Create a course with AI
Create is one screen that replaces the old two-step “new program” wizard. You either describe what you want to teach, or pick a shape and name it — and either way you see the whole plan before a single lesson is written.
What this does
Section titled “What this does”Two people arrive at “make a course” in completely different states of mind, and neither is rare:
- “I know what I want to teach” — they type a sentence.
- “I want to build a course” — they pick a shape and name it.
Both live on one screen. The description box leads; the template cards sit under it. Choosing a template is a complete, AI-free path to a named program, and the AI is still available at every later step if you want it.
Nothing is written to your organization until you press the button that says it will be.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- Permission to create a course. Without it the flow says “You can’t create courses here” and offers to take you to your existing courses instead.
- Optionally, a document to build from — upload it here or pick one already in Sources.
- Optionally, a curriculum set up, if you want to align outcomes to a framework. See Curriculum & reference data.
Open it
Section titled “Open it”| Where | How |
|---|---|
| Your home page | The Create tile |
| Programs | Create with AI in the page header |
| Directly | /dashboard/create |
Step 1 — Say what you want, or pick a shape
Section titled “Step 1 — Say what you want, or pick a shape”Describe it. “A Grade 7 science lesson on ecosystems, with a starter, a group activity and an exit ticket.” As you type, chips appear under Understood: showing what was actually picked up — the type, the topic, the difficulty, the number of items. Only those four. It does not infer subject or grade, and the screen doesn’t pretend otherwise.
Or pick a template. Self-paced, Cohort, Blended, Certification, Event-led, Pathway. Each carries its own completion defaults, exactly as the old wizard’s “what kind of program?” question did. The cards are reordered — never hidden — for the kind of organization you are: a school sees Cohort first, because a school year is a cohort moving together; a company sees Self-paced first, because people start when they’re hired.
More options opens three sections: your own material, what’s included, how learners move through it.
Base it on your material
Section titled “Base it on your material”Upload a document, or pick one already processed. Modules, lessons and materials are then built from what’s inside it — and it stays attached, so anything you add to the course later is grounded in it too.
You can carry on while it’s being read (“Preparing ecosystems.pdf — you can carry on, we’ll wait before planning”). A file that can’t be read is dropped with a message, and the course is still built without it.
What should it include?
Section titled “What should it include?”Three switches: Modules & lessons, Teaching materials, An assessment. Turning off teaching materials gives you a structure to fill in yourself.
Fine-tune
Section titled “Fine-tune”Every knob defaults to AI is deciding, and the header shows whether you’ve changed anything.
| Setting | Options |
|---|---|
| What to generate | Text · Questions · Images · Audio |
| Images should be | Auto · Photos · Illustrations |
| Audio length | ~1 min · ~3 min · ~5 min |
| Items per lesson | Auto, or a number |
| Difficulty | Easy · Medium · Hard |
| Tone | Professional · Friendly · Encouraging · Formal |
| Go beyond my documents | Off means everything comes strictly from the material you attached |
A live summary keeps you honest: “Each lesson gets written explanations, questions and images, medium difficulty, friendly in tone.” Turn everything off and it says so — “Nothing selected — turn something on, or the lessons stay empty.”
Then choose Plan it.
Step 2 — Which outcomes should this cover?
Section titled “Step 2 — Which outcomes should this cover?”Optional. Skip it and the course is still made.
- Suggested for what you described — outcomes derived from your prompt, tap to add.
- From your curriculum — search a framework you’ve set up. This section starts expanded for schools and collapsed for companies, because a school aligning to national standards wants it open and a company writing its own objectives does not.
- Write your own — free text, for organizations with no curriculum configured.
If suggestions can’t be fetched, you’re told, and you can retry or write your own — either way the course still gets made.
Step 3 — Here’s the shape of it
Section titled “Step 3 — Here’s the shape of it”The plan, before anything exists:
Keep the parts you want and drop the rest. Nothing is written until you continue.
You can rename any module or lesson inline, add lessons, remove modules, and remove the assessment. Each item built from a document is marked Built from ….
How much should we write now?
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Every lesson — all 24 | Runs unattended, takes a few minutes, and notifies you when it’s done |
| Just the first lesson | Quick — see what it writes before committing to the rest |
| (teaching materials off) | Structure only; you fill the lessons in yourself |
A one-line summary states the consequence precisely — “Building this makes 6 modules and 24 lessons, then writes materials into the first lesson for you to review. The other 23 stay empty until you fill them.”
Then Build it & write every lesson, Build it & write the first lesson, or Build it.
Step 4 — It writes, you carry on
Section titled “Step 4 — It writes, you carry on”Choosing to write every lesson hands the work to a background job:
We’re writing your course. 24 lessons are being written. This takes a few minutes — you can close this and carry on; we’ll send you a notification the moment it’s done.
Lessons fill in as they finish, so the course may look empty for a minute. You get a notification in your inbox when it’s done — see Notification inbox.
If the structure was built but the writing job couldn’t start, you’re told plainly: “The course was built, but writing the materials couldn’t be started. Open a lesson to generate there.”
Reference
Section titled “Reference”| Thing | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| When something is first written | At Build it, never while you’re still deciding |
| Abandoning at the review step | The draft course is archived, not deleted |
| Attached documents | Stay attached to the course, grounding later generations too |
| AI switched off | The whole flow still completes — structure only |
| Per-session limit | “You’ve reached this session’s limit of N generations. Reload to start a fresh session.” |
| Template order | Reordered by organization type; every template always present |
| Curriculum section | Expanded by default for schools, collapsed for companies |
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”“You can’t create courses here.” You don’t hold permission to create a course. An administrator can grant it — or add lessons to a course you already have.
The chips didn’t pick up my subject or grade. They never do. Only type, topic, difficulty and count are read from your description. Set the rest on the course afterwards.
My document was ignored. Either it hadn’t finished being read, or it failed — you’ll have seen “… couldn’t be read, so it won’t be used.” Check its status in Sources and attach it to the course afterwards.
The course looks empty after building. If you chose to write every lesson, they fill in as they finish. Wait for the notification.
The lessons are empty and no job ran. Check Fine-tune — with nothing switched on under What to generate, the lessons are created empty by design. The screen warns about this before you build.
I abandoned halfway and now there’s a draft course. Abandoning archives it rather than deleting it. Find it under archived programs and delete it there if you don’t want it.
“You’ve hit the AI limit.” Either the per-session generation cap (reload) or your organization’s AI budget (Lurno adjusts it).