Course quality review
The pass to make before a course goes live. Twenty minutes that prevents the support requests you would otherwise spend a week on.
1. Structure
Open Lessons and filter by the course.
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Every lesson has the right Attached course | A lesson with no course returns not found |
| Every lesson has an Attached section | Sectionless lessons are counted in progress but invisible in the outline, so the course can never reach 100% |
| The order is right | Lessons are ordered by the page-attributes order field |
| Every lesson is published, not draft | Drafts do not appear in the outline |
The section check is the one that silently ruins a course. A dash in the Section column is the symptom.
2. Content
Open the course page and each lesson.
- The course description says who the course is for and what they will be able to do.
- Every lesson has its video, and it plays.
- Estimated times are set and roughly accurate.
- Lesson titles are distinct and short enough to read in the outline.
- The featured image is set on the course, and it works as both a banner and a thumbnail.
- Spelling and links in the lesson content are correct.
3. Access
Whatever kind of course this is, confirm the configuration matches the intent:
| Course type | Expected |
|---|---|
| Free, open | No login, no rule, not paid |
| Free, registered | Login on |
| Paid | Paid on, product connected, no rule |
| Membership | Rule set, paid off |
Then check the preview flags. Open the lesson list and confirm exactly the lessons you meant are previews — a preview left on from testing is content given away.
4. Messages
Read every text a blocked visitor sees, as they see it:
- The login form text, signed out.
- The no-access message, signed in without access — and confirm
{related_product_links}resolves to real product links. - The lesson-unavailable text, on a blocked lesson.
- The back-to-course label, in the outline.
Anything that reads like a system message is a text you have not written yet.
5. The student pass
The part that cannot be skipped. In a private window, with a test account that is not an administrator:
- Open the course signed out.
- Sign in as a student without access. Confirm the block and the message.
- Grant access the way a real student would get it — buy it, or match the rule.
- Confirm the course appears in My courses, with the right access reason.
- Open the first lesson. Confirm the video plays.
- Confirm progress advances the way your completion mode says it should.
- Work to the end and confirm the course reaches 100%.
Step 7 is where sectionless lessons show up.
6. Mobile
Repeat steps 4 to 6 on a phone. Check the outline is usable, lesson titles do not wrap to three lines, and the video fits the screen.
7. The route in
- The course is linked from your catalogue page.
- Paid courses are linked from the product, and the product is in the shop.
- Your WooCommerce order email tells buyers where the course is — POM LMS sends nothing.
- Preview lessons, if any, are linked from somewhere visitors will see them.
Sign-off
The course is ready when a stranger can find it, understand what it is, buy or join it, open it, and finish it — and when someone who should not have it, does not.
Everything above tests one of those six.