Courses, modules and lessons

A course consists of modules, a module of lessons. “Create course” under “Courses” creates a course – the title is enough, you add everything else later. A course has the tabs “Content”, “Access”, “Sales”, “Certificate”, “Cohorts” and “Settings”; “Sales”, “Certificate” and “Cohorts” are only visible to admins and the owner.

In the “Content” tab, the “Structure” with all modules and lessons is on the left, the lesson you picked on the right. You create a module with “Module” at the end of the structure and a lesson with “Lesson” below the module. You change a module's title right in the structure (pencil icon), which saves at once; the module's “…” menu holds “Edit module”, publish or withdraw, and “Delete module”. You reorder by dragging – or with the keyboard, using the handle and the arrow keys.

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A lesson has one shared save bar: title, type, description and the “Lesson settings” are saved together with “Save” (⌘S or Ctrl+S), and “Discard” undoes the changes. If you pick another lesson with unsaved changes, CourseKit asks whether to save or discard. You delete a lesson from the “…” menu next to its title (“Delete lesson”), after a confirmation. The description is formatted text with headings, lists and links – a “/” at the start of a line opens the choice. Under “Options” you mark a lesson as “Free preview” (your sales page then shows “Watch for free” next to it: anyone can watch it there without an account – video, audio and text, not the materials, whatever its release; in the member area it still opens only with access) and enter its “Duration”.

At the top of the lesson, “Type” says what the lesson is at its core:

• Video – uploaded, or linked from Vimeo or YouTube.
• Audio – an MP3 or M4A file with its own player.
• Text – the content is the description, plus materials.
• Quiz – questions the server grades (more in the article “Quizzes, certificates, cohorts and learning record”).

Every lesson can also have materials. If you upload an audio file, it replaces the lesson's video.

You upload videos directly on every plan – hosting is included, only the quota differs. In the lesson choose “Video” under “Type”, “Upload” under “Source” and drop the file in (MP4, MOV or WebM). Keep the page open until the upload is done – the video is then processed in the background and the lesson shows “Ready”. How long that takes cannot be promised; you may close the page meanwhile. The duration is filled in automatically.

Alternatively you embed videos via Vimeo or YouTube: choose the provider under “Source” and paste the video's link – just as you copy it there through “Share”. The line below the field says which video CourseKit found. The link of an unlisted Vimeo video has two parts after “vimeo.com/” (vimeo.com/123456789/abcdef1234); without the second one the video does not play. The question mark next to the field shows it right there.

For uploaded videos you can add a WebVTT or SRT file per language under “Captions”; members switch them on in the player themselves.

Uploaded videos only play for members with valid access, through a link that expires after a few hours. CourseKit also only hands out the embeds of Vimeo and YouTube videos to members with access. There is no download button for videos.

Note: During the trial, uploaded video has limits: up to 3 hours stored, 5 GB per file, at most 3 uploads at the same time. With a plan, its quota applies at once (files up to 50 GB).

Note: How much video delivery your plan includes per month is shown under “Plan & billing”. If it is more, your videos keep playing – you only get a notice.

For an audio lesson, choose “Audio” under “Type” and upload an MP3 or M4A file (up to 1 GB). Members listen in a player of its own that keeps playing with the screen locked and shows the lesson on the lock screen. The playback link only works for members with access and expires after a few hours; an expired link is renewed by itself while someone keeps listening. Audio is possible on every plan; during the trial, video and audio share the storage.

You attach materials to the lesson: PDFs and worksheets, images, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, ZIP archives or audio files (MP3, M4A) – drop a file in or pick one, up to 50 MB per file. Videos do not belong in the materials, upload them as the lesson's video. A material is saved the moment it is uploaded, without “Save”.

The files live in private storage: access is checked again on every download, including the lesson's release. A shared link therefore does not work for people without access – not even after someone's access has expired. Members can listen to audio material right in the lesson; for that they get a link that expires after a few hours.

A course does not need an image of its own. Without an upload, it gets a cover made from your theme colours and the course title that works in light and dark mode. Under “Settings” → “Cover” you choose one of six templates or upload your own image.

If a lesson has a video – uploaded, or from Vimeo or YouTube –, CourseKit fetches its still once and stores it with us. It appears as the preview over the player, on the “Continue watching” tile on the home page and on the lesson tiles of the “Stage” layout; in the admin you see it as the preview in the lesson's player.

If you change the video, the picture is replaced too; if you remove it, the picture goes. A lesson that is still locked never shows a preview image. A picture of your own for a single lesson cannot be uploaded – for the course it can (see “Cover”).

New courses are drafts. Only after “Publish” (at the top of the course) do members with access see the course. “Unpublish” turns it back into a draft: the access is kept, but only applies again once you publish the course again – until then nobody can open the lessons. If members have access right now, CourseKit asks first and names the number. On the Starter plan, at most 2 courses can be published at the same time.

Modules and lessons have a status too. A new module or lesson in an already published course starts as a draft, so nobody sees something half-finished; you publish it with “Publish” in the module's “…” menu or at the top of the lesson. For members a draft does not exist; you and your team see it in the member area, marked, as long as the course is published. “Withdraw” takes a module or lesson away again; progress and bookmarks are kept and come back with the publication. In a course or module that is itself still a draft, new content is published at once – it becomes visible with the course or module.

How long a purchase unlocks the course, you set in the course under “Settings” → “Access length”: 90, 180 or 365 days, “Unlimited” or “Other …” with a number of days of your own. It applies to new purchases; running access stays as it is. If a product brings a duration of its own, that takes precedence (more in the article “Access and durations”).

Instead of a length, “Until date …” sets a fixed end – for a course that ends for everyone on 31 December, say. Access then runs through that day (German time), whenever someone buys. A purchase never shortens access that already runs longer. If someone buys after the end date, the payment is recorded but nothing is unlocked; “Payments” shows a warning, and you can extend the member's access by hand. Here too, a product's own duration takes precedence.

In the “Lesson settings” on the right, “Release” offers “At once”, which opens the lesson with the access, and “After … days”, which counts from the day a member's access starts – so everyone gets the lesson on their own day X, whenever they bought (whole days, up to 3650). Below it, the page says from when the lesson would be open for a purchase today. The setting applies once you have saved the lesson. An extension does not restart the delay.

“Fixed period” opens a lesson for every member at the same time, whenever they bought – the recording of a live session, say. “From” is a date and time (German time), “Until” is optional. After the end the lesson is closed for every member, including those who completed it; they see it in the list as “Ended”. You and your team can still open it. A fixed period and a release after days cannot be combined, and in a cohort the period counts, not the cohort start.

A lesson that has not been released yet stays in the list, with a date and a lock. It cannot be opened: neither the video nor any material is served. What a member has already completed stays open. In the course's “Access” tab, “Delayed release” lists every lesson with a delay or a fixed period; per person, the “Release plan” in the detail view shows what opens when.

Note: Groups with a shared start (cohorts) count from the cohort start instead of the purchase – more in the article “Quizzes, certificates, cohorts and learning record”.

You delete a course in the course under “Settings” → “Delete”. Before that, CourseKit shows how many members lose access and how many product mappings no longer unlock anything. The course disappears from the member area at once and stays in the archive for 90 days (“Archive (n)” in the course list). There you bring it back as a draft with “Restore” – all access applies again. Afterwards it is deleted for good with lessons, materials and access.