What do I do if I clicked a course link and can’t access it?
Are you logged in to your user account?
You may have received a direct course link or bookmarked one from a previous visit to our site. If clicking on the link does not allow you access to the course page, it could be for a couple of different reasons.
- The first thing to check is to see if you are logged in to your poynter.org user account. Courses pages are protected pages and users must be logged in each time they try to access them.
Did you complete the course enrollment?
If you are logged in and still can not access the course page, is this a course that requires enrollment? Enrollment could require a payment or a coupon code that allows access to the course.
- To complete an enrollment or payment, you will need to be logged in and then go to the product information page. Or you could go to the direct payment page if you were provided one.
- You will then need to add the course to your cart (click the Enroll or Add to Cart button), then go to the Cart review page, and then to the Checkout page to complete a transaction.
- Once a payment or a code is provided to discount the amount due, you should gain access to the course.
- A link may show up on your screen allowing you to Start the Course and take you to the course page, or you can go to your My Courses page to find the course listed on your account.
In some cases, course pages may be protected with a password. If such a page has been shared with you, please check to make sure that you have this information. You will still need to be logged into a user account and the password for the course page will grant you access.
- If you do not have the password or if it is not working, please reach out to the producer or other Poynter contact you are working with.
In other instances, some users have multiple accounts (e.g., work email, personal email). It may be that the course was purchased on a different account than the one you are currently on. If you do not find the course on one account, perhaps access to it is on your second account.
- If you reach out to us for further help, please let us know that you have multiple accounts and share account information for any and all accounts.
If you are logged in, have completed your enrollment, or even had access previously and are no longer able to access the page, please reach out to us at info@poynter.org so that we can look further into the matter.
Has your access to the course expired?
Some of our older courses had a 365-day (1-year) access limit. If you enrolled in a course that was created before 2024 and it has been over a year, your access to the course may have expired. If you need access to the course again, please reach out to us at info@poynter.org for further help.
Poynter ACES Editing Courses:
Our 2023 and 2024 updated Poynter ACES Editing courses no longer have access limits. If you enroll in these courses, you can keep access to them even after you have completed them. You can return to them as a resource whenever you need to. However, if you do lose your access, please reach out to us for help.
Did someone share a course page link with you?
- Our courses are meant to be accessible only to the account user who enrolled. If a colleague enrolls you in a course because your organization is covering the cost, please make sure you have access to the account if you will be the one completing the course.
- If the payment can not be completed on your account or they can not share the account they are using to pay the enrollment or tuition fee, you can reach out to us (info@poynter.org) to request an invoice.
- After an invoice is processed and paid, we can provide a coupon code for you to complete online enrollment on your account.
- If someone shared a course link with you because they want to share a lesson with you, please note that you will not have access to the course unless they share their account or you enroll in the course with your own account.
Contact us:
There can be other reasons for a course page not to work properly (i.e.: internet connections, website interruptions, enrollment did not connect to the course correctly). If you are unable to access a course page and have made sure you are logged in and completed your enrollment, feel free to reach out to us at info@poynter.org or give us a call at 727-821-9494. If you are working with a program producer or coordinator, you can also reach out directly to them. Their direct contact information is usually included in any communications they have shared with you.
- Please be prepared to provide your user account information (name, email, username) and the proper course or program name.