The Coursera Guide to

Content Creation
Table of Contents

What’s in this Guide? 2

Overview of the Content Creation Process 4

Stage 1: Project Setup 5

Stage 2: Design 6

Stage 3: Develop, Author, & Produce 9

Stage 4: Implement and Test 12

Want to know more? 13

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 2

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation
Thank you for your interest in creating content with us. At Coursera, we envision a future As you read through this guide, the following definitions will help distinguish four basic
where anyone, anywhere can access a world-class education. We are inspired by our elements that comprise a course on Coursera:
education partners who are creating inclusive, innovative and high-quality courses for
learners worldwide.
A Course is a series of modules over a number of weeks which leads to credits
Online education is highly effective when we design it to support how people learn. The
for degree students.
Coursera learning experience is grounded in pedagogical research and data from our
90 million-plus learners around the world, for whom we are constantly innovating and A Module is a collection of lessons that facilitate one (or more) of the course’s
improving our platform. Our best practices for learning design and content creation key learning objectives. The Coursera platform defaults to mapping 1 Module to
are based on extensive experience working with global partners to deliver world-class 1 Week of learning content.
learning on our platform. We invite you to dive deeper into Coursera’s pedagogy and A Lesson is a cohesive unit of content with instructional materials that present
best practices in this guide. the learning objectives and assessments.

What’s in this Guide? An Item is an individual unit of content such as a video, reading, quiz, lab, etc.
Multiple items together make up a Lesson.
This guide focuses on learning design and content creation for degree courses. It
assumes high-level design decisions for the degree program have already been made
(program structure, ‘stackability’ plan, offering schedule, etc.). If you want to know more
about program design, please visit Building Your Online Degree Program: The Coursera
Guide to Best Practices. We hope this guide will help you advance your mission and
amplify your program’s impact as you serve our growing community of students online.

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 3

Overview of the Content Creation Process
The diagram below provides an overview of the typical content creation process that will help you successfully develop a course on Coursera. It summarizes the
key tasks and resources required from the partner institution and highlights support available from the Coursera Teaching & Learning team.

Months -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1
Launch
Stage 1: Project Setup Stage 2: Design Stage 4:
Stage 3: Develop, Author, & Produce Implement and test

• Vendor selection • Define your learners • Create assessments • Upload content

(if needed) • Define learning objectives • Develop assets: labs, plugins, etc. • Internal and external
• Resources planning • Outline assessments • Scaffold learning resources reviews
Partner Tasks • Design learning activities • Edits and adjustments
• Produce scripts
• Finalize content structure
• Record and edit videos
and course outline

• Lead academic • Lead academic • Lead academic (medium involvement) • Lead academic
(light involvement) (heavy involvement) • Subject Matter Expert (SME) (medium involvement)
• Program Manager • Learning Designer • Learning Designer • SME
Partner Team • Video Team • Program Manager
• Graphic Designer (if relevant) • Learning Designer
• Programmer (if relevant)

Coursera Classroom for Educators, Educator Resource Center, training sessions, templates and best practices guidelines

Coursera Support Kickoff meetings Course design deep dives Sample content check*
Beta testing
Pre launch feedback*
and Key Resources feedback - MOOCs

Existing content feedback* Course outline review*

*Limited offering

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 4

There are four stages in the course development
​Resource Planning Timeline
process: Project Setup; Design; Develop, Author &
Developing a high-quality course requires the concerted The time needed for content creation will depend on the
Produce; Implement and Test. We explore each of
effort of a skilled, cross-functional team. This will quantity and type of learning activities being developed
these below.
typically include the following roles: (and how they are resourced). As a guideline, we’ve seen
content creation take 300-800 hours per course. Careful
STAGE 1 Lead Academic: providing academic leadership for project planning at this stage will help you develop a

Project Setup the course. high-quality course on time and on budget.

Program Manager: managing the delivery of the

This critical phase is focused on planning for success
program for the institution.
by effectively resourcing the project. This effort is
usually led by the Program Manager. The Lead Academic Subject Matter Experts (SMEs): Faculty,
typically guides the sourcing of academic contributors Instructors, TAs or external experts providing
and content. domain expertise

Learning Designers: Online Pedagogy Experts

working with Lead Instructors and SMEs to realize
learning content and activities.

Resource Production Team: producing videos and

other learning assets.

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 5

STAGE 2

Design Some questions to help identify your

primary audience
In this phase, you will ideate and define course structure and content. This iterative process
can account for up to 30 percent of the content-creation timeline. The Lead Academic plays Who are my learners? What do they need
a central role in defining learning objectives and working with learning designers to develop to learn? What do they currently know?
assessment strategy and outline learning activities. What have they experienced? What are
Useful Tips their struggles? What are they trying to
We encourage you to use Backwards Design to ensure alignment between learning objectives, achieve? What background do they have?
assessments, and instruction. You start by defining the learning objectives and then decide how What prior knowledge is needed
you will assess learning against those objectives. Then you begin to identify what learning content to succeed?
and activities are required. This methodology ensures a coherent learning experience and efficient
development process. This information helps target the degree
to the right learners.

Define Your Learners

Take time upfront to specify your target learners—including their goals, motivations, and context
for learning. Developing a comprehensive learner persona will help you focus your subsequent
Design for diversity
design efforts in order to specify course structure and content. Coursera learners tend to be
Coursera Key
older than students on campus and have more experience of higher education. The majority of Master Class
Resources
degree students on Coursera are employed and are looking to advance their careers. They have (Ask your Coursera POC for access)
high expectations regarding relevant, career-oriented, high-quality content. They often have
family responsibilities and are juggling busy schedules. However, they are willing to put in the
effort and are eager to learn from your expertise.

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 6

Define Learning Objectives Outline Assessments
Learning objectives are excellent pedagogical tools. They align learner expectations, You can now plan the activities learners will complete to prove that they have mastered
drive learners’ motivation, and help you rationalize content design and development, the learning objectives. Drafting assessments before you have defined instructional
materials may feel odd at first, but it has many advantages. It puts the learner at the
saving time and resources. A learning objective should describe what learners will be
center of the experience, focusing attention on how you want them to demonstrate
able to do by the end of a unit. achievement of learning outcomes. It also ensures that the right skills and knowledge
are assessed with the most appropriate methods, which helps you test more than simple
content memorization.

We suggest that your plan includes a summative (graded) assessment for each week that
First: Write high-level learning objectives for your measures and validates the learner has mastered each week’s learning objectives. You
course. Make sure they are outcome-oriented, clear, should also outline the formative (practice) assessments which prepare the learners for
and achievable. success on summative assessments.
Useful Tips
Then: Break learning objectives down into detailed,
specific, and measurable weekly actions. First, focus on graded assessments—the activities, quizzes,
and projects that will constitute the learner’s final grade.

Then, you can outline all the practice activities and formative
Useful Tips assessments (including instructional feedback) that will
See this list of Bloom’s action verbs to help you scaffold learning and set up learners for success in graded
assessments. Start with the final week of the course and
define your objectives.
Coursera Key work backwards to outline an assessment plan which builds
Resources Visit our Educator Resource Center article about competency and confidence towards final assessment.
writing effective learning objectives
Coursera Key Visit our ERC article about Assessments on Coursera
Resources

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 7

Design Learning Activities
You can now think about the instructional resources and experiences which will provide
your learners with the knowledge and skills you will assess. This includes individual and
group activities, as well as content such as videos, course readings, and more. Along with
new and original content, you may be considering how to leverage materials from other
on-campus or online courses. The Coursera platform enables creators to import existing
content from other platforms, lowering cost while making content creation easier and
faster. If you will be importing content, we have a team ready to help you.

Finalize Your Course Outline

The final step is to document your proposed course, including tentative titles of all your
instructional items (video lectures, readings, etc.). Use the course outline template to
articulate your plan. You can send your outline to the Coursera Teaching & Learning team
for feedback (up to five reviews per degree program). For reference, see our course design
worksheet and completed examples in document or spreadsheet format.

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 8

STAGE 3

Develop, Author & Produce EFFECTIVE PLANNING

In this phase, you will develop the content for your course. Authoring and producing A detailed development and production plan, which is regularly reviewed
content typically accounts for 50 percent of the development timeline. Instructors and updated, will guide you and your team through the process. Think about
work closely with SMEs and learning designers to produce scripts, assessments, and scheduling resources, dependencies, and outputs while making sure to include
other learning activities while a multi-disciplinary production team creates assets such time for reviews and approvals. Parallel work streams can speed up development,
as videos for upload to the platform. The Lead Instructor provides coordination and but put a style guide in place to ensure consistency. On the Coursera platform,
guidance, working with SMEs and other stakeholders to review content as it is realized. create placeholders for each of the items to be uploaded, so you keep track of the
planned work and begin to visualize the overall learning experience.
The phase begins with sourcing and assessing the suitability of any existing material, as
well as gauging the time and resources required to adjust that material (if necessary).
You can then plan the production of new and original content, including time for review
and revisions. Consider Coursera Accessibility Best Practices and implement measures As you produce content, you can send it to the Coursera Teaching and Learning team for
to ensure all learners can learn equitably. Remember to keep a log of all assets, including feedback (up to five items per degree program).
any usage rights that need to be considered.

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 9

Creating Assessments
The Coursera platform supports a variety of methods that make it easy to author and manage assessments. Make sure to include comprehensive instructions for learners, as well as
clear rubrics to help learners (and your team) understand how assessments will be graded.

Assessment formats

Quizzes Quizzes can be for a grade or for practice. Practice quizzes help prepare learners for graded assessments. Coursera Key Async Resources
(Ask your Coursera POC for access)
Staff Graded Assignments SGAs are assessment items that are graded by course instructors and/or teaching assistants. Master Class for Degrees
Collection of ERC Articles: Quizzes,
Staff Graded Assignments, Peer Review
Peer Review Assignments Assignments where learners review and grade each other’s work using a rubric. Assignments, Discussion Prompts
Staff graded Assignment Template
Discussion Forums These are spaces for learners to interact with one another where responses can be graded or not. Peer Review Assignment Template

Coursera Labs, Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI), Plug-ins, and Guided Projects
We have sophisticated tools on the platform to provide hands-on opportunities for learners to apply and test technical skills and knowledge.

Supporting technical content

An integrated environment enabling learners to access authentic industry applications. These learning Coursera Key Async Resources
Coursera Labs experiences are accessible on Coursera via a web browser. Learners don’t need to install or configure (Ask your Coursera POC for access)
anything on their computers. Assignments can be autograded. Overview of Technical Features
Technical Assessments Micro Course
LTI and Plug-ins Access to third-party learning tools integrated into the learning experience.
Collection of ERC Articles: Coursera Labs,
Technical Tools, Guided Projects
Short learning experiences lasting 1-2 hours, where learners complete a hands-on activity with the guidance Lab Sandbox Onboarding Guide
Guided Projects of an expert. Learners gain new skills faster as they work through real-world problems, while following along
Guided Project Training Guide
with an instructor working in the same software environment.
Project Outline Template

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 10

 Here are some resources on video production that you Visit our Master Class for Degrees and review this
Video Production collection of ERC Articles on Discussion Forums and Live
may find helpful:
Video is a key component of the Coursera learning Events to find out more about how to create and support
• Video development template and Checklist
experience, and producing high-quality video requires • A complete example of video development a thriving learning community for your course.
considerable time and resources. Faculty play a central • Master Class for Degrees
role in video production by writing scripts, defining • How to Create Engaging Videos Signposting and scaffolding
supporting on-screen text and graphics, and presenting • Collection of ERC Articles on Videos learning
content in an engaging and conversational manner. • Creating Video Content: Best Practices Create, collect, and scaffold additional readings, images,
Investing time to create a good script makes the • Coursera’s Home Video Production Toolkit tables, infographics, external links, and references. As
recording and editing process as efficient as possible. you begin to assemble course content, think about how
Keep videos short (3-7 minutes) and remember that Supporting Peer and Instructor you can combine all of the elements into a coherent
learning experience. Learners are more likely to engage
learners often access content on a mobile device, so Interaction with your course materials if they understand what is
avoid lots of text on slides. A global and diverse cohort creates great opportunities being asked of them.
for learners to learn with and from each other. • Clearly introduce the course, and highlight key
Activities and roles in video production • Discussion forums allow learners to gain new activities and milestones (such as assessments)
perspectives on the topics being explored and • Explain why and how learners should engage
Activities Roles strengthen their sense of community. with each item/activity
• Slack channels allow learners to communicate • Connect learning between and across items,
Writing scripts while
SME, Instructor, and link activity to learning outcomes and
specifying on-screen and support each other.
Learning Designer assessments
graphics and text • Live sessions with instructors and external
• Provide clear and comprehensive instructions
Presenter, Video contributors provide opportunities for learners
Video recording so learners know what you expect them to do
Production Team to meet and explore topics in more detail. • Use consistent terminology across the course,
Video Production Team particularly for any learner actions
Editing and post-
(and Instructor, SMEs
production • Think about tone of voice and connect with
for review)
your learners

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 11

STAGE 4 • Overall learner experience (flow and clarity) course, our Teaching & Learning team offers additional

Implement and test • Completion of the Degree Course QA reviews for technical assessments. This includes
checking for key assessment settings in plug-ins, LTI
Launch Checklist
Once you have produced and assembled all of your items, code blocks, programming assignments and
content on the platform, you should put time aside Remember to schedule time for stakeholders to Coursera Labs activities. You can visit our ERC Article for
to fully review your course. This is a time-consuming review the course and set aside resources for making more information.
process, accounting for 20 percent of the development amendments. You should aim to complete your internal
timeline. The course-launch schedule is agreed upon QA and release the course for Coursera to complete its
Update and Improve
in advance and has little flexibility, so plan thoroughly QA at least one month before launch.
After your course is live, you will generate both
for this key activity to ensure a high-quality learning
quantitative and qualitative data on how your course
experience. Coursera Quality Assurance is performing. The Coursera platform includes a
At Coursera, we also provide a pre-launch review. We number of dashboards and tools to help you assess
Internal quality assurance do not aim to be prescriptive on how classes should be student progress and get a pulse on how students
Your team will undertake an internal quality assurance taught, leaving pedagogical and content decisions up are interacting with your course materials. Once your
process that will identify errors, omissions, and possible to the experts (the instructor and instructional staff). program is up and running, the Coursera Teaching
improvements. Criteria include: However, we do want to support you to ensure that the & Learning team will help you identify three courses
course is well-prepared, debugged, and appropriate for across your program for deep-dive analysis. We will use
• Quality standards in your institution at-scale teaching on the platform. Our QA process takes this analysis to collaboratively define an ongoing review
• Compliance with copyright laws about two weeks. and optimization strategy for your program.
• Compliance with accessibility standards
Coursera’s Teaching & Learning team will review up
• Functionality and debugging to three courses per degree program and provide
• Content accuracy, grammar, and spelling detailed pedagogy feedback. If you’re creating a STEM

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 12

Want to know more? Contributors About Coursera Inc.
Thank you for taking the time to read this guide. University Partners Learning Design Team Coursera was founded by Daphne Koller and Andrew
Please check out the other resources and support Teaching and Learning Ng with a vision of providing life-transforming learning
available to help you design and develop your program experiences to anyone, anywhere.It is the leading
LinLin Xia
with Coursera: online learning platform for higher education, where
Sandra Delgado more than 77 million learners from around the world
Educator Resource Center - in-depth articles and ‘how-
Darren Gray come to learn skills of the future. By partnering
to’ guides for platform pedagogy and functionality
with more than 200 of the world’s top universities
Alexandra Urban
Coursera Classroom - courses for educators on and industry leaders, Coursera is a lifetime learning
Jyotika Pruthi ecosystem offering over 4,400 courses, guided projects,
designing, implementing, and running courses
on Coursera Akanksha Singh Specializations,professional certificates, MasterTracks,
Eli Fogle and full degree programs.
Educator Webinars - ongoing presentations and
workshops introducing features and new functionality
Special thanks for their
Pedagogy Principles - Learn more about Coursera
contributions to
pedagogy philosophy and best practices
Adam Hodges

Andrea Calero Martinez

Juan Kikushima

Ashley Sprecher

Natalia Visbal

The Coursera Guide to Content Creation 13