Author view

How do I create a course in Dawn?

  • Updated:

To create a new course with Dawn:

  1. Open the Courses screen.
  2. Click Create course.
  3. Provide:
  4. Click Create.

The left side of Dawn's authoring tool is a menu of components that can be edited. The right panel displays cards where authors can edit and add content to build the course.

The components on the left include:

  1. Course details panel
  2. Course Sections overview panel
  3. Sections and instructional content panel
  4. Materials panel
  5. Course files panel

1. Set up Course details with the Course > General tab

To make edits to course details, select Course on the left and the General tab, then scroll through the cards that appear on the right.

On the General tab's Info card :

  1. Title your course.
  3. Make the course a Learning path, which means it can be part of a collection of courses that all impact overall mastery of a concept.



Upload the Cover poster and Cover video files using Course resources.

On the Catalog card:

  1. If Publishers are enabled in your site, the Publisher is listed and can be changed.
  2. Add or make changes to the course Authors.
  3. Enter the Price, which is the actual price the purchaser pays for the course (you collect enrollment payments through your Stripe account).
  4. Enter a Full price (optional), which is the full price that is shown when the course is using a sale price.
  5. Create a Promotional message, which shows when the course is using a sale price. If an alternative sales tool needs to be set up for your course, you can use this line to direct customers to that tool (e.g., Contact to purchase this course for your entire school district.).
  6. Copy your Catalog page URL and share it with anyone you want to show the course to.

Add Supplemental material for the course as Attachments or Websites.

2. Add and remove Course > Coaches

Select the Course > Coaches tab to add and remove Coaches for the course.

3. Set up Course > Mastery conditions

Learners can earn certification of Mastery in your course.

On the Mastery card:

  1. Indicate the percentage of Mastery awards learners need to earn for course completion.  
  2. Uncheck the Issue a certificate at course completion box if you don't want to issue certificates.

If you do want to issue a certificate:

  1. Provide a Certificate image (8.5 x 11) that is used as the background. Dawn's template course provides a default image for this.
  4. Click the plus sign to add dynamic fields.
  5. You can see a preview generated below.

4. Create and organize course Sections



Add Instructional content to Sections

For every section you add to the course, a selectable Sections entry appears here in the side panel.

Click them to:

  1. Edit the Section title.
  3. Add Instruction (Videos, Interactions, Projects, YouTube videos, or TinCan/xAPI package).

Add Videos

When adding Video instruction in Dawn:

  1. Edit the Title and Mastery award fields.
  2. Select the video you want to use in the Video dropdown (upload videos first using Course files).
  3. Edit the pre-generated transcript or build and time your own.
    • Review the generated transcript, and click on it to edit and fix errors.
    • Click Choose resource to upload a transcript file (usually a .vtt file) created elsewhere (upload it using Course files).
    • Click the globe icon to translate the transcript.
Add Interactions

When creating an Interaction in Dawn:

  1. Provide a Title for the interaction.
  2. Provide the Expected duration for the Interaction to inform Effort data.
  3. Click Add interaction, choose the type:
    • Multiple Choice questions
    • Discussions with peers and Coaches (where enabled)
    • Notes on the instruction
Add Projects

When creating a Project in Dawn:

  1. Provide a Title.
  2. Enter the Master award and Expected duration values.
  3. For courses with coaches, indicate whether you want to Require coach review to receive master award.
  5. Scroll to the Review criteria card and create criteria to guide project creation and reviews.

5. Materials panel


6. Course files panel

Within the Course files panel you can review all resource files attached to the course and:

  1. Upload new files. When uploading videos, you are prompted to choose the transcript language.
  2. Search the Course files.
  3. Sort the results using Name, Size, or last Modified date.
  4. Delete existing files.

Learn how to build successful courses with Dawn!

These free mini courses teach you how to make sure your courses are successful:

