Course Structure
Organize your course content into sections, lessons, quizzes, assignments, files, and terms.
A course's content is built like a tidy outline: a tree of items you can arrange any way you like. You group things into sections, add lessons and activities inside them, and reorder everything by dragging. This is where your course really takes shape.
The building blocks
You can add any of these to a course:
| Building block | What it is |
|---|---|
| Section | A folder that groups items together — for example "Module 1" or "Week 3". |
| Lesson | A single piece of teaching: a video, text, PDF, live session, and more. See Lesson types. |
| Quiz | A set of questions that test understanding. See Assessments & Quizzes. |
| Assignment | A task learners submit — a file upload, a written answer, or a quiz. |
| File | A downloadable resource such as slides or a handout. See Files and resources. |
| Term / period | A boundary that splits content into periods, like "Semester 1". |
Sections can hold other sections, so you can nest content as deeply as you need — for example, a section "Week 1" inside a section "Module A".
Terms and periods
A term (also called a period) divides your content into stretches of time, such as Semester 1 and Semester 2. You add it like any other item, and it groups the content that belongs to that period. Full details — including how terms affect grading and progress — live in Terms and periods.
What you can do with each item
When you build the outline, you have these controls for any item:
- Add a new section, lesson, quiz, assignment, file, or term.
- Reorder items by dragging them up or down.
- Move an item into or out of a section.
- Clone the whole curriculum — copy an entire course outline into another course as a starting point.
- Set the status of any single item to draft (hidden) or published (live).
- Mark an item as free preview so anyone can open it without enrolling.
- Hide an item from public listings so it does not appear on the course page before enrollment.
- Show an item as restricted — display a locked badge for content a learner cannot open yet.
A free preview item is a great way to give a taste of the course. Pick one strong lesson and mark it as free preview to attract enrollments.
How to build your outline
- Open your course and go to the Curriculum (content) area.
- Click Add Section and give it a name, such as "Module 1".
- Inside the section, click Add and choose a lesson, quiz, assignment, file, or term.
- Fill in the item and Save.
- Drag items to reorder them, or drag them between sections.
- For any item, open its options to set its status, mark it free preview, hide it, or show it as restricted.
- Repeat until your course is complete.
What the learner sees
Learners see your outline as a clean list of sections and lessons. They open items in order and track their progress as they go.
- Free preview items can be opened without enrolling.
- Hidden items do not appear on the public course page.
- Restricted items show a locked badge — the learner can see it exists but cannot open it until they qualify. The platform does not display a detailed reason; the item is simply locked.
Tips
- Group lessons into sections so the course feels organized, not like one long list.
- Clone an existing course's outline when you teach a similar subject — then edit it.
- Use terms when a program runs across semesters; they keep periods clear.
Related pages
- Lesson types — the kinds of lessons you can add.
- Reusable content — build items once, use them in many courses.
- Scheduled content release — release items over time.
- Who can access content — control what each learner can open.
- Terms and periods — organize content into periods.