Good courses are designed before they’re built - but not everything needs to be designed wholly from scratch. The Learning Design Team have developed six reusable short-course templates to support course design.
When requested course templates will be added to your organisations area of Course Creator.
Each template is for a four-week course, approximately 3-4 hours learning time per week and includes:
- Course boilerplate (week, activity and step titles)
- Guidance and suggestions within each step
- Preloaded placeholder media (images, audio, video)
Course templates are suitable for use with all course types. They can be used in their entirety, or adjusted to your needs. For example, adding or deleting weeks/steps etc. Alternatively, you may choose to pick out relevant activities or steps.
We DO mean something that:
- provides a guide for authors on how to structure course content
- can be used if needed, adjusted; or not used if it doesn’t apply
- makes it easier for authors to design course content off-platform
- speeds up build of course content in-platform
We do NOT mean:
- a rigorous, one-size-fits-all approach
- inflexible sequencing of course content
- pre-determined quotas for content types
- a substitution for proper course planning
- a substitution for submitting a course outline for Learning Designer review
Top tips for using course templates
- Think about how learners will engage with your content - what are learners doing?
- Identify template elements that work well to meet your content learning outcomes
- More than one template may suit - look to multiple for inspiration
- Plan your course using each associated course outline document
- Edit, reorder, add and remove steps, activities and weeks to fit your ideas
- Share your course outline for feedback from the Learning Design Team
If you would like to request a template, are interested in a demo or have any questions please email courses@futurelearn.com
Below you will find an overview of each template, including a link to the accompanying off-platform course outline. We have also attached this information as a PDF to the bottom of this article.
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Discovery What will your learners explore? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for emerging or newsworthy topics - learner exploration keeps course comment and discussion fresh. Support your learners to become active creators of their learning by sourcing and sharing ideas and resources, researching off-platform, commenting and critiquing topics and engaging with issues that are shaping the world around us right now. |
Try this with: Sustainability Environment Changing world Cultural and societal issues Emerging topics …and more! |
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| Discovery template course outline | ||
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Case study What will your learners apply? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for professional disciplines with agreed standards in practice - learners benefit from engaging with detailed case studies which exemplify and bring to life significant events or aspects of practice. Your learners identify core principles, consider relevance to their context, share and empathise with peers from their community, offer advice and reflect on how to move from theory to application. |
Try this with: Business Medical Healthcare Law and Politics Teaching …and more! |
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| Case study template course outline | ||
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Hands on What will your learners create? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for creative and practical topics - learners may watch step-by-step walkthroughs and develop confidence as they learn by doing and take learning beyond the course. Equip learners with skills to build, make and create. A space for learners to share their experience, reflect and iterate, and offer tips and suggestions, learning from and with course peers. |
Try this with: Personal interest Arts and culture Hobbies Maker and creator Practical skills …and more! |
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| Hands-on template course outline | ||
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Follow along What will your learners practice? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for technical, methodological or language topics where learners practice in a safe and supportive space to develop the skills and familiarity they need to succeed.. Walkthroughs, controlled practice, and the freedom to revisit to gain confidence supports learners through to expertise while troubleshooting along the journey with the course community. |
Try this with: Coding Modern languages Technical products Workplace tools Methodologies and approaches …and more! |
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| Follow-along template course outline | ||
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Discussion What will your learners share? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for reflective and opinion-based topics - learners’ personal feelings and an emphasis on sharing, considering others and broadening perspectives put communication at the course core. Learners navigate topics and structure their thoughts, embrace the diversity of thought and experience from our global community; becoming part of a conversation, even if learning alone. |
Try this with: Personal health Wellness Lifestyle Culture Art appreciation …and more! |
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| Discussion centred template course outline | ||
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Low media What will your learners discover? |
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This course type is particularly suitable for rapid response topics or courses aimed at learners for whom internet access may be sporadic or costly, or conversions from text-based original material such as books. Low media courses prioritise text-based course content, use low-resolution imagery and utilise audio over video. Downloadable transcripts, resources and content increase access by decreasing reliance on bandwidth, while written content is given centre stage which can in turn expedite course development timelines. |
Try this with: Rapid response Conceptual Lower budget Emerging topics Book-based conversions …and more! |
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| Low media template course outline | ||
Terminology on this page that you aren’t familiar with? Check out our glossary.
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