Natural England Skillport
for Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors
Skillport is the Learning Management System used by Natural England to deliver online
e-learning training. While initially set up for our internal staff it is also available to registered
volunteers, primarily our Volunteer Bat Roost Visitors.
It gives you access to a range of training courses that you can work through at your own
pace and at a time convenient to you. It will work with most computers but you may need to
make some straightforward changes to the computer’s settings – these are explained
below.
In this guide will can find out about

How to access and log in to the Skillport

Making Skillport work with your computer

Tracking your progress

Skillport error messages

Where to go for further help
NOTE: The Natural England Skillport is provided by SkillSoft which is why you will see links
in this document to both Skillport and SkillSoft internet addresses.
How to access and log in to the Skillport
To access the Natural England Skillport you will need a Login ID (your Volbat account
number) and the password that has been assigned to you. If you do not have these then
you should contact the Bat Volunteer mailbox: BatVolunteers@naturalengland.org.uk
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Volunteers must not use the REGISTER link which is on the Log In page of the
Natural England Skillport as their automatic registration only works with
@naturalengland e-mail addresses.
Click on the following link to access the Natural England Skillport. If you save it as a
favourite in your computer’s internet browser you’ll be able to return without needing to refer
to this guide each time.
 http://naturalengland.skillport.com/skillportfe/login.action
You will see a Log In screen which looks like this:
Type your Login ID (your Volbat account number) and password into the boxes then click
LOG IN. After a few seconds you’ll find yourself in your own Skillport screen from where you
can access the courses you need and track their completion.
You will find all the courses for volunteer bat roost visitors by clicking the COURSE LIST tab
and then exploring the BAT VOLUNTEERS folder.
Each module is identified by an
icon. Position your cursor over the title and you will see
an option to LAUNCH the module. There is also a SHOW DETAILS option that will tell you a
little about the course.
How to make Skillport work with your computer
The Natural England Skillport delivers your courses over the intranet. It will work with a
wide variety of internet browsers in different computers (both Windows and Mac) but you
may need to make a few changes to the set up such as

allowing your browser set to accept cookies

having Flash 8 (or higher) installed

having the correct Java Runtime Environment (JRE) plugin installed and enabled

disabling your pop-up blocker.
Details of systems that are supported and how to make changes to yours can be found later
in this guide.
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You can test your computer’s suitability by clicking this browser test link:
 http://support.skillsoft.com/browser-test.asp
Tracking your progress
The Natural England Skillport tracks your progress on each module. Click the
MY PROGRESS tab. Courses IN PROGRESS are not yet complete but once you have
successfully achieved all the criteria for a course (such as passing the evaluation test) it
should show in your COMPLETED list.
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Not all courses record the your score for the evaluation test at the end. Don’t
worry about this provided the course appears in your COMPLETED list.
Sometimes your progress on courses fails to be recorded properly. The most common
cause for this is a temporary network problem that prevents communication between the
course and the Natural England Skillport. Unfortunately, as this can be caused by a wide
range of factors, it is difficult to provide a definite explanation as to the cause of the issue,
however here are some things you could do:
1.
Close the course (if it is still open) and go the MY PROGRESS page. Use the ‘refresh’
button in your internet browser to make sure you are seeing up to date information.
2.
If that doesn’t resolve the problem you should check your browser’s capabilities at
http://browser.skillport.com
a. If it reports a ‘Fail’ for the Java Virtual Machine, follow the instructions at
http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/SPJava.htm
b. If it reports a ‘Fail’ for the Popup Blocker, disable it in your browser or add an
exception for *.skillport.com If you don’t know how to do this you can find out
from SkillSoft at http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/popup3.htm
Once you have made any changes, open the course again and retake the
assessment (you shouldn’t need to go through the whole course again). Once you
have passed the assessment go back to the MY PROGRESS page to see if it is now
recorded as COMPLETE.
3.
If the previous steps do not resolve the issue:
a. Collect your Java Console output including the activities of launching a course,
achieving activity or progress in the course, and course exit. You can find out
how to do this at http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/progress/progresspage.htm
b. Contact SkillSoft Support using one of the methods listed on that same page.
Skillport error messages
Like any computer system, Skillport will try to tell you when things aren’t working properly.
Most error messages are fairly self-explanatory but we’ve detailed some of the common
ones here. You can always find out more from the SkillSoft support pages:
 http://onlinesupport.skillsoft.com/
Skillport has not finished initializing your desktop settings
You may see this message when you attempt to log in or create a new account. It happens
if you don’t have the correct version of Java installed, or the Java you have installed has its
settings configured incorrectly.
Solution
Check your browser’s capabilities by clicking on this link http://browser.skillport.com and
following the on-screen instructions.
If it reports a ‘Fail’ for the Java Virtual Machine, follow the instructions at
http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/SPJava.htm to put things right.
If it reports a ‘Pass’ for all tests, follow the instructions at
http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/trustedsitesSS.htm to optimize your browser for
Skillport.
Login in progress… If this message remains
for more than 40 seconds click here for further instructions
Log in normally takes a few seconds but cannot work if you do not have Java installed, or if
your Java settings are not configured correctly.
Solution
Check your browser’s capabilities by clicking on this link http://browser.skillport.com and
following the on-screen instructions.
If it reports a ‘Fail’ for the Java Virtual Machine, follow the instructions at
http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/SPJava.htm to put things right.
If it reports a ‘Pass’ for all tests, follow the instructions at
http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/trustedsitesSS.htm to optimize your browser for our
site.
Where to go for further help
SkillSoft can provide you with more detailed technical support by phone (0800-973-184) or
on-line. If you click this link
 http://onlinesupport.skillsoft.com/
you can search their knowledge base, send them an e-mail or have a live on-screen (typed)
chat with an adviser. Experience from Natural England users is that the live chat help
service is quick and effective.
So what can you do if after following the guidance in this document and contacting SkillSoft
you still have a problem that prevents you from accessing the training or getting courses to
show as complete once you have done them? In these circumstances you should contact
the Bat Volunteer mailbox outlining the problems you have encountered and the steps you
have taken to remedy them.
 BatVolunteers@naturalengland.org.uk
Technical guidance from Skillport
The following information was correct in November 2014. You can check for updated
information on the Skillport support pages
 http://documentation.skillsoft.com/en_us/support/index.htm#47687.htm
System requirements
Full details on the Skillport support pages:
 http://documentation.skillsoft.com/en_us/support/index.htm#46102.htm
Operating system
Intranet browser

Microsoft® Windows Vista


Microsoft® Windows XP
o Internet Explorer Version 8 or later

Microsoft® Windows 7

Microsoft® Windows 8
o Firefox Version 21 or later
(see below if you use Firefox)

MAC OS® X versions
10.4, 10.4.11, 10.5, 10.5.7,
10.5.8, 10.6, 10.7.4, 10.7.5,
10.8.2, 10.8.4, 10.9, 10.9.2
Microsoft® Windows
o Chrome Version 29.0.1547 or later

Mac OS X: Safari 5.1.8 or later
(see below if you use Safari)
Recommended settings for your browser are:

Enable browser caching

Enable Active Scripting and Scripting of Java™ Applets

Support JavaScript™ 1.0 and Java™ 1.0.2

Support .JAR Java™ Applets

Enable Java™ Console

Accept cookies

Set your browser display to 100%
You must have Flash 8 or higher installed. Download or get guidance from Skillport:
 http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/flash2.htm
You must have the correct Java Runtime Environment (JRE) plugin installed and enabled.
Download or get guidance from Skillport:
 http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/javainstructions.htm
Your pop-up blocker must be disabled. Guidance from Skillport on how to do this:
 http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/popup3.htm
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You can test your computer’s suitability by clicking this browser test link:
 http://support.skillsoft.com/browser-test.asp
Other browser problems
Firefox
The Java JRE plugin in Firefox is automatically blocked, so you’ll need to follow the Firefox
guidance at http://support.skillsoft.com/customer/SPJava/firefox.htm to enable it.
Safari on Mac machines
An issue can exist on Mac computers in which Java seems to be installed and the
associated plug-ins enabled, but the course fails to launch properly. It is possible in this
case that Safari/OSX has continued to maintain the Java plug-ins as inactive, even though
they appear to be enabled in Safari. You can find out how to resolve this on the SkillSoft
support pages:
http://documentation.skillsoft.com/en_us/support/index.htm#51547.htm