How to Create an Online Course: A Step-by-Step Guide for Teachers

To create an online course, define one clear outcome, split it into modules, build short lessons (video, reading or quiz) inside each module, add assignments that prove the skill, and schedule a few live sessions for questions. Then publish, enrol students and track their progress until they finish.

A course is different from a single lesson. Students work through it on their own, over weeks, so the structure has to do the teaching that you would normally do out loud. This guide covers the planning first, then the exact steps in Educastic's course builder.

What is an online course?

An online course is a structured sequence of lessons, activities and assessments that students complete at their own pace, usually with some live contact with the teacher. A good one answers three questions for the student at every point: what am I learning, what do I do now, and how do I know I have got it?

Before you open any tool, write the outcome in one sentence ("By the end, students can solve two-step linear equations and explain each step") and list the 4 to 8 skills that lead to it. Each skill usually becomes a module.

How do you plan the modules and lessons?

Plan each module around one skill and keep lessons short enough to finish in one sitting. A simple pattern that works in most subjects:

A common mistake is recording one long video per module. Students skip around and lose the thread; three short videos with a quiz between them hold attention far better.

How do you create an online course in Educastic?

Educastic's course builder lets a teacher create a course in three steps from Courses in the dashboard menu.

1. Open Courses and click "Add Course".
2. General Info. Enter the Title, choose the Program and Unit (both required), set the Cost ($) (leave it at 0 for a free course), choose Certificate Availability (Yes or No) and the Language (English or Spanish), write a Description and add a cover image (PNG, JPG or WebP). Switch on Sequence Required if lessons must be completed in order. Click Save & Continue.
3. Modules. Click + Add Module, name it, then add lessons with + Add Lesson. For each lesson choose the main type of content: Video, Article or Quiz. Videos can be uploaded (MP4, WebM or MKV, up to 500 MB) or added from your library. Each lesson can also have resources: a downloadable file, a file from your library or an external link.
4. Materials & Resources. Upload course-wide files (up to 50 MB each) or pick them from your library, then continue to the course page.

The quiz in a quiz lesson is a test you build under Exams in the dashboard menu. Each test can be used by only one lesson in the same course, so build one test per checkpoint.

How do you add assignments and grading?

Add assignments from the course page, in the Assignment & Assessment tab, with + Create Assignments. Each assignment has a title, description, module and Due Date, and you choose how students submit: File Upload, Text Entry, Photo Capture or Voice Note.

You can attach a Grading Rubric, and decide whether to Allow Resubmission (with Max Attempts) and Allow Late Submission. Save it as a draft or publish it. Photo Capture is a good fit for handwritten maths; Voice Note works well for language speaking practice.

Educastic opens a later module only after students have submitted the published assignments in the earlier modules, so place each assignment at the end of the module it belongs to.

How do you add live sessions to a course?

Add live sessions from the course page's Schedule tab with Schedule Session. Give the session a title, date and time, and optionally link it to a module and lesson. The session runs on the Educastic whiteboard, so you can work through the hardest problems of the week together.

One live session per module is a realistic rhythm: students arrive having done the lessons, and you spend the time on their questions rather than on the explanation they have already watched.

How do you publish the course and enrol students?

Publish a course in Educastic by sending it for review first. On the course page, click Submit For Review; the button changes to Waiting for Review while the Educastic team checks it. Once it is approved, click Publish Course.

Students join from the course's page with Get Course: a free course enrols them straight away, and a paid course goes through checkout first. After that the button reads Go to Course.

For more on finding your first students, see how to start online tutoring.

How do you track progress and award certificates?

Educastic tracks each student's progress as a percentage of lessons completed, quizzes answered and assignments graded. You see it, with the enrolment date and current lesson, in the course's enrolments list. When a student has completed every lesson and quiz and every assignment is graded, the course is marked complete.

If the course has Certificate Availability set to Yes and you switch on Auto generate certificate in your profile settings, Educastic creates the certificate when the student completes the course and emails them. Students can view and download it from their certificates page. Enrolled students can also rate the course and leave a review.

Frequently asked questions

Can I sell my online course? Yes. Set a Cost in the course's General Info; students then go through checkout when they click Get Course. A cost of 0 makes the course free.

Can students skip ahead? Only if you allow it. With Sequence Required switched on, each lesson unlocks after the previous one is completed.

What kinds of lessons can I add? Three main types: Video, Article and Quiz. Each lesson can also carry resources such as downloadable files and external links.

Can I reuse a course for a new group? Yes. Courses can be duplicated from your course list, so you can copy a finished course and adapt it.

Do I need to publish straight away? No. A course stays a draft until you submit it for review, so you can build and preview it first.

Build your first module this week

Start small: one module, three short lessons and one quiz. Teach the live sessions on the Educastic online whiteboard, see where students get stuck and improve the module before you build the next one. For lesson structure, the online lesson plan template is a good starting point.

Create your course free