A course is built from activities and projects. Activities teach and check understanding; projects ask for work. Authoring one topic can produce several activity types, and the course and assignment settings determine which work is required.
A course contains units. A unit contains topics, and each topic contains its activities. Projects belong to the unit, where learners can bring several topics together in a practical task.
The nine activity types
| Type | What the learner gets |
|---|---|
| Reading | An article with images, code, mathematics and callouts. Scroll progress on the edge, read time and word count. Can contain interactive widgets and embedded walkthroughs inline. Resumes where they left off. |
| Flashcards | Flip cards with optional hints, keyboard navigation, shuffle, and a definition-first mode. |
| Quiz | Multiple choice, true/false, short answer, fill in the blank and free response. The quiz can ask for confidence before revealing feedback. |
| Visual lecture | A swipeable card stack of illustrated slides with speaker notes. |
| Podcast | A two-speaker audio episode with a synced transcript that highlights along with the audio. |
| Explainer video | A generated or uploaded video with a transcript panel and optional captions. |
| Comic | An illustrated story organized into pages and panels. |
| Jam | Songs organized around learning goals, across genres, with lyrics alongside the audio. |
| Arcade | A game using the topic's own questions, with City Run combining lane choices and obstacle avoidance. |
The AI tutor supports learners alongside these formats. See the learner experience.
Project formats
Projects are where a unit stops testing recall and asks for work.
| Project | The learner |
|---|---|
| Scenario | Role-plays with AI characters, in text or voice, scored against criteria. |
| Agent | Works alongside a live AI agent: image generation, HTML, writing and research, spreadsheets, or a full-stack application deployed to its own live subdomain. |
| Prompt challenge | Writes prompts to reproduce a target image or website, scored on similarity. |
| Code notebook | Works through Jupyter-style cells in Python, C++ or CUDA, graded by hidden tests plus a rubric. |
| Full sandbox | Gets a real file tree, terminal and live preview in a browser IDE. |
| Screen share | Shares their screen and is coached through a real tool, step by step. |
| Tagalong | Scans a QR code and uses their phone camera for physical, hands-on skills. |
| Walkthrough | Clicks through hotspots on annotated screenshots taken from a screen recording. |
| Form | Fills a generated worksheet, graded against a rubric. |
Choose among these nine project types in the course editor. Start an Interactive Walkthrough from a screen recording so Honen can build its guided steps. Prebuilt simulations may also be available in your catalog.
In practice this means learners build spreadsheets, generate images, write research, write code, build web pages, role-play customer conversations, apply electrical code to a wiring problem, walk through a safety procedure with a coach watching their screen, or hold a phone over real equipment.
Choose the format for the learning goal
| Goal | Useful formats |
|---|---|
| Explain a new idea | Read for depth, Lecture or Video for visual explanation, and Podcast for an audio conversation. |
| Reinforce a memorable concept | Comic for a visual story or Jam for learning through music. |
| Practice recall | Flashcards for terms, Quiz for answers and feedback, and Arcade for repeated practice. |
| Apply skills | Scenario for conversations; Agent and Prompt Challenge for working with AI; Screen Share, Code Notebook, and Full Sandbox for practical work with tools. |
| Follow a procedure | Interactive Walkthrough for a recorded workflow, or Tagalong for physical practice through a phone camera. |
Create, edit, and try each format
Start by attaching your source and naming the topic, activity, and learning goal in the Course Editor Assistant. In a new course, select the formats during setup and check them in the outline before Approve & Build. After generation, open Edit, select the activity, and alternate between Editor and Learner View.
Use Turn documents and recordings into a course to choose the source and write a brief for the format you want.
Tests
Unit tests run in their own view with multiple choice, true/false, short answer and interactive artifact questions, with question navigation and confidence tracking. For a required test, the pass threshold is the higher of the test's own passing score and the assignment's minimum when both are set. If neither specifies a score, the default is 80%. An optional test does not gate completion; its result is informational.
See Unit tests and remaining work and Assignments for the learner flow and required-work settings.