CourseArc

A course can start anywhere. And if you build courses, you may have a slide deck from three semesters ago that needs an update, a Word doc full of notes you want to work into the final course, or a handout that gets revised and printed every fall. But the harder part is turning all of that course material into an engaging learning experience, one that learners can move through easily, interact with, and actually learn from. That is what we'll work on in our next CourseArc Workshop: From Content to Course. Participants will bring their own material and spend two hours shaping it into structured, interactive course content. We'll look at CourseArc's content blocks, how they work together, and how accessibility gets built in as the course takes shape. This is a working session designed for you to leave with something built instead of something to try later, so the next step is already underway before the workshop ends. September 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET. Free, two hours, hands-on. No CourseArc account is required, and we'll provide demo access during the session for anyone who needs it. If you have content you've been meaning to turn into a course, bring it with you. Register here: https://lnkd.in/gKzCRG2Y #InstructionalDesign #HigherEd #LearningBuiltBetter

When an institution the size of UT San Antonio selects a course-authoring platform, the question is bigger than what the software can build today. It is also: • What happens to everything we build five years from now? • What happens when hundreds of modules need to be updated? • When accessibility standards evolve? • When the people who originally built the courses have moved on? • When content needs to be reused across programs? • Or when the institution changes its LMS? As course-authoring platforms converge around many of the same features, these questions become increasingly important. Plenty of tools can build an interactive module. The harder problem is keeping hundreds of those modules accessible, consistent, reusable, and current as standards, staff, and technology change. That’s what content infrastructure means in practice: a shared system designed to help institutions manage course content over time, not simply create it once. CourseArc is a content authoring and management system that integrates with learning management systems through standards including LTI and SCORM. With LTI, teams can manage shared content in CourseArc and make updates available across deployed instances. That gives institutions a way to think about the lifecycle of their course content separately from the lifecycle of any one LMS. The University of Texas at San Antonio uses CourseArc as its supported content-authoring tool for creating interactive instructional materials. Today, UT San Antonio serves more than 44,000 students. For institutions evaluating authoring technology, that raises an important question: Are you choosing a tool for the courses you are building today, or infrastructure for the course content you will still be managing years from now? Your courses should outlast your LMS. Want to see what that looks like in practice? Explore CourseArc today (9/17) at 1 PM ET. Can’t make it live? Register anyway, and we’ll send the recording. https://lnkd.in/d8Sugvf #CourseArcInsights #HigherEd #InstructionalDesign #DigitalAccessibility #LearningBuiltBetter

April 26, 2027, is a Monday. It’s also the new ADA Title II compliance date for many public universities and other covered public institutions, and it lands late in the spring term, while courses are live. So the content learners open that week is being built right now. The technical standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and course content inside an LMS gets no blanket exception. The most practical place to address accessibility is when content is created, before there’s anything to go back and fix. CourseArc supports the creation of content that conforms to WCAG 2.2 Level AA, which also conforms to 2.1, with accessibility built into the authoring process from the start. For the instructional designers and faculty here: where does accessibility happen in your course workflow today? We’d like to hear. Explore CourseArc, our 30-minute platform introduction, is Thursday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. ET. Registration is in the comments. #DigitalAccessibility #HigherEd #InstructionalDesign #WCAG #LearningBuiltBetter

Happy National Online Learning Day! Here’s to the learners fitting a course around work and family, the educators sharing what they know, and the instructional designers thinking carefully about how someone will navigate a lesson, practice a skill, or understand a difficult concept. To our CourseArc community, thank you for the care you put into helping people learn. We’re proud to be part of your work. Curious about how CourseArc could support your team? Explore CourseArc on Thursday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. ET. We’ll spend 30 minutes walking through the platform, showing how teams can create accessible, interactive online courses, and answering your questions. Save your spot: https://lnkd.in/d8Sugvf #OnlineLearningDay #EdTech #HigherEd #InstructionalDesign #DigitalAccessibility #LearningBuiltBetter

Students balancing work, family, and a short-term training program have enough to manage without confusing instructions or course materials they can’t access. Kim Lanzilli looks at why the #WorkforcePell conversation needs to include the course itself. Funding, employer partnerships, and outcomes reporting all matter. So do the materials, practice, and feedback that help students build the skills they came for. Read Kim’s perspective on the CourseArc blog: https://lnkd.in/eFWvb4N7 #CourseArcInsights #WorkforceDev #HigherEd #LearningBuiltBetter

Registration for the fall cohort closes tonight. Both courses begin tomorrow (September 14). • Principles of Instructional Design run September 14 to October 23. Six weeks, about four hours a week, 2 CEUs through UMBC Training Centers. $225 clients / $275 standard • Applied Digital Accessibility runs September 14 to November 6. Eight weeks, about four hours a week, 3 CEUs through UMBC Training Centers. $450 clients / $550 standard Both are instructor-facilitated. Neither requires prior background. CourseArc.com/Learning  #HigherEd #InstructionalDesign #DigitalAccessibility #LearningBuiltBetter

Keeping a course up to date and accessible takes effort. And our latest newsletter shares tips to make this process easier. Our team covers ways to help faculty spend more time teaching vs course building, shares an update on Magic Image Descriptions for images used outside of CourseArc, and announces weekly Office Hours to support you as you build your course. You’ll also see opportunities to enroll in our fall professional development courses, a two-hour workshop to help launch and complete your course using CourseArc, and join a live product demonstration for those curious how CourseArc works. Check it out here: https://CourseArc.com/news #DigitalAccessibility #HigherEd #OnlineLearning #LearningBuiltBetter

Every great course starts with an idea. The challenge isn't the idea—it's finding the time to bring it to life. CourseArc Magic Course Builder helps instructional designers and faculty turn existing content into structured, accessible online courses faster, so they can spend more time refining learning experiences and less time formatting content. Built for higher education teams that need to scale course development without sacrificing quality. See what's possible with CourseArc AI: https://lnkd.in/eUMCvZgs #HigherEd #InstructionalDesign #OnlineLearning #CourseAuthoring #EdTech #AIinEducation #CourseDevelopment #CourseArc

If you’re building courses this fall, here are a few ways we can help. • Tuesdays, 12:30 p.m. ET Free Office Hours with CourseArc's Product Support Specialist, Emily Schwalbe. Register ahead. ------ • Professional Development courses begin September 14 - Principles of Instructional Design (six weeks) - Applied Digital Accessibility (eight weeks) Approximately four hours a week. CEUs available for both classes through UMBC Training Centers. ------ • September 17, 1 p.m. ET Explore CourseArc, a free, live 30-minute platform overview of CourseArc, with dedicated time for questions at the end. ------ • September 24, 1 p.m. ET CourseArc Workshop: From Content to Course, a two-hour workshop using your existing material and the building blocks that bring a course to life. ------ To register for Tuesday Office Hours, webinars, and CourseArc Workshop: 👉🏽CourseArc.com/Webinars To enroll in CourseArc's Professional Development courses: 👉🏽CourseArc.com/Learning --- #HigherEd #CommunityColleges #InstructionalDesign #EdTech #LearningBuiltBetter

Advanced manufacturing can still bring to mind oil, grease, and heavy equipment. Karen Gardiner walked into the lab at Connecticut State Community College's Asnuntuck campus and found computers and a 3D printer turning out a Star Wars character. High school students and their parents were coming through on a tour, led by the program director, who runs those tours for precisely that reason. What people picture is often wrong. Gardiner is a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who has spent years evaluating federal apprenticeship and job training programs. Her opinion piece in Higher Ed Dive recently makes a narrower argument than the usual one about skills gaps. The pathways already exist. More than 714,000 people are registered as apprentices in the country, up about 80% since 2016. Harper College outside Chicago runs apprenticeships in insurance, graphic design, and finance that finish with an associate degree. What is missing is that families often don't know these options exist, or they file them under a backup plan. She notes that apprenticeships in this country grew up in the building trades. Labor Day has roots there, too. New York's Central Labor Union organized the first Labor Day in 1882, which makes this a fitting day to read an argument about which kinds of work, and which paths into that work, we take seriously. Perception is the first problem. A second one waits behind it. These programs are built for people who are working, raising kids, and studying in the hours left over, and a course that runs eight or twelve weeks has very little room for a remediation pass at the end. There is also a practical case for building accessibility into the course rather than checking for it afterward. A learner who cannot use the material in week two is not waiting for a corrected version to arrive. In a program this short, an access barrier can quickly become the reason a learner falls behind or leaves. Read Gardiner’s piece: https://lnkd.in/eMMQt9YR Labor Day history: https://lnkd.in/dK9ejFj #LaborDay #WorkforceDevelopment #HigherEd #Accessibility #LearningBuiltBetter