What is a Course?

In Nimbu, a Course serves as the master template or "blueprint" for your training programs. It is the top-level structure where you define exactly which units, assessments, and learning materials a student must complete to achieve a specific qualification or competency.

Think of a Course as the architectural plan: built once, used many times. It defines every rule and resource those students will encounter once they begin their studies.

What's Covered in This Article

This article explains how Courses work as the central hub of training delivery in Nimbu, and how to move from initial setup through to launching a live class.

• Course vs. Class: The blueprint and instance model.
• Course Classifications: Regulatory status and delivery model settings.
• From Setup to Enrolment: The logical steps for building and launching a training program.

Course vs. Class: The Blueprint Model

The most important concept in Nimbu is the distinction between the template and the event.

The Course (Blueprint): You build this once. It defines the units, content structure, and delivery rules. It acts as the source of truth for your training program.

The Class (Instance): You generate these as often as needed. Each class is a live instance of the course blueprint, assigned to a specific group of students and a specific delivery window.

This separation is what makes Nimbu scalable. If you need to update a learning resource used across ten ongoing groups, you update it once at the unit level: every class running from that blueprint reflects the change going forward, without any disruption to existing enrolments.

Why this matters: If you need to update a training manual for 10 different ongoing groups, you update it once at the Unit/Course level rather than editing 10 individual classes.

Course Classifications

When creating a Course, you must select two primary settings that dictate how the system handles data and student progress:

1. Regulatory Status

• Accredited: Required for RTOs (Registered Training Organisations). These require a National Code and Title to ensure all data is compliant with AVETMISS reporting standards.
• Non-Accredited: Ideal for internal professional development or soft-skills training. These use internal identifiers and have simpler reporting requirements.

2. Delivery Model

• Self-Served: Students progress through the course independently, without requiring a Trainer to activate or unlock content. Access to individual content items is governed by any prerequisite rules configured within the units themselves — not by trainer intervention. When a self-served course is published, a class is automatically created and made available for student enrolment.

• Trainer-Led: The Trainer plays an active role in delivery, manually activating assessments and observations for students as needed. Essential for practical, high-risk, or face-to-face assessments.

  The delivery model cannot be changed once the course has been set to Self-Served or once classes exist under the course. Decide your delivery model carefully before publishing.

Step-by-Step Logic: From Setup to Enrollment

Nimbu provides a flexible environment where you can choose the workflow that best fits your project. To successfully implement a training program, you should follow this logical progression:

Step 1: Prepare Your Units

Units are the primary building blocks of a course and must exist before you can assemble a course template. A key advantage of Nimbu is modularity, which is a single unit can be mapped to multiple courses. For example, a "Communication" unit could appear in both a Management and a Sales course.

You have two options for building these units:

• Option A: The "Bottom-Up" Approach (Unit to Course)
  • Creating Content: Navigate to the Units registry and select an existing unit to edit or create a new one.
  • Assembling: Click the Add icons within the unit to upload learning materials or create new digital activities.
  • Finalising: Once the content is ready, click Publish to make the unit available for course mapping.
• Option B: The "Top-Down" Approach (Course to Unit)
  • Direct Creation: While inside the Course Editor, click "Create Unit" directly from the Course Units section.
  • Setup: Choose the unit type (Accredited, Non-Accredited, or Cluster) and enter the mandatory National Code and Title.
  • Automatic Link: Units created through this workflow are automatically mapped to your current course template, saving administrative time.

Step 2: Assemble the Course Template

Once your units are ready, create your Course container and navigate to the Units & Content tab. Here, you "map" the relevant Units from your library. This process establishes the specific sequence in which students will encounter their learning materials and assessments.

Step 3: Define Training Logic

Before publishing, confirm your course-level settings are correct:

• Regulatory Status – Accredited or Non-Accredited, as appropriate for your program.
• Delivery Model – Self-Served or Trainer-Led, based on how the course will be facilitated.

See the Content Prerequisites and Unit Sections articles for guidance.

Step 4: Launch a Class

Once your blueprint is finalised, it is time to create a Class to make the training live. This is where you add the delivery variables:

• Class Name and Code: A unique identifier for this delivery instance.
• Start and End Dates: The scheduled window for the session.
• Trainer: The staff member responsible for facilitating the class.
• Course: Select the course blueprint to populate the class with its content and structure.

Related Articles

• Core Concepts
• What is a Unit?
• What is a Class?
• Creating a Course (Happy Path)