Working Copies — Safe Editing for Course Lessons
Edit lessons safely without disrupting students, and publish updates that automatically flow to unstarted sessions.
Who this is for
Teachers, academic leads, and school staff who edit course lessons.
What this page answers
- What is a working copy, and when does one appear?
- How do edits reach students automatically without manual overwrite steps?
- When does a lesson freeze, and how does "Refresh from course lesson" work?
- How do I publish my changes, or throw them away?
- What does the amber asterisk on a lesson mean?
- What happens if I edit the same lesson in two tabs?
Prerequisites
- an active course lesson
- permission to edit the lesson
The short version
Every course lesson is live and ready to use from the moment you create it (saving initial version 1). Any subsequent edit you make—whether typing, adding blocks, importing templates, or generating with AI—automatically opens a private Working Copy.
While you work in the draft, students and active classes keep using the last published version until you click Publish changes.
When you click Publish changes, updates automatically flow into all unstarted class sessions, unopened student tasks, and active guest links. You never have to manually push updates or replace student copies.
Why it works this way
A working copy separates drafting from live teaching. A half-finished paragraph, a widget mid-configuration, or AI-generated content you have not reviewed yet stays private until you decide it is ready. You can leave a lesson half-rewritten for a week, and the class you teach tomorrow continues with the approved version.
How editing works
Every change you make in the Lex Editor goes into the working copy—manual edits, autosave, imported documents, accepted Lesson Builder outputs, and blocks inserted by AI. One working copy exists per lesson, shared by anyone with edit access.
The action button tells you where you are
The main button at the top of the editor changes as you work:
| Button | What it means |
|---|---|
| Save Draft | You have unsaved keystrokes. Saving stores them safely in the working copy—students are unaffected. |
| Publish changes | The draft is saved and ready. Clicking this updates the published version of the course lesson and automatically updates unstarted sessions. |
Switching between the draft and the published version
Next to the action button is a two-segment switcher: Working and Published. An amber dot on Working means there are unpublished changes:
- Published shows the current published version of the course lesson in read-only mode. Switching to it saves your working copy first.
- Switching back to Working returns you to your draft with your edits untouched.
When viewing the Published version, the top service bar offers "Assign to class" directly so you can assign the approved lesson to students without leaving the editor (secondary items like View assignments, Save as template, and the lesson-type badge were removed to keep the bar clean).
Use this switcher before publishing to compare the two versions side by side. You can also browse Published Course Lesson Version History from the lesson action menu to inspect past versions.
Edit conflict fences during AI generation
If you start an AI generation and simultaneously type manual edits into a Step, the editor's edit conflict fence protects your document: the incoming AI result is safely captured in the recovery log without clobbering your manual keystrokes.
Discarding a draft
The undo arrow next to the switcher discards the working copy and returns the lesson to its current published state. It asks for confirmation, throwing away all unpublished changes and restoring the published baseline.
The asterisk on the lesson list
On the course outline, a lesson with unpublished changes shows a small amber asterisk right after its title. Hover over it to see who edited the draft last and when, along with a reminder that students continue receiving the last published version until changes are published.
This makes it easy to spot lessons that have pending edits.
What classes and students see in the meantime
While a working copy exists, the published version is what everything else draws from:
- newly scheduled class sessions
- new student enrollments
- self-study starts
- lesson previews
- copies made from a marketplace listing
Nothing from the draft is visible outside the editor until you choose to publish.
Getting your changes to students
When you are ready to release your edits, updating students is straightforward and automatic.
Automatic Following
When you click Publish changes, your updates automatically flow into all:
- unstarted class sessions
- unopened student homework and exercises
- active guest assignment links
You do not need to run any manual push or overwrite commands. The platform updates these provisional snapshots automatically.
When a Lesson Freezes
To protect student work and classroom preparation, a lesson freezes at a clear boundary:
- Live class lessons freeze at the moment their live classroom room is created.
- Homework and exercises freeze the moment a student first opens the task.
Once frozen, a student's document is protected against unexpected changes from the course outline.
Refresh from course lesson
If a class row's live room has been created in advance but the meeting has not started yet, teachers can pull the latest published course version:
- Open the class plan or session row menu.
- Select Refresh from course lesson.
- Review the confirmation warning: refreshing replaces the room document with the latest published lesson and resets any pre-class notes added to the unstarted room.
- Confirm to refresh the session document.
Once a live session starts or a student submits homework, their work is permanently protected and cannot be refreshed from the course.
Working in two places at once
Working copies are shared, so two people (or two of your own browser tabs) can collaborate safely:
- If someone changed the draft after your tab loaded it, your save is refused with a notice explaining that the working copy changed in another tab, prompting you to review those changes before saving.
- If the draft was discarded elsewhere, an idle tab stops offering it instead of quietly recreating it.
When in doubt, reload the editor before a long editing session. That guarantees you are working from the current draft.
Live classroom lessons
Saving from inside an active live session writes directly to that session's classroom document. The students in that room are already working with you, so notes, whiteboard marks, and live answers save directly into the session record.
Suggested workflow
Open any course lesson and edit freely
Your changes accumulate safely in the working copy. Save whenever you like.
Check the published version before you commit
Flip the switcher to Published to see what classes currently have, then return to Working to finalize your draft.
Publish changes
Click Publish changes. From that moment, every new session uses the new version, and all unstarted sessions and unopened student tasks update automatically.
Refresh an unstarted room if needed
If a live room was already generated before you published and you want to include your latest updates, select Refresh from course lesson in the class row menu before class starts.
Or discard
If the rewrite did not work out, use the undo arrow to discard the working copy and keep the published lesson exactly as it was.
Frequently asked questions
Can I inspect past published versions?
Yes. Teachers and school staff can view historical published versions using Published Course Lesson Version History from the lesson action menu, allowing you to review changes side by side.
Does an unpublished draft block anything?
No. Classes and students continue using the current published version normally. A draft can sit unpublished indefinitely without interrupting anyone.
Who can see my draft?
Anyone in your school with permission to edit that course. The working copy is a shared draft for your teaching team.
I edited a lesson and students say they don't see the update
Check these two points:
- Were the changes published? Check for the amber asterisk on the course outline. If it is visible, your edits are still in the working copy.
- Had the lesson already frozen? If a student had already opened their task or if the live room had already been created, the content was frozen to protect student work. For an unstarted live room, use Refresh from course lesson from the class row menu.