Course Review & Feedback: Team Comments and External SME Review

7taps offers two ways to gather targeted feedback on courses during development: Team Commenting for internal collaboration and SME Review for external expert input. Both methods let reviewers leave card-specific comments to help you refine content before it reaches learners.

7taps provides two complementary feedback systems designed for different collaboration scenarios:

Team Commenting - Internal collaboration among people who already have access to your 7taps courses. Team members can leave comments directly in the course editor, making it ideal for real-time collaboration with colleagues.

SME Review - External feedback from subject matter experts, consultants, or stakeholders who don't need 7taps accounts. Reviewers receive email invitations and access a view-only interface where they can comment on specific cards.

Both methods use the same underlying comment system, so all feedback appears together in your Comments panel, organized by card number.

💡 How These Features Work Together

Both Team Commenting and SME Review use the same comment infrastructure. This means:

⚠️ Important: These features are for gathering feedback during the development process, not for learner delivery. To share courses with learners, use the other sharing methods (link or QR code, email, SCORM, etc.).

Plan availability: SME Review is available on the Enterprise plan. Team Commenting is available to all team members with course access.

Before requesting feedback, determine which method fits your situation:

Yes! You can have team members commenting in the editor while external SMEs review via email. All comments appear together in your Comments panel.

Team Commenting allows anyone on your 7taps team with course access to leave feedback directly in the course editor—no special setup required.

Any team member who has access to your courses can:

From the course editor:

The Comments panel shows:

To comment on a specific card:

Your comment appears immediately for all collaborators (both team members and any external SME reviewers).

Alternatively:

Comments in the editor are organized by:

You can:

Team members receive notifications for:

You can delete your own comments at any time:

⚠️ Warning: Course creators can delete any comment (including yours). When a comment is deleted, it's permanently removed for all collaborators.

Team members can invite external reviewers directly from the Comments panel:

This is a convenient shortcut when you realize you need external feedback while already working in the course editor.

SME Review enables you to gather feedback from people who don't have 7taps accounts—external consultants, subject matter experts, or stakeholders outside your organization.

SME Review is an email-based collaboration tool specifically designed for external reviewers. Use it when you need:

The Process Overview:

For course creators:

For reviewers:

Step 1: Access the Share Menu

From your course editor:

Alternatively:

Step 2: Add Reviewer Email Addresses

In the sharing interface:

💡 Tip: You can send additional review requests in batches of 10, but for most use cases, gathering feedback from 1-4 reviewers is most effective. Too many reviewers can create conflicting feedback and slow down the revision process.

Step 3: Customize the Email Message

Default settings:

The course title is automatically inserted into the default message, but you can customize both:

✅ Best practice: Use the message to provide context:

Example customized message:

"Hi [Name], I'd appreciate your expert review of this compliance training module. Please focus on technical accuracy in cards 5-8 and let me know if the examples feel realistic. I'm aiming to finalize this by Friday, so any feedback by Thursday would be incredibly helpful. Thanks!"

Step 4: Send the Request

Reviewers receive an email with:

When they click the button, they access the review interface immediately. No login, no account creation, no password required.

Review Interface:

The review interface features a split-screen layout:

Left side: Course preview

Right side: Comments panel

Reviewers can comment in two ways:

Method 1: While viewing a card

Method 2: Adding to existing card comments

Comment organization:

When finished reviewing:

Important notes:

What Reviewers Cannot Do:

External SME reviewers can control how they receive notifications about new comments:

To configure notification settings:

This allows reviewers to stay informed without being overwhelmed by emails, especially on courses with multiple active reviewers.

💡 For course creators: If you're collaborating with your team on draft content using invalid/incomplete cards, those discussions remain private to team members. External SME reviewers only see the polished, valid cards ready for review.

⚠️ Mobile limitation: The SME review interface is only available on desktop/laptop devices. Reviewers accessing the link from mobile devices will not be able to complete the review. Team members can still leave comments on mobile through the course editor.

As a course creator, you manage feedback from both team members and external SME reviewers in one unified interface.

In the course editor:

Status indicators:

Team members can:

External SME reviewers can:

7taps creators can:

You receive email notifications in several scenarios:

1. When new comments are added

2. When an external reviewer completes their review

3. In-product notifications

Your own comments: You can delete your own comments at any time:

Reviewer comments (team members or external SMEs): As the course creator, you can delete any comment:

⚠️ Warning: When you delete a comment, it's permanently removed for all collaborators—team members, external SME reviewers, and other course creators will all lose access to it. This action cannot be undone.

You can continue editing your course while reviews are in progress:

💡 Tip: If you make major structural changes (reordering cards, deleting cards), consider informing your reviewers that comment card numbers may have shifted. For example, if you delete card 3, all comments referencing "card 4" now actually refer to what is now card 3.

⚠️ Important: If you add new cards or make existing invalid cards valid during an active review, external SME reviewers will see these changes when they refresh. However, if you're still working on invalid/draft cards, reviewers won't see these—allowing you to iterate internally while external review is ongoing.

Track the status of external SME review requests and manage ongoing reviews.

Access the Review requests page from the sharing interface:

Active reviewers section:

💡 Note: Reviewers are considered "active" once they've opened the link, even if they haven't completed the review or left any comments.

Not yet started section:

Hover tooltip: Hover over the info icon next to "Active reviewers" to see: "Active reviewers are those who have at least opened the link sent to them. SMEs are considered active if they also clicked 'Complete Review'."

From the Review requests page:

All reviewers (original and new) can see each other's comments and collaborate—including comments from your internal team members.

Canceling a Review Request:

If you need to cancel an active review request:

What happens when you cancel:

Resending a Review Request:

If a reviewer marked their review as complete but you need them to review again (for example, after making significant changes):

What happens when you resend:

This is useful when you've made substantial revisions based on feedback and want the same expert to verify your changes.

All reviewers (team members and external SMEs) can interact with each other's feedback:

This creates a collaborative review environment where expertise compounds across your internal team and external experts.

Team commenting is for people already on your 7taps team who have access to your course editor. They can leave comments directly in the Comments panel without needing a review invitation. They can also edit the course if they have permissions.

SME Review is for external reviewers who don't have 7taps accounts. They receive an email invitation and access a view-only review interface where they can comment but not edit.

Both use the same commenting system, so all comments appear together in your Comments panel, organized by card number.

Yes! This is actually a powerful feature. You can have:

They'll receive the email invitation and can use the review interface if they prefer. However, it's more efficient for them to simply access the Comments panel directly in the course editor since they already have access.

No need to convert—they work together. Team members can click "Request SME review" from the Comments panel to invite external reviewers, and all comments will appear together.

Notification content is similar, but:

No. External SME reviewers can only:

They cannot make any changes to the course content.

No. Review links remain active indefinitely provided that the course still exists and is shared. External reviewers can:

The link continues working as long as the course exists in your account.

Yes. As the course creator, you can delete any comment at any time—whether from team members or external SMEs. However, deletion is permanent and removes the comment for all collaborators.

Individual reviewers (both team members and SMEs) can only delete their own comments.

The course preview (for external SMEs) and editor view (for team members) always display the most current version of your course:

Yes! This is one of the strengths of the system:

While you can invite up to 10 external SME reviewers per batch (plus unlimited team member reviewers), 2-4 total reviewers typically provides:

Too many reviewers can lead to contradictory feedback and decision paralysis.

Yes! Providing context helps reviewers give better feedback. Consider including:

No. SME Review is specifically designed for internal feedback and collaboration during the development process. To share courses with learners, use:

Check the Review requests page to see if they've:

If they haven't opened the link, you can:

Yes! Team members can see comments from both internal team members and external SME reviewers in the same Comments panel. They can also click "Request SME review" from the Comments panel to send review invitations to people outside the team.

Since feedback is tied to individual cards, course-level feedback can be left on either:

Make it clear in your comment that you're addressing the entire course.

No. Reviews operate at the course level, so each course within a Learning Path would need to be shared individually with your SME reviewers. However, you can:

Responses from SME reviewers are not saved. Each time a reviewer accesses the review interface, they start with a clean slate. This ensures:

No. If SSO is enabled, external reviewers outside your organization won't be able to access the review interface. In this case, you'll need to:

For course creators:

✅ Provide clear context - Customize your review request email with specific guidance on what kind of feedback you need

✅ Set deadlines - Include your timeline in the review request message to encourage timely feedback

✅ Start with team members - Get quick internal feedback from team members first, then invite external SMEs for specialized review

✅ Use both methods strategically - Team members for quick iterations, external SMEs for expert validation

✅ Respond to comments - Acknowledge feedback and let reviewers know how you're addressing their suggestions

✅ Track review status - Check the Review requests page periodically to see who's engaged with the content

For providing feedback:

✅ Be specific - "This example isn't realistic" is more helpful than "I don't like this"

✅ Reference card numbers - Helps everyone find the content you're discussing

✅ Explain your reasoning - "This terminology might confuse new hires because..." provides context for your feedback

✅ Build on others' comments - If you agree with another reviewer, say so and add your perspective

✅ Mark review as complete - This signals to the course creator that you're done (even though you can return later)

For managing feedback:

✅ Review comments as they come in - Don't wait until all reviewers finish; address clear issues immediately

✅ Group similar feedback - If multiple reviewers raise the same concern, prioritize addressing it

✅ Clarify conflicting feedback - If reviewers disagree, follow up with them to understand their perspectives

✅ Thank your reviewers - Acknowledge their time and expertise (even if you don't implement every suggestion)

If you have questions about course feedback, team commenting, or SME Review, contact the 7taps support team through the Help button in your account.