Break-Up Lesson Content with TOPICS!

By: Justin Ferriman • October 9, 2013
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Since our launch in January of this year, our main priority has been to create a product that is in touch with the latest elearning trends, and that is consistently enhanced based on community feedback.

Today we are excited to be releasing a feature that we know many of you have been looking forward to, and are eager to use on your WordPress LMS.

New Course Layer: Lesson Topics!

Until this point, LearnDash has included two official levels (Courses and Lessons), but starting today you can now create a third layer, called “Lesson Topics” (found under the Lessons menu).

Just like you can assign an unlimited number of Lessons to Courses, you can have an unlimited number of Lesson Topics per Lesson!

Creating Lesson Topics is just like creating a lesson, simply give it a title and add your content or media. Once done, all you have to do is assign it to the appropriate Lesson.

Lesson Topic Progression

Lesson Topics adopt the same settings as Lessons for your course progression. If you require your users to take the course lessons in sequential order, then they will also be required to take the Lesson Topics in order – no skipping 🙂 !

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Visually track topic progress
Visually track topic progress

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As your users progress through a Lesson at its Topics, they will be able to visually see their status, and return to the Lesson page at any time. A Lesson cannot be marked complete until all Topics have been successfully completed.

Lesson Topic Quizzes, Timer, & Assignments

Just like you can do with your Lessons, you can assign Quizzes to a Lesson Topic so that it cannot be marked as complete until it is successfully passed. This is a great way to ensure that users understand the content before being allowed to move onto the next Topic.

Want to require an assignment for a Lesson Topic?  No problem! All you need to do is select the check-box indicating that the Lesson Topic requires an assignment to be submitted. Users won’t be able to progress until their submissions are approved.

As an added bonus, you can also choose to leverage the timer so that users cannot mark a topic complete until a specific amount of time has elapsed.

Topics are 100% Optional

By no means do you have to use Lesson Topics to break-up your Lessons. Some Lessons may have more content than others, and the Lesson Topics give you the ability deliver it in smaller “chunks”. In the image below, you can see three Lessons, but only the second Lesson has Topics. For current customers, you can read more about how to get started with Lesson Topics by referencing the scripts and videos in the support documentation.

Thank you again for your suggestions on how we can improve LearnDash. We know that you have put your trust in us, and we will stand by you as you continue to deliver learning on your WordPress powered site.

Until next time!

Justin Ferriman

Justin started LearnDash, the WordPress LMS trusted by Fortune 500 companies, major universities, training organizations, and entrepreneurs worldwide. He is currently founder & CEO of GapScout. Justin’s Homepage | GapScout | Twitter