FutureLearn courses are broken up into weeks activities, and steps. Steps nest within activities, and activities nest within weeks.

Activities help to break up courses into manageable chunks.  The steps contained within each activity are all connected by being related to the central activity theme or topic.

Learners view activities on the ‘to do’ list page. Without activities, the to do list page would show a daunting wall of steps to learners.

Top tips

1. 3 to 5 activities per week works well for an average course week
2. Activities contain between 2 and 8 steps. Try hitting the middle, around 4-5. 
3. Functional activities that introduce or wrap up should still be engaging. Try asking questions to provoke conversation or encouraging reflectionConnect activities focused on teaching and learning content to a learning outcome to ensure a clear focus.
4. Prepare activity titles, descriptions, and accompanying images during course design. Titles should read like a story, adding to the narrative of the course. Write titles in sentence case and keep them short (some learners are on mobile phones).

• Activity description: 230 characters
• Activity image: dimensions 442px x 295px 72 dpi, RGB. 

Activity 1 within Week 1

The first activity of week 1 Is the most important activity of any course. 

The steps within this first activity should hook in learners and provide an engaging overview of the course.  

• Avoid excessive administrative steps. 
• Introduce the course Educator and promote social behaviour through asking learners to introduce themselves. 
• Give learners an overview of what’s happening by briefly introducing the course, and setting out learning outcomes. 
• Explain the skills that are going to be explored, practiced and enhanced during the course

Begin to explore a big question to entice learners to stick with the course.  

Screenshot from Course Creator

Build activities in Course Creator

Find out more in steps What makes a great activity? and Top tips for amazing activities in How to Create a Great FutureLearn Course.  Contact your Partnership Manager for access. 

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

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