We're excited to announce a product update that makes it easier to publish shorter courses on FutureLearn. From today, courses no longer have to be split into weeks. You can build a course with activities and steps only, or with a single list of steps, and learners will only see the levels your course uses.
Why is this important?
Not every course fits a weekly structure. A course that takes a few hours, or that takes place in a single interactive tool, doesn't need week numbers, weekly emails or a weekly study plan, and showing them can confuse learners. The new structures let you shape a course around its content, so learners start learning sooner and can see how far they have to go.
What's new
Three course structures:
- Weeks, activities and steps. For longer courses delivered over several weeks. This is how courses work today, and it stays the default.
- Activities and steps, without weeks. For short courses of a few hours.
- Steps only, without weeks or activities. For very short content, around 30 minutes, or a single external exercise. Learners see one list of steps, numbered 1, 2, 3.
Remote courses: if your learning content is in your own interactive tool, your course can be a remote course: a single LTI enabled exercise step. Learners go straight to it when they join, with no FutureLearn menus to go through first. They can still see their progress and talk to other learners.
A single total duration: on courses without weeks, the course page and course listings show one total duration, such as "3 hours" or "30 minutes", instead of a number of weeks and hours per week.
FAQ
Answering your questions.
How do I choose a structure for my course?
Tell us which structure you'd like when you submit your course proposal, or let your Partnership Manager know. If you don't, we'll use weeks, activities and steps. We're working with our learning design team on guidance for choosing between the structures, and we'll add it to the help centre when it's ready.
Can I change the structure later?
No. The structure is set when your course is created and can't be changed afterwards, so it's worth deciding before you submit your proposal.
What about my existing courses?
We intend to move all appropriate existing courses, those with only one week and/or only one activity, to the new structures shortly. Learners will then see those courses without the weeks or activities that don't apply to them.
What will learners see?
On a course without weeks:
- there are no weeks in the left-hand menu or on the To do list
- steps are numbered 1, 2, 3 rather than 1.1, 1.2
- the progress line above each step refers to the whole course
- the last page is "End of course" rather than "End of week 1"
On a steps-only course, learners also won't see activity titles.
Is there anything I can't do on a course without weeks?
Automated weekly emails aren't available. You also can't add a second week, or a second activity on a steps-only course, and you can only import content from a course with the same structure.
Does this affect Learning Manager?
Organisations that use Learning Manager can enrol learners on these courses in the same way as any other course. Learning Manager shows each course's total length, including in the invitation and enrolment emails learners receive.
Where can I find out more?
See Course structures in Course Creator [link once published] and LTI enabled exercise step.
For more information, get in touch with your partnership manager or email partnersupport@futurelearn.com.
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