Class Programs & Learning Plans

Build, pace, and deliver structured learning plans and course-following programs for your classes.

Who this is for

Teachers leading classes and Academic leads designing curriculum sequences.

What this page answers

How does a class's plan derive from the four setup answers?
How does course following automatically append new lessons?
When do live class lessons and homework unlock for students?
How do pinned lesson safeguards and the date preview prevent scheduling mistakes?
How do row-level exceptions work?

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

A Class Program (managed under the Lessons tab of any class, ?tab=learning) represents the complete curriculum sequence and calendar schedule for that class cohort. Reusable program templates can also be authored and managed under Materials → Programs (/platform/materials?tab=programs).

A class plan can run in one of two fundamental ways:

Following a Course: The class connects directly to a master course in your school library. As course authors add new lessons, they automatically append to the class plan.
Custom Multi-Course Sequence: You can assemble lessons, homework, and exercises from across multiple courses in your school library into a tailored syllabus without altering source courses.

Organizing into Unit Bands

The class plan on the Lessons tab is structured into Unit bands (Unit 1 · Title):

Unit Overview & Metadata: Each unit band displays a cover illustration, title, and compact status indicators:
- Total lessons, held lessons, missed lessons, and undated lessons
- Next scheduled lesson date
- Attendance at the last held meeting (e.g., "at the last lesson on Oct 24, attended 5 of 6")
- A ⋯ menu to edit title, description, cover illustration, move the unit up or down, or delete the unit (with an instant Undo toast).
Completed Units Fold: Units where all lessons have been conducted fold automatically under a clean row labeled "Completed · 8 held", keeping historical records accessible without cluttering upcoming work.
The "Today" Line: A prominent "Today, [date]" line spans across the plan inside the active unit, clearly separating finished sessions from upcoming work.

Plan Rules Derived from the Four Class Setup Answers

Every class program derives its default delivery mode, schedule rhythm, and lesson opening rules directly from the Four Class Setup Answers configured during class creation:

What the class learns: Following a course vs. assembling custom lessons.
How students go through lessons: Live meetings vs. self-paced study.
Meetings with the class: Weekly recurring slots, booking one by one, or no meetings.
How lessons open: Unlocking all at once, sequentially after previous completion, spaced every few days, on chosen weekdays, or by teacher release.

About the Class Card & The "What changes" Dialog

You can review or adjust these parameters at any time from the About the class card in your plan:

Click Change to configure:
- Class time zone: "The platform reads the meeting times and the start day in this time zone."
- Meeting length: Specify the duration in minutes next to each weekly meeting day.
- Opening time: Set the exact clock time for each weekly opening day.
The "What changes" Preview Dialog: Before changes are applied, a summary dialog outlines the precise effects:
- Moving a class to a new time zone keeps the same clock time in the new zone for unstarted meetings and automatically notifies students who booked those meetings.
- Changing meeting lengths updates free meetings, while meetings that already contain an assigned lesson retain their configured length.

Free Meetings: Choose a Lesson (`+`)

When your weekly schedule or calendar includes a slot that does not yet have an assigned curriculum lesson, it appears as a free meeting row:

A free meeting row in the plan and on the Next meeting card displays a + icon button ("Choose a lesson").
Clicking + (or clicking anywhere on the row) opens the lesson picker to assign a specific lesson from your library or courses to that meeting.
The chosen lesson inherits the meeting slot's duration and is pinned to that specific calendar date.
Earlier free meetings remain available, and subsequent curriculum lessons automatically occupy the following slots.
Rescheduling Safeguard: If a meeting with a chosen lesson is later canceled, that lesson automatically shifts forward to the next available uncancelled meeting.

Put Lessons on Free Dates (`place_waiting`)

When undated lessons are waiting in the "No date" section and free calendar slots exist:

Click "Put lessons on free dates" on the No date section header, or click "Put on dates" in the To do side card.
A preview dialog shows how the waiting lessons will map onto your upcoming free calendar slots in plan order.
Confirming schedules all waiting lessons onto those dates at once.

Changing Lessons in the Plan ("Change lesson")

For any lesson that students do not have yet (unstarted and unopened), you can quickly swap out the lesson:

Open the lesson row's ⋯ menu, the Lesson Panel, or the hero card's ⋯ menu and select "Change lesson".
Pick a different course lesson.
The new lesson replaces the previous lesson in the exact same position, unit, scheduled date, opening rule, and deadline.

Attaching Tasks to Class Lessons (`+` Add Task and `✕`)

Every class lesson row in the plan includes a + icon button ("Add task", also available in the ⋯ row menu):

Clicking + opens a sheet allowing you to search for any lesson from any course in your school and attach it directly under that class lesson.
When attaching, specify "How do the students do the task?":
- Homework: "Students hand it in before the lesson on [date], and you review it." The due date is automatically calculated using the class's homework due buffer (hours before the next class), skipping canceled meetings and counting booked or weekly recurring sessions.
- Exercise: "Students do it with no deadline, and you do not review it."
Detaching Tasks (✕): Attached task rows feature a ✕ icon button (and "Remove from lesson" in their ⋯ menu) to detach the task from the lesson after confirmation.
Automatic Filing: Homework or exercises assigned to the whole class without an explicit date automatically file under the class lesson that started last.

When a class is configured to follow a course:

Automatic Lesson Appending: Whenever authors publish new lessons in the master course, those lessons automatically append to the end of the class plan and are marked with a New course lesson badge.
Automatic Updates Before Teaching: A class lesson automatically follows updates published to its source course lesson until a teacher edits the lesson inside the class room or starts the lesson. It synchronizes automatically when the room first loads or when you click Start lesson.
Course-Update Sync Banner: If a new version of the course lesson is published after the class room copy was already created or edited (and before the lesson starts), a notice banner appears in the Class Lesson Panel and at the top of the live room:
- "This lesson's material was updated in the course."
- Click "Load the new version".
- A confirmation dialog asks: "Refresh this assigned lesson?" Click "Refresh lesson" to load the latest published course material for the whole class.
Child Task Safeguards: If a course author adds a child exercise or homework task whose parent lesson is not yet reached in the class plan, the child task remains in a waiting state until its parent lesson is reached.
Course Follow Digests: When a class following a course unlocks multiple self-paced lessons or exercises at once, students receive a single consolidated digest notification and email rather than multiple separate alerts.
Status Warnings: If course following is interrupted (for example, if the master course is archived or deleted), the plan displays a prominent status banner explaining the disconnection and outlining options to convert the plan into an independent program.

Opening on Teacher Start & Missed Lesson Access

In classes with live meetings, lesson materials and attached homework do not unlock hours or days in advance:

Unlocking on Teacher Start: The lesson and its attached satellite homework unlock for enrolled students the moment the teacher clicks Start lesson inside the live classroom (or clicks Open for students now from the row menu).
Missed Meeting Protection: If a scheduled meeting time passes without the teacher starting the session, the lesson remains closed. The Next meeting card presents the teacher with two clear options:
- Open for students: Releases the lesson materials immediately for self-paced student work.
- Move to the next meeting: Shifts the unstarted lesson to the subsequent meeting slot on the calendar.
Access to Missed Lesson Materials: When the class setting "Absent students can open the lesson materials" is enabled, students who miss a live meeting can click "Open materials" on their schedule or learning trail to review the completed lesson document, exercises, and board notes. Their attendance record remains absent.

Handling Unended Live Lessons ("Not ended" → "End lesson")

If a live room was started more than 12 hours ago and was never concluded, it is marked with a "Not ended" badge in the class plan, the Lesson Panel, and your Journal:

An "End lesson" action button appears directly on the lesson row and in the panel.
Clicking "End lesson" lets the teacher enter and cleanly close the session, finalizing attendance and billing records.

Pinned Lesson Safeguards & Date Preview

To ensure students and teachers have a predictable calendar:

Pinned Lessons: Any lesson that has already started, was held live, has already been opened for students, or sits on a manually locked date is pinned in place. Pinned lessons cannot be dragged or jumped over, and historical records remain strictly preserved.
Intra-Unit Movement: Unpinned lessons can be reordered only within their own unit.
"Lesson dates will change" Preview: Any plan modification that shifts future calendar dates (such as adding a holiday, reordering unpinned rows, or changing weekly schedule slots) opens a clear side-by-side preview showing existing dates alongside new proposed dates. The change takes effect only after you review and confirm the preview.

Lesson dates will change confirmation dialog showing side-by-side calendar comparison of existing and proposed dates

Format Exceptions on Individual Rows

While a class has a general delivery format (such as live meetings), individual rows can be customized:

Toggle Format: Open any lesson row menu and choose Teach at a meeting or Make it self-paced work.
Exception Badge: Any row that differs from the class default displays an Exception badge.
Info Popover (ⓘ): Hovering over or clicking the information icon explains why the row is an exception and how it will unlock for students.

Navigating Rows and Lesson Duration

Navigating lesson rows in the plan provides direct access to the right workspace:

Clicking a Booked Meeting Row: Opens the live classroom directly (/platform/live/...) so you can test audio/video or teach.
Clicking an Unbooked Row: Opens the lesson content editor to review or edit exercises.
Side-by-Side Lesson Panel: Clicking the row details or student count opens the Lesson Panel on the right side of the screen, showing attendance and homework status across the cohort.
Lesson Duration: Session duration is determined by the weekly recurring slot, the booked meeting length, or the class default duration. Source course lesson materials do not carry or override session lengths.

Concluding Live Classes & Sending Homework Home

When you end a live session in the classroom:

Send as Homework: You can immediately package the finished lesson as review homework for attending students or as makeup work for absent classmates.
Linked Homework Unlock: Satellite homework tasks attached to the lesson unlock upon completion of the live meeting, appearing on student task queues and calendars.

Classes for managing class rosters, settings, and persistent class chat
Class Materials & Coverage Checklist for row menu actions and coverage tracking
Live Session Scheduling for calendar slots and meeting management
Homework Management for reviewing homework and verifying submissions
Running Live Sessions for the live classroom workspace