If you plan to release lessons on a schedule, whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, using posts will be the way to go. While pages can also be scheduled, only posts will trigger email notifications to be sent to your subscribers. Notifications can help to engage students and keep them informed when new lessons are released. This makes posts a better option for dripping out lessons over a period of time.
When using posts instead of pages, your approach to structure will change a bit since posts have the built-in ability to assign categories and tags, which is not a native feature for pages. This can be beneficial for organizing content and making it more discoverable. Your main course landing page will be created the same as covered in the open-access course section above.
Modules, however, will be handled differently. Instead of pages, you’ll want to create a category for each module. Alternatively, if you’re not using Modules, you’ll create a category for the course name. When using categories it’s even more important to use unique names because it’s not possible to have more than one category with the same name. So if you have more than one course, you could only have one category called Module 1, and you wouldn’t want to assign lessons from different courses to a single ‘Module 1’ category. Module URLs will present as: mysite.com/category/modulename/
If you’re using a Block theme, then you have the ability to create custom category templates for each module. The process is similar to the instructions for Custom Templates, but instead of choosing the ‘custom template’ option you’ll choose the ‘category’ option and select the specific category that the template is for.
Lessons will then be created as posts instead of pages. You’ll use blocks to layout the content the same way as you would on a page, but under Post Settings you’ll assign the appropriate category that the lesson belongs to.
Applying a few tags to each lesson may also help with clarifying the specific topics covered within the lesson. Be sure to use tags intentionally, not arbitrarily, for them to add value. For example, don’t add irrelevant or adjacent tags to a lesson just because it happens to be a popular tag. Only use tags that are relevant to the content.
Lesson URLs will present the same as any other post in your site, so the URL won’t identify the course or module. For example: mysite.com/2023/09/15/lessonname/ This is the default structure for post URLs.
If you’re on a plugin-enabled plan↗︎, you can change the permalink structure for your posts to change this structure if desired. Otherwise, this is a limitation to using posts for your lessons.
It’s worth noting that posts are considered to be dynamic content. They will show up in more places than regular pages will, such as the WordPress.com Reader and other blog or post feeds.
Within your own site, you can control what gets displayed by using dynamic blocks, such as the Query Loop block, to control the filters of what the block will include. So you can prevent lessons from showing up in your main blog, and you can limit the Query Loop blocks on course pages to only include lessons from specific categories.
Once you’ve created a lesson as a post, you can schedule it for the specific date and time that you want it to publish and push the notification to your followers.
Course outline example
This sample outline assumes that the lessons are being posted weekly, and it employs the use of categories for modules and tags for lesson topics.
Main Site Navigation Menu
- Home
- About
- Courses (URL: mysite.com/courses/)
- The Art of Sustainable Living (course URL: mysite.com/courses/the-art-of-sustainable-living/)
- Introduction to Sustainability (module URL: mysite.com/category/introduction-to-sustainability/)
- Sustainable Practices at Home (module URL: mysite.com/category/sustainable-practices-at-home/)
- Sustainable Practices at Work (module URL: mysite.com/category/sustainable-practices-at-work/)
- The Art of Sustainable Living (course URL: mysite.com/courses/the-art-of-sustainable-living/)
- Blog
- Contact
Module 1: Introduction to Sustainability
- Category: Introduction to Sustainability
- URL: mysite.com/category/introduction-to-sustainability/
- Custom Category Template: Yes, designed with a Block Theme
Lesson 1: What is Sustainability?
- Post Setting Category: Introduction to Sustainability
- URL: mysite.com/2023/10/01/what-is-sustainability/
- Tags: Definition, Introduction
Lesson 2: History of Sustainability
- Post Setting Category: Introduction to Sustainability
- URL: mysite.com/2023/10/08/history-of-sustainability/
- Tags: History, Timeline
Module 2: Sustainable Practices at Home
- Category: Sustainable Practices at Home
- URL: mysite.com/category/sustainable-practices-at-home/
- Custom Category Template: Yes, designed with a Block Theme
Lesson 3: Energy-Efficient Appliances
- Post Setting Category: Sustainable Practices at Home
- URL: mysite.com/2023/10/15/energy-efficient-appliances/
- Tags: Energy, Appliances
Lesson 4: Sustainable Food Choices
- Post Setting Category: Sustainable Practices at Home
- URL: mysite.com/2023/10/22/sustainable-food-choices/
- Tags: Food, Diet
Module 3: Sustainable Practices at Work
- Category: Sustainable Practices at Work
- URL: mysite.com/category/sustainable-practices-at-work/
- Custom Category Template: Yes, designed with a Block Theme
Lesson 5: Green Office Tips
- Post Setting Category: Sustainable Practices at Work
- URL: mysite.com/2023/10/29/green-office-tips/
- Tags: Office, Green Tips
Lesson 6: Remote Work and Sustainability
- Post Setting Category: Sustainable Practices at Work
- URL: mysite.com/2023/11/05/remote-work-and-sustainability/
- Tags: Remote Work, Carbon Footprint
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