A course outline is the working map for what learners will see and what your team must prepare. Use it before publishing so the course has a clear promise, a logical lesson order, useful resources, and completion expectations that match the offer.

What this guide helps you do

• Turn a course idea into sections, lessons, outcomes, and supporting resources.
• Decide which lessons need video, downloads, quizzes, assignments, or discussion prompts.
• Create a review checklist before the course is shared with customers or members.

Before you start

• Define who the course is for and what the learner should be able to do by the end.
• Decide whether the course is free, paid, member-only, private, or part of another offer.
• Gather existing notes, recordings, PDFs, worksheets, examples, and follow-up material.
• Know whether certificates, quizzes, assignments, or Q&A should be part of the learning experience.

Do it manually

1. Open Courses and create or open the course draft.
2. Add a title, short description, learner outcome, category, level, estimated effort, and access mode.
3. Create sections that match the main steps in the learning journey.
4. Add lesson titles under each section and mark which lessons need media, downloads, quizzes, assignments, or discussion.
5. Add rich lesson notes or resource descriptions so lessons are not only empty titles.
6. Review the outline from the learner point of view before adding final media and publishing.

Ask Faster AI

• Build a course outline for a beginner workshop on [topic]. Include sections, lesson titles, outcomes, resources, and review steps before publishing.
• Review this course outline and tell me where learners may need examples, worksheets, quizzes, assignments, or Q&A prompts.
• Turn these notes into a course tree with sections, lessons, expected effort, and a publish checklist for my review.

Review before learners use it

• Confirm every section has a clear purpose and every lesson supports the course outcome.
• Check that course title, description, effort, level, and access mode match the offer customers will see.
• Do not publish until required media, downloads, quizzes, assignments, and certificate settings are ready.
• Preview the public course page and learner lesson flow after the outline is filled in.

Common issues and fixes

• If the course feels scattered, rewrite the outcome first and remove lessons that do not support it.
• If learners may get stuck, add examples, checklists, recaps, or Q&A prompts to the relevant lessons.
• If the course looks empty, add lesson notes or resource descriptions before adding final media.

Online course launch playbook

For the full path from course idea to outline, lessons, launch, and certificate review, read the online course launch playbook. Publishing Your First Online Course: Outline to Certificate.

Course marketing before recording

For why a course outline should be informed by market demand before recording starts, read the course marketing article. How to Market Your First Online Course (Before You Record It).

Tutor knowledge ladder

For an educator-specific example of turning repeated 1:1 teaching into a course ladder, cohort offer, and subscription path, read the tutor knowledge article. The Tutor's Guide to Selling Knowledge Online.

Connected workflows

• Create member access
• Collect pay-now payments from plugins
• Create a welcome journey
• Understand Customer 360

Placeholder media

• Screenshot placeholder: add an annotated screenshot of build a course outline with learner names, email addresses, payment details, private progress notes, and unpublished course material blurred.
• Video placeholder: add a short walkthrough that shows the manual course path, then shows how to ask Faster AI for the same setup or review before learners can access it.

Related help

• Publish lessons and resources
• Add course media and downloads
• Publish a course safely