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School-level feature — managed within your school portal at yourschool.deandesk.com.

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Video walkthrough

This walkthrough uses the real DeanDesk interface with the fictional Northstar Academy demo school and a calm, AI-generated English voice. Payments and outside services are not connected in the demo.
The Materials tab in the course sidebar is where you share course content: readings, handouts, slides, recordings, and video links. Students open it to find everything they need, and tick off each material as they finish it.

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The materials list

Open Materials in the course sidebar. The page is titled Course Materials and shows:
  • Create Material, to add something new (course staff only)
  • a Progress bar, showing how many available materials have been marked complete
  • the materials themselves, in collapsible groups. Materials for the whole class are under Course Materials. If your course uses sections, materials limited to a section appear under that section’s name.
Each material shows its title and what kind it is, such as Text Content, Video Content, or the file name. YouTube and Vimeo links and uploaded videos play right in the list. As course staff, you also see materials that students can’t see yet:
  • Not Published marks a draft.
  • Available from date marks a material scheduled to appear later.
Click a material to open its detail page.
You see every material, including drafts and scheduled ones, with Edit material (pencil) and Delete material (bin) icons on each row.

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Add a material

1

Start a new material

In Materials, click Create Material.
2

Name it and choose a type

Enter a Title. Under Material type, choose Text content to write text or embed a video link, or File upload to upload a document, video, or other file.
3

Add the content

For text, write in Content. Markdown is supported, and pasting a YouTube link embeds the video. For a file, upload it under Upload file and wait for the upload to finish.
4

Set availability

Under Availability and organization, set any of these:
  • Order — the material’s position in the list. Leave it blank to add it at the end.
  • Available from — a date to keep it hidden until. Leave it blank to make it available now.
  • Published status — Published (Visible to students) or Draft (Hidden from students).
  • Sections — limit the material to certain sections. Leave it empty for everyone. Only shown when the course has sections.
5

Choose whether to notify students

Turn on Notify enrolled students by email to announce the new material. It’s off by default, and only appears for published materials.
6

Save

Click Create material. DeanDesk returns you to the materials list.
Paste a YouTube playlist link into Content to import the whole playlist. DeanDesk offers to create one material per video, using each video’s title.

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Video and audio files

When you upload a video or audio file, you can turn on Prevent students from downloading. Students then watch or listen in the embedded player only. This discourages downloads but can’t fully stop a determined user. Course staff can still download the file.

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Edit or remove a material

  • To change a material, click its Edit material (pencil) icon, make your changes, and click Update material.
  • To remove one, click its Delete material (bin) icon and confirm with Delete in the Delete material? dialog.
To hide a material without deleting it, edit it and set Published status to Draft (Hidden from students).

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Materials and the curriculum

Materials can also be placed into the course’s units and modules, so students meet them in teaching order. Use Course Curriculum in the action bar to arrange them. See Curriculum. For file details, previews, and the school’s file library, see Courses and File library.

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Next steps

Set work for your class in Assignments.