What is a Class

A Course defines what is taught - a Class is where the teaching actually happens. While a Course serves as your master curriculum blueprint, a Class is the live, time-bound instance where a specific group of students works through that curriculum. It is at the class level that you manage the real-world variables of training delivery: start dates, assigned trainers, and student enrolments.

What's Covered in This Article

This article explains the functional role of Classes as the primary bridge between your curriculum and your learners.

Classes as Course Instances: How a class inherits and builds on a course blueprint.
The Enrolment Rule: Why students are linked to classes rather than courses.
Delivery Models: The distinction between Self-Served and Trainer-Led classes.

Classes as Course Instances

Every class must be linked to a parent course. This link ensures that the class begins with a validated set of units, sections, and assessments.

Blueprint Inheritance: When you create a new class, it automatically inherits all the units and content currently mapped to the parent course. The class starts as a complete, ready-to-deliver instance of that curriculum.
Class-Level Customisation: While a class inherits the core curriculum from its course, administrators have the flexibility to add supplementary units or resources to an individual class without affecting the master course blueprint. These additions apply only to that specific class instance.

The Enrollment Rule

In Nimbu, students enrol in classes, not courses. This distinction is fundamental to how training delivery is tracked and managed. Linking enrolments to a class rather than a course allows you to:

Track exactly which cohort of students (e.g. "January Intake" or "Melbourne Batch") is progressing through the material together.
Set specific registration windows for each individual delivery instance.
Maintain separate progress records for each cohort, even when multiple classes run from the same course blueprint.

Understanding Delivery Models

The behaviour of a class is determined by the delivery model set at the course level.

Self-Served Classes

Self-Served classes are designed for on-demand, self-paced learning where no trainer intervention is required.

No Trainer Activation: Students do not need a trainer to unlock or activate content. All units are available without manual intervention from the moment a student enrols.
Prerequisite Rules Still Apply: If content prerequisites are configured within the units, students will still need to complete items in the defined sequence before progressing. Self-Served removes trainer gating, not content sequencing. See the Content Prerequisites article for more detail.
Auto-Generated Class; Self-Served classes are created automatically when the course is published. No manual class creation is required.

Trainer-Led Classes

Trainer-Led classes place a trainer at the centre of the delivery experience.

Manual Activation: High-stakes tasks such as practical observations and assessments remain locked until the trainer manually activates them for students.
Supervised Progression: The trainer controls the pace and access to content, making this model the standard for face-to-face workshops, practical assessments, or any delivery requiring human oversight.
Multiple Classes: Unlike Self-Served courses, Trainer-Led courses support the creation of multiple classes, each with its own cohort, trainer, and delivery schedule.

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