MFA is an additional layer of security to protect your data.

Why am I asked to set up MFA?

When you sign into any online account ‘authentication’ is how you prove that you are who you say you are. In the past, this has been done through a login and password, however, this is no longer secure as many hackers have found a way to guess or bypass this method of ‘authentication’.

This is why you will notice more and more services, including your bank and online shopping, asking you to further prove you are who you are by sending a code to you either through email, text, or a specific app. To protect all our learner’s data, we have had to do the same.

Being MFA protected also means you will be able to reset your password yourself if you ever forget it, without having to contact our Learner Services team.

How to setup MFA

When you first log into Learner Hub with the details sent to you in the ‘Welcome to the new WEA digital experience’ email, you will be asked to set up how you wish to authenticate.  

Learners will be prompted to tell Microsoft 365 one of the following when first logging in:

  • Personal email address
  • Mobile phone number
  • Authenticator App setup

The most common choice is to download the Microsoft Authenticator app onto your mobile phone.

But, we know that not everyone has a mobile, so you can choose to authenticate by text message, email, or phone call. If that is what you wish to do, just click on the ‘I want to set up a different method’ button on the bottom left of the window, as indicated below.

You will then choose your recovery email address, enter your mobile phone number or be given instructions to install the authenticator app.

Image showing the choosing of an authentication method

Check out our video guide to MFA below:

Video transcript

0:00

hello and welcome to this short video on

0:01

how to set up multifact authentication

0:03

on your WEA account multimax

0:06

authentication is sometimes referred to

0:08

as MFA for short and we may use both

0:10

terms in this video and also in the

0:12

communications that we send out to you

0:13

but they mean the same thing

0:16

if you'd like to know more about

0:17

multifacts authentication or why we're

0:19

asking our Learners to take the step

0:20

then please refer to the communications

0:22

that we have sent out or alternatively

0:24

to some of the links that are below

0:26

now before we set up our multifactal

0:29

authentication you'll need two things

0:31

the first is your learner login details

0:33

this will have been sent to you in your

0:35

welcome email

0:36

in the welcome email you will have

0:38

received an email address ending in at

0:41

wa.ac.uk and also a password

0:44

make sure to have this on hand as we go

0:46

through the various steps

0:47

in addition to the learner login details

0:50

you'll also need either a mobile phone

0:52

or your own personal email address

0:54

now it's really important this email

0:56

address is not your wa.ac.uk email

0:59

address but a personal one that you can

1:01

access easily

1:03

as this will be where the authentication

1:05

process takes place

1:07

we've heard from our Learners that they

1:08

prefer not to use their mobile phone and

1:10

use an email address so this is what

1:12

this video will focus on

1:14

so once you've got these things ready

1:16

let's take our first step

1:19

the first step is to open up your

1:21

internet browser you can use any but for

1:23

this video I'll be using Chrome

1:26

now when you're on Chrome you want to

1:28

visit

1:29

ourwa.org dot UK website

1:33

once you're inside our website you want

1:35

to click on the my way section here

1:37

you'll have the option of the learner

1:39

hub login staff home staff Hub or

1:41

members of volunteers login you want to

1:44

click on learner hub login

1:47

now you have three options to join as a

1:50

new learner return as an active learner

1:52

and sign in or return as an applicant

1:54

who has not learned with us for over a

1:56

year you want to want this second option

1:58

active learner and press sign in

2:02

when you press this button you'll be

2:04

asked to put in your email address this

2:06

will be your at wa.ac UK email then

2:09

you'll need to press next and then

2:11

you'll be asked to put in your password

2:13

after you've entered your password which

2:15

again will have been in your welcome

2:16

email you'll come onto this screen where

2:19

it'll tell you that more information is

2:20

required when you've got to here please

2:23

press next

2:32

I'm being asked for my password again

2:34

which may happen to you just input it

2:37

and then you'll be asked to either stay

2:39

signed in or to choose not to do this

2:42

for the purpose of this video I'll click

2:44

no

2:48

once you've done this you'll be asked

2:50

you will be taken to this site where

2:52

you'll be asked to keep your account

2:54

secure now the option that Microsoft

2:57

gives you is to download the

2:58

authenticator app as we've said we know

3:00

that many Learners have said that they

3:02

prefer not to do this what we want to do

3:04

is go on this option at the bottom of

3:06

the screen that says I want to set up a

3:08

different method

3:09

once you click on this you'll be given

3:11

the option to click on either

3:14

authenticator app email or phone you

3:17

want to click on email confirm this

3:19

Choice and then you'll be asked to type

3:21

in your email address again it's really

3:23

important that you don't use your

3:24

waac.uk email address but instead your

3:27

personal one here I've created a test

3:30

account which I'll be inputting

3:41

when you've done this the screen will

3:44

tell you that a code has been sent to

3:46

that personal email address that you've

3:48

just put in you want to go on to your

3:50

personal email address and you should

3:52

have received an email on behalf of

3:53

Microsoft

3:54

if you open up this email you'll see a

3:57

code has been sent to you just copy this

4:00

code and take it over to your other

4:02

screen

4:03

and paste it over

4:05

then you want to click next

4:10

when you've done this you'll get a

4:11

screen that says keep your account

4:13

secure success great job you have

4:15

successfully set up your security info

4:17

choose done to continue signing in

4:19

you'll want to do this and then you'll

4:21

be within the learner Hub and able to

4:22

access your learner profile and also

4:26

canvas

4:27

we hope that this video was nice and

4:28

easy for you to follow but if you have

4:30

any questions or this is not what

4:32

happens when you go through the Journey

4:33

please refer to our learner service team

4:36

who's been contacted Ira for the chat

4:38

function or also over mobile phone

4:41

and telephone they also have an email

4:43

address which will keep at the bottom of

4:45

this video thank you and goodbye

How do I reset my password WEA Microsoft 365 password? 

You can only reset your password if MFA has been successfully set up. 

  1. On any login page, when you click on the sign in link, click on the ‘forgotten password’ or 'can't access your account' option
  2. Choose 'work or school account'
  3. You will need to enter your @wea.ac.uk email address on this screen
  4. You will be asked to choose your method for verification. Choose either the authenticator app, call, or text, depending on what methods you chose when setting up the MFA process.
  5. Enter the one-time passcode from the email, call, text or authenticator app
  6. You can now reset and choose your new password 

If you require assistance, please contact student support services via the details below. 
 

How long does my account stay active? 

WEA Microsoft 365 accounts remain active if you are currently on a course, have booked onto a future course, or have been on a course in the last 12 months. 
 

What is Single Sign On (SSO)? 

Single Sign On (SSO) is a way of simplifying how you access systems, by logging into your wea account you are signed into to other systems – such as you log once and have access to Outlook, Teams, OneDrive & Learner Hub without having to log in to each application.

Further questions?

Our friendly learner services team are always happy to help.

You can fill out the form on this page, and we'll be back in touch as soon as we can with you by email.

Live chat is available between 9am and 4pm Monday-Friday, which you can access by clicking the 'Chat with our team' button on your screen at any time. (The chat button will not show if no chat agents are available).

Lastly, you can call us on 0300 303 3464, Monday - Friday, 9am to 4:30pm.