If you’ve got a lot of content, you can use topics to create even more hierarchy in your course. Some course admins might only create Section Headings, and add Lessons to each section, but topics give you one additional level of organization.
NOTE: Topics must be added to lessons. You cannot have a course with only topics. If your course only requires one level of hierarchy, simply use lessons instead.
Just like lessons, you can add many different types of course material to your topics, text, images, video, PDFs, presentation slides and more. You’ve also got a few additional display settings for topics. There are a few distinct differences between lessons and topics, all of which we’ll cover in this section.
- Global Topic Settings: Settings applied to all topics on your site
- Display & Content Settings: Add materials, configure video settings, control assignment uploads and topic timers
- Create Topic Content: Add text and images, insert videos, embed interactive content, etc.
Lessons vs. Topics #
In LearnDash, there are a lot of similarities between lessons and topics, but there are a few important distinctions. If you are unsure about the difference between lessons vs. topics, let’s clear things up.
- Lessons are listed above topics in the course hierarchy
- You can have a course with only lessons, but you cannot have a course with only topics. Topics can only be added beneath lessons.
- You can offer sample lessons but not sample topics
- Topics can now also be drip-fed the same way as lessons.
- Also, topics do inherit the schedule of their parent lesson. If a lesson is scheduled for January 1, 2020, all the associated topics will be released on January 1 as well.
Sections are very different from lessons and topics. To learn more, see our article explaining Course sections.
Here’s a visual overview of the lessons and topics compared.
| Title | Lessons | Topics |
|---|---|---|
| Add Content Text, images, video, links, PDFs, slides & more | YES | YES |
| Video Progression | YES | YES |
| Add Materials | YES | YES |
| Upload Assignments | YES | YES |
| Force Minimum Required Time | YES | YES |
| Sample Content | YES | NO |
| Schedule for Future Access Topics inherit the parent lesson’s schedule | YES | YES |