Creating a Lesson
Let's learn about the guidelines we need to follow while creating a lesson.
In a previous lesson, we saw how to add a lesson to our course via the collection editor page. Now let’s learn how to add content to our lesson and the guidelines we need to follow while doing so.
Blank lesson
Look at the screenshot below. Notice that the Save and Preview buttons work the same way as they do in the collection editor. The Discard button deletes any changes you have made to the course, and reverts your lesson, back to the last saved version.
On the top, there is an option displaying the last time the lesson was saved. When clicked the following is displayed:
Every time you make a change in your lesson and click on the Save button, a draft for that version of your lesson is made and stored. In case you want to go back to the previous version, simply choose the draft you want to go back to and click the Restore button.
Lesson title and summary
Lesson titles and Lesson summaries can be used to drive search results and hence are quite important. Keep the following in mind while writing lesson titles and summaries.
The title of each lesson should be descriptive. It should describe what you are trying to teach and should be in the title case.
Lesson title examples
Instead of this: | Do this: |
Introduction | Introduction to <Course Title or Chapter Title> Introduction to Kotlin |
Overview | Overview of <keywords> Overview of Syntax in Java |
Quiz | Quiz on <keywords> Quiz on Python Syntax |
The summary should highlight the keywords covered in the lesson. It should be as concise as possible.
Lesson summary examples
Instead of this: | Do this: |
In this lesson, we'll give a brief introduction to the course. | Get a brief introduction to what you’ll learn in this course. |
This lesson demonstrates how to create a database in MySQL. | Learn how to create a database in MySQL |
Add text: Markdown widget
To add text to your lesson, use the markdown widget. Write Markdown text in the left-hand side window. It will be displayed as stylised text in the window on the right. An empty lesson contains one by default. You can also add more by using the + sign as shown below.
Headings
You can add headings in your content to make it more clear and avoid long texts.
Headings start from level 2.
To add a level two heading, prefix it with ##, followed by a space, i.e., ## First Heading. Similarly to add a level three heading, prefix it with ###, followed by a space.
The headings inside a lesson should be in sentence case.
A table of contents is automatically generated based on these headings. It is visible in the preview mode. A sample is shown below.
Keywords
You may want to provide additional background for a word without directly adding that information in the lesson. For this, we have the keyword feature. We can add details about a word that the user will see upon hovering over it.
The syntax for creating a keyword can be seen below:
#key# keyword: information #key#
Hover over the underlined text below:
You are making a course on
Back Ticks
Enclose any technical terms and the names of variables, errors/exceptions, utilities/packages, and code strings in in-lesson text in `` back-ticks.
For example, a variable x used in your code would be written like this when enclosed inside back-ticks in markdown:
Variable x has xyz value stored in it.
Hyperlinks
To create a hyperlink, you must put the clickable text in square brackets, [ ], and the URL in parentheses ( ).
[link-text](link): educative.io
Go through your entire course and make sure that all hyperlinks are working as intended. While you’re at it, check out our library of Educative Answers: if you find reference material that adds value to your course, consider linking to that Educative Answer.
Look at this resource to learn how to link headings in lessons. A similar method can be used to link other lessons inside a lesson.
Setup requirements
Don’t include any setup requirements for a course at the start of the course. Include them in an Appendix section at the end.
More options
Check out all the ways of adding content through the markdown widget in the detailed author guide.
Grammarly
Remember to run Grammarly on your lesson to help you catch typos and grammar fixes easily. It would save you a considerable amount of time and improve the quality of your course significantly.
Publish Your Changes
As you make changes to your course, your edits will be saved in Draft mode. To make your revisions viewable in your work-in-progress link, click on the Publish button from your Course Home Page. Don’t worry—until a course is approved, it doesn’t show up on our site.
Detailed Guidelines
For more detailed guidelines on lesson creation, visit this link.
Next up, we will look at how to break walls of text and make our course visually appealing.