Write lessons and add videos

A lesson opens in its own editor: the title, the lesson's video or audio, and its text. Under the text are its files, the parts of its kind, and Lesson settings.

Writing a lesson

The text is written in Magpie's Notes editor, in its Formatted view or as Markdown, with pictures from Your images. It can be up to 200,000 characters.

The editor saves a second after you stop typing, and the title when you leave its field. Beside the view switch it shows Saving…, then Saved, or on a published lesson Saved. Students see it now. Ctrl+S (⌘S on a Mac) saves at once. If a save fails, it shows Not saved, the text stays in the editor, and it tries again.

If someone else, or you in another tab, saved a newer version while you were writing, the editor stops saving and says so. Keep my text saves what is in front of you over it; Load the saved version opens the newer text instead.

Changing the title does not change the lesson's address.

More, in the page bar, holds the actions on the whole lesson: Duplicate lesson…, Move to module…, Unpublish lesson and Delete lesson. The course's name before the lesson's in the page bar goes back to the outline.

Kinds of lesson

A lesson's kind is chosen when it is added:

• Lesson: video or audio, text and files.
• Quiz: questions with a score. See Quizzes in a course.
• Assignment: the text is the brief; students submit text or files for review. See Assignments and reviewing submissions.
• Live session: a meeting at a time, with a join link and later a recording. See Cohorts and live sessions.

Every kind has a title, text, files and settings.

Publish a lesson

A new lesson is a draft, which students do not see. Publish lesson in the page bar shows it to students with access, as its release rule allows (When course lessons open, and how long students keep access). A quiz needs a question first. A live session needs its place, and in a course not taught in cohorts its time; the button says what is missing.

Changes to a published lesson show to students as soon as they are saved. More → Unpublish lesson hides it again; students' progress on it is kept.

Preview opens the lesson as a student sees it, without recording anything.

Lesson settings

• Opens: when the lesson opens, like its module or by its own rule. Change sets it.
• Free preview: anyone can open the lesson from the course page without enrolling, video included, once it is published.
• Counts toward progress: off marks the lesson Optional for students. It does not count toward completing the course and never holds back a later lesson.
• Length: taken from the video, or typed in minutes when there is none.
• Form under the lesson: a published Form from Personal or the team, shown under the lesson to students with access.
• Comments: students with access comment under the lesson. Off keeps the comments already there readable and allows no new ones.
• Lesson address (published lessons): the address to copy and send to students.

Files

Students with access can download a lesson's files; nobody else can. Drop files on the Files band or choose them. A lesson can have up to 20 files of up to 250 MB each. Programs and Office files that can hold macros are refused, and the message names each file that was not added. Each file shows how many students downloaded it. Drag files or use their arrows to reorder them; Remove asks first.

Video and audio

A lesson can have one video or audio file, shown above its text. Students continue from where they stopped. Add video or audio takes a file of your own in three ways, or a video from another site (below):

• Upload a file: MP4, MOV, M4V, WebM, MKV, MP3, M4A, WAV or AAC, up to 8 GB and 4 hours long. Choosing the file starts the upload; keep the page open until it reaches 100%.
• Your recordings: a finished recording from Screen Recorder. The lesson gets a copy, so changing the recording later does not change the lesson.
• Course videos: a video already used in a course of Personal or the team. Using it again does not make another copy.

After the upload, the video is processed. Processing takes about as long as the video plays, and carries on if you leave the page; the row updates itself when it finishes. A ready video shows its picture, its length and its copies: one at the video's own height up to 1080p, and a 540p copy for phones and slow connections when the video is taller.

A video that could not be processed says why: it is not a video or audio file that can be played, it is too long, the file is damaged, or the server failed. Try again processes the same file again while Magpie still holds it; Choose another file… replaces it.

Replace… puts another video in its place; students keep seeing the current one until the new one is ready. Remove asks first; students' progress on the lesson is kept.

Students watch videos on the lesson page and are given no download button or lasting address. Anyone who can watch a video can still record their screen.

Captions

Captions… on a ready video adds a WebVTT or SRT file for a language, up to 10 languages a video. SRT is converted. The player offers the captions, and students get their text as a transcript under the video.

Videos in the text

Insert video in the editor's toolbar puts a video in the text, where it plays. It offers the same three ways as the lesson's own video. Students resume the lesson's own video, not these.

A video from another site

Add video or audio → From another site takes an address on YouTube, Vimeo, Loom or Wistia. The video plays in that site's player. Magpie cannot resume it where a student stopped, count what they watched, or complete the lesson when it ends.

Storage

Videos, audio and files count toward the storage of the member who uploaded them. An upload that would go past it is refused before it starts, with the room left named. A video copied from Screen Recorder counts toward your storage too. Course videos used in several lessons count once.

Duplicate, move and delete a lesson

• Duplicate lesson… makes a draft copy, with the same text, files, video and questions, at the end of a module of this course or of another course you can edit in Personal or the team.
• Move to module… moves the lesson to the end of the module you choose. Within the course, students keep their progress on it. A lesson with students' progress, answers, submissions, comments, notes or downloads, and a live session that has been scheduled, cannot move to another course; duplicate it there instead.
• Delete lesson asks first and says how many students completed it. The lesson leaves the outline and stops counting toward progress; students' progress, attempts and submissions on it stay in the course's report.

If a video stays at Processing for much longer than it plays, or every upload fails, Contact support.