Publishing your course

The authorisation process

Note that the authorisation process ensures that various technical features of the course are correct, and that your course complies with accessibility requirements. 

It won’t involve a subject matter expert fact-checking your writing.

If you want to pass the authorisation process, make sure you can answer ‘Yes’ to the following questions.

Course settings

Go to the Administration block on the left-hand side of the screen and click on Settings to check the following:

• Is your Course full name the recommended 50 characters or fewer?
• Duration (hours): Will your learners be able to complete the course in the time you’ve set?
• Have your set your course’s Educational level?
• Have you set the Primary subject for your course?
• It’s not mandatory, but it may be useful to choose something in Other subjects, Primary skill and Other skills – have you done this?
• Is your Course summary sentence describing the course 30 words or fewer?
• Have you added a list of Learning outcomes?
• Have you added a Course image and Course banner with correct attribution information?
• Does the Force language setting have the correct language listed?
• Is Completion tracking set to ‘Yes’?
• Have you added any Tags?

Course homepage

• Have you deleted the Getting started box at the top of the homepage?
• Have you added welcome text?
• Have you divided your course content into sections on the course homepage? 

Course content

• Will your learners be able to navigate through your course, in particular getting from one section to another?
• Are all the headings in your course appropriately structured and do they have unique titles?
• Where you refer to sections on the course, do you consistently use the same terminology, e.g. weeks, sections, sessions, units or chapters?
• Do all new pages begin with text, rather than an activity?
• If you’ve added links, do they work correctly and are they hidden behind the text rather than written out in full?
• If you’ve added figures, do they include alt text for someone who wouldn’t be able to see it?
• ... And do the figures have a figure number and a caption?
• If you’ve added tables, do they include an accessible heading?
• If you’ve added videos, are they an appropriate size and do they have a poster image?
• If you’ve added videos, do they include closed captions/subtitles and a transcript?
• If you’ve added audio, do they include a transcript?
• If you’ve added a statement of participation, custom certificate or digital badge, have they been set up correctly?
• Have you added an acknowledgements page to the end of your course? 

Moodle activities

• If you’ve added a quiz, have you set the Grade to pass and Completion conditions, and have you added Overall feedback?
• If you’ve added a forum, do the settings work for the intended purpose of the activity? Does it have adequate guidance for learners to follow?
• If you’ve added a survey (Questionnaire), have you tested the navigation and (if relevant) the advanced settings? Are the questions working as expected? Does it have adequate guidance for learners to follow?
• If you’ve added a blog, do the settings work for the intended purpose of the activity – for example, are learners meant to be able to see and comment on each other’s blog posts? Does it have adequate guidance for learners to follow?
• If you’ve added a wiki, do the settings work for the intended purpose of the activity? Does it have adequate guidance for learners to follow? 

Ready for publication

Once you’ve checked everything listed above, return to Settings in the Administration block.

Scroll down to the Declarations section and open it.

Tick I agree to moderate learner contributions in collaborative forums and I agree to comply with The Open University website accessibility statement.

Change the Status from Draft to Published.

Clicking on either Save and return or Save and display will automatically send our team an email to let us know that your course is ready for us to check. We’ll get in touch with you at the email address you used to set up your OpenLearn Create account.