Courses are created and previewed in the course builder staging area - this is your development area, your studio if you will. This is where you can create and adjust courses until you’re ready to put them out into the world, for your learners to complete.
It’s only when you deploy, or publish, to your live area that courses can then be seen on the learning platform (where you login with your own details), where then you can decide which of your learners to make them available to.
So, to start, go to your staging area and login with the details you’ve been given. If it’s your first time in, you’ll be asked to change your password, so make it something memorable. You’re then ready to start!
From Courses … Add Courses, pick Easy Course Builder:
Tip: It’s best to right-click on Easy Course Builder and ‘open link in new tab’ to keep the main tab open so that you can go back to and preview your course later on. When you open Easy Course Builder, you will be required to read and accept the terms and conditions of use.
If you’ve already created courses, you’ll see them listed, so use the blue text links to:
Edit Details – enter your course details and make amends to the title, description, version, etc.
Delete – delete the whole course – careful! Just in case, we do give you a warning.
Deploy – upload the course to your course list.
If you want to amend the course content and/or structure, click on the course title itself.
If you are ready to create a new course, or your first one, select ‘Create new course’ at the bottom of the Course List.
You then need to set up the course details:
Course Version - To help you keep track of each time you update or makes changes to a course. We would really recommend getting into the habit of giving it a version number, and increase it each time you update. It will make keeping track of your course history so much easier, and you never know when version control could come in handy! As a standard, your first course should probably be version 1.0. Small amendments could then be released as 1.1, 1.2, and so on, with a bigger update moving to version 2.0. (Remember to archive the version 1.0 script and track amends for the next updated one.)
Course Title - Be very clear so your learner knows exactly what the course is about (and make sure that it’s not the same as other courses you’ve created, as this will make the reporting quite confusing).
Course Code - Each course needs a unique reference. Use a system which is common for all your courses. This could be for example, your initials followed by an underscore and a 3 or 4 letter abbreviation. So JF_AECB would be a course written by Jack Frost called About Easy Course Builder. If the course is likely to be a series, suffix with _01 then you can increment as needed. Course codes can’t be amended after they’ve been created, so do make sure you have a system in place or you’re confident you know what you want the code to be.
Course Type - The default course type is Online, which launches through the learning platform and is automatically tracked. However, there is the option here to change it to Offline. This means a learner can take the course elsewhere, via paper booklet or a group webinar for example, then once complete, you can update the platform manually to reflect their progress and keep track. This is an incredibly useful feature to incorporate a blended learning approach, taking into account all forms of learning, not just the online courses on the platform. And being able to add this learning means you can measure learners’ whole progress in one centralised place. Making reporting on learners and learning that much easier too!
Roadmap Image - This is the small image that appears on the list of your courses, next to the course title. You cannot create the course without this. Upload one directly from your computer or select the Asset Manager and grab it from there (we’ve included some that you might like to use).
Background Image - A course background visually lifts your course, but it’s a balancing act. Because the text and videos sit on top of the background, this image shouldn’t distract your learner from the course content. We recommend using slightly muted colours. To give you a start, we’ve put some in the Asset Manager for you to try out.
Note: The Asset Manager is your library of images, audio files and documents to use in your courses. Select it from the top of your screen at any time and it will open in a new window. We’ve created some simple images which you can use. You can also upload your own. For documents, PDF format is ideal as all formatting remains the same no matter what browser or device your learners use. Once you’ve uploaded your documents to the Asset Manager, you can link to them from within the course.
Audio Splash Screen - If your course includes sound/voice then this needs to be set as Yes, if not then choose No.
End of Course Survey - The end of course survey is an important feature of ECB. This is your vital learner feedback and can help inform those big L&D decisions. Use this information to understand how the course has been received and what you can do to make it better and more relevant to your target audience. There are standard questions and free text entry fields. You might find this guide useful: Getting the most out of post course surveys
Course Description - This appears underneath the course title, and it tells learners what the course is about, including the all-important learning objectives. Learners will see this on their roadmap, so they can get an idea of what’s coming before they go into the course.
Complete the fields and select ‘Create Course’. Once you've done this, your course will appear in the Course List. You can then click its title to build the structure and content of your course.
For organisations that use multiple languages - the Upskill People learning platform allows for people to navigate the platform in one language, whilst taking their courses in English. If this is something you think your learners would benefit from, they simply need to find the flag icon on the log in page before logging in and change it to the language of their choice.
A good follow-up guide to look at next is Creating modules and defining course structure in ECB
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