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Create a course

Build a course on your portal: sections, lessons, video, quizzes and a course page that sells it.

Written By AloPortal

Last updated About 1 hour ago

Courses turn what you know into structured lessons on your portal. Build the outline, write your lessons, add video and quizzes, and dress up the course page that sells it.

💡 Quick answer: open Portal designer → Courses and click New course. The course builder opens, ready for your first lesson.

🚀 Start a course

1

Click New course

Click Portal designer in the left sidebar, switch to the Courses tab above your page and click New course. Or click Courses in the left sidebar, then New course. On a phone, tap the menu at the top-left first; in the designer, the bottom bar's Add button becomes New course on the Courses tab.

2

Name your course

Name it in the title field at the top of the builder. A course always needs a title.

3

Find your way around

The builder has three parts: the outline on the left, the editor in the middle and a live phone preview on the right. On a smaller screen, tap Outline to open the outline.

🛠️ Build your outline

  • Add section groups lessons into chapters. Add lesson adds a lesson to a section, or to the top of the course.

  • Drag lessons and sections to reorder them, or use Move up and Move down in a lesson's ⋯ menu.

  • Double-click a title to rename it. The ⋯ menu also has Duplicate and Delete.

  • Deleting a section keeps its lessons: they move to the top of the outline.

🛠️ Write your lessons

Type / at the start of a line to add anything to a lesson. The outline shows each lesson's main type at a glance:

Add

Good for

Text, headings, lists, quotes, code, callouts

Written lessons, steps and notes

Video

Video lessons, uploaded straight from your computer or phone

YouTube video

Playing a YouTube video in the lesson by its link, with nothing to upload. Also in the toolbar

Audio

Talks, meditations, podcast-style lessons

Image

Diagrams, slides and photos

File download

Workbooks and resources (PDF, ZIP or EPUB)

Quiz

Checking what students learned, one quiz per lesson

To move something within a lesson, hover over it on a computer and drag the grip that appears on its left.

✅ Good to know: lessons save on their own as you type, and students see nothing until you publish. Take your time.

⚙️ Set up your course page

Click Overview at the top of the outline. This is the page people see before they join, so give them the pitch:

  • Cover image: shown on your portal and when the course is shared (1200 × 630 works best). You can also click Or use a YouTube video to make one of your YouTube videos the cover: its thumbnail shows on the course card with a small YouTube label. An uploaded image wins if you add both. See Use your YouTube videos with Alo AI.

  • Course trailer: a 15 to 90 second clip anyone can watch. Cut it from one of your lesson videos or upload one.

  • Description, What you'll learn (up to 12 points), About this course and Instructor bio.

To change the look, open the ⋯ menu (More course actions) at the top of the builder and choose Theme. Pick a course look (Classic, Editorial or Studio), then fine-tune colors and text.

💡 Tip: switch the preview between You and Visitor to see the course exactly as someone who hasn't joined yet will.

❓ Questions

Yes. Click Settings at the top of the builder (on a phone, it's in the ⋯ menu) and edit Course link. Old links keep working and send people to the new one.

Yes. Click Courses in the left sidebar, open the course's ⋯ menu and choose Duplicate. The copy keeps the outline and lessons and starts as a draft.

Yes. Alo AI can draft and edit lessons with you, and write up a lesson from the video in it. Everything it writes stays a draft until you publish.

Choose who can take your course, then publish it. Both are covered in the other articles in this section.

Use your YouTube videos with Alo AIAdd YouTube videos and let Alo AI writeSell a course and choose who can take itKeep a course free, in plans or pricedPublish, update and schedule a courseGo live, schedule and publish updates safelyAdd quizzes and certificates to a courseCheck learning and reward students who finish

🆘 Need a hand?

Message us from the app: click Help & feedback at the bottom of the left sidebar. On a phone, tap the menu at the top-left first. We'll help you out.

Still need help? Ask the team