Create your first course
A step-by-step walkthrough of building a course from source material, with tips for getting better AI drafts.
The Quickstart showed the shortest path. This page goes deeper, so your first real course is one you would be happy to ship.
1. Pick a good first program
Good first programs are narrow, high-value, and backed by documents you trust:
- New-hire onboarding for one team
- A policy refresher with a clear compliance deadline
- A product launch briefing for customer-facing staff
Avoid starting with a sprawling curriculum. One tight course teaches you how review, enrollment, and analytics fit together.
2. Gather sources
Upload the material the course should be grounded in. Nucleus OS accepts PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Google Docs and Slides, Notion pages, web pages, and audio or video recordings. See Importing sources for limits and tips.
Sources are the guardrail
The AI tutor and the authoring assistant answer from the sources you attach and cite them. If something important is missing from your sources, add it there rather than typing it into a prompt, so every learner and every future update benefits.
3. Write a clear brief
A good brief answers four questions:
| Question | Example |
|---|---|
| Who is it for? | "Tier 1 support agents in their first two weeks" |
| What should they be able to do? | "Resolve refund and exchange requests without escalating" |
| How long should it take? | "About 20 minutes, in short sections" |
| How will we know they can do it? | "A quiz per section and a final refund role-play" |
4. Shape the outline
Review the proposed outline before generating anything. It is much cheaper to change structure now than after lessons exist. Ask for changes in plain language, for example "split the policy section into eligibility and process" or "move the role-play to the end".
5. Generate and edit
Approve the outline to generate lessons, assessments, and media together. Then:
- Edit inline. Every lesson, question, and media asset is editable.
- Regenerate a block. Ask for a shorter version, a different example, or another format without touching the rest of the course.
- Check citations. Hover a claim to see the source passage it came from.
- Compare versions. Version history lets you compare drafts side by side and restore an earlier one.
6. Add practice and assessment
Mix question types and include at least one applied activity. See Assessments and interactive content and Role-play practice.
7. Run review gates and publish
Run the review gates: automated checks for accuracy against sources, tone, accessibility, and completeness, followed by human approval. When the approver signs off, publish the course.