Note: These upload features are available to accounts that have both an OpenSesame Plus subscription and an OpenSesame Customer Success Manager (CSM). To learn more, reach out to your CSM. (If you don’t yet have a CSM and want to upgrade your account, please contact OpenSesame Support.)

You must be logged in as a Platform Administrator to upload course files.

CourseCloud offers multiple ways to add training for your learners. Beyond the usual approach of syncing courses from OpenSesame, you can upload your own resources to create courses in CourseCloud. You can also use CourseCloud to enhance existing OpenSesame courses by attaching supporting materials.

CourseCloud supports the following upload types for course content:

• Media files: MP3, MP4, PDF, or PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX)
• SCORM or AICC packages (These file types cannot be added to OpenSesame courses.)
• URLs

The maximum size per file is 64 MB, and each upload type has its own completion criteria. For courses that you create solely from your own uploaded files, your organization’s name (as it appears in CourseCloud) will appear as the publisher name displayed to learners.

In this article:

• Create a course framework
• Edit a course framework
• Upload course content
  • Add a file
  • Add a SCORM or AICC package
  • Add a URL

 

Create a course framework

A basic course framework must exist before files can be added. To get started, log in to CourseCloud as a Platform Administrator.

Next, navigate to Admin Tools:

Select the Courses tab and then Create Course:

Note: To attach materials to an existing course, locate the course in the Dashboard or Courses section at left and then see these steps.

From here you can add the essential details for your course:

All courses must have a name as well as an enrollment type, which determines whether learners can enroll themselves or if they must be enrolled by an administrator. Adding a course summary is optional.

Adding a custom cover image is also optional. To add one you would need a JPG or PNG file, and for best results it would have a 16:9 aspect ratio and at least 1280x720 pixels. The maximum file size is 64MB.

Click the file icon to locate the image file on your computer or drag the file into the outlined box:

Note: While GIF files can be uploaded, they will not be animated.

Next, each course must have a start date, which determines when the course will become launchable by learners. It defaults to the course’s CourseCloud creation date.

Courses do not have an end date by default. To add one, click the “Enable” toggle next to that setting then adjust the date as needed.

Note: While CourseCloud’s end date allows you to schedule a specific cut-off, the management of OpenSesame courses should continue to be done via OpenSesame’s My Courses dashboard.

When the end date is reached, the course will no longer appear in learners’ general searches. Any enrolled or in-progress learners will continue to see the course in their CourseCloud dashboard, however they will be unable to launch it. (The end date can also be used in custom reports.)

Duration allows you to state—in hours and minutes—approximately how long the average learner is expected to need to complete all of the course’s activities. Durations will appear at the bottom of course cards next to a clock icon.

Finally, the Publisher name will automatically populate with the name of your organization as it appears in CourseCloud.

Once satisfied with these basic settings, click either Create course to save the framework and return to your dashboard, or Create and go to course, which will save and then open the newly created framework. (If you use the first option, you can add to the framework later by locating it under either the Dashboard or Courses section and editing from there.)

In this example we use Create and go to course to move on to uploading content:

A success message will appear above the new course’s title:

Edit a course framework

To adjust the essential details of a course framework, open the course’s page in CourseCloud then click its gear icon:

Select Edit settings from the menu:

This will open a familiar editing page. Any details that were added when first creating the framework can be updated and saved from there.

Upload course content

Once a course’s basic framework exists you can upload resources to it. From the details page, select the pencil icon to begin editing:

Note: When returning to an existing framework, locate it via the Dashboard or Courses section then click its card to reach the above screen.

Once actively editing, a new button will appear:

Click it to reveal the upload types mentioned earlier:

Note: When uploading resources to an OpenSesame course, adding a SCORM or AICC package is not supported and that upload type will not appear.

Add a file

To upload an MP3, MP4, PDF, or PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX) file, select the first option:

Note: PowerPoint files can swiftly exceed the size limit. Another option is to use PowerPoint to export the file as a PDF, then upload the PDF instead.

This will create a “topic” in your course’s framework, and each topic can contain one file. The maximum file size is 64MB.

Enter a display name for your MP3, MP4, PDF, or PowerPoint file. It is optional to enter a description that would appear when learners click on the topic. Next, either click the file icon to locate the file on your computer or drag it into the outlined box. There will be a slight delay as it is scanned for potential viruses. (If the file is not accepted you will receive an error message and the file will be discarded.)

Once the security scan completes, an icon will appear. Here’s how that looks for a PDF:

CourseCloud displays course assets to learners in different ways depending on the file type. To manually adjust how your file will display, click the Appearance arrow to expand that section:

The display options are:

• Automatic (default) - Varies
• Embed - The file will appear in the active browser window, below CourseCloud’s navigation bar
• Download - CourseCloud will prompt the learner to save the file to their device
• Open - The file will appear in the active browser window
• In pop-up - The file will appear in a new browser window

In addition, you can opt to show learners the file’s size, type, or when it was uploaded.

When satisfied with your settings, you can either save and return to the course framework or save and view the file:

Once saved, the file will appear in your framework.

Add a SCORM or AICC package

SCORM or AICC packages must be either an XML or a ZIP file.

In addition, AICC assets cannot be externally hosted. In other words, all course resources—such as audio files, video files, and image files—must be contained within the upload itself. If a course calls out to a third-party service for content, that content will not load, and the course will not play properly in CourseCloud. (If you’re not sure if this applies to your course, upload and then thoroughly test it before distributing it to learners.)

To upload a SCORM 1.2 or AICC package, select the middle option:

Note: When uploading resources to an OpenSesame course, adding a SCORM or AICC package is not supported and this option will not appear.

This will create a “topic” in your course’s framework, and each topic can contain one file. The maximum file size is 64MB.

Note: If you want learners to view multiple SCORM or AICC packages for completion, while it is possible to create a CourseCloud course with multiple SCORM topics, as a best practice we recommend using a Learning Path.

Enter a display name for your SCORM 1.2 or AICC package. You also have the option to add a description. If you want that to be visible to learners, click the “display description” toggle underneath:

Under the Package section, either click the file icon to locate the XML or ZIP file on your computer or drag it into the outlined box. There will be a slight delay as the file is scanned for potential viruses. (If the file is not accepted you will receive an error message and the file will be discarded.)

Once the security scan completes, an icon will appear. Here’s how that looks for a SCORM ZIP:

When satisfied with your settings, you can either save and return to the course framework or save and view the file:

Once saved, the file will appear in your framework.

Add a URL

To add a URL, select the last option:

This will create a “topic” in your course’s framework, and each topic can contain one resource.

Enter a display name and then enter your URL. You also have the option to add a description.

If you want the description to be visible to learners, click the Appearance arrow to expand that section, then enable the “Display URL description” toggle:

In the Appearance section you can also choose how you want the URL to display to learners.

The display options are:

• Automatic (default) - Varies
• Embed - The linked page will appear in the active browser window, below CourseCloud’s navigation bar
• Open - The linked page will appear in the active browser window
• In pop-up - The linked page will appear in a new browser window

When satisfied with your settings, you can either save and return to the course framework or save and open the URL:

Once saved, the URL will appear in your framework.