# Courses and lessons

A course consists of lessons. Lessons can be grouped into sections by topic — for example, "Introduction" and "Practice". A student takes the lessons in the order they appear in the curriculum.

![School course list](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/courses.webp?v=1791781230)

## The list of courses

The "Courses" section opens first when you enter a school. Each course shows its cover, name, the "Published" or "Draft" status, the price "from …" or the "Free" label, and the number of lessons and students. Above the list is a search by name and description.

To create a course, click "Create course", enter a name and click "Create". The course is created as a draft: students do not see it until you publish it.

You can delete a course from the "⋯" menu in its row. One school can have no more than 300 courses.

## The course page

Clicking a course opens its page. On the right is the course menu:

- "Curriculum" — sections and lessons;
- "Settings" — description, covers, study rules, publishing;
- "Access packages" — the course price, described on the [Selling courses](https://support.watbot.org/schools/sales) page;
- "Curators" — who reviews the course assignments, described on the [Homework and questions](https://support.watbot.org/schools/homework) page.

## The course curriculum

1. Click "Add lesson" and enter a name. If the course already has sections, you can choose a section in the same window.
2. To group lessons, click "Add section" and enter the section name.
3. Arrange the lessons in order: drag them by the handle on the left — within a section and between sections. Sections are dragged the same way.

Lessons without a section are collected in the "No section" group and always come first. The number to the left of a lesson name is its place in the overall order of study.

A lesson in the curriculum has labels:

- "Draft" — the lesson is not published, students do not see it;
- "Published" — the lesson is available to students;
- "Unpublished changes" — the lesson is published, but you have changed it since: students see the previous version;
- "With homework" — the lesson counts as completed only after the assignment is reviewed.

![The course program and the course menu](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/program.webp?v=1791781230)

A section's "⋯" menu has "Rename" and "Delete". When you delete a section, its lessons stay in the course.

Limits: a course can have no more than 100 sections and 1,000 lessons.

## The lesson editor

Clicking a lesson opens the editor. At the top is the lesson name, and below it is the content made of blocks. A new block is added with the "+" button to the left of an empty line.

![The lesson editor](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/lesson.webp?v=1791781230)

| Block | What it is for |
|---|---|
| "Text" | A regular paragraph. Selected text can be made bold, italic, monospace, highlighted with a marker or turned into a link |
| "Heading" | A subheading inside the lesson |
| "List" | A bulleted or numbered list |
| "Image" | An image from your computer or by a link. Formats: JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, AVIF |
| "Quote" | A quote with a caption |
| "Link" | A link with a page preview card |
| "Delimiter" | A break between parts of the lesson |
| "Video" | A video from the school's media library |
| "Quiz" | A quiz inside the lesson — described on the [Quizzes](https://support.watbot.org/schools/quizzes) page |

A YouTube video is embedded differently: paste its link into an empty line of the lesson.

Everything you change is saved automatically as a draft — while saving is in progress, "Saving" is shown at the top. Students do not see the draft.

### Publishing a lesson

- "Publish" — the lesson becomes available to students. To publish, the lesson needs a name and at least one content block.
- "Publish changes" — for a published lesson: replace the version students see with the current draft.
- "Unpublish" — hide the lesson from students. The content stays as a draft.

> [!NOTE]
> Published lessons are reviewed by the platform. If a lesson breaks the rules, it will be unpublished, and you will receive a notification with the reason. See [Team members and content review](https://support.watbot.org/schools/team) for details.

### Lesson settings

Below the lesson content are its settings. They are saved immediately.

| Field | What it sets |
|---|---|
| "Homework for this lesson" | Whether this lesson has an assignment. An empty field means as set in the course |
| "Quizzes in the lesson" | Whether the quizzes of this lesson are required. An empty field means as set in the course |
| "Open after, days" | How many days after the start of study the lesson opens for the student. 0 means right away |
| "Lesson length, min" | Roughly how long the lesson takes. The student sees this on the lesson page. If the time is set in all lessons of the course, the total time also appears on the course card |
| "Free lesson" | A lesson of a paid course that is open to everyone without payment — a showcase for the course. The field is available only in paid courses |

![Lesson settings below the content](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/lesson-settings.webp?v=1791781230)

## Videos

Videos are stored in the school's media library and inserted into lessons with the "Video" block. One video can be placed in any number of lessons.

1. In the lesson, add a "Video" block and click "Choose a video". The "School videos" window opens.
2. Click "Upload video" and choose a file. One file can be up to 5 GB.
3. Wait for processing: while it runs, the video shows "Processing the video". The platform prepares the video in several qualities so that it plays even on a slow connection.
4. When the video is ready, click "Insert".

![The School videos dialog](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/videos.webp?v=1791781230)

Under the block in the lesson, you can add a caption to the video. The "Replace" button puts a different video in the block.

What to keep in mind:

- **Disk space.** A video is stored in several qualities at once, and the space is counted as their total; the original file is deleted after processing. Videos count toward the plan's overall disk limit — how much is used is shown at the top of the "School videos" window.
- **Processing error.** If a video shows "Processing failed", click "Try again".
- **Deleting.** A video that is placed in a lesson cannot be deleted: first remove it from the lessons. Each video shows how many lessons use it.
- **Limit.** A school can store no more than 500 videos.
- **Protection.** The student's email is shown over the video if "Watermark on video" is turned on in the [school settings](https://support.watbot.org/schools/settings).

## Course settings

In the course's "Settings" subsection:

| Field | What it sets |
|---|---|
| "Name", "Description" | What the student sees in the catalogue and on the course page |
| "Catalogue cover" | The image in the list of courses. Recommended size 800×450 |
| "Course page cover" | A wide image at the top of the course page. Recommended size 1600×500 |
| "Lesson order" | "Every lesson is available right away" or "The next lesson opens after the previous one is completed" |
| "Open a section after the previous one" | The lessons of a section become available only when the whole previous section is completed |
| "Homework" | A rule for all lessons of the course — see [Homework and questions](https://support.watbot.org/schools/homework) |
| "Lesson quizzes" | A rule for all lessons of the course — see [Quizzes](https://support.watbot.org/schools/quizzes) |
| "Homework after the quiz" | The work can be sent to the curator only after the graded quiz is passed. The field appears when quizzes are required and homework is turned on |
| "Placement test" | A test that places the student directly into their section — see [Quizzes](https://support.watbot.org/schools/quizzes) |
| "Lesson questions" | The student can ask a question on the lesson page |
| "Publish course" | Show the course to students |

![Course settings](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/course-settings.webp?v=1791781230)

Changes are applied after you click "Save".

## How lessons open

Three rules determine whether a lesson is available to a student. They work together.

**Order of study.** With "The next lesson opens after the previous one is completed", the student cannot open a lesson until the previous one is completed. While the "Open a section after the previous one" switch is off, the order applies within a section: the first lesson of each section is open right away.

**Sections one by one.** The "Open a section after the previous one" switch keeps a section closed until all lessons before it are completed. It works both together with sequential lessons and on its own.

**Schedule.** The "Open after, days" field in the lesson settings delays its opening. Days are counted from the start of study — from the moment the student got access to the course. The student sees when the lesson will open. If a chatbot is connected to the school, the student receives a notification on the opening day.

A lesson counts as completed when the student has clicked "I have finished the lesson" in it. There are two exceptions:

- if quizzes are required in the lesson, all graded quizzes of the lesson must be passed first;
- if homework is required in the lesson, the lesson counts as completed when the curator accepts the work.

While the assignment of the previous lesson is waiting for review, the next lesson stays closed under sequential study.

> [!NOTE]
> Completed lessons and submitted assignments stay with the student even if you change the course rules later: they do not close again.

## If something does not work

| Message | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| "A lesson name is required to publish." | The lesson name is empty | Enter a name and publish again |
| "Lesson content is required to publish." | The lesson has no blocks | Add content |
| "The video is used in a lesson. Remove it from the lessons first." | The video is used in a lesson — in the published version or in the draft | Delete the video block from the lessons and publish the changes |
| "Plan limit reached — no more than … GB of disk space" | There is not enough space on the plan | Delete videos you do not need or change the [plan](https://support.watbot.org/schools/start) |
| "A school can keep up to 500 videos." | The media library limit has been reached | Delete videos you do not need |
| A student does not see the course | The course is not published | Turn on "Publish course" in the course settings and click "Save" |
| A student does not see a lesson in the curriculum | The lesson is still a draft | Open the lesson and click "Publish" |