Class Programs & Learning Plans

Who this is for

Teachers leading classes and Academic leads designing curriculum sequences.

What this page answers

What is a Class Program, and how does it differ from a course?
How do I assemble materials from multiple courses into a single class sequence?
How do automated release rules (after class, preparation lead time, prerequisites) work?
How do I connect a program to a recurring class schedule?

Prerequisites

A teacher account with at least one active class, or an Academic lead, Operations admin, or Owner role
Published lessons, exercises, or homework in your school library or courses

What Is a Class Program?

A Class Program (found under the Program tab of any class) is a custom learning sequence designed for a specific class cohort.

Historically, classes in Locuto were tightly coupled to a single course. Today, a Class Program gives teachers complete curriculum autonomy:

Multi-Course Aggregation: You can pull Unit 1 from a General English course, a grammar review from an Exam Preparation course, and a custom homework assignment from your Materials Library — all into a single coherent syllabus.
Independent Progression: Your class moves at its own pace. Material is unlocked based on live class attendance or scheduled delivery rules without affecting other classes or students taking those individual courses.
Zero Impact on Source Courses: Modifying the sequence, adding supplemental exercises, or reordering topics in a Class Program never modifies the underlying source courses.

Classes were previously called "Student Groups." If you see references to groups in earlier documentation or school materials, they refer to the same cohort feature now labeled Classes in the sidebar.

1. Creating a Program and Adding Materials

Navigate to Classes in your sidebar, select your class, and open the Program tab.

Open the Program Tab

If your class does not have an active program yet, click "Create Program" to start your syllabus.

Add Lessons and Materials (Atomic Assignment)

Click "Add Materials" to open the course browser:

Browse any published course in your school library.
Select specific class lessons, self-study exercises, or homework assignments.
Reorder items by dragging them into your preferred teaching sequence.

Adding lessons automatically assigns them to all enrolled students in one step. Even if your class has no students yet, you can build and schedule your full curriculum; live meeting rooms will be reserved on the calendar, and incoming students will receive their assignments the moment they join.

Organize into Program Units (Optional)

Group your lessons into named Units (e.g., "Unit 1: Introductions & Daily Routines", "Unit 2: Business Negotiations"):

Click "Add Unit" to create a unit heading with a title, description, and custom cover image.
Lessons belonging to a unit sit together in contiguous order in your plan.
Students will see these unit headings as milestone chapters on their visual learning trail and lesson cards.

Configure Opening Rules

For each item, choose how and when it becomes accessible to students:

At class time: Automatically unlocks at the scheduled start time of the live class session. If you reschedule the class on the calendar, the unlock time adjusts with it.
After previous item (Sequential): Unlocks once the predecessor lesson is passed. When the predecessor is a live class, dependent homework or lessons unlock immediately when the teacher ends the live session, ensuring absent students do not block the cohort.
Manual: Stays hidden until you explicitly open it from the class materials list using "Open now".
Absolute date: Unlocks at a specific calendar date and time.
Class start offset: Unlocks a specific number of calendar days after the class start day.

Review Your Schedule and Duration

Review your curriculum sequence. Each class session automatically adopts the duration authored in the course lesson (for example, a 90-minute course lesson automatically reserves a 90-minute live session, even if the weekly recurring slot is set to 60 minutes).

Program authoring screen showing date rail, units, and opening rule options

Program Chronology & Workspace Interface

The Program tab presents your syllabus as an interactive chronological timeline:

Date Rails: The left margin displays clear date rails showing the weekday and day-of-month number (e.g., THU 25). Today's date is highlighted with a primary accent pill, past dates are gently muted, and unscheduled items are grouped into a "No date" section.
Timeline Accent Bar: A 3px vertical accent bar separates the date rail from lesson cards, visually identifying live classes, homework, and completed lessons.
Click to Edit Settings: Clicking any lesson row or time column immediately opens the Lesson Settings Sheet, where you can adjust schedule times, opening triggers, prerequisites, or unit placement without leaving the page.
Observed Item Protection: Once any student opens or starts a lesson, its core scheduling and opening rules are locked to protect student progress and avoid mid-lesson confusion. Teacher notes remain editable.
"Review" Action on Blocked Rows: If a lesson has a scheduling conflict or unsatisfied prerequisite, the primary action button on that row promotes a "Review" button. Clicking it immediately opens the settings sheet focused on the problem.
Actionable Fix Queue: Any blocking issues are gathered into a clean fix queue at the top of the program with step-by-step guidance. On fresh classes with no lessons yet, false alarms are suppressed.

Calendar Drivers: Live Meetings vs. Self-Study Releases

Programs adapt automatically depending on whether your class meets live or studies asynchronously:

Class Slots (Live Meetings): For classes with weekly meeting times, class lessons bind directly to your recurring schedule slots and open automatically at class time (at_class). Linked homework and preparation open relative to the live meeting.
Release Slots (Drip Content & Marathons): For intensive challenges, marathons, or self-paced cohorts without live meetings, materials unlock according to calendar release dates or day offsets (e.g., "Day 1", "Day 3", "Day 7") in the class timezone.
Unscheduled Classes: If a class does not have weekly meeting slots configured yet, items remain in manual opening mode until you schedule meetings or open them by hand.

All program release dates follow the class time zone set in the class settings. If your students are located in different time zones, times convert automatically for each student on their personal calendar.

Adopting Existing Classes into Programs

If your school has existing classes that were originally tied to a single course, you can adopt them into the new program system:

Open the class and switch to the Program tab.
Click "Adopt course materials".
Locuto will automatically convert the course lessons into an active, editable program while preserving all existing student completions, attendance records, and past homework.

Classes for managing class rosters, settings, and schedules
Class Materials & Coverage Checklist for tracking day-to-day assignments and using row actions
Program Templates & Class Intakes for school-wide reusable curriculum templates
Live Session Scheduling for setting up recurring weekly lesson slots

Q&A

Can I change a lesson's opening rule after the program has started?

Yes, as long as no students have opened or started the material. Once a student opens or starts working on a lesson, its opening rule and schedule binding are preserved to avoid disrupting student work. You can still edit teacher notes or assign another copy of the lesson.