Add a lesson to my course
A course grows one lesson at a time, and adding one should take about as long as describing it. A sentence and a link - or a video file dragged straight onto the page.
How it works
- Give the lesson its video. Paste a link to your own YouTube or Vimeo (Use the videos already on my YouTube or Vimeo), or drag a video file into your courses page (Put my own video file into a lesson) - uploaded videos get their captions and transcript written automatically.
- Say where it goes. Build the lesson on the courses page itself - title, notes, position - or tell Bernard; both end in the same place. New lessons join the end of the syllabus unless you say otherwise; reorder any time.
- Approve. The lesson page renders into your site's draft. Check the preview, approve, and it's part of the course.
Notes matter more than they look. The video is for your learners; the notes are what search engines and AI assistants actually read. Even three lines under each video - what the lesson covers, what the learner will be able to do
- make the whole course legible to the tools people use to find teaching (Help AI assistants recommend me).
By default the video opens the lesson and the notes follow underneath. If the video demonstrates one particular step, you can ask for it further down the page instead, right beside the paragraph it belongs to (Put the video further down the lesson, next to the bit it demonstrates).
Long notes can fold. If a lesson carries a kit list, extra reading or a set of answers, ask for it as a collapsible section and Bernard tucks it behind a title the learner clicks to open. The section starts closed, so the lesson reads short and opens up only where someone wants the detail. Each section is its own fold - they do not sit inside one another.
Want to hand out a pattern, recipe sheet or slides with the lesson? Attach a file - it's delivered only to enrolled learners (Give learners files with each lesson).
The prompt
“Add a lesson to my [course name] course called [the lesson title], using this video: [paste the video link]. Notes to go with the video: [a few lines]. Put it [where it goes - e.g. after the intro].”
Press Copy, then paste it into your AI and fill in the [bracketed] parts. First time? Connect your AI to bernard first - a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI.
Questions people ask
- What do I need to add a lesson to my course?
- A title and, usually, a video link - YouTube, Vimeo or Cloudflare Stream. Notes underneath are optional but worth it: they're readable by search engines, where video alone is not. A lesson can also be notes-only.
- Where does the video sit on the lesson page?
- At the top by default, with your notes underneath. If the video demonstrates one particular step, ask for it further down and it plays right after the paragraph it belongs to - see the page on where the video sits. A lesson can also carry more than one video, each placed where it belongs.
- Can I hide part of my notes behind a heading people click to open?
- Yes. Ask for a collapsible section - "put the kit list in a section people can open" - and that part of the notes folds away behind its title until a learner clicks it. It is handy for long reference lists, extra reading and answers you do not want to give away too early. Sections do not sit inside each other: each one is its own fold.
- Can I change the order of my lessons?
- Yes - say the order you want ('put Glazing basics first, then Mixing, then the firing lesson') and bernard rearranges the syllabus. The lesson pages keep their addresses, so nothing breaks.
- Do new lessons go live straight away?
- No. A new lesson lands in your site's private draft first. Learners see it only after you approve the change - so you can build a course over weeks without anyone seeing it half-done.