Course Builder

The MasterStudy LMS Course Builder is a tool that helps users create online courses. With this tool, users can create courses that are both attractive and useful for their students. The tool can be used in both the Backend and Front-end of a website, making it easy to build courses from either perspective.

How to add a course

How to add a new course and set it up? Look for the answers in this manual and learn how to add and maintain courses with the easy-to-use Course Builder.

Adding a New Course using Course Builder on the Backend

To begin creating a new course in MS LMS, navigate to the MS LMS > Courses from Wordpress Dashboard. Click the Add New button and start creating content for your new course.

After that, you will be redirected to the main page of the Course Builder to add Course information:

Creating a New Course using Course Builder on Front-end

Instructors registered on a platform can utilize the front-end course builder. Each instructor will have their own personal Admin panel or Profile page, which is user-friendly. To create a new course, an instructor simply needs to go to their profile and click the Add New Course button.

The "Add Course" button can be accessed from two different locations on the website - the User account dropdown and the Floating Side Profile Menu. This provides instructors with multiple options to easily add a new course to their account.

Once the instructor has clicked the "Add Course" button, they will be automatically directed to the main page of the Course Builder, where they can input all relevant information about the course they are creating.

Course Information

The Course Builder includes important information about a course such as its name, URL, category, level, and image. This information is essential as it gives potential students a clear understanding of what the course is about and helps them make an informed decision about whether to enroll or not.

To allow instructors of a website to add new categories, the website admin needs to enable the option "Allow instructors to create new categories" under the "Course" section of the LMS settings. This will give instructors the permission to create and add new categories to the website's course structure.

Read more about Course categories from the link below:

pageCourses Category

After filling out the course information, click the "Create" button to manage Course Curriculum and lessons.

Course Curriculum

A curriculum is a collection of lessons and assessments that will be taught by an instructor. As soon as a new course is created on the left side of the screen course curriculum section appears.

Dividing a course curriculum into sections helps in organizing the content in a logical and structured manner. This makes it easier for learners to navigate the content, understand the flow of the course, and identify the topics that are most relevant to their learning goals.

Instructors can add as many sections as they want to a course curriculum, and they can customize the section titles to reflect the content covered in each section.

By clicking on the "Add lessons" button, Instructors can create new lessons:

This action adds a new lesson to the existing list of lessons. It's a simple and convenient way to add more lessons to the course curriculum.

To add previously created lessons to the curriculum, simply click on the "Search materials" button.

This feature allows you to easily locate and incorporate relevant materials into your curriculum without having to recreate them from scratch.

The Lessons section of this manual contains detailed information about the different types of lessons available.

pageLessons

Drip

Drip content is a method of releasing educational material gradually and unlocks lessons only after the student has passed the required lesson or assessment.

Drip content requires the Drip Content addon enabled:

pageDrip Content

To create a new dependency between lessons in the Drip tab of the course builder, the "Create new dependency" button can be clicked:

Next, drag lessons, quizzes, and assignments to the right side to create drip content:

Settings

The "Settings" tab in a course builder allows you to configure various settings for your course, such as the course name, description, enrollment options, access, and pricing. You can also set up course completion certificates for students.

Main

The main settings of a course builder refer to the general options that define a course, such as a course's title, URL, description, and status:

Access

The Access, formerly Expiration, allows limited access to a selected number of the lessons or to the course based on the student’s enrollment date.

The trial course option requires the Trial Courses addon enabled:

pageTrial courses

Enabling the Time Limit option allows for setting a specific expiration date for a course, which means that the course will no longer be accessible after a certain number of days.

This can be useful in situations where access to the course needs to be restricted to a certain timeframe or when the course material is time-sensitive.

When users enroll in the course, they will see how many days are left until the course becomes inaccessible. Additionally, after enrolling, students will receive notifications about the course's expiration.

This feature helps students better manage their time and stay on track to complete the course before it expires.

Prerequisites

Prerequisites are the required courses that students must complete before they are able to enroll in the next course of a higher level.

requireThe Prerequisites requires the Prerequisite addon enabled:

pagePrerequisites

If students are interested in taking the course, they will discover that there is a requirement they must meet before enrolling.

This prerequisite must be completed before they can register for the course.

Course files

This section of the platform provides the ability to upload course materials in any file format. To do so, simply click on the "Select file" button and choose the files you wish to upload.

Once uploaded, the file will be available for students to access as part of the course materials.

Certificate

The certificate tab is a feature that allows instructors to choose from a selection of pre-made certificates that students will receive upon completing a course.

Essentially, it's a way for users to showcase their achievements and completion of the course.

Pricing

The Pricing tab is a section within a course builder that allows the instructors to set, adjust and manage the price of a course.

One-time purchase - Enable One-time purchases to make the course available for purchase not only through the membership plans. Enter the number in the blank to set the course price, or leave the field empty to make the course free.
Enterprise Price - pricing for groups of large organizations or corporations. The option requires the Group Copurses addon enabled.

pageGroup Courses

Not included in membership - Excludes the course from the membership level, even if the course category is included in the membership plan. To use the option, it is necessary to have the Paid Membership Pro plugin installed on your website. Additionally, membership plans must be created in order to fully utilize this feature.

pageMembership System