches.

• Which websites will my courses be displayed in?

  You can click here for a full list of our websites.

• I am a higher education institution. Can I still register with Hotcourses?

  Yes, though in UK UCAS is in charge of collecting and maintaining all the higher education data for higher education institutions, including postgraduate information. You can add, amend or delete information directly through UCAS. We currently receive updates from UCAS on a weekly basis, which are then made available to the Hotcourses websites. If you would like to update your course information, please email UCAS at coursesdata@ucas.ac.uk or call on 01242 544864. All other courses can be added through myhotcourses.com.

• I am based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland - can I still register with you?

  Yes. We accept all providers based in United Kingdom and abroad.

• What are the myhotcourses.com technical requirements?

  The site performs best in later versions of Internet Explorer (7 and 8) and latest versions of Firefox and Chrome.

• I would like to become a paying client with Hotcourses and receive extra benefits

  We have a dedicated sales team who can advise you. Please email sales@hotcourses.com

• I need help with my profile

  Please contact your customer care contact, who will help you with your query.

• Still not found an answer to your question? Please post your question to our team at data@myhotcourses.com.