Course Authoring

A course authoring tool that lives inside the LMS

Write lessons, build interactive modules, record screen demos and put questions into video in the same place learners take the course. Already own Storyline or Rise? Upload the package and keep going.

At a glance

  • Course builder with gating
  • Interactive module builder
  • Required blocks
  • Interactive video
  • Recording Studio

A typical corporate course we are asked to rebuild has passed through four tools: a slide deck, an authoring app, a screen recorder and a video host, with the LMS at the end of the line. Every correction means going back to the start. LMS Advisor puts the authoring steps where the course lives, so fixing a typo in lesson 3 is an edit and a save, not a re-export and re-upload.

Courses are sections of ordered lessons, and each lesson can be a different type: video, audio, a PDF or document, rich text, an embed, a live session, a SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 package, an interactive module, a quiz or an assignment. Most good courses end up as a mix.

The problem

What slows course production down

Four tools for one course

Authoring, recording, hosting and delivery each come with their own license, login and export format.

Small edits cost a full republish

Correcting one screen in a packaged course means exporting, zipping, uploading and testing the whole thing again.

Video people only half watch

A long recording with a quiz at the end tells you nothing about whether anyone followed the middle.

Content stuck in the old platform

Years of Moodle or LearnDash courses feel too costly to rebuild, so the platform move keeps getting postponed.

Capabilities

Authoring tools that ship with the LMS

Five parts cover most course work: the course builder, the interactive module builder, interactive video, the Recording Studio and the Media Library.

Course builder with gating

Order sections and lessons, then add drip days, release dates, a minimum time on a lesson or strict sequential progression.

Interactive module builder

Build with headings, rich text, callouts, accordions, tabs, flip cards, buttons, knowledge checks and drag-and-drop. No HTML required.

Required blocks

Mark a knowledge check or drag-and-drop as required, and the lesson cannot be completed until the learner has answered it.

Interactive video

Place up to 20 timed questions, plus chapters and note overlays, on an MP4, WebM, YouTube or Vimeo video, with rewind on a wrong answer.

Recording Studio

Record camera, screen or both in the browser from 720p to 4K, draw with a pen, highlighter or laser pointer, and upload in one step.

Migration and reuse

Import Moodle .mbz backups and LearnDash courses, duplicate a course as a clean draft, and move courses between installs.

In depth

How courses, modules and video are built

Gating, sequencing and completion

Each lesson can wait a set number of days after enrollment, stay closed until a date, require the previous lesson first, or require a minimum time spent on the previous lesson. At course level, sequential progression opens one lesson at a time in order, while completed lessons stay available for review. Drip and sequence are separate checks and a lesson has to pass both. Use strict order for compliance courses where sequence matters, and leave it off for reference material people dip in and out of.

Interactive modules

Modules are built from blocks in their own library and attached to a course as an Interactive lesson, so one module can serve several courses. Knowledge checks take 2 to 10 options, single or multiple correct answers, and your own feedback for right and wrong answers. Drag-and-drop takes up to 12 item and target pairs. Both are scored on the server and both can be marked required. With AI switched on, the authoring assistant drafts a module from a plain description for you to edit. Published modules can also be embedded on another website through an iframe, where nothing is tracked.

Video that checks understanding

The Video block accepts a file URL or a YouTube or Vimeo link. You place questions at timestamps (multiple choice, or short answer with several accepted spellings), mark them required, and set a rewind point so a wrong answer sends the learner back to rewatch that part. You can turn off seeking so the video cannot be skipped, add up to 30 named chapters, and show timed notes over the picture.

Recording without extra software

The Recording Studio runs in the browser. Pick camera, screen, or screen with a camera bubble, choose 720p, 1080p, 2K or 4K, and use the countdown, pause and resume. Pen, highlighter, laser pointer and emoji reactions are drawn into the video as you record, and a whiteboard mode gives you a blank canvas. Preview it, retake it if needed, then upload. Output is WebM. For most lessons 1080p is the right choice, because 4K files get large fast.

Bringing existing courses in

Moodle 3.x and 4.x backups (.mbz) import with sections, pages and quizzes, including multiple choice, true/false, short answer, numerical, matching and essay questions. LearnDash courses come in from a WordPress export file, where quiz questions arrive as placeholders, or through our Migrator plugin, which also brings ProQuiz questions, media and enrollments. Storyline, Rise, Captivate and iSpring content runs as SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 packages.

See Course Authoring in a live demo

We will show it with your own scenario, answer the security questions and send a written quote after the call.

Book a demo
Workflow

From outline to published course

Outline the course

Create sections and lessons by hand, duplicate a course you already have, or draft an outline with AI.

Add the content

Write rich text, upload documents and video, attach packages, or record a demo in the Recording Studio.

Build in checks

Add knowledge checks, drag-and-drop, video questions and a quiz, and mark the ones learners must answer.

Set the rules

Choose drip days, release dates and whether the course runs in strict order.

Publish and adjust

Publish, see in analytics where learners drop off, and edit that lesson in place.

Use cases

What teams build with it

Software walkthroughs

A SaaS support team records a screen demo with a camera bubble, adds questions at the points where customers usually get lost, and sets a rewind point on each one.

Safety procedures

A plant EHS lead builds a lockout-tagout module with a flip card per step and a required drag-and-drop that matches each hazard to its control.

Blended onboarding

HR combines a welcome video, policy PDFs, a live session with the team lead and a short assignment in one course that runs in order.

Leaving Moodle

A training provider imports its .mbz backups, checks the quizzes that came across, and rebuilds only the activities that did not map.

Benefits

What changes for your content team

  • One place to write, record, test and publish
  • Knowledge checks inside the content, where attention drops
  • Edits that go live without re-exporting a package
  • Recordings and media reused across courses
  • Existing Moodle, LearnDash and SCORM content kept
FAQ

Questions from course builders

Do we still need Articulate Storyline or Rise?
Often not. The module builder, interactive video and Recording Studio cover most courses. For branching scenarios or heavily custom interactions, keep your authoring tool and upload its SCORM, xAPI or cmi5 output. Both kinds of lesson can sit in the same course.
Which lesson types are supported?
Video, audio, PDFs and documents, rich text, embeds, live sessions, SCORM, xAPI and cmi5 packages, interactive modules, quizzes and assignments. You can also attach downloadable materials to a course.
Can one module or video be reused in several courses?
Yes. Interactive modules live in their own library and attach to any course as a lesson, and Media Library files can be picked from any course. Media streams only to logged-in users.
What happens to quizzes when we import from Moodle?
Multiple choice, true/false, short answer, numerical, matching and essay questions come across with the quiz. Other Moodle question types are skipped with a warning, so you know exactly what to rebuild.
Can learners skip ahead in a video?
Only if you allow it. Turn seeking off in the Video block, and required questions have to be answered before playback continues.
Can we copy an existing course as a template?
Yes. Duplicate Course creates an independent draft with the same sections, lessons, quizzes, questions, assignments and materials. Enrollments, attempts and certificates are never copied.
Does it handle math notation?
Yes. LaTeX renders in lessons, quizzes and exams, and the AI drafting tools write formulas in LaTeX so they display correctly.

See LMS Advisor with your own use case

A product specialist walks you through authoring, a proctored exam, certificates and the AI tools, using the programs you actually run.