Create a course

A new course takes three short steps: Basics, Pricing and Publish. Only two things are required: a name (with its web address) and how students pay. Everything else is optional, and you can change all of it later.

In this video · 2:14

1. 0:00Open the form
2. 0:16Step 1 · Basics
3. 1:06Step 2 · Pricing
4. 1:28Step 3 · Publish
5. 1:51Done

Read the narration

1. 0:05Let's create a new course. It only takes a minute.
2. 0:10Open Courses in the sidebar, then choose Create A Course.
3. 0:16The form has three steps: Basics, Pricing and Publish.
4. 0:20First, the course name. This is the name students will see.
5. 0:26The Course URL fills itself in from the name. It is the web address of your course page.
6. 0:33The preview on the right shows how the course card will look.
7. 0:38Everything below is optional. Open Course details to add a description, subjects and a level.
8. 0:53Learning Outcomes tell students what they will be able to do. Press Enter after each one.
9. 1:04Click Continue for the next step.
10. 1:07Now choose how students pay: Free, Paid once, or a Subscription.
11. 1:12We'll pick Paid and enter the price.
12. 1:16Under Discounts & instalments, you can let students pay in monthly instalments.
13. 1:21With three instalments, the form shows what each payment will be.
14. 1:26On to the last step.
15. 1:29This step is optional: a cover and video, dates and seats, and how lessons unlock.
16. 1:35With Sequential, each lesson opens only after the one before it.
17. 1:40Last, who can see it. Keep private while you add lessons, or Publish now.
18. 1:45We'll publish it now, to see it on the site.
19. 1:50Click Create & publish.
20. 1:52Your course is ready. Its lessons are added from this page.
21. 1:57And here it is in your site's course list, as a visitor sees it.
22. 2:04More guides are at help.lessonq.com.

Before you start

• Who can do this: the academy owner and admins. Instructors can’t create courses.
• What you need: just a name. If the course is paid, have the price ready.
• Time: about a minute for the required parts.

Open the form

1. In your dashboard sidebar, click Courses.
2. Click Create A Course.

You can also open Courses → Manage Courses and use the Create Course button at the top right of the list.

Step 1 · Basics

1. The three steps. The step you’re on is highlighted; a finished step shows a tick. You can click back to any earlier step at any time. You can only move forward once every step before it is complete.
2. Course name Required. This is the name students see everywhere. It needs at least 3 characters (up to 255). Press Enter here to go straight to the next step.
3. Course URL Required. This is the web address of the course page: your-site/courses/<URL>. It fills itself in from the name as you type, until you edit it yourself. Read more below.
4. Optional sections. Course details, Learning Outcomes, Prerequisites and Topics. Click one to open it; only one is open at a time. Once something is filled in, a small badge shows it (for example 2 set or 3 added).
5. Preview and summary. The course card as students will see it in your catalogue, plus a summary of your choices. It updates as you type. (It appears on wide screens; on small screens the form uses the full width.)
6. Start over. This appears once you’ve typed anything. It clears the whole form and takes you back to step 1.
7. Continue. This becomes active once the name and URL are valid.

The course URL

• Only English letters, numbers and dashes (-) are kept. Spaces and other characters turn into a dash, and capitals become lowercase. The maximum is 100 characters.
• While you type, LessonQ checks the address. A green tick with This URL is available means you’re fine. This URL is already in use means another course in your academy has it, so pick a different one; you can’t continue until you do.
• When you edit the URL yourself, it stops following the name.

Course name in Bangla?

A Bangla name has no English letters to turn into a URL, so the URL stays empty and the form shows A course URL is required. Type a short English URL yourself, for example hsc-physics-2nd-paper.

Course details

Optional

1. Description. Tell students what the course is about. You can use headings, bold, italic, underline, colours, lists, quotes, dividers and links. Pictures can’t be added here; add them later from the course editor.
2. Subjects. Pick from the subjects your academy already uses, or type a new one and press Enter. You can add up to 20. Subjects show on the course, and you can search your course list by them.
3. Level. For example SSC or HSC. Levels used on your other courses are suggested, or you can type your own.

Learning outcomes, prerequisites and topics

Optional

These three lists appear on the course page.

• Learning Outcomes say what students will be able to do by the end. Type one, press Enter, then type the next.
• Prerequisites say what students should know before they start. They work the same way.
• Topics say what the course covers. Separate them with commas, or press Enter after each one, and each becomes a tag.

Step 2 · Pricing

Every course needs a payment type before it can be created. Pick one of the three cards.

1. Free. Anyone who enrols gets full access at no charge. There’s nothing else to fill in, so click Continue.
2. Paid. Students pay one price, once. You can let them split it into monthly instalments.
3. Subscription. Students pay again every billing cycle (for example every month) for as long as they stay enrolled.

Price and currency

1. Base Price Required. This is the full price, and it must be at least 1.00.
2. Currency Required. It starts as your academy’s currency. You can pick another one from the list.
3. Discounts & instalments Optional. Open this for a promotional price, monthly instalments and the refund policy (below).

Billing cycle (subscriptions)

Choose how often students pay: Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly (the default), Quarterly, Half-Yearly or Yearly. The price is charged once per cycle.

Note

If you change a subscription’s price or cycle later, existing subscribers keep their current terms until their next renewal. From that renewal on, they pay the new price.

Discount

Switch on Active Discount to sell at a lower price for a limited time.

1. Discounted Price Required when on. It must be at least 1.00 and lower than the base price, so a discount needs a base price above 1.00. A badge shows the saving (for example -20% OFF). The preview card shows both prices, with the old one struck through.
2. Expiry Date Required when on. The last day of the offer. After it, the base price applies again.

How the discount works with each payment type:

If the course is…	The discount applies to…
Paid, in full	The whole price.
Paid, in instalments	Nothing. The discount applies only when the course is paid in full, never to instalments.
Subscription	A new subscriber’s first period only. Renewals pay the full price.

Instalments (Paid only)

Switch on Instalments to let students pay the price in monthly parts.

1. Instalment Duration. Anywhere from 2 to 12 monthly payments. Use − and +, or type the number.
2. Per Instalment and Total Commitment. The amount each payment will be, and the total number of months. Each instalment must be at least 1.00; if it isn’t, raise the price or use fewer payments.

Subscriptions don’t have this switch, because they’re already paid in parts.

Refund policy

1. Refund policy. This sets whether students can ask for a refund on this course, and on what terms. By default it uses your academy’s default policy. Pick another policy to override it for this course. You manage policies in Finance → Checkout & refunds: see Set your refund policy.
2. Final sale. When this is on, the course can’t be refunded, whatever the policy says.

Step 3 · Publish

Everything on this step is optional. You can click Create course right away and fill these in later.

1. Cover & video. The cover is the course card’s picture. Pick any image; you’ll frame it in the next screen. The featured video plays on the course page, up to 256 MB.
2. Schedule. When the course starts and ends.
3. Enrolment. How many students can join, and when.
4. Learning experience. Lesson order, Q&A, reviews, the instructors tab and attendance.
5. SEO. How the course looks in Google and when shared on social media.

Schedule

1. Start Date. Lessons stay locked until this date and time.
2. End Date. When the course ends. It must be after the start date.
3. Access After End. This appears when End Date is switched on. It’s on by default, so enrolled students keep their lessons after the course ends. Turn it off to close access at the end date.

A switch that’s on but has no date shows Needs input on its section, and Create course stays disabled until you pick a date or switch it off.

Enrolment

1. Student Limit. The number of seats. Once they’re filled, nobody else can enrol. It must be at least 1.
2. Enrollment Opens. Students can enrol from this date and time.
3. Enrollment Closes. After this, enrolment is closed. It must be after the opening time.

Learning experience

1. Lesson order. Flexible (the default) lets students take lessons in any order. With Sequential, each lesson opens only after the one before it is complete.
2. Q&A with instructors. This is on by default: students ask the course team their doubts privately. When it’s off, Q&A is hidden from everyone, admins included.
3. Course Reviews. This is on by default: students can rate and review the course. When it’s off, the reviews tab is hidden.
4. Instructors tab. This is on by default: visitors see who teaches the course. When it’s off, it’s hidden from the public course page (admins still see it).
5. Student attendance visibility. This is on by default: each student sees their own attendance once a day is marked. When it’s off, attendance is an internal record only.

SEO

1. Meta title. The title Google shows. Aim for under 60 characters.
2. Meta description. The short text under it in search results. Aim for under 160 characters.
3. Share image. The picture shown when the course link is shared on Facebook, WhatsApp and similar apps. Use 1200 × 630 pixels.

Who can see it

1. Keep private (the default). Only you and your staff can see the course. Use this while you add lessons.
2. Publish now. The course appears in your catalogue and students can enrol straight away. The button then reads Create & publish.
3. Create course. This creates the course.

After you click Create

• You’ll see Course created successfully! (or Course published successfully!), and LessonQ takes you straight to the new course’s page.
• An empty course isn’t finished yet. Add its lessons from the Lessons tab on that page.
• Everything you chose, including the name, URL, price and visibility, can be changed later from the course editor.
• A new course runs without batches. To split it into batches later, an admin chooses Run in batches… from the course’s menu in Manage Courses, names the first batch, and confirms. The course’s students, price and dates move into that batch. From then on, each batch’s price, dates and seats are changed on the course page’s Batches tab, not in the course editor. To put a student into a course or batch yourself, see Enrol a student.

What if…

The Continue button is greyed out. Something on the step still needs attention. On Basics, check that the name has at least 3 characters and the URL isn’t empty or taken. On Pricing, choose a payment type and check any field outlined in red.

I can’t click the Pricing or Publish step. You can only jump forward once the steps before are complete. Finish the current step first.

I closed the form by mistake. Pressing Esc or clicking outside the form closes it, but your draft is kept. Open Create A Course again, without moving to another part of the dashboard, and carry on where you stopped. Start over clears it on purpose.

The URL says it’s already in use. Another course in your academy has that address. Add something to make it unique, such as -2025 or -dhaka. To run the same course again for a new group, don’t make a second course: add a batch to it.

The price shows “Minimum price is 1.00”. A paid course or subscription can’t cost less than 1.00. For a course that costs nothing, choose Free.

“Instalment cost must be at least 1.00…”. The price split into that many payments comes to less than 1.00 each. Raise the price or use fewer payments.

I want a discount only for students who pay in full. That’s how it already works for Paid courses with instalments: the discount never applies to instalments.