A course does not hold lessons directly. It holds modules, and the modules hold the lessons. That split lets you use one module in several courses and decide for each part of a course when members get to it.
The module library needs View Module. Creating a module or a section and adding a module to a course take Create Module. Opening and editing a module and changing its status take Edit Module; on a course's Content tab you also need Edit Course and View Module. Deleting a module, a section or a lesson, or removing a module from a course, takes Delete Module.
The building blocks
From top to bottom:
- The course is what members get access to.
- Modules are its chapters, listed in the order you drag them into.
- Sections group the lessons inside a learning module.
- Lessons are the units members open and complete.
- Pages split a lesson into steps, and each page is built from elements such as text, a video or a quiz.
The elements are described in Lesson content types.
Module types
On the Content tab of a course, Create new Module offers four types:
- Learn-Module: lessons to work through. It starts with one section, named "Section 1", ready for your first lesson.
- Exam-Module: an exam whose grading scale decides whether members pass. It comes with the exam and a first question pool already set up.
- External Link: a tile that opens the Link-Url you enter in a new tab.
- Other Course: adds one of your existing courses as a module, so you can bundle courses.
Learning and exam modules are stored in your module library, the Modules tab next to Courses. Exam modules are always created inside a course like this; the library itself creates learning modules only. From the Content tab, Connect existing Module adds a library module to another course.
When members see a module
Each module in a course has a status. Click it on the Content tab to choose:
- Visible: open to everyone with access to the course.
- After previous: opens once the module before it is finished.
- On request: members ask for access and you grant it.
- Drip: opens a set number of days, from 1 to 365, after a member got access to the course: individually, through a group or by buying it. For a group, the count starts on the day the member joined the group, or on the day the course was added to the group if that was later. If a member has access in more than one way, the earliest date counts.
- Time delayed: opens at a date and time you choose.
- Date range: opens at a start date and, if you set one, closes at an end date.
- Coming soon: members see a teaser but cannot open it yet.
- Hidden: members do not see it.
Every module you add, whether created or connected, starts as Hidden. The status belongs to the course, not to the module, so the same module can be visible in one course and hidden in another. A module that is not open for a member does not open through a direct link either, and progress, submissions and quiz answers in it are not accepted.
Sections
Open a learning module with Edit. New Section opens Create Section with Title, Description, Icon and Color.
Switch on Work through lessons step by step and members have to complete each lesson before the next one in that section opens. Work through sections step by step above the sections does the same for the whole module: a section opens only once every lesson in the sections before it is complete. Locked lessons appear dimmed in the module overview. A direct link to a locked lesson shows a no-access page instead of the lesson, and progress, submissions and quiz answers for it are not accepted.
Click the status of a section to set it to Visible or Draft. A new section starts as Draft, including the first section of a new learning module, so set it to Visible before members are meant to see its lessons. While a section is a draft, you cannot change the status of its lessons. Under Quick Actions the same menu changes all lessons at once and the section with them: Set all lessons to visible and Set all lessons to coming soon make the section Visible, Set all lessons to draft makes it Draft.
Lessons
New Lesson opens Create Lesson with a Title and an Image. A new lesson starts as Draft and already has one page. Each lesson has its own status:
- Visible: members can open it.
- Coming soon: members see it dimmed and cannot open it.
- Draft: members do not see it.
Multi-Video Upload turns a batch of videos into lessons, up to 50 at a time. Each one starts as a draft with its video on the first page. Duplicate copies a lesson with all its pages and adds "Copy" to its name. Edit Lesson opens the lesson editor.
Pages
In the lesson editor, the Pages panel lists the pages of the lesson. A new page is numbered automatically, for example "Page 2". Choose Hide in a page's menu to keep it out of the course: hidden pages are skipped when you publish. Only the pages of the published version count toward completing a lesson, so hidden pages and new pages you have not published yet do not hold members up. Adding, duplicating and reordering pages and setting their duration are described in Working in the lesson editor.
Removing and deleting modules
The three-dot menu of a module on the Content tab offers two different actions:
- Remove from course takes the module out of this course only. It stays in your library.
- Delete module takes the module out of this course and deletes it from your library. The dialog blocks this while other courses still use it, so remove it from those courses first.
A module that is still part of the published version of a course cannot be deleted from the library. Delete module then only removes it from this course, and the dialog says why. Publish with Update Course first, then delete the module in the library. Members therefore never lose a module before you publish.
Changes reach members when you publish
Members never see your work in progress. Everything you change inside a course, from module statuses to sections, lessons and pages, is collected in the draft. When you publish, the current content of each module is copied into the published version.
Exam modules are the exception: questions, pools and exam settings apply to members as soon as you save them.
A lesson you add or a module you remove shows up for members only after you publish again with Update Course.