Developing Course Units

What Is a Unit?

Courses are composed of sections branched out into subsections and units respectively. Each unit is a single page that learners view as part of a subsection. Moreover, several components make up a unit, including text with HTML markup, question prompts, discussions, and videos.

The Outline View of Units

The image below depicts a Studio view of the course outline on the left. While you can see the LMS view of the course outline on the right.

The numbers annotated on the figure correspond to the following levels named below.

1.    Sections

2.    Subsections

3.    Units

How to Access the Unit Page on Studio

In Studio, you can access the Unit page by clicking on the name of the unit you wish to open.

Below we see an example of a Studio Unit page containing two components and different areas that are annotated using numbered circles that correspond to each component label.

1.    A text component within a Unit.

2.    Choices that enable you to examine changes made to the Unit.

3.    The Unit status field

4.    A navigation bar showing where the unit is located within the subsection, also offering an easy means to find and access nearby unit pages.

5.    A button on the unit navigation bar that provides means to add a new unit to a subsection.

6.    Navigation tools that ease moving from one section or subsection to the other. 

How Can Learners View Units

Each unit in the subsection is represented by an icon at the top of the Course page in the edX learning management system (LMS). Additionally, a bold underline below one of the options in the unit navigation bar indicates the currently selected unit (where we are in the course). Also, below the navigation bar is where you'll find the components of the current unit listed.

Below is an image of a subsection containing several units in the LMS.

Whenever a green check mark appears next to a unit icon, it means a learner has completed that unit. We only consider a unit completed if the learner has

• Viewed all of the videos completely
• Sent in a response to all the questions & prompts.
• Wholly seen the HTML content for a minimum of 5 seconds.
  

An Overview of the Unit Workflow

Having set up the sections and subsections in the course outline, you can then move on to work on & develop your units.

Here are the steps that are typically involved in a workflow.

1.    Create a new unit.

2.    Add your desired components to the unit.

3.    Modify unit components before or after publishing

All of the unit components must be added before publishing the unit. In other words, as soon as all of the unit's components have been added, you can publish it. In the case that you make any extra modifications to a unit after it has been published, you must publish it once more for the learners to view.

You will notice a change in the publishing status of the unit as you complete these steps. Learners can access content based on the publishing status, along with the course release date (for instructor-paced courses). For more information on publishing statuses, please refer to the next section.

Instructor-paced courses are the only ones that have a release date. Check out the Overview on Course Pacing to learn more about instructor-paced and self-paced courses.

Publish Status and Visibility of Units to Learners

A summary of different publishing statuses and how they affect learner visibility has been listed below.

1. Draft Previously Unpublished: Status indicating an unpublished unit. Units that have been marked as Draft are never published and cannot be viewed by learners.
   

1. Exclusively Limited to Course Team: Status indicating units that have been hidden from learners and meant to be accessed exclusively by the course team; learners cannot view any of the hidden content. Read How to Hide Units from Learners for more information.
   

1. Published (Currently Unreleased): Status used to indicate units within an instructor-paced course that has been published but has not yet been released. Once the course release date has passed, the unit will be released and accessible by learners, and the status will change to Published and Live.
   

1. Published and Broadcasted Live: Status indicating a unit has been published and is now live, meaning learners see view the current version of the unit.
   

1. Draft with Unsaved Revisions: This status marks units that have been published before, but now include some modifications that have not been published.
   

Therefore, if the containing section/subsection release dates have passed, the learners can see the latest published version, but not the newly made changes.

Please note, given the circumstance you have specified the individuals or groups who can access the unit within the access settings, once the unit is Published and Live, the unit will be available to those specific learners only.

You can find more information at Controlling Content Visibility and Access. Also, you can learn more about testing your course content by visiting Testing Your Course Content.

List of Unit Publishing Statuses

There are a variety of statuses for units that you work with as a course author.

1. Draft Previously Unpublished
   

1. Published and Broadcasted Live

1. Published (Currently Unreleased)

1. Draft with Unsaved Revisions

1. Exclusively Limited to Course Team
   

Draft Previously Unpublished

As soon as you create a new unit and add components to it, its publishing status changes within the status panel and is displayed as DraftPreviously Unpublished.

Instructor-paced courses are the only course types that are covered in the Release section. Units in self-paced courses do not appear in this section. Detailed information about instructor-paced and self-paced courses can be found under Course Pacing.

As you develop a unit in Studio, you can view the draft content. Even though the unit is not displayed in the LMS, you are able to preview the unit.

A unit marked with this status is never shown to learners, even after it has been released (in an instructor-paced course). If you want the unit to appear in the LMS, you must publish the unit first. To put it simply, it is not enough for the containing section/subsection to be released for the learners to be granted access to content, the unit itself must also be published.

Published and Broadcasted Live

This status indicates a unit has been published, and no modifications have been made to it since it was published. Hence, the current version of the unit is visible to both you and the learners who have enrolled, in case the release dates for the section and subsection have passed in instructor-paced courses.

There is a Release section that is only applicable to instructor-paced courses. There is no such option for units in self-paced courses. You can find more information about Course Pacing here.

Published (Currently Unreleased)

In this case, although the unit has been published, the release date is still in the future. And the unit will not be available to learners until after the release date has passed.

This status is only applicable to instructor-paced courses. Courses taken on a self-paced basis are not assigned this status.

Draft with Unsaved Revisions

As shown on the status panel, the status of a unit changes to Draft with Unsaved Revisions, as soon as you make any revisions to a published unit whether it has been released or not.

The course Release section applies only to instructor-paced courses. But when it comes to self-paced courses, this option does not appear for units.

When you are working on a unit in Studio, the draft content is displayed as you develop it. It is possible to preview the changes made to a unit in order to test how your changes will appear to the learners after the unit has been published.

The last published version of a unit is displayed to learners if the release date of a unit in an instructor-paced course has passed. If your content is scheduled for release at a time in the future, learners will not be able to view it. Therefore, to make sure learners can see the changes you have made to the unit, you must publish it.

Exclusively Limited to Course Team

It is important to understand that once you hide a unit from learners, its publishing status changes to Exclusively Limited to Course Team. This is also the case when you decide to hide the parent section or subsection from learners as well.

Even if a unit has been published​​​​​ and the release date for the unit has passed (in a course that is instructor-paced), learners will never be able to access content that has been assigned this status.

It should be noted that the Release section applies only to instructor-paced courses. There is no indication of that for courses that can be taken at your own pace(self-paced).

How to Create a Unit

It is possible to create a unit by one of two means. You can either use the course outline or create the unit from within the subsection itself.

Here are the steps you need to follow in order to create a unit from the outline.

1.    You can create a new unit in a subsection of the Outline by expanding it. Within the course outline, simply click on the subsection to expand it.

2.    Click on the New Unit option which can be found at the bottom of the expanded subsection. This opens up a new page that allows you to add components to your newly added unit.

3.    Once you are redirected to the Unit page, the name of the unit appears selected. Give the item a descriptive name to identify the unit by. A descriptive name makes it easier for learners to find content within a course. Also, it can be helpful when analyzing results in edX Insights.

4.    Build the new unit as needed by Adding Components.

Follow these steps to create a unit from a unit page.

1. To create a new unit, select New Unit from the Unit Navigation Bar. This automatically opens the unit page of the newly added unit.

2. The name of the unit is selected and ready for you to set. Rename the unit by giving it an explanatory, revealing name that makes it easier for students to browse through and locate. As well as helping you select content in edX Insights when you analyze performance.

3. Insert components in the unit as you see fit.

It is then necessary to publish the unit for learners to see it.

How to Edit a Unit

Here are some ways to edit a unit.

1. You can make changes to the unit's name.

1. You can refine a unit by adding components to it.

1. Reorganize the components in the unit to ensure they are properly distributed.
   

In the event that you made any of these modifications to a previously published unit, the status of the unit changes to Draft with Unpublished Revisions. Once you are done, in order for your edits to be visible to learners, the unit must be published once more.

In addition, you can specify which learner groups a unit is available to by setting access restrictions for the unit in your course design. This is particularly useful when you plan to offer different content to different groups of learners.

Renaming Units

In Studio, select Edit next to a unit name on the unit page to edit the name of your desired unit. Upon selecting, the name field then becomes editable. Once you have entered the new name, click outside the field to save it, or press the tab on your keyboard.

Reorganizing Unit Components

Simply drag and drop components within a unit to reorganize them.

The Drag to Reorder handle on the component toolbar can be used to reorder components. Move your mouse pointer over the Drag to Reorder handle on the component toolbar. As a result, the pointer changes to a four-headed arrow. Hence drag the component to your desired location.

As can be seen in the following image, the handle of the discussion component has been selected.

You can see where the component will land once the mouse is released as it is shown using a blue outline. Here, the discussion component is being moved to the top of the unit.

How to Preview a Unit

The purpose of previewing a unit is to review and test the content before it is made available to learners.

It is possible to preview a unit before it is published or the course goes live. Previewing a unit in a live course is the same as viewing the live version if there are no pending changes after the unit has been published.

You can preview the unit by selecting Preview on the Studio unit page.

In the LMS, the unit is then displayed in preview mode.

A good practice to follow when you are revising a previously published unit is to preview your changes in one browser window and view the published unit in another window at the same time.

Check out Testing Your Course Content for information about reviewing content before it is uploaded to your course.

How to Publish a Unit

Learners are able to access the current version of a unit in Studio when it is published. For learners to access published units in an instructor-paced course, the section and subsection release dates must also have passed.

Before publishing a unit, it is assigned one of the following statuses. It is either a Draft Previously Unpublished or a Draft with Unsaved Revisions. Once you publish your desired unit the status changes to either Published and Broadcasted Live or Published (Currently Unreleased).

Depending on your preference, you can publish a unit from either the unit's page or the outline of the course.

You can find more information about instructor-paced courses and self-paced courses on the Course Pacing page.

Publishing a Unit from the Unit Page

The unit can be published by selecting the Publish button in the status panel of the unit.

Publishing a Unit in the Outline

You can publish a unit from the outline by selecting the Publish icon within the unit’s box.

The Publish icon will appear only if the unit has new or modified content.

Discard Revisions Made to a Unit

Modifications to a published unit are saved in Studio but aren't visible to learners until they are published again.

It's possible to discard your changes so that Studio reverts to the final published version of the unit if you ever decide to never publish them.

Select the Discard Changes option in the status panel of the Studio version of the unit in order to discard the changes and restore the last published version of the unit.

A unit will be permanently deleted if you discard changes that have been made to it. A discarded change cannot be retrieved, nor can the action be undone.

How to View Units with Different Publishing Statuses

At the top of the page, select View Live Version to view the last version of a unit.

A staff view of the unit page opens in the LMS once you click on the link. There may be a prompt for you to log into the Learning Management System.

A Draft with Unsaved Revisions status means that your changes are not visible in the LMS until you republish the unit after you have made your changes.

Viewing the Live Version option is not enabled once the unit has a Draft Previously Unpublished status.

Learn about testing your course content by visiting Testing Your Course Content.

Making a Unit Invisible to Learners

In spite of a unit's status or the release schedule for the section or subsection, you can prevent learners from seeing it.

Visit Visibility Settings to learn more.

A unit can be hidden from learners using the course outline or the unit page.

Hiding a Unit from the Unit Page

Click on the Hide from Learners option which appears in the status panel.

The Release section appears only for courses that are instructor-paced and does not appear for units in self-paced courses.

See Controlling Content Visibility and Access for more information.

Hiding a Unit from the Course Outline

1. From within the unit box, click on the Three-dot icon and then select Configure option to launch the Settings dialog box.

2. Choose the Hide from Learners option under the Unit Visibility section.

3. Click Save.

Unhiding a Unit Hidden from Learners

You should be aware that learners will be able to see course content immediately after making a hidden unit visible.

1. In the case of an existing unit that has been previously hidden from learners, by deselecting the Hide from Learners option the unit with all its current content will be published. Plus, draft changes made to the unit while it was hidden will also be published.

1. Unhiding a section or subsection that was previously hidden, on the other hand, does not publish the draft content in their units. Therefore, any modifications you may have made since the last time you published your unit will not be saved and published, and hence will not be visible to learners.
   

Moreover, the unit page and the course outline are 2 means that enable you to unhide a unit, thus making it visible and accessible to the course participants. As mentioned in the instructions above, you can unhide the content by deselecting the Hide from Learners check box.

You will then be prompted to verify this action, confirming you want to make the unit available to the learners.

How to Delete a Unit

If you would like to delete a unit of your choice, you must do so from within the course outline in Studio.

Deleting a unit ultimately means you delete all the constituting components in the unit.

Once you have deleted any course content, it may not be restored again. Therefore, it is advised to move or store a copy of the unused content you may need later throughout the course in a hidden section or subsection rather than deleting it. In this way, you can ensure you do not delete content that may come in handy in the future.

The steps below guide you through deleting a unit.

1. Within the course outline page, navigate to the box for your desired unit. Next, click on the Delete icon within the unit box.

2. You will receive a popup notification prompting you to confirm this action. Choose Yes, delete this unit to proceed with the deletion.

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