How to Create an Online Course Outline (With a Template)

A course outline is the list of modules and lessons in the order a student will take them, with what each one teaches and what the student does next. It's the most important document you'll write for a course: it decides what goes in, what stays out, and whether students reach the end.

Most creators outline from the topic down: everything they know about it, split into chapters. Outlines that work start from the other end, from what a student should be able to do when they finish. This guide walks through that method, step by step, with a template at the end.

The short answer

To create an online course outline, write the one outcome a student will reach, list the skills they need to reach it, and order those skills into 3 to 7 modules. Break each module into short lessons that teach one thing each, and end every lesson with a task, so the outline is a path, not a table of contents.

Key takeaways

• Start from the outcome: one sentence saying what a student can do at the end. This is the idea behind backward design.
• List the skills and decisions the outcome needs, then cut anything that doesn't serve it.
• Group skills into a few modules, in the order a beginner would need them.
• One lesson, one idea: short lessons with a task at the end of each.
• Use action verbs (build, write, choose, fix) for lesson goals, so you can tell whether a student got there.

Disclosure: we make Klasira, an online course platform, and show where it fits. Everything here works on any platform. Figures from other organizations come from their public pages, checked in October 2026 and linked at the end.

What should a course outline include?

A useful outline has five parts:

1. The outcome: one sentence on what a student can do at the end, such as "publish a 10-page portfolio site" or "run payroll for a five-person team".
2. Who it's for: what they already know and what they don't, so you know where to start.
3. Modules: 3 to 7 stages on the way to the outcome, each with its own small win.
4. Lessons: under each module, the lessons in order, each with one goal written as an action.
5. Practice: the task, worksheet or quiz after each lesson, and a final project that proves the outcome.

How do you start a course outline?

Start at the end. Educators call this backward design: decide what learners should be able to do, decide how you'd know they can, and only then plan the lessons. Vanderbilt University's Center for Teaching describes it in three stages: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, then plan learning experiences.

For a course, that means writing three things before any lesson titles:

• The outcome sentence.
• The final project or test that proves it (the "evidence").
• Where your student starts: the skills they bring on day one.

The gap between where they start and the final project is your course. Everything else, however interesting, belongs in a bonus or another course.

How do you turn the outcome into modules and lessons?

1. List every step. Write down each skill, decision and task needed to get from the starting point to the final project. Sticky notes or a spreadsheet both work. Aim for too many.
2. Cut. Remove anything a student doesn't need for the outcome. Move "nice to know" items to a resources lesson.
3. Order. Put the steps in the order a beginner needs them. Ask what must be true before each step is possible.
4. Group. Cluster neighbouring steps into modules, ideally ending each with something the student can show: a draft, a setup, a first result.
5. Split into lessons. One idea per lesson. If a lesson's goal needs "and", it's probably two lessons.
6. Add practice. Give every lesson a task and every module a checkpoint (a quiz, a worksheet or a small project).

Write lesson goals with action verbs. Bloom's taxonomy, a classification of learning goals that runs from remembering and understanding up to applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating, is a handy source of verbs. Courses that sell on an outcome mostly live in the upper levels: apply, analyze, create.

How many modules and lessons should a course have?

There's no standard number. Use the outcome to decide: a narrow skill ("edit podcast audio") might need three modules and a dozen lessons; a broad one ("start a bookkeeping business") might need seven modules and fifty lessons, and may be better split into two courses.

Two checks keep it in proportion. Each module should end in a visible win, so students feel progress. And each lesson should be short enough to finish in one sitting; see how long course videos should be for the research on video length.

A course outline template you can copy

Example (illustration): for "Sell your first 10 prints online", the modules might be: choose and prepare 5 prints; photograph and price them; set up the shop; write listings that sell; get your first 10 buyers. Each ends with something real: files ready, photos done, shop live, listings up, sales.

Can AI write a course outline for you?

AI tools can draft an outline in seconds, and that draft is a useful starting point. Treat it like a junior colleague's first pass: check that the order makes sense for a beginner, cut the generic filler, and add the examples and shortcuts only you know. Your experience is what students pay for.

In Klasira, the AI course builder turns a topic into a draft course with modules and lessons, which you then edit. AI course builder: drafts a course outline from a topic, plus lesson text, video scripts and quiz questions, for you to edit; it uses AI credits.

Frequently asked questions

What is a course outline?

A course outline is the ordered list of a course's modules and lessons, with what each one teaches and the practice that follows it. For an online course it doubles as your production plan.

How detailed should my course outline be?

Detailed enough to record from: every lesson should have a title, a one-line goal written as an action, and the task that follows it. Scripts or talking points come after the outline is settled.

Should I outline the whole course before recording?

Yes. Recording before the outline is settled is the most common cause of re-recording. Outline everything, test it with a few people from your audience, then record.

What is backward design?

Backward design is a planning method that starts from the result you want learners to reach, then decides how you'll check they reached it, and only then plans lessons and activities.

How many lessons should be in a module?

Usually three to eight. Fewer than three often means the module could merge with its neighbour; many more than eight suggests it covers two stages and could be split.

Where Klasira fits

Once your outline is ready, Klasira turns it into a course of sections and lessons, with quizzes and assignments where your checkpoints go. Start your school or see pricing.

Related: how long an online course should be, how to validate a course idea, writing quiz questions, all guides on creating a course.

Sources

Details about other companies in this post were checked against these public pages in October 2026. Products, prices and rules change, so confirm with each source before you decide.

• Vanderbilt Center for Teaching, Understanding by Design (archived guide)
• Vanderbilt Center for Teaching, Bloom's Taxonomy (archived guide)