> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.deandesk.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Courses

> Build and manage courses with modules, materials, live sessions, and curriculum.

<Info>
  **School-level feature** — managed within your school portal at `yourschool.deandesk.com`.
</Info>

A course in DeanDesk is a self-contained learning environment. Each course comes with its own overview page, materials drive, assignment board, announcement feed, curriculum editor, student roster, attendance tracker, and gradebook. Instructors and admins manage everything from a single course dashboard; students see a clean, organized view of the same content.

## What's inside a course

Every course includes the following tabs:

| Tab               | What it contains                                                      |
| ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Overview**      | Announcements, schedule, instructor details, and a course summary     |
| **Materials**     | Uploaded files — slides, PDFs, textbooks, and supplementary resources |
| **Assignments**   | All assignments with due dates, instructions, and submission links    |
| **Announcements** | Broadcast messages sent to all enrolled students                      |
| **Curriculum**    | An ordered sequence of lessons, modules, and assessments              |
| **Students**      | Enrolled student roster and enrollment management                     |
| **Attendance**    | Session-by-session attendance records                                 |
| **Gradebook**     | Grades and feedback for all assignments                               |

## Creating a course

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Courses section">
    From the Admin Dashboard or your instructor sidebar, navigate to **Courses**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click Create New Course">
    Select **Create New Course** from the top of the Courses page.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enter course details">
    Fill in the following fields:

    | Field                | Description                                                                                                                         |
    | -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | **Title**            | The course name students will see                                                                                                   |
    | **Description**      | A short summary of what the course covers                                                                                           |
    | **Instructor**       | Select one or more instructors from your user list                                                                                  |
    | **Start / End Date** | The course's active date range (leave blank for evergreen courses)                                                                  |
    | **Term**             | (Optional) Tie the course to an academic term — this auto-fills the dates                                                           |
    | **Tags**             | Keywords used for filtering and search                                                                                              |
    | **Schedule**         | Weekly meeting days, times, and locations — each session can also have its own [assigned teacher or TA](#session-staff-assignments) |
    | **Active**           | Toggle whether the course is visible to students                                                                                    |
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set access and pricing (optional)">
    The create dialog includes an **Access and Pricing** step, so you can create the course's tuition product in the same flow. Add one or more price rows — **Recurring** (with a billing interval), **One-time** (with optional installments), or **Free**. See [Products](/finance/products) for how pricing works.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save the course">
    Click **Save Course**. DeanDesk creates the course and provisions all its tabs immediately.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  To create many courses at once, use the **Bulk Course Creator** in the Admin Dashboard. It gives you a spreadsheet-style interface where you can enter all course details in rows and create them all with a single click. See [Initial Setup](/setup/courses) for the full walkthrough.
</Tip>

## Session staff assignments

Each schedule row in the course create and edit dialogs (and in the [Bulk Course Creator](/setup/courses)) has a **Teacher/TA** dropdown, which defaults to **Unassigned**. Use it to assign a specific staff member to that weekly session — useful when different teachers or TAs cover different days of the same course.

Assigned staff appear on calendar views and in the course header, and their session hours feed into [payroll](/finance/payroll) hour attribution.

## Course welcome emails

You can have DeanDesk email each student automatically when their enrollment in the course becomes active.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Turn on the welcome email">
    In the course create or edit dialog, enable the **Send custom welcome email** switch.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Write the subject and body">
    When the switch is on, **Subject** and **Body** fields appear — both are required. The body accepts plain text (converted to paragraphs automatically) or full HTML.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Personalize with placeholders">
    Use placeholders anywhere in the subject or body:

    | Placeholder       | Replaced with               |
    | ----------------- | --------------------------- |
    | `{{firstName}}`   | The student's first name    |
    | `{{lastName}}`    | The student's last name     |
    | `{{email}}`       | The student's email address |
    | `{{courseTitle}}` | The course title            |
    | `{{schoolName}}`  | Your school's name          |
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  The email sends automatically when a student's enrollment becomes active — you don't need to trigger it manually.
</Note>

## Evergreen vs. term-based courses

DeanDesk supports two course models:

| Model          | When to use                                                                                                                                             |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Term-based** | The course runs during a defined period — set a start and end date, or link it to a term. The course automatically becomes inactive after the end date. |
| **Evergreen**  | The course has no fixed end date. Students can enroll and progress at any time. Leave start/end date blank.                                             |

<Note>
  Linking a course to a term keeps your academic calendar synchronized. If you adjust the term dates later, all courses tied to that term update automatically.
</Note>

## Setting a course to active or inactive

Open the course, go to the **Overview** tab, and toggle the **Active** switch. Inactive courses are hidden from the student-facing course list but remain accessible to instructors and admins.

<Warning>
  Setting a course to inactive removes it from the student dashboard immediately. Students mid-course will lose access until you reactivate it.
</Warning>

## Course Builder: modules and lessons

The Course Builder lets you structure content into modules, each containing individual lessons.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Curriculum tab">
    Navigate to the course and click the **Curriculum** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add a module">
    Click **Add Module** and give it a name (e.g., "Week 1: Introduction"). Modules act as top-level containers.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add lessons to the module">
    Inside the module, click **Add Lesson**. Each lesson can contain text, embedded video, uploaded files, or a link to an assessment.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Reorder with drag and drop">
    Drag modules and lessons into the order you want. Students progress through the curriculum in the sequence you set.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Adding course materials

The **Materials Drive** is a cloud-backed file storage area for each course. Students can browse and download everything you upload.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Go to the Materials tab">
    Open the course and select the **Materials** tab.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Upload files">
    Click **Upload** and select one or more files from your device. Supported types include PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint slides, images, and video files.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Organize into folders">
    Click **New Folder** to group materials by topic, week, or type. Drag files into folders to keep things organized.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Label files clearly (e.g., "Week 3 Slides.pdf") so students can find what they need without opening every file.
</Tip>

## Video hosting

You can upload course videos directly to DeanDesk without relying on a third-party platform.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Upload a video">
    In the **Materials** tab or within a Curriculum lesson, click **Upload Video** and select your file.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Wait for processing">
    DeanDesk processes the video for adaptive streaming. You'll see a progress indicator — processing time depends on file size.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Embed in curriculum">
    Once processed, insert the video into a curriculum lesson so students can watch it inline, with playback controls including speed adjustment and captions if provided.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Scheduling a live session

Live sessions let you hold real-time classes with integrated video conferencing.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the course schedule">
    Navigate to the **Overview** tab of the course and find the **Schedule** section.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a session">
    Click **Add Session** and set the date, start time, and duration.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enable video conferencing">
    Toggle **Live Video** on. DeanDesk generates a meeting link automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Notify students">
    Post an announcement or let DeanDesk send an automatic reminder before the session starts. Enrolled students see upcoming sessions on their personalized dashboard.
  </Step>
</Steps>

During a live video session, participants can send in-call reactions — **Heart**, **Thumbs Up**, **Thumbs Down**, and **Raise Hand** — which appear on their participant tile for everyone in the session.

## Curriculum editor

The Curriculum editor lets you arrange all course content — lessons, videos, readings, and assessments — into a guided learning sequence called a **Learning Feed**.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Curriculum tab">
    Go to **Courses → \[your course] → Curriculum**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add and arrange items">
    Add modules and nest lessons beneath them. Drag and drop to set the order.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Link assignments">
    Within a lesson, click **Add Assessment** to attach a quiz or assignment that students must complete before advancing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish the curriculum">
    Click **Save** when your sequence is ready. Students see the curriculum immediately upon visiting the course.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Enrolling students

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="Enroll from the course">
    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open the Students tab">
        Navigate to the course and click the **Students** tab.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Add students">
        Click **Enroll Students**, search by name or email, and select the students to add. Click **Confirm**.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Bulk Enrollment (Admin)">
    Use **Bulk Enrollment** in the Admin Dashboard to enroll multiple students across multiple courses at once.

    <Steps>
      <Step title="Open Bulk Enrollment">
        Go to **Admin Dashboard → Bulk Enrollment**.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Select students and courses">
        Choose the students and the courses you want to enroll them in. You can filter by role, tag, or existing enrollment.
      </Step>

      <Step title="Confirm">
        Review your selections and click **Enroll**. All selected students are added to the chosen courses immediately.
      </Step>
    </Steps>

    <Tip>
      You can also enroll students into courses during account creation. When creating student accounts via **User Creation**, assign courses on the same screen to save a separate step.
    </Tip>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Waitlists

Courses with a capacity limit can fill up. When that happens, students can join the waitlist directly from the course page — and leave it the same way if they change their mind. When capacity increases or a spot opens up, waitlisted users are notified automatically.

Admins review and manage waitlists from the **Waitlist Manager**.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the Waitlist Manager">
    Go to **Admin Dashboard → Waitlist Manager**. A summary count shows how many users are currently waitlisted across your school.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Find the entries you care about">
    Filter the table by name, course, or product. Each row shows the waitlisted user (child accounts are flagged), the course — including its active status and current load vs. capacity — and any related products.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Adjust capacity if needed">
    Use the inline capacity editor to raise, lower, or remove a course's capacity limit. Raising capacity frees up spots, and waitlisted users are notified automatically.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Enroll someone directly (optional)">
    Click **Enroll** on a row to open the **Manual Enrollment Override** dialog. Choose the program or product to enroll them under and add an internal note. The user is enrolled immediately and their waitlist entry is cleared.
  </Step>
</Steps>