Create and Structure a Native Course - Article

Choose how to start

Authors can create a new Course from scratch or clone a complete Course that has been deliberately prepared as a reusable starting point.

A Page template supplies the starting content and presentation for one page. A prepared source Course can provide an entire Course structure, including its page hierarchy, completed page layouts and content, branding, guidance, recommendations, and examples.

Organizations can therefore maintain different starting Courses for particular Course types, audiences, brands, business units, or other recurring needs. For example, a source Course could be named Template – Customer product certification or Template – Internal policy acknowledgement.

A Course maintained for this purpose remains an ordinary Course in the Course list; it is not a separate Page template type. Its title and governance should make clear that authors are expected to clone it rather than develop or deliver it directly.

Clone a prepared starting Course

From the Course list, locate the prepared source Course and use the available cloning action. The cloned Course provides the complete starting structure, allowing the author to adapt an established learning design instead of rebuilding the same pages and hierarchy.

After cloning:

1. Give the new Course its intended title and code.
2. Confirm its author, co-authors, Organization, language, and other Course settings.
3. Review the complete page structure and learner route.
4. Replace or remove template guidance, examples, and placeholders.
5. Check links, media, assessments, adaptive behavior, restrictions, and other copied configuration.
6. Confirm that branding and audience-specific content belong in the new Course.
7. Review the result in Participant view.

This approach is particularly useful when the starting Course contains targeted authoring advice or a proven structure for a particular learning purpose. It can combine standardized design with enough variation to support different audiences and brands.

Create and save a Course from scratch

Open Courses and select Create. Eurekos opens the Course builder, where connected page bubbles define the Course structure. The first bubble represents the first Course page, while the remaining bubbles represent pages and subpages. Their connections determine how the pages are organized.

Each new page uses a Page template as its starting point. The template applies only to that page; it does not create the Course structure. Depending on its configuration, a Page template may be empty or include reusable sections, guidance, recommendations, predefined colors, and other starting content.

Every page contains a protected Page title, which identifies the page in Course navigation. The first Course page also contains a protected Course banner. These required objects are present regardless of the Page template selected. Authors can reposition both objects but cannot delete them. The Course banner can also be hidden or configured to display an Image, native Video, or Playlist. See Build Course Pages with Layouts, Text, Images, and Buttons for the complete page and banner procedure.

To establish the Course:

1. Open Courses.
2. Select Create.
3. Create or review the page bubbles that define the first Course page, later pages, and subpages.
4. Give each page a descriptive title and choose an appropriate Page template.
5. Review any guidance or starting content supplied by the selected templates.
6. Arrange the page bubbles into the intended Course structure.
7. Select Save.

The first save creates the Course entity and adds it to the Course library. Until this point, you are working with an unsaved Course structure, and the complete Course-level settings are not yet available.

Saving the Course does not publish it in the Storefront, create a Training Activity, invite participants, or enroll anyone. It establishes the reusable authoring resource that can now be identified, classified, governed, and developed.

A Page template is applied to an individual page when that page is created. It supplies the page’s starting content and presentation but does not determine the page’s position or relationships in the Course structure. Later changes to the Page template do not retrospectively update pages already created in a saved Course.

Complete the Course identity and classification

Open Settings to configure the Course-level information that becomes available after the Course entity has been created.

The General area establishes the Course title, Course code, organizational relationship, primary author, co-authors, content language, and permitted cloning model. The Tags area applies the controlled classifications and keywords that help authors and administrators locate, filter, organize, and report on the Course.

Choose the Course code deliberately. It becomes the default name of the automatically created shared Course folder used by the author and co-authors to maintain supporting files and materials. A short, consistent naming convention makes Courses and their shared resources easier to recognize, search, and govern as the library grows.

Save the settings, then confirm that the Course can be found using both its title and code and that the intended authors can open it. For the complete explanation of ownership, organizations, language, classification, shared resources, cloning, and governance, see Manage the Course Library, Ownership, and Settings.

Build a clear outline

The Course outline should make the learning journey understandable before the learner opens the first page. Organize pages around meaningful learning tasks and decisions rather than reproducing the structure of source documents.

Keep the principal route near the top level. Use subpages where grouping genuinely helps learners understand a subject or complete a larger task. Avoid deep nesting that requires learners to open several containers before reaching a short lesson.

Use descriptive page titles such as “Check the site before installation” rather than “Page 3.” A strong title supports navigation, search, accessibility, and content maintenance and remains understandable outside the author’s original outline.

Keep the outline and page layout separate

The outline answers “Where am I in the Course?” The page layout answers “How do I understand and use this lesson?”

A single page can combine an explanation, image, video, interaction, practice activity, and downloadable resource without each element becoming another entry in the Course outline. Use a consistent page pattern where it supports orientation, but allow procedures, case studies, assessments, and reference pages to use structures appropriate to their purpose.

A single crowded page is not automatically simpler than several focused pages. Divide content when a learner needs a clear change of task, decision, subject, or expected outcome. Continue with Build Course Pages with Layouts, Text, Images, and Buttons when the outline is ready for detailed page authoring.

Practical structure patterns

Different learning purposes call for different structures. Use these patterns as starting points and adapt them to the actual learner journey rather than treating them as mandatory templates.

Choose the simplest structure that preserves the intended sequence and makes important relationships visible. A learner should be able to understand the route from the page titles and hierarchy without opening every page first.

Add and arrange pages

The Course builder presents the structure as connected page bubbles. The first bubble represents the first Course page, while the connecting lines show the relationships between the remaining pages and subpages.

1. Open the saved Course in the Course builder.
2. Identify the page beneath which the new page belongs.
3. Select the Add control at the appropriate position.
4. Enter a descriptive page title and add the page.
5. Continue from the relevant parent bubble to build the required hierarchy.
6. Drag page bubbles to change their order or position.
7. Check the connecting lines after every move to confirm the intended parent and sequence.
8. Navigate to the page when you are ready to add or edit its learning content.

Moving a page is not purely visual. Its new position can affect navigation and behavior associated with its parent. After restructuring a branch, review both the moved page and the pages beneath it.

Build the structure deliberately rather than adding depth for its own sake. If a page does not represent a meaningful learning task, decision, subject, or reusable reference, consider whether its content belongs inside another page instead.

Copy and remove pages safely

Navigate to the page you want to reuse and open More.

• Copy creates a page copy that can be pasted into another valid location.
• Paste inserts the copied page at the selected destination.
• Remove removes the selected page and its subordinate pages after confirmation.

A page copy includes the complete page layout and content. Review all copied material and settings before relying on it. Reused pages can contain dates, customer-specific wording, links, shared assets, prerequisites, or learning rules that do not belong in the new context.

Removing a parent page can affect the complete branch below it. Review the hierarchy, links, shared resources, and dependent learning routes before confirming the removal.

Copying a page is different from copying or moving an individual learning object in the page editor. Use Cut or Clone, followed by Paste, when only selected content within a page should be moved or duplicated. A page copy is also different from cloning a complete Course: a page copy reuses one page in another valid location, while a Course clone creates an independent Course containing the complete prepared structure and content.

Choose page behavior intentionally

Once a page is positioned correctly, open its More menu and select Settings. The outline establishes where the page belongs, while the Display setting determines how the page participates in the learner route.

Select the behavior according to the page’s learning purpose rather than using a Display setting simply to remove an inconvenient page from view.

The first Course page does not provide page-level Access Restrictions. Its availability follows access to the Course module within the Training Activity. Use Training Activity or Course-module access controls when access to the complete Course must be gated.

Page behavior can interact with parent-child relationships, progress, prerequisites, and adaptive rules. Page restrictions are configured separately for each page after the first Course page; child pages do not inherit a parent page’s restriction. Test every affected page and its surrounding branch in Participant view before relying on the route.

These settings control how a page participates within the Course. They do not replace the enrollment, audience, availability, or access controls applied through a Training Activity.

Apply adaptive and external page behavior

Use Restricted when a learner must satisfy a supported prerequisite or condition before opening a page. Confirm that the condition is based on evidence available to the Course and test both the qualifying and non-qualifying journey. See Control Course Page Access and Prerequisites for the detailed configuration.

Recommended, Optional, and Supplemental pages can support a more adaptive route. Recommended content highlights relevant material without preventing other learners from opening it. Optional content can provide useful depth without contributing to required progress. Supplemental content can be introduced when a supported interaction or assessment identifies an additional learning need. See Design Adaptive and Recommended Course Pages for the complete adaptive model.

Use H5P SCORM/xAPI only when the page is intended to launch a supported H5P object through that behavior. Confirm how attempts, completion, scoring, and any SCORM or xAPI behavior are configured for the object. The detailed interactive-content workflow is covered in Create and Reuse Interactive Learning with H5P.

An External link opens a destination outside the native page flow. Confirm that the intended learners can access the destination and understand that the external service controls its own authentication, availability, privacy, and accessibility. Opening the link does not provide Course progress evidence in the same way as completing native learning content.

Test every conditional branch in Participant view. Where behavior also depends on enrollment, audience, activity settings, or external identity, test the Course through a representative Training Activity before delivery.

Verify the learner route

Verify the complete journey rather than checking only that individual pages were saved.

A successful save confirms that the configuration was accepted. It does not prove that every learner route, conditional branch, external destination, or Training Activity context behaves as intended