Open edX Studio: How to create a new course?
Creating a new course in Open edX studio is easy. In this tutorial I will explain the steps to take in order to create a new course. Note: We will not cover details on how to add your course content to the course, that is a huge topic and will be covered by other tutorials.
Step 1:
Navigate to your Open edX Studio and sign in to go to the Studio Home. If you don’t know how to access your Studio then ask your Open edX service provider for the link. It is usually something like studio.company-name.com or company-name.com:18010 which is the secret digital port that sends web traffic to and from your Studio.
Step 2:
When you are on your Studio Home page, click the green “New Course” button at the top right hand side of the page and a form with the following four input fields will appear: (1) Course Name, (2) Organisation, (3) Course Number, and (4) Course Run. If you are unclear about what to type into the input fields, instructions can be found under each input field as per the below image.
Step 3:
Type in the display name of your course into the first input field named Course Name. This is the public display name of the course and cannot be changed (i.e. cannot be changed in the database once it is created). Note: However you can change how your course name is displayed to learners by going to your Studio’s Settings > Advanced Settings later on.
Step 4:
Type in your organisation name into the second input field named Organization. This is the name of your company or the name of the organisation sponsoring the course. The organisation name will form part of the URL of the course so no spaces are allowed. Note: Some people think this is inconvenient because some companies have spaces in their real name just like our company “ABC Online Courses” and I agree, but this is how the world wide web works so we cannot do anything about it so it should be written as “ABCOnlineCourses” for example.
Step 5:
Type in your course number into the third input field named Course Number. This is the course code that uniquely identifies the course. You might already have a system of codes for your courses so you can just use those existing codes. The course number will also form part of the URL of the course so no spaces are allowed. Note: Here’s a professional tip for you, if you have a course number for example “Studio101”, and you create a new version of the course in the future you can append a letter such as “x” to end of your course number to identify that it’s a unique version of the course, for example “Studio101x”. This has nothing to do with the Open edX system, it’s just some free advice for your organisation’s course numbering system.
Step 6:
Type in your course run into the fourth and final input field named Course Run. The course run uniquely identifies which unique run of the course it was. For instance, you might run the course 4 times a year and when you re-run the course in Studio it will ask you to fill in a new course run. For example the first run of your course might be named “2021_Term1” and then in the next academic term your re-run the course to a new batch of learners and you name that run of the course “2021_Run2”. If your courses had the same course run (i.e. had the same URLs) then the database would be confused. This is how the world wide web works and Studio is smart enough to use that to our advantage. As the course number will also form part of the URL, as usual no spaces are allowed.
Step 7:
This is the final step. By this point you have filled in all four input fields. Double check your spelling and the details you have typed in to make sure there are no mistakes because you cannot undo it once it’s created. If you are satisfied it’s all correct, then simply click the blue “Create” button and the Open edX Studio will go ahead and create (or as I like to call it “initialise”) your course in the database.
Image: Screenshot of the Create button.
Step 8:
It will take a few seconds for your course to be created by the system. When it is created, the course will become visible in your Studio Home as per the below image. All your courses in Studio will be shown here.
Image: Screenshot of a demo Open edX course as it will be shown in your Open edX Studio Home.
Step 9:
If you want to go into the course Outline to start developing the course, simply click the course name. In the above image the course name is “Demonstration Course”, just click that to go inside the course. A new screen will appear and you will be inside the course on the course Outline as shown in the image below.
Image: Screenshot of an Open edX course as it will be shown in your Open edX Studio Home.
Congratulations, you’re all done setting up your new course in the Open edX Studio!