A course's content (its curriculum, syllabus, or modules) is made of sections, and each section holds lessons. You build it in the Curriculum section of the course's Course Management panel.
Who can do this: Community owners and admins, and the course's space admins. Moderators and instructors can't edit course content. · Where: Web only. · Plan: Courses depend on your platform plan. Bulk video upload and linking live sessions or events to lessons also depend on your plan.
Open a course's curriculum
- Open the course's Course Management panel. On the course page, click the gear icon (Manage Course), or in Admin → Courses → All Courses, click the Edit Content icon on the course's row.
- Click Curriculum. The Course Content page lists the sections and lessons, with totals for sections, lessons, and minutes.
Add a section to a course
- Click Add Section. In a course with no content yet, click Create first section.
- Enter a Title and, optionally, a Description.
- Optionally turn on Preview section to make the section visible before enrollment.
- If Drip content is on in Course Settings, set when the section unlocks: an Unlock date, or a number of Days after enrollment, depending on the drip mode. These fields don't appear while drip content is off.
- Click Add section.
To edit a section later, open its ⋯ menu and click Configure Section.
Add a lesson to a section
- In the section, click Add New Lesson. In an empty section, click Add your first lesson to this section.
- Choose the lesson type in Lesson Type (labeled Resource Type for non-text lessons). You can't change a lesson's type after you create it.
- Enter a title and the lesson's content (see the lesson types below).
- Optionally add a short description and the minutes it takes to complete (Mins to complete or Duration (min)).
- Click Create New Lesson.
To edit a lesson, open its ⋯ menu and click Edit Lesson. Click Save changes when you're done.
Course lesson types
| Lesson type | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Text Content | Written content in a Markdown editor. You can add images. |
| Video | An uploaded video (MP4, M4V, or MOV). Mateflow processes it for streaming; you can add Chapters and a Subtitle track (WebVTT .vtt file). |
| File Download | A file learners download, such as a PDF, Word, or Excel file, or an image. Set a Display File Name if you like. |
| Embedded Content | An external page shown in the lesson. Enter an HTTPS Target URL; the other site must allow embedding. |
| Quiz | Graded questions. Create the lesson first, then add questions. See Add a quiz to a lesson. |
For video chapters, enter one chapter per line as mm:ss Title, with timestamps in increasing order. The lesson editor shows a new video's processing status.
Lesson settings: required, preview, and comments
Each lesson has three switches: in the left-hand panel for text lessons, or on the Lesson Settings tab (with the longer names in brackets) for other types.
- Required (Completion Required): learners must complete this lesson to progress. If the course's completion criteria is Required lessons only, the course needs at least one required lesson before you can publish it.
- Preview (Public Preview): people who haven't enrolled can open this lesson, which works as a free sample of the course.
- Comments (Discussion Board): learners can discuss the lesson.
Add attachments or a live session to a lesson
Save the lesson first; then you can add these.
- Attachments: click Click to upload attachments and choose files (PDF, Word, Excel, images, and more). Deleting an attachment removes it from the lesson right away, after you confirm.
- Live sessions & events: click Link live session / event to show a live session or event from this course inside the lesson. You can make it Required and choose when it Counts as complete when: Attended, or Attended or watched replay.
Reorder, move, or delete sections and lessons
- Reorder: drag a section or lesson by its handle, including into a different section. A moved lesson takes on its new section's unlock schedule and preview setting; Mateflow asks you to confirm if those differ.
- Delete a lesson: open the lesson's ⋯ menu, click Remove, then Remove Lesson. This permanently deletes the lesson's content.
- Delete a section: open the section's ⋯ menu, click Delete Section, then Delete Everything. This permanently deletes the section and all its lessons.
Upload many video lessons at once
Open a section's ⋯ menu and click Bulk upload videos. Add the files, adjust the titles (they start as the file names) and order, then click Start upload & create. Each video becomes a lesson in that section. If your platform plan doesn't include bulk upload, add lessons one at a time.
Things to know about lessons and publishing
- Lessons don't have their own draft or publish state. The whole course is published or unpublished at once, and it needs at least one section and one lesson. See Publish a course.
- An archived course's curriculum is read-only.
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