Create a Course using AI

Coursebox offers flexible ways to create engaging online courses—whether you prefer the speed of AI or the control of manual design.

Watch the tutorial playlist below, or open the full YouTube Video Library.

You can start from scratch and build your course step by step, or accelerate the process using Coursebox AI, which helps generate a course structure and content based on your topic and learning goals.

This article covers using AI to instantly generate course outlines and content. If you prefer to build pages, lessons and learning activities yourself, click + Create at the top of the left menu, then click + in the prompt box and select Create manually.

No matter which method you choose—you’ll have full control to refine, reorganise, and personalise your course for your audience.

Create a course using 'Ask Coursebox'

This section outlines how Learning Designers, Creators, and Administrators can quickly generate a course structure and content using the AI-powered tools available in Coursebox.

Start creating a course

Step 1: Open the Create page

Click + Create at the top of the left menu, or at the top right of the Courses page. The What will you create? page opens.

• Type in the What will you create? prompt box to create a course with AI.

• Or click + in the prompt box and select Create manually to build it yourself.

• The panel on the left has New course, Chats and Courses, plus your recent chats.

Step 2: Describe your course

In the AI prompt box:

• Enter a clear description of your course (for example, “Create a course on digital marketing for beginners”)

• The more detailed your prompt, the better the generated content will be

Step 3: Choose a language

• Click the language selector (EN) in the prompt box.

• Choose a language, for example English Australia or Spanish Spain. You can search the list.

The language you choose is used throughout the course, including the About page heading, section summaries and Further Readings.

Step 4: Add source files (optional)

Click + in the prompt box:

• Add files: upload pdf, docx, pptx, csv or txt files for the AI to use as source material.

• Create manually: build the course yourself instead.

• Create RTO Package: create a course from a Unit of Competency. See Create a Course using the Unit of Competency (UoC).

Adding your own files helps the AI create more accurate, tailored content. You can add up to 20 documents per course chat, and each upload can be up to 50 MB, counting all the files you pick together.

Step 5: Choose a course setup (optional)

Before you send your prompt, tell the AI how to build your course. Set the learner level, tone, page length, media and branding once, and every course you create with that setup follows them.

• Click Auto setup below the prompt box.

• Choose one of your saved setups, or click New setup to create one.

In the setup window, enter a Setup name, then choose your options:

• General: under Writing, set Learner level, Tone of voice, Text per page and Page content. Under Interactivity, set Interactive content and Assessment difficulty. Under Media, choose Extract images from files, Generate AI images (uses your AI image credits) and YouTube videos.

• Tutor: set up the AI tutor for the course.

• Theme: set the course colours and fonts.

Click Save as setup to reuse the same choices on your next course.

Step 6: Continue the conversation

Once you’ve entered your prompt, continue refining your course by interacting with Ask Coursebox.

• Answer follow-up questions to clarify your course focus (for example, content, LMS setup or rollout)

• Review the suggested course structure and provide feedback or adjustments

• The AI will progressively build your course, including:

  • Course structure

  • Sections and pages

  • Content and learning activities

Modify the course structure

Once your course structure is generated, you can review and refine how your course is organised before finalising it.

You may notice some sections or items still loading—this is normal. The structure will continue to populate as Coursebox completes each part.

Review and adjust your structure

Continue to use the chat experience to review the structure:

• Expand each section to view included pages and activities

• Review section titles, page names, and quizzes

• Ensure the flow and sequence align with your learning goals

Course Structure: Choose Your Page Blocks

In the Course Structure stage, you choose which blocks go on each page before you generate the course.

• In the Course Structure, you can set the Page content blocks on each page, on top of renaming, reordering, and adding or removing sections and pages

• Each page shows a few of its blocks as colourful highlight tags, with the full total beside them, such as "7 blocks"

• Open a page's blocks to add, remove, and reorder them, choosing from the full library: Text, Text & Media, Case Study, Table, Quote, Tabs, Carousel, Number List, Icon Cards, List Cards, Image Cards, Quiz, Assignment, YouTube video, Image, Flip Cards, Accordion, and Scenario

Generate your course

Once you're happy with the structure:

• Click Generate course to finalise and build out the full content

Edit and refine your course after generation

Once your course has been generated, use the AI Editor for any change, from one page to the whole course.

1. Open the course in the course editor.

2. Click the AI Editor icon (the sparkle) in the top toolbar.

3. In Tell me what to change, describe the change and say where it applies: a page, a section or the whole course. You can also give it documents to write new pages from.

Every change the AI Editor makes can be undone. See Use AI Tools & Elements.

Prompt memory

Coursebox AI uses prompt memory to maintain context throughout your course creation session. This means the AI remembers your previous instructions, preferences, and course details as you continue to build and refine your content—so you don't need to repeat yourself with every new request.

For example, if you specify early on that your course is aimed at beginners or should use a particular tone, the AI will apply that context to all subsequent content it generates. You can also update or override these remembered settings at any point during the session by simply providing a new instruction in your prompt.

Create a course from a document

You can create a course from your own documents, such as a Word file or PDF, and keep their structure. Use it to turn existing training material, policies or course outlines into an online course without rewriting them.

How it works

When you attach a document, Coursebox reads it and uses your headings, text and images as the foundation for the course. It shows you a plan and an outline first. Nothing is written until you click Generate course.

Steps to create a course from a document

1. Click + Create at the top of the left menu.

2. Click + in the prompt box and choose Add files (pdf, docx, pptx, csv or txt, up to 50 MB per upload). Select your files and click Open. Each file appears as a card in the prompt box.

3. Type who the course is for and anything the document doesn't say, for example: "Create a short course from the attached document for new cafe staff." Check the language (EN), then click the send arrow.

4. Coursebox reads your document and shows its plan: Who it's for, then Review the suggested information with the course size, learner level, tone of voice, text per page, assessment difficulty, interactive activities, AI-generated images, YouTube videos and web research. The outline appears on the left.

5. To change anything, type it in Say what to change in the plan and send it. The plan and outline update. To add more files, click the paperclip.

6. When the outline is right, click Generate course.

What's retained from your document

• Headings and subheadings become lessons and pages

• Body text is carried through and formatted as course content

• Embedded images are preserved in the relevant pages

Tips

• Documents with clear heading hierarchy (H1, H2, H3) produce the best structure

• For a course of more than 40 pages, the outline is built section by section. For more than 100 pages, the AI first asks whether you'd like a learning pathway instead. Review the outline before you click Generate course.

• You can still use the prompt to add context alongside the document, or set the Learner level and Tone of voice in your Course Setup

Troubleshooting

AI generation is taking too long or appears stuck

Coursebox AI typically generates a course structure within 1-3 minutes. If the process appears stuck after 5 minutes, refresh the page - your course draft is usually saved and you can continue from where you left off.

AI-generated content is inaccurate or low quality

The quality of AI output depends on your prompt. For best results: be specific about your audience, include the key topics you want covered, and upload source materials (PDFs, docs) to guide the AI. After generation, use the editor to refine and correct any content.

Supported file formats for upload

You can upload the following file types as source material for AI generation: PDF (.pdf), Word (.docx), PowerPoint (.pptx), CSV (.csv) and plain text (.txt). You can add up to 20 documents per course chat. Each upload can be up to 50 MB, counting all the files you pick together. Documents have no character limit.

Video and web content

You can add YouTube links or web URLs as source material. Coursebox will extract the text content to inform the AI generation. Note: video transcripts are used, not the video itself.

Upload fails or gets stuck

If your file upload fails: check the files you picked together are under 50 MB, ensure it is in a supported format, try a different browser, or compress/split large documents before uploading.

Course generation fails with an error

If you see an error message during generation, note the error text and contact support at support.coursebox.ai with your course title and the error message.