Course structures in Course Creator

Table of contents for this article

• What course structures are available?
• How do I choose a structure for my course?
• Can I change the structure later?
• What will learners see?
• What can't I do on a course without weeks?

What course structures are available?

FutureLearn courses are broken up into weeks, activities and steps. Shorter courses don't always need all three, so you can now build a course with fewer levels:

• Weeks, activities and steps. For longer courses delivered over several weeks. This is how all courses have worked until now.
• Activities and steps, without weeks. For short courses of a few hours. You can add several activities, each with its own steps.
• Steps only, without weeks or activities. For very short content (around 30 minutes) or a single external exercise. Learners see one list of steps.

How do I choose a structure for my course?

FutureLearn creates your course shell once your course proposal has been approved. Tell us which structure you'd like in your proposal, or let your Partnership Manager know. If you don't, we'll use weeks, activities and steps.

Can I change the structure later?

No. The structure is set when the course is created and can't be changed afterwards, so plan your course outline before you submit your proposal.

What will learners see?

Learners only see the levels your course uses. On a course without weeks:

• there are no weeks in the left-hand navigation or on the To do list
• steps are numbered 1, 2, 3 rather than 1.1, 1.2
• the progress line above each step talks about the course, for example "You're halfway through" or "You've completed the course"
• the last page is "End of course" rather than "End of week 1".

On a course with steps only, learners also won't see activity titles or descriptions.

If your course is a remote course (a single LTI exercise step), learners go straight to that step. See LTI enabled exercise step.

What can't I do on a course without weeks?

• Add a second week (or, on a steps-only course, a second activity).
• Delete the only week or activity.
• Send automated weekly emails.
• Import content from a course with a different structure.

Terminology on this page that you aren't familiar with? Check out our glossary.