Understand how a course is put together
Before you build or move a course, it helps to know what a course is on bernard — because once you can see the shape, editing it is just describing the change you want.
The shape of a course
A course has three outer parts and one inner one.
- The course itself — a title, a short summary and a cover image for its card, and a price with an access rule (pay once, or access for a fixed term — Charge once, or sell a year of access). A course with no price stays a private draft you enrol people into by hand (Enrol a student myself — they paid elsewhere).
- Sections — your modules. A section is just a heading that groups lessons ('Module 1: Foundations'); learners see the same grouping on the course page. A short course needs none; a big one leans on them (Organise a big course — modules, sub-lessons, many courses).
- Lessons — the pages learners actually open, in order inside their section. Each lesson is a video (from YouTube, Vimeo or dragged in as a file — Put my own video file into a lesson, Use the videos already on my YouTube or Vimeo) plus notes underneath, and any worksheets or downloads (Give learners files with each lesson). Notes matter more than they look: search engines and AI assistants can read words, not video.
- Sub-lessons — a lesson can own a run of sub-lessons, indented beneath it: a topic split into short parts. One level of nesting, matching how learners read it.
Any one lesson can be set as a free preview — watchable before enrolment, so a buyer can taste the teaching first (Let people watch one lesson free).
Setting one up, or changing one
You never edit raw structure — you describe the outcome and Bernard moves the furniture. "Add a lesson called Glazing basics after the intro" (Add a lesson to my course); "group these five lessons into a Foundations module"; "make the welcome lesson a free preview". Building from scratch is the same conversation, starting from the name and one lesson (Sell a course from my own website).
Preview it
Every course has a preview: the real course page and every lesson page, rendered exactly as they'll publish — notes, images, worksheets and videos — the videos really play. A student-view toggle shows what a non-enrolled visitor sees, so you can check a free preview lesson stays open and the rest stays gated, all before anyone else can see it.
Where imported courses fit
A course moved in from another platform arrives already in this shape — sections, lessons, nested sub-lessons and worksheets all in place, as a private draft. LearnDash libraries come across whole from their export file (Move my courses off LearnDash or WordPress); other platforms rebuild from your syllabus (Move my course off Teachable, Podia or Kajabi). Either way you review the structure here before a learner sees any of it.
The one rule that holds throughout: structure changes live in your private draft until you approve them, so you can restructure even a live course without learners watching it move.
The prompt
“Explain how my course [course name] is structured — its sections and lessons — and what I'd change to [what you want to do, e.g. add a module, set a free preview].”
The [bracketed] parts are yours to fill in. First time? Connect bernard to your AI over MCP — a one-time setup in bernard → your site → Use your own AI — then paste the prompt above.
Questions people ask
- What is a course actually made of on bernard?
- A course is a title, a price and a syllabus. The syllabus is sections (your modules), each holding lessons in order. A lesson is a page with notes, usually a video, and any worksheets — and a lesson can own sub-lessons indented beneath it. Nothing a learner sees changes until you approve it, so you can build the whole thing privately first.
- What's the difference between a section, a lesson and a sub-lesson?
- A section is a heading that groups lessons ('Module 1: Foundations') — it's not a page. A lesson is a page a learner opens: a video and notes. A sub-lesson is a lesson nested under a parent lesson, for a topic taught in short parts. Sections and sub-lessons are how a big syllabus stays navigable.
- Does making or changing a course put it live?
- No. A course starts as a private draft — unpriced, unlisted, invisible to learners — and every later change lands in that draft too. It only reaches your real site when you publish the course and approve the change, the same gate as everything else on a bernard site.
- Can I see my course before it goes live?
- Yes. Every course has a preview showing the real course and lesson pages exactly as they'll publish, with a student-view toggle so you can check what a non-enrolled visitor sees. It's only visible to people signed in on your account, and nothing goes public until you publish the course and approve the change.