Can I add modules after a course has been published?

Yes you can add additional modules to a course once it has been published but it can have an impact on your user experience depending on where the Learners were up to before the additional modules were added.
In this article we explain the impact adding modules can have on Learners who have already completed the course. We also provide a workaround to address this.
However we do recommend planning out your courses in advance rather than adding modules to published courses on the go because of the impact it can have on Learners. A great way to do this is using our drip release module content feature to schedule when Learners can access the modules in your course.

1. Impact of adding modules to a published course on your user experience

If the Learner has not started the course or has not yet completed the course then nothing changes for them. If they have started the course they can locate the course on their " Current Courses" page. And if they are yet to enrol to the course it will still be in the "Course Catalogue". These Learners will see the changes as soon as you save them. 

Adding modules mostly affects Learners who have already completed the course before the additional module or modules were added to the course. This is because if they complete the course before you add an additional module it will move to their "Completed Courses" page and their certificate will already have been generated. These Learners will still be able to access the additional modules but the user experience will be slightly different:

  • They will find the course on the "Completed Courses" page (not on the "Current Courses" page).
  • Once they have finished the additional module or modules that you added they will need to regenerate their certificate from their "My Certificates" page each time. This will overwrite any existing certificate for the course and also update their PDP with the new CPD time and date.

This article also has some further info about adding/removing resources and modules to a published course: https://helpcentre.clicklms.com/article/62-editing-the-course-once-it-has-been-published

2. Recommended Workaround

If you are likely to add modules on a regular basis, one workaround is to add a final module that you tell Learners not to complete so that you avoid Learners completing the course before you have finished adding all of your modules. This would stop the learner having to generate a new certificate each time they finished the modules you have added.  We also recommend making it clear to Learners (e.g. in your Course Summary) that new modules/content will be added on a regular basis.
  • Add a final module with a simple questionnaire so that the module is valid and the course can be published. 
  • Add instructions to this module not to complete it until a certain date.
  • The questionnaire could be one multiple choice question of random words/codewords, two of which are correct and would complete the course. E.g. "Please select the two codewords to complete this questionnaire and generate your certificate". 
  • When you add a new module, just add it before this final module until you are ready to let Learners complete the course. You can then edit the final module to tell them they can now complete the course or delete it altogether. 
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