Courses & lessons¶
Create a course, structure it into modules and lessons, fill it with content blocks, and set its catalog and compliance metadata.
A course in PulseLMS is a tree: a course contains modules, each module contains lessons, and each lesson contains content blocks that learners work through top to bottom.
Create a course¶
- Open Courses in the Authoring Studio.
- Click Create course.
- Fill in the fields:
| Field | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| Course title | The name learners see | Yes |
| Description | A short summary | No |
| Category | A catalog category, with an optional subcategory | No |
- Click Create course. You land in the course editor, ready to add structure.
Search your courses
The Courses page has a search box that filters by title, and each card shows the course's category and its Draft or Published status.
Build the structure¶
Inside the course editor you assemble the outline from the bottom of the page up.
Add a module¶
Click Add module, give it a title (for example, Getting Started), and save. Rename or delete a module with the icons next to its heading. Deleting a module removes its lessons too.
Add a lesson¶
On a module, click Add lesson and give it a title. Lessons are where content lives.
Open a lesson's settings (the edit icon) to adjust:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Lesson title | Rename the lesson |
| Minimum time on page (seconds) | For reading-heavy lessons, require the learner to spend at least this long before the lesson can complete. 0 means no minimum. |
Content blocks¶
Blocks are the individual pieces of a lesson. On any lesson, click one of the + block buttons to add a block, then use the arrows to reorder or the icons to edit and delete.
| Block | What it is |
|---|---|
| Text | Formatted rich text with an optional heading |
| Image | An uploaded image with a caption / alt text |
| Video | A streaming video, optionally made interactive in the Video Studio |
| Audio | An audio file learners can play inline |
| File | Any file, offered as a download |
| Embed | External content shown in an iframe |
| Callout | A tinted, highlighted note box |
| Knowledge check | An inline question learners answer as they read |
| Quiz | A published, graded quiz embedded in the lesson |
Text¶
Add a heading (optional) and write the body. Basic HTML is supported (<p>, <b>, <ul><li>, and <a>) and a live Preview shows the rendered result as you type.
Image¶
Choose a PNG, JPG, GIF, WEBP or AVIF image and add an optional caption / alt text. Images upload instantly. When editing, you can replace the image or update just the caption.
Video¶
Choose an MP4, MOV, M4V, WEBM, MKV, AVI or MPEG video. After upload, PulseLMS transcodes it to adaptive HLS streaming. This takes a little processing time, and the modal shows an Uploading… then Transcoding… status. Once a video block exists, open it in the Video Studio (the ⚡ button on the block row) to add interactivity, captions, and chapters.
Give video time to process
Large videos take longer to transcode. The block is ready once processing finishes; you can keep working on other lessons in the meantime.
Audio¶
Upload an MP3, M4A, WAV, or OGG file and give it a title. Audio uploads are instant, with no transcoding wait.
File¶
Attach almost any file type; learners get a download link. Add an optional label (for example, Course workbook (PDF)) to show instead of the raw filename.
A few file types are refused
Files a browser would run rather than download are rejected: .html,
.htm, .svg, .js, .php and similar. Uploads are served from the same
address as PulseLMS itself, so a page that executed there would run with your
organization's session. If learners need one of these, put it in a .zip.
Embed¶
Paste an https URL (a YouTube, Vimeo, or slides embed link, for example) to show it in an iframe. The URL must start with https://. Set an optional title and pick an aspect ratio:
| Aspect | Use for |
|---|---|
| Widescreen (16:9) | Most videos and slide decks |
| Standard (4:3) | Older or square-ish content |
| Tall / portrait | Vertical content |
Callout¶
A left-accented, tinted note box for tips, warnings, and key points. Pick a variant (Info, Success, Warning, or Danger), add an optional title, and write the body. A live preview shows how it will look.
Knowledge check¶
An inline question that checks understanding without the ceremony of a full quiz. Choose a type, write the question, and mark the correct answer.
| Type | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Multiple choice (one answer) | Learner picks a single option |
| Multiple select | Learner picks one or more options; all correct options must be selected |
| True / False | A fixed two-option question |
Add options (for multiple choice / multiple select) and tick the correct one(s). You can also add an explanation shown after the learner answers.
Rules control how strict the check is:
| Rule | Effect |
|---|---|
| Must answer to continue | The check blocks progress until answered |
| Must answer correctly to pass | The learner must get it right; when off, any answer counts |
| Allow retries | Let the learner try again after a wrong answer |
| Max attempts | Cap retries at a number, or leave blank for unlimited |
Knowledge check vs. quiz
Use a knowledge check for a quick, ungraded gut-check inside a lesson. Use a quiz block when you need a scored, attempt-limited assessment with a pass mark; see Quizzes & question banks.
Quiz¶
Embed a published quiz as a lesson block. Only published quizzes appear in the picker; build and publish the quiz first under Quizzes. When a quiz block is present, the learner must pass it to complete the lesson.
Course settings¶
The settings card sits at the top of the course editor. Most settings save the moment you change them; a few (course details, certificate validity) have an explicit save or commit on blur.
Category¶
Pick a catalog category and optional subcategory. Categories drive how the course is grouped in the catalog.
Failed-check recovery¶
Decides what happens when a learner runs out of attempts on a required knowledge check.
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Learner can retake the course themselves | Self-service: the learner restarts on their own |
| Require an instructor to reset attempts | An instructor must reset the learner before they can try again |
Enrollment & visibility¶
These are live settings; they take effect immediately, without republishing.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Allow self-enrollment | Learners can enroll themselves from the catalog. Off means the course is assignment-only. |
| Show in catalog | On by default. Off makes the course unlisted: it stays published and fully usable, but members do not see it when they browse the catalog or search. |
| List in public catalog | Show the course in your organization's no-login public catalog. |
Unlisted is not the same as unpublished
Turning Show in catalog off does not take a course offline. It keeps its published version, you can still assign it, and anyone already enrolled (or anyone you send the link to) can take it exactly as before. It simply stops advertising itself to everyone in your organization.
Use it for training you assign to specific people, for a course you are piloting with a small group, or for the example course every new organization starts with. You and other staff still see unlisted courses in the studio and in search; learners do not.
Compliance & certification¶
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Require signature on completion | Learners must type their name to attest before the course completes and a certificate is issued |
| Certificates expire | Off means a certificate from this course is valid indefinitely. Turn it on to set a validity period. |
| Certificate valid for (months) | How long an issued certificate stays valid. Any whole number of months from 1 upwards; there is no maximum, so a multi-year recertification cycle is fine. |
Learner tools¶
Notes and discussion are off for a new course; turn on only what you want learners to see on every lesson. Reviews are on, because they always have been; the setting lets you turn them down or off.
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
| Learner notes | Gives each lesson a private notepad and a bookmark control. Only the learner sees what they write; notes are never visible to authors, instructors or admins. |
| Lesson discussion | Adds a comment thread to each lesson, visible to everyone taking the course. Instructors and admins can moderate it. |
| Ratings and reviews | Whether learners can rate this course out of five and leave a written review, and who gets to read them. Three choices; see below. |
Who can see reviews¶
| Choice | What happens |
|---|---|
| Anyone can leave and read them | The default, and what every course did before this setting existed. Stars and reviews appear on the catalog card for everyone. |
| Learners leave them; only staff can read them | The form still appears when a learner finishes the course, but the reviews are visible only to authors, instructors and admins. Useful when you want honest feedback on mandatory training without publishing it to the whole organization. |
| Off | No rating, no review form, and reviews already left stop being shown to anyone. |
Reviews are never deleted by changing this; switching back to public brings them all back. A learner can always withdraw their own review, whatever the setting says.
Turning Lesson discussion off hides existing comments and stops new ones being posted; it does not delete them, so turning it back on restores the thread. Moderators can still remove a comment while discussion is off.
Your organization can switch discussions off entirely
Lesson discussion only takes effect where your organization's plan has discussions enabled. If it doesn't, the panel stays hidden no matter what this switch says.
Course details (catalog metadata)¶
Used for catalog filtering, sorting, and discovery.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced |
| Estimated minutes | Roughly how long the course takes |
| Tags | Free-form, comma-separated keywords for filtering |
Click Save details to commit these. Changing catalog metadata flags the course as having unpublished changes; publish again to push it live.
What needs a republish
Enrollment, visibility and learner-tools toggles apply live. Content edits and catalog/compliance metadata changes are staged as unpublished changes and only reach in-progress rules once you publish a new version.
Delete a course¶
The Delete button in the course editor permanently removes the course and all its modules, lessons, and content. This cannot be undone, so PulseLMS asks you to confirm.