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I have a problem with my access

FutureLearn Support
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Options for joining a short course on FutureLearn

These are the options you should see when joining a course while logged into the account under which you have joined Unlimited:

screenshot of the enrolment options page, with the option to Join through your organisation, join for with Limited access, or join and upgrade
screenshot of the enrolment options page, with the option to Join through your organisation, join for with Limited access, or join and upgrade

 

I'm not seeing the option to join a course for free with Unlimited

If you aren't seeing the option to join a course for free via your organisation when you click to join a course please follow the below troubleshooting steps:

  1. Make sure you have first accepted your invite to Unlimited first- you can get help on this from here- How do I get access to Unlimited?
  2. Make sure you are logged into the account under which you have accepted your Unlimited invite. If you have more than one account registered on FutureLearn this can cause confusion when logging in and when accessing courses. You can check which account you are logged in under from here- https://www.futurelearn.com/account/email_address/edit.
  3. Check the status of your Unlimited subscription, if it's expired you will no longer have access to the benefits of Unlimited. You can do that from here- https://www.futurelearn.com/account/subscriptions 

 

I have the option to join courses for free with Unlimited but there's an issue when I access my course

If you are seeing a valid Unlimited subscription on your account, but when you join a course you see restrictions such as:

  • not being able to access all weeks of the course

  • not being able to access test steps

  • not being able to get a certificate at the end of the course (even if the course has been completed in full)

  • or your access to the course has expired

Then it is likely that you have joined the course using our Limited Access option, rather than joining via your organisation. This is easily rectified, even if your access to the course has already expired.

If you are experiencing any of the above with your course access, you can follow either of the two below options to upgrade your access to this course from Limited Access to Unlimited. 

 

How to rejoin a course for free with Unlimited

Option 1

  1. Find the course description page by searching the full course name in the FutureLearn search box (top right of any page on FutureLearn, except from within a course itself)
  2. Click on the link to the course page
  3. Scroll down to the 'Ways to learn' section near the bottom of the course page
  4. Click on the pink button labelled 'Join free with Unlimited' at the bottom of the first option (starting from left)
  5. Your access will be upgraded to Unlimited for that course, and the expiry date reminder will be removed/ you will regain access to the course. 

Video guide to the above option:

Option 2

You can also leave a course by using the 'Leave course' link on the course card from the Your Learning page, then find the course page using the search function and rejoin it using the 'Join for free with [your organisation name]' option shown in the first section of this article.

*Some courses have a start date set in the future. This means that you can enrol on the course now, but the content is not yet open for browsing for any learners. If this is the case the course will be in the 'upcoming' section of Your Learning and it will have a calendar notice on the first page of the course, as shown in the below screenshot:

A screenshot of the first page of the upcoming course, with a notice that it starts on the 12th of February 2024. This screenshot was taken on the 23rd of January 2024.
A screenshot of the first page of the upcoming course, with a notice that it starts on the 12th of February 2024. This screenshot was taken on the 23rd of January 2024.

 

I'm having trouble getting my certificate

To qualify for a course certificate that you have joined with Unlimited you need to:

  • complete 90% of the steps in a course (by clicking on the “Mark as complete” button on each step),
  • attempt every test question in the course (if the course contains tests),
  • and score at least 70% for the course (if your course has tests or other scored assessments)

You can read more about how to mark steps in your course as complete in our guide to Proofs of completion.

If you have joined a course via Unlimited and you have fulfilled the eligibility criteria for that certificate, but the certificate is still not appearing on your achievements page then please contact us for help via email to support@futurelearn.com.

 

What support is available to me?

For any queries about your FutureLearn account please send an email to our support team at support@futurelearn.com stating your name and organisation so we can resolve your issue quickly.

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