Getting Started with Course Content Development#
When you have finished setting up your course, you are ready to build your course content.
This section provides an outline of the steps involved in developing your course content, with links to more details.
Understanding Course Building Blocks#
Before you begin, you should understand the building blocks of courses built on the Open edX® platform.
The course outline is the container for all of your course content. The outline contains one or more sections.
Course sections are at the top level of your course and typically represent a time period. A section contains one or more subsections.
Course subsections are parts of a section, and usually represent a topic or other organizing principle. A subsection contains one or more units.
Course units are lessons in a subsection that learners view as single pages. A unit contains one or more components.
Course components are objects within units that contain your actual course content.
Creating New Course Content#
Once you understand the way courses are structured on the Open edX® platform, you can start organizing your content and entering it into Studio.
You create sections, subsections, and units in the course outline.
For graded subsections, you also set the assignment type and due date.
You create components in the unit page.
In addition, you control content visibility by setting release dates on the outline and publishing units.
The following diagram summarizes the content creation workflow:
It is recommended that you test course content throughout the creation process, including making sure that the content is available for learners who access courses using the mobile apps. For more information, see design for mobile.
Note
Keep in mind that course updates that you make might take longer to appear in the mobile apps than on your course website. In particular, newly published content can take up to an hour to update on the Android app.
Making Course Content Visible to Students#
Course content visibility depends on the following factors.
The course start date.
The release dates of the section and subsection.
The prerequisite subsections that you configure.
The publishing status of the unit.
The Hide content from learners setting.
The content groups or enrollment track groups that you have allowed to access the content.
The use of the Results Visibility setting.
For more information, see Controlling Content Visibility and Access.
Making Course Content Searchable#
Learners can search course text in Text components and video transcripts by using the Search box at the top of the Course page.
Before learners can search your course, Studio must index the content. Studio indexes all new course content automatically when you publish the content.
If necessary, you can manually reindex all of the content in your course at any time. Typically, you would only manually reindex your course content if learners see unexpected search results. To reindex your course content, select Reindex Content at the top of the Course Outline page. Reindexing usually takes less than 30 seconds.
Revising Content#
You can revise your course content at any time.
When you reorganize sections, subsections, and units in the outline, the new order is immediately visible to learners if the section and subsection are released.
When you edit a unit, or components within a unit, you must publish those changes to make them visible to learners.
The following diagram summarizes the content revision workflow and content visibility:
It is recommended that you test course content during the revision process, including making sure that the content is available for learners who access courses using the mobile apps. For more information, see Designing Your Course For a Mobile Experience.
Note
Keep in mind that course updates that you make might take longer to appear in the mobile apps than on your course website. In particular, newly published content can take up to an hour to update on the Android app.
See also
Course Outline (concept)
Creating a New Course in Studio (how-to)
Create a Course (how-to)
Create the Course About Page (how-to)
Understanding a Course Outline (reference)
Add Content in the Course Outline (reference)
Developing Your Course Outline (reference)
Modify Settings for Objects in the Course Outline (reference)
Publish Content from the Course Outline (reference)
Developing Course Sections (reference)
Developing Course Subsections (reference)
Create a Section (how-to)
Create a Subsection (how-to)
Hiding a Subsection from Learners (how-to)
Add Course Metadata (how-to)
Resources for Open edX Course Teams (reference)
Resources for Open edX (reference)